Walking weather back after sizzling summer

September is the perfect month to enjoy a walk on the beachfront and take in the spectacular views: for example, this one in Marbella.

This is litoral-ly great news! At the end of last month, the Málaga Provincial Government announced that the senda litoral – the seaside walkway that stretches along large parts of our sunshine coast –will be extended by 700 metres between Río Real and El Pinillo, just outside Marbella…

The investment for this project will be somewhere in the region of one million euros; an amount which is expected to be transferred to the local council responsible for the work before the end of the year.

This is great news for residents of Marbella, people who enjoy the great outdoors and avid walkers, as well as visitors who want to take in the outstanding natural beauty of the Mediterranean coast without getting sand between their toes.

While this additional kilometre of walkway may not sound like a lot, the extension is part of a more ambitious project that will see the towns of Nerja on the eastern Costa del Sol and Manilva in the west connected by the continuous coastal pathway. This means its total length will be 181 kilometres, of which – once construction in Río Real and some other improvement work is done elsewhere – 27 kilometres will be in and around the hugely popular town of Marbella.

Elías Bendodo, President of Turismo Costa del Sol, was quick to point out that the potential income from increased tourism in the area as a result of the initiative would go a long way towards offsetting this investment.

If you live on the Costa del Sol or you visited this summer, you will know that it is best to avoid doing strenuous activity during periods when the temperatures are particularly high; therefore it’s often not the best time of year to put on your walking boots and tread the boards of the senda litoral.

In September, however, average temperatures during the day go down by at least a few degrees and evenings are distinctly cooler, making the activity of walking much more pleasant. This is precisely why golf’s high season coincides with this slightly cooler time of year…

…So, if you don’t want your “good walk spoiled”, in the words of Mark Twain, stick to the Coast’s beautiful winding beachfront pathway and find your favourite stretch of beach along the senda litoral.