Rambling With Al consists of two walking and rambling groups and covers most abilities and ages, and we aim to provide an environment that encourages the health and the social aspects of the activity.
Our walking, rambling and hiking groups are based in and around Coin, which is in the province of Malaga in Andalucia, Southern Spain and the majority of our walks are in that main location although we do also venture to the coast as well as further inland and the coast.

The 2 groups are;

Walking for Wellness;
I set up this group in the early part of 2017 following my own health problems that restricted me to the type of terrain that I was able to walk in, and it occurred to me that there were probably a lot of other 'mature' people that would enjoy and benefit from walking in the countryside but were unable to tackle the more challenging routes.
This has indeed proved to be the case and now have very good support and often have a group of well over 20 walking amid the beautiful Andalucian countryside. In this part of Spain it is not possible to find many routes that are flat so I try to find routes with few inclines. However there are river banks that we take to and every few weeks we drive to the coast and walk the paseo or newly constructed boardwalk.
Typically our walks are between 5 and 7 kms in length and last around 2 hours or so and are on an easy terrain, many of them start and end near to a cafe bar

Saturday Ramblers:
This group was really the original group that I set up and has gone from strength to strength and now boasts a regular turnout of over 30 walkers.
Most of our routes are around the Coin area as there is some stunning countryside and amazing views right on our doorstep and there is little need to travel too far. However we do venture to the countryside around the surrounding towns and villages and go as far as Teba.
The difficulty of the routes varies from quite easy to some that are a little more challenging and typically they are from about 7km upto around 13km in length so taking between 3 and 5 hours to complete. The distance and difficulty of the routes are always shown on the details that are sent out so that everyone can make there own mind up as to whether the route is suitable for them.
Most of the routes will have an element of gradient on them as that is the nature of the area in which we live and walk.
With all of the groups we have a wide range of personalities and indeed nationalities and I always find it fascinating to see the interaction between them, fortunately everyone speaks English, sometimes in varying degrees, but all nationalities are welcomed.


The age group of the hikers in all groups could be described as 'mature', but we do have a number of younger walkers which give the groups and more balanced feel.
There is not only the fitness side of the walking but equally important is the social side and I try wherever possible to make sure that all new walkers become a part of the group.

Dogs on walks:
Dogs are welcome on the walks of all groups but perhaps not on all of the walks, but where it is felt that dogs are not appropriate that will always be pointed out in the details.
Great care has to be taken from the turn of the new year until spring where dogs are walked, as this is the season for the deadly Processionary Caterpillar and some of the routes that we walk have a large number of Pine trees around and are not really suitable for dogs in the early part of the year.

Charity Donations:
With the success of the sponsored hikes it was suggested to me that a small donation from each walker could make a large difference to charities. Most people (not all) saw this as a good idea and so I introduced this, and now each walker is asked for a €3 donation to come on the walk, although this is only once per week, so walkers could come on all three walks in the week and only pay €3.
Although this is only a small amount we are able to donate between €300 and €400 to charities each month, and since the walking groups were started we have donated over €20,000 to various local charities.

Rambling With Al – The Story so Far

The original group was set up in March 2015 and in its early days attracted around half a dozen walkers and some weeks the walk would be cancelled due to no interest.

The group bumbled along for the rest of the year and the days that we walked was changed because it didn't suit some people but that then didn't suit others so I settled on the Saturdays and stuck to that.

In January 2016 I suggested a hike to La Bola, which is the weather radar ball at the summit of the Sierra de Mijas. As this was something more challenging than we had tackled before I decided (albeit at the last minute) to make it a sponsored hike, and raise money to buy a tanker of water for S.O.S.Animals whose well had run dry and were having to buy in tanker loads of water at around €75 a time. I would have been happy to have raised the €75 that a tanker load cost but as it happened we raised €260. In addition to the fund raising we all (6 of us) had a great adventure hiking to the top of the mountain, the combined ages of those who did this was nearly 400 years.

With this quest came a lot of publicity and as a result lots of inquiries to join the group and within a couple of weeks we went from about 6 to 36 on the walks. This momentum continued and in the spring I saw an opportunity to perhaps raise more money for the animal charity and organised a 20km sponsored hike. The route was decided and started from the picnic area outside of the Sports Stadium in the Los Llanos woods near to Coin from where, on Saturday 31^st April 2016 and in ideal weather, some 16 of us set off, and after about 6 hours we returned to be greeted by our families and supporters enjoying a picnic. We raised a spectacular total of €2400 which was donated to S.O.S.Animals and was very gratefully received.

The group continued to walk every Saturday and in fact a few of us were also walking on  the Thursdays, but this was a more informal gathering and we were exploring new routes for the main group and also taking on more challenging routes.

Whilst the Saturday group activities were stopped during the heat of the summer the Thursday’s continued.

On our return to the scheduled walks in September I was asked to organize the walking routes for the S.O.S. Animals Sponsored Walk. The picnic area in Los Llanos woods seemed a good starting point and I organized 5km and a 10km route so that, hopefully, this would attract more walkers. The advantage of this area to walk in is that for most of the routes you were in the shade and the picnic area made a great venue to raise more money.

Whilst on one of the walks that month it was suggested to me that if I charged a small fee to people to come on the walks than that could raise money for charity. After a short consideration I decided to introduce the €2 donation to everyone who came on the walks and this was accepted without question by all but 2 couples and since then we have been able to donate between €200 and  €300 every month to S.O.S.Animals and another charity.

In early October 2016 I led the Thursday group, on a new route to us, along marked routes on the South face of the Sierra de Mijas, with some wonderful walking with some spectacular views across the Mediterranean to North Africa and south to Gibraltar. On the Saturday I led the group to the fire lookout on Sierra de la Roble and again some quiet steep inclines, but with views as far as Malaga Port. The following Monday I had promised one of our walkers, Meg, that I would check out a route that she had suggested in the mountains around Monda. At the end of that walk as I got to the end of the drive to Megs chalet, I collapsed and unfortunately this wasn’t the first time, it had happened a couple of times in the previous couple of years, after exercise. It was thought to be dehydration, and was taken home only to be rushed to the Hospital in Malaga where I was rushed into Critical Care. Eventually I was stabilised and spent the next 2 weeks in the Cardiac ward having lots of tests. It was discovered that I had some fairly serious Heart problems (some of which I was born with and had no idea) with the ultimate outcome that I was fitted with an ICD (Implanted Cardioversion Defibrilator) and being told no more hill walking and no more heavy exercise.

The S.O.S. Animals Sponsored walks were planned for the first Saturday that I was in hospital but with some fantastic teamwork from a few members of the group in particular Paula and John the walks went ahead. With the money that was raised from the sponsorship, the picnic and John Statons cake raffle the day ended with a fantastic €1400 raised for the charity.

I had also organized for a group of 20 of us to walk the Caminito del Rey again along with lunch, but I was unable to do this but once again in stepped my trusted lieutenants and the walk and lunch went ahead.

Unfortunately my hospitalization and subsequent convalescence brought the walking groups to a shuddering halt, and with the news that I would no longer be able to lead or indeed partake in a lot of the walks something had to be done.

I gathered together a small group of those who had become most involved and indeed formed the core of the Thursday group, namely the three Johns and Paula for a strategy meeting, and all were agreed that the groups should carry on and that they would lead and help wherever possible and I would do the planning and administration until I was able to walk more.

With the fantastic efforts of that small group the walks started again, but my predicament had set me thinking, that there must be a lot of others in a similar position that would like to walk, but nothing too heavy. It was with this in mind that I set up the ‘Walking for Wellness’ group, with routes that were shorter, flatter and easier than the Saturday routes. From the start this proved popular and attracted a number of like minded people along with their dogs, there are now times when we have almost as many dogs as walkers but the remarkable thing is that most of our canine members seem to get on. It is quite a joy to see them exploring and checking out what each other has found.

The €2 donation for the walks was working well and we are contributing between €200 an €300 per month to S.O.S.Animals and another charity of a members choice.

It was in the first half of 2017 the we decided that it would be a good idea to have some First Aiders on the walks and as one of the group was an ex First Aid Trainer 6 of us was duly taught CPR, wound Dressing and various other aspects of First Aid, enough for us to cope with a variety of minor injuries that hopefully would never occour.

The Sponsored Hike would hopefully now become an annual event and the date for the 2017 was set and this time it would be bigger and better organized than the first one but one thing that even I couldn’t control was the weather, and in contrast to the year before, it rained, and had we stuck to the date it would have been a washout so we took the decision to postpone for a week. This proved to be the right one and the weather cleared and was kind to us on the day.

The route would be virtually the same as the previous year with the exception of climb which would be along the marked route rather than up the very steep concrete track as before, this added a couple of kilometers so it was renamed a Half Marathon Hike. The donation format would be changed also as we were donating to S.O.S. every month we adopted three more charities to share the total raised. Although I was unable to tackle this type of walk any more I had good deputies to lead.

The 17 intrepid hikers had a send off from some S.O.S. rescue dogs, and that was the last we would see of the walkers for another 6 hours. In the meantime non-hiking partners were busy making food for the picnic at the completion of the hike.

With the fantastic support, and donated raffle prizes, food sales, drink sales, Johns cake raffle and sponsorship the day was a great success and raised an amazing €3700 which was divided equally between the 4 charities S.O.S Animals, A.R.C.H Horse Rescue, A.I.D Animals in Distress and CHAIN.

The groups continued to flourish but the summer was fast approaching and whilst I try to plan routes that are in the shade, it can become very repetitive and still gets too hot to walk.

It was with this in mind that John Campbell, who is an early bird, suggested an early morning group through the summer months, and this was duly set p with the start set at 07:00 and the walks would be finished by about 10:00 when it was starting to get unbearable.

John planned the routes and  the group explored the north side of the Sierra de Mijas each Thursday and Saturday from early July through to mid September, culminating with a 04:00 start to La Bola (mentioned earlier) on the morning following the full moon to watch the moon set in the west and the sun rise in the east as it did on cue.

The group took with then some Cava, Cake and Bacon Butties, the latter had become the Madrugistas staple fare, and had a toast to the rising sun.

The season started again in September with the now well established three distinct groups, I decided to limit the charity donations to a regular three in addition to S.O.S.Animals and we are now supporting ARCH, AID and Cudeca.

I am now able to tackle a lot more routes than a year ago but those that I won’t risk doing are led usually by John Milborrow and assisted by the other two Johns.

Another one of our walkers donated to us a portable defibrillator which was surplus to requirements from an Oil Rig, this gift was duly accepted and we are now perhaps the only group in the area that has First Aiders and a Defib, on which a number of us have been instructed.

In October 2017, we again organised the S.O.S. Sponsored walk using the same format, venue and routes as the previous year only this time I was able to lead the 5km walkers and this time there was an even better turnout and the whole day was a lot more efficient having learnt from the previous year. The day ended up with a contribution to the S.O.S coffers of over €2000.

The format of the three groups continues and although the people change we still retain a good turnout for all of the walks. Some of the earlier members are no longer able to walk with us, but new walkers are constantly joining us, and we have a diverse mix of nationalities which make for very interesting conversations.

In addition to the scheduled walks, hikes and rambles we have made several trips to walk the Caminito del Rey and have many ad hoc social events, and through our various efforts we have donated almost €11,000 to a number of charities.

The summer of 2019 saw a split in the group with most of those mentioned above deciding that they were no longer interested in what my group had to offer and formed there own group, and having nothing to do with this group any longer.