25 Feb 2010 - Jalon Valley Almond Blossom

The Jalon Valley is well known locally for the annual Almond Blossom display

Each year in February the valley is transformed by the almond blossoms which last for a week or so. The normally drab and unattractive almond trees are covered in white or pink blossoms, which turn the whole valley into a blaze of colour

We had arranged to meet Les and Jen at Alcalali to walk to Jalon for lunch. The walk into Jalon was cloudy, but dry. Not ideal conditions for the blossoms, but still very impressive.

It’s a nice easy walk between Alcalali and Jalon, and on a good path all the way. So it’s a very relaxed walk. At any time of year its an attractive walk, but at this time of year it is particularly popular because of the almond blossoms.

The blossom are very late this year. Normally they would bloom in early February, and indeed the annual walk was arranged two weeks ago. Its been unusually cold and grey since January, and this may well be the cause of the delay this year. Only a few days ago there were only scattered trees in bloom. So we were pleasantly surprised to find that it was so impressive today.

We first met Les and Jen about four years ago when they were looking for a property in the area. They spent a week in a house a few doors from us whilst house hunting, and we met them one evening. They found a lovely villa overlooking Alcalali, and moved here permanently three years ago. We have remained good friends since.

After a light lunch in Jalon we were pleased to find that the sun came out for the return walk to Alcalali.

This is normally a very quiet walk. The road is well used, but we do not usually encounter many other walkers. Today was different, and we passed a lot of other walkers out to see the almond blossoms.

Its about 4 miles from Alcalali to Jalon, so it was a short walk of less than an hour, even at our slow pace. Plenty of time to catch up on what’s been happening since we last met up.

We were soon back in Alcalali, where we had left our cars. It had been a very pleasant walk in good company, and we ended it with a nice cup of coffee on their naya overlooking the same Jalon valley and the mountains behind.