Marbella 4 Day Walking - Day 1

Today was Day 1 of the Marbella Walking Festival. The sun had still not risen when we set out from the hotel to the start. It was already quite pleasant and was going to get to about 23 degrees according to the forecast. There were already plenty of walkers at the start, but we were soon on our way. Mostly a tour of suburbs and golf villages today, this was our 30km route...

I should have taken more water at the second checkpoint as I hadn't realised it was 9 1/2 miles from the second checkpoint to the third. I had forgotten how much up and down there was, and the 30km gave us extra of that as well as extra mileage over the 20km route.

Here are a few of my photos...

Leaving the hotel, it was just getting light.

Arriving a the start.

There were plenty of poses with this during the week.

And we're off!

The sun rose as we got to the promenade.

La Concha (meaning 'the shell', named after its shape) would be an omni-present impressive background through the week.

I somehow ended up at the first Checkpoint first.

The golf courses are well manicured.

We saw lots of pretty flowers along the way.

Here at Colorado we crossed the river...

...and saw (I think) an egret.

When we were up we had some nice views.

Checkpoint 2... and we hadn't finished climbing yet!

We passed a huge construction site by La Quinta.

Hooray. Downhill from here.

Not forgetting to appreciate the flowers. There was plenty of bouganvillia about....

 ...and some pomegranate trees.

We passed a Ferrari dealership on the way down through San Pedro. This one had a price tag of 269,000 €. Gulp!

We arrived at the sea front here.

But where was checkpoint 3? After 13 1/2 miles I had run out of water. Another 4 miles on we eventually got to it.

Michelle, of course, (and Hayley and Cathy) were already back before I got there, just under 6 hours from when we started...

...as were those who had done the 20km and 10km walks. Kim had already made friends with the band.

We took turns at posing with the flag  Hello Hayley.

It was very dusty today. Look at my shoes!

I somehow got delegated to lead an expedition to find and evening meal. We ended up at The Patio.

People liked it. Then it was another wander through old town with a bit of window-shopping...

...and... "John  can you find us an ice-cream shop now?". Yes I could.

What a lovely day. A bit of a hard climb and I had acquired a couple of blisters from the hard surfaces - a bit more padding on my heels needed tomorrow. At 19.1m we got our 30km worth and more. Lovely stuff. More climbs tomorrow. I hope it isn't too hot!

You can see more details of our route here on MapMyWalk and more of my photos here on Flickr,