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.