On Wednesday 14th March our Branch Treasurer, Dave Graves, completed a marathon sponsored walk on behalf of the RBL Poppy Appeal. His route covered just over 30 kilometres of mountainous terrain, starting at Venta de Palma (700m) (Cómpeta), up to Puerto Collado,(890 m) then further up behind the fire watch station, reaching a height of 1164m – considerably higher than Mount Snowdon in Wales!

He then followed the silk route to Venta Candido. Turning down to the river bed Dave then climbed out along the track to emerge above beehive corner. This brought him back to the track leading to the head of the valley and Cortijo Daire, then to the Frigiliana quarry and into Acebuchal. Following the track down to the Río and back out the other side of the valley on to the old helipad, then turning on to the Torrox Cómpeta road to the bar-restaurant Pavo Real.

Dave, who was accompanied by his dogs, Lucy and Alice, told us that he had hoped to cover the distance in about six hours, but forgot that the first 10 kilometres was all uphill! This, coupled with unseasonably high temperatures meant that the total time taken, including many water stops for Lucy and Alice, was in fact seven hours. Nevertheless, this was a magnificent effort, and Dave has so far raised over €890 for the 2012 Poppy Appeal. Congratulations Dave and very many thanks.

(News/Events: Axarquia, Costa del Sol, Malaga, Andalucia)