12 March 2020 – last
pre covid walk
I was asked to write
an article for the Vall del Pop September Newsletter. Obviously
nothing much has been happening with our walking group since the last
newsletter in June. So I decided to do a short summary of the group
during the covid crisis. This has prompted me to do something
similar here on the blog.
It’s been a funny old
18 months since the joys of covid 19 and lockdowns was introduced in March
2020. Lucky we did not know then that the temporary measures
introduced to deal with the emergency would last almost two years.
As individuals we
managed pretty well, all things considered. However it was a
disaster for the group. Our last pre covid walk was on 12
March 2020. There were 15 of us on that walk. We
had a membership of 34, but managed to keep most walks to a maximum
of 16. it was a lovely sunny Thursday morning as we walked
from Castells. Covid 19 was something that was happening in
China and Italy. The next day Valencia declared a state of
emergency and our world changed.
2 June 2020 – first
walk after lockdown
For almost three
months we were under house arrest here in Spain, only allowed to leave the
house for medical or urgent food shopping. Not until June were
we allowed to leave the house together, and then must remain within
1km. What a joy on 2 June 2020 to be able to walk freely in
the valley once again. We would spend the rest of the month doing
recce for our planned September summer walks.
3 September 2020 –
first group walk after lockdown
It would be another
three months before we could meet as a group once again, and then we would have
to wear face masks even in the campo. There were ten of us on
that walk, the maximum allowed to meet together. Despite this
it was lovely to meet up with old friends and to enjoy walking as a group
again.
28 December 2020 –
last walk before Christmas
For the next three months we met each week, and life seemed to be getting back to normal, even if we did have to wear face masks in towns and villages. However we had lost almost all of our pre covid membership. About half lived in the UK, and none had returned to Spain for visits. The other half simply did not want to meet to walk. But we did recruit a lot of new members, and most walks had the maximum of ten allowed. It was cold and grey for the last walk before Christmas, but still great to be able to get out and about.
29 March 2021 – first
walk after lockdown
On Sunday 3 January 2021 all groups were banned and we had to cancel our planned first walk of the year. This lockdown was not as bad as the first one. We were allowed to exercise freely, but only with family members. In late march the restrictions were relaxed and we were allowed to meet with another couple, limited to a maximum of four.
12 April 2021 - first
Monday Group walk since lockdown
In April numbers allowed to meet were increased to six, and we organised our first Monday Ramblers walk since December. It was not difficult to restrict numbers on each walk, there were rarely more than four wanting to walk. It was disappointing that none of our pre covid group wanted to walk again. I am sure that they all have good reasons, not least that many still consider it dangerous to meet with non family members. But it is a shame just the same. Fortunately we had managed to recruit new members before Christmas, and enough of them wanted to walk to make it worthwhile to keep the group going.
17 May 2021 - numbers
increased to ten
In May groups were increased to ten and
it felt like we were finally getting back to normal. This is a good
size and suits us well. It is enough to feel like a group, but
small enough for everyone to mix freely. By now all of the new
members had settled in and it felt like a group again.
All of the pre covid members we had
lost has belong to the Thursday Explorers, so we did not try to restart that
again. There were four of the previous group who would have liked
to walk, but did not want to do the shorter Monday walks. However
we felt we had to concentrate on building up the Monday group first
28 June 2021
– last walk before summer break
There were twelve on our last walk before the summer break.
This included Barry and Linda, the only UK residents to walk with us
since the original lockdown. They have visited Spain a couple of
times since lockdown, and have walked with us each time. Everyone
seemed to enjoy the walk, and all confirmed that they would be walking again in
September.
So we have survived
covid 19 restrictions, at least so far. We are now planning
what to do in the future. We hope to do our usual three hour
summer walks in September. It is usually still quite warm, but
manageable, in September. We meet at 0900 for a gentle three hour
valley walk and aim to get to the bar by midday and before the hottest part of
the day.
We have no idea how
many members will want to walk in September. It is not unusual
to lose some members after the long summer break. We
want to restrict each group to no more than 12. Those members
we have met during the summer break indicate that they want to do the summer
walks. I am hoping for a good response from my U3A newsletter
article, so hopefully we will be OK.
In the longer term we
plan to reduce our group walks to one a week. Most existing
members already walk on Monday, so we will suspend the Thursday
Explorers. However we still prefer the longer Thursday walks
to the shorter Monday ones. So we will offer a wider range of
walks on Monday. No doubt we will lose some of those members
who only want to do morning walks. But hopefully we will be
able to build up the membership again soon.
We are really pleased
that we are approaching the end of the hot July and August
weather. It has seemed longer than usual because we have not
had our usual family visits this year. We have not been back to
the UK since December 2019, and the family have not been out here since August
2019. We are hoping to get back to the UK for Christmas this
year. But no firm plans at present as restrictions seem to
change day by day.
Hopefully we will be back to walking as normal soon, with the first walk planned for Monday 6 September 2021.