Vom Tag 4 des Schüleraustauschs mit Albaida in Spanien im Rahmen des Erasmus-Projektes berichten Zoë G. and Janina S. (10a) /

From day 4 of the Erasmus-exchange to Albaida, Spain, report Zoë G. and Janina S. (10a):

DAY 4

After we went on a bus trip to Valencia yesterday, today, on Thursday, we went to “La Cova Alta“. Our hiking-tour started at 8:10 am at the High School of Albaida. We all met there and got some sticks to collect trash, that were made by the Spanish students themselves, and some trash bags because our job wasn’t just hiking up the 880 m high mountain, we also had to collect the trash that we would find on the hiking path to our destination and up the mountain.

After everyone was equipped, our long and hard Plogging adventure started. First, we were walking through the streets of the neighbouring village of Albaida, Benissoda. Everyone was diligently collecting cigarettes, plastic bags and other types of waste. At the beginning we all were walking excitedly. The view was nice just as the weather. It was nice to walk through the beautiful nature after we left Benissoda. But then our way got very cliffy and it was almost like climbing for some of us rather than walking or hiking. When we put the cliffy part behind us, we needed a little break. So we walked a little more and found a nice place for having a break to eat and drink. Even though some students were super exhausted from one of the cliffy parts that our hiking path had for us, we still managed to keep up the mood and turned our food break into a dance break. To keep the mood up after the break when we started to walk again we let the music play from the speakers that the Spanish students brought. We kept hiking, collecting waste, enjoying the weather and sight and listened to music but it got harder to walk up the mountain because there were even more cliffy parts than we thought. In between, we made some small breaks due to the fact that it was too difficult for some of us. We finally arrived at the point where we only had one more kilometer to walk, but it was the hardest kilometer ever. Before that we had some small cliffy parts which we had to overcome and the rest was mostly like flat land but this last kilometer was just precipitous. We were using the sticks not for collecting trash because there wasn’t even any trash that high on the mountain, so we were using them to help ourselves to get to our destination. It felt like this last kilometer took us hours but when we arrived at the top we were welcomed by a wonderful view. We could see the cities and villages near Albaida. It was a beautiful sight. And up there our destination was a cave that you could walk in. We had a longer break, just relaxing and enjoying the view.

When we relaxed and ate, the Spanish teachers said that we had to go. The break was too short for the fact that the way up took a few hours. Anyway we had to walk down a part of the way that we walked up before. It was easier to walk down but our legs and feet hurt a lot. When we were on a beautiful place with Albaida in the background, we took a photo of the whole group. It was practical that we walked another way back to Albaida than before. All students were happy that the way down wasn’t as hilly as the way up. The paths were straighter, but very stoney so that some people slipped a bit. On both stretches the students who walked in front of the rest of us had to stop to wait for the others. That cost time but we all liked doing it because of the great views. In total, we hiked 18 km and had an elevation gain of around 600 meters.

After we came to the High School at last, we went home to have lunch. Some students met at that evening to have a snack like every day. And some other students had “the Spanish-nap“ to get more energy because we all were very tired. Most of us spent the remaining evening at home, ate dinner and recovered from the very exhausting hike.