Catalan swimmer arrives in Malaga during round-Spain charity challenge

Eugenio Cabezas

Friday, 2 May 2025, 18:58

Catalan swimmer Alberto Lorente set off on a colossal challenge on 22 April: to swim around Spain as part of the 'Abracemos el mar' (Let's embrace the sea) challenge. Environmental activist Enrique Herrero 'Quique Bolsitas' is accompanying him on his adventure, in which the athlete, who works as a bus driver, swims between ten and twelve kilometres in each of the stages. The aim is to raise awareness about sea pollution and the importance of cleaning up the seas and oceans.

After starting in the Bilbao estuary, he has already completed stages in Asturias, Galicia, Huelva and Cadiz. After Lanzarote, this coming Saturday 3 May he will be in the Axarquía on the eastern Costa del Sol, where Lorente, who has four Guinness records, will swim around twelve kilometres between Torrox lighthouse and the Balcón de Europa in Nerja. It will be the seventh stage of his charity challenge and he plans to swim between 11am and 2pm. On the shore 'Quique Bolsitas' will accompany him with a beach clean-up, to which volunteers and residents of both towns have been invited.

"Every stroke counts, if we didn't have the blue we wouldn't have the green. Seventy per cent of us are water and when we come into contact with the sea it is a very beautiful connection," said Herrero, who is from Huelva, in statements to the local radio station Radio Juventud.

More than 1,100 people have taken part in the first five stages, in which more than 300 kilos of rubbish have already been collected.

Lorente has already swum nearly 50 kilometres and around 18,000 cigarette butts have already been collected.

Local swimmers from both municipalities and visitors are expected to participate, as well as citizen groups, environmental associations and numerous volunteers who will collaborate in cleaning and awareness-raising tasks on dry land.

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The activity will start at 9am with a beach clean on Playa Chica, Espigón and Torrox lighthouse. They will leave Playa Chica at 11am to continue in Nerja and will cover the area between Burriana and El Playazo. The event will finish at around 2pm at Calahonda beach, next to the Balcón de Europa. All volunteers will be given a T-shirt.

Torrox Swimming Club representative Carlos Vinuesa said that "during the five stages that have already taken place, there are already 500 kilos of waste collected and 12,700 cigarette butts, therefore, I invite all swimmers to come in one way or another to accompany Alberto". Vinuesa added that "we have to take care of our beaches in order to be able to live together because if we damage nature we damage our own lives".

For more information visit the website www.abracemoselmar.es and the Instagram profile @abracemoselmar.