It was our turn to host David and Rosemary for the day, and we agreed a walk to Orba Castle from our house. From the bottom of the road you can see the castle just to the left of the lamp post.
One of those magic moments. As we neared the hill we met this chap exercising his horse. He is on holiday from Barcelona visiting his parents. He was very apologetic that the horse was too fat, apparently there was no one to exercise him and he ate too much!
David eventually let the poor man go on his way, and we continued towards Orba hill.
This has always been our favourite path up to the castle. Recently we have followed the official way marked route, but we always found this one easier to climb.
Always time to stop and look down over the Jalon valley. You can just make out Parcent in the middle right, just below Col de Rates.
And finally to the castle itself. As so often happens we had it to ourselves, apart from a mass of butterflies who were making the best of the warm sun.
We had expected it to be cool having climbed the hill, but in fact it was very warm. There is no shade on the top, and it was almost too hot.
Lovely views, including this one of Orba and the Orba valley leading to the coast.
Rosemary is still suffering from a bad cold, so she was ready for a long picnic lunch in the warm sun.
The decent is almost as bad as the ascent. Going up you have the climb, but the paths seem much easier. Coming down there are sections where the track is quite difficult.
One final look back at Orba Castle through the last of the almond blossoms
A short stop to recover before the long walk back to Parcent. Jan and Rosemary surrounded by almond blossoms.
It’s very exposed on the dry river bed and we were all pretty hot and tired by the time we finished the walk.
We then had the rest of the afternoon to sit and chat on the naya and have a shower and change of clothes before ending the day with a very large meal at La Solana in Alcalali.
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