All Change for Autumn

I have mentioned before that we have a different routine for the hot summer months here in Spain.   It often feels like we go into hibernation from June to September.   We are not alone, most ex pats living in southern Spain do the same.  Or at least the ones who stay here do, many go back to the UK for a summer break.

The advantage of our hot summer is that we spend a lot more time wargaming.   Like our Spanish neighbours we try to avoid the hottest part of each day by staying indoors.  This gives us the opportunity to wargame most days.   We are fortunate to have a permanent wargames table, so we can have a couple of moves when we feel like it.

Apart from wargaming our favourite leisure activity is hill walking.  We are fortunate to live in a very beautiful area which is well known for good valley, mountain and coastal walking.   Our best friends run very successful guided walking holidays, and their guests often comment that this is some of the best walking they have done.

Jan and I run two U3A walking groups, who meet each Monday and Thursday.   This gives us plenty of exercise and has allowed us to meet a large number of likeminded locals who share our enjoyment of walking.   There are many such groups here on the Costa Blanca, and all are well supported.   Because of the summer heat all of them stop walking at the end of May until the start of October.

This year we decided to see if we could walk during June and September.   The temperatures are still high, but not as bad as July and August.    We offered a shorter three hour walk once a week starting an hour earlier at 0900.  The aim was to complete a low level valley walk and be back in the bar by 1200.   They proved very popular, and not as difficult as we feared.

But now we approach the start of our regular walking season.   Back to two walks a week, each supported by a weekly blog.   So our available wargame time is greatly reduced.  

During the summer I needed to post twice a week on this blog, and the 1813 campaign diary blog, to keep up with the pace of the campaign and wargaming.   Now I expect I will be able to do so with one post each week.

Many of our regular walkers did not take part in our summer walks.   So we are really looking forward to seeing them all again and catching up on their summer stories.   The first walk after the summer break is a little like going back to school and seeing all your friends after a long break.

We will miss our intensive wargaming activity, but will welcome getting out and about again.   And having less time to game usually makes us appreciate it all the more when we do.