On Saturday 26th March, a group of friends walked from one end of Jávea to the other in the inaugural Mirador Challenge, a total distance of just over 27 kilometres passing through the fifteen official “miradores” of the area. These viewpoints – “Los Miradores de Xàbia” – are a set of remarkable attractions that have been selected for both their natural beauty and their historical importance to the local area.
Starting at 8.00am at the remote viewpoint of La Granadella on the edge of the rolling Parque Forestal de Grandella, the six intrepid walkers – Mike Smith, Boris Riley, John Channon, Will Guest, Dave Stewart and Walt Tarplee, supported by Fay Hughes and Jo Riley as the support team – enjoyed a warm spring day as they marched their way with determination through each checkpoint along the rugged coastline of Jávea.
Resplendent in T-shirts supplied by the DeVere Group, they completed the 27.2 kilometre route in 8 hours and 22 minutes and organiser Mike Smith believes that they could be the first people to have completed such a challenge. “The idea for the walk came to me last year when I was researching the each mirador for my website.” he said. “Walking between each viewpoint opened up some marvellous scenery that few might know existed and I wondered if all fifteen could be linked. I couldn't find any reference to such a challenge online and the local people that I spoke to didn't know if it had been done before. So we could be the first to have done this. And to have completed the walk almost 45 minutes ahead of our target time was fantastic. And now we extend the challenge to others!”
Now that they have determined that the walk can be done, Mike and his fellow challengers hope that the Mirador Challenge could become an annual event offering a unique walking challenge for those with the stamina to cover the distance and have already pencilled in the end of next March 2012 for the 2nd Mirador Challenge.
