Today was the fourth and final day of this year's Marbella 4 Day Walking. I am doing the 20km routes, along with my walking friend Jane...
...and probably over 1000 others. In total there were 2369 registered walkers. This was the description:
"While a huge part of Marbella is still sleeping on this Sunday, you will walk through their neighbourhoods towards the Via Verde (the green path). Some heavy climbing on dirt tracks will be rewarded with breath-taking views on the lake of Istán and the village on the foot of the hills. From there you slowly go down again to residential areas but not before you have a rest at the Lago de las Tortugas (Turtle Lake). From Puerto Banús you will then return to the finish accompanied by a fresh breeze from the sea.
Before reaching the finish you will pass through the arch of the Via Gladiolo, the gladiolus being the Roman symbol for victory: you made it!"
This was our 20km route:
These are the overall stats:
And this the elevation profile...
Here are a few photos:
At the start people were dancing and we were coaxed into doing Mexican waves while we waited for the off.
No I never did manage to photograph a sunrise. I stopped when we reached to fron to take a phtograph towards the East anyway...
...and was passed by the ladies in yellow I had been walking close to all week.
When we reached Aloha College I remembered what came next.
I was glad we had cloud cover today as the path got steeper and steeper.
We left the suburbs and climbed further into the countryside on part of the Puerta Verde, which goes all the way to Ronda.
These climbers with purple flowers were everywhere.
It was a stony path up the hill.
We got a great view of where we had climbed yesterday.
Eventually we were able to see the lake of Istán and village beside it.
Joyce called to warn us about this turning. Miranda and Hayley had gone wrong here last time.
This tunnel was full of deeply rutted mud that had set as hard a concrete.
We arrived at the turtle lake, where plenty of others topped, but we didn't.
Some people were stopping at this car, which had been beside the route every day. It appeared to be supplying tots of brandy.
Back at the sea front again.
As we progressed along the sea front, as well as overtaking lots of 10km walkers wearing their yellow wristbands, we passed several people wearing green wristbands who we were sure hadn't been in front of us. We concluded a lot of 20km walkers just did the 10km today
Just before the end we passed under the arch for the Via Gladiolio.
The band was there to greet people as they received their individual gladioli.
...she was presented with an extra medal for having complete the Marbella 4 Days five times.
The dancing was going on as usual and Pru and Kim joined in.
Tim had a drone to watch over proceedings.
While Joyce and the gang headed for home, I had an extra two days yet so tonight enjoyed the dying of the day...
...before rewarding myself with a steak for staying the course.
So, to finish with, here are the three of us with our flowers and medals.
Hooray! We made it! Thank-you to all for the company.
You can see more details of my route here on MapMyWalk and more of my photos and some videos here on Flickr.
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