Lecrin Valley Limpers

Dear all For our last walk of 2007 a tough walk was called for, billed as a waist buster it was designed to undo all the Christmas excess. The walk involved following the Durcal hydro electric feed pipe up the mountain side of Peñon de Granada. At 1715 meters Peñon de Granada is the high spot behind Durcal, and getting to the top involves some effort, but at this time of the year the sun does not get on to the path until late in morning, so not too much sweat is wasted as we followed the well graded path up to the summit. The weather was perfect for such a walk not a cloud in the sky all day and as is general at this time of the year the visibility was incredible, leading one walker to describe the views as awesome, (Please note Peter does not want this quote attributed to him). For our return journey we came back via the Barranco de la Rambla, it is the first time we have been down here since the big storm, it is still difficult to believe the amount of destruction

Well I messed up real bad on Sunday! I apologise for a serious error of judgement, What should have been a wet day, according to local and national weather forecasts, turned out to be dry and relatively sunny, so Sundays walk, that I canceled on Saturday when it was wet and misty, could have gone ahead. The most important part of the day went ahead as normal and 17 turned up for tapa at Josettes, Thank you to Josette for hosting the tapa and everyone else for turning up with delicious food again. By request the walk will be rescheduled for Sunday 6th January. The walk this coming Sunday the 30th is designed to get rid of the excess weight put on over Christmas, and make room for the New Years Eve parties. We are going up thetubo, this is the hydro electric feed tube that runs up the hillside behind Durcal. The zig zag path is very good, but it does take 2 hours to climb the 660 meters to the summit. The views are good all the way and from the top ofPeñón de Granada they are stunning a

All week we have had blue skies and sunshine, so it was a bit of a let down on Sunday morning when we awoke to grey skies, but because our intended route was around the valley it was not going to cause us too many problems. Our path led us fromChite down to the lake and along the path to Restabal where we witnessed the damage done by the September storm, I hope they are going to get a grant from somewhere to repair the damage because it is going to cost a few Euros to restore thebankings and the road. From Restabal we headed up to the castle at Murchas, sampling the first of this seasons oranges along the way. By now the clouds had parted and the blue skies had returned and everyone was busy shedding the extra jumpers needed earlier. We returned toChite via Murchas, and the Noche Azul in Talara . This weeks prize for plonker of the week goes to me, for falling down a pot hole and then later slipping off the footpath and down a banking whilst doing a diversion caused by the storm. We r

Dear Limper After a promising start on Sunday, in sunshine and blue skies, we set off for what I had billed would be one of the finest walks ever. A beautiful mountain and fantastic views in all directions. Well, by the time we had driven the 1.5 hours including 20km on a forest track which took us deep into the Sierra Almijara, some in the group were questioning their wisdom and sanity on choosing to come out on todays outing, the weather had started to deteriorate, the clouds were rolling in, and the wind was starting to freshen. but our goal was still in sight, Pico Lucero, stood there, majestically, waiting for anyone foolish enough to climb her, ( I know it is masculine, but climb him does not sound right). As we started to climb the mountain the clouds crept lower and the wind picked up, by the time we had been going about 40 minutes we were in mist, and walking at a funny angle, Quina´s dogs were being carried as they were in danger of taking flying lessons. So wi

Our walk on Sunday was up Silleta, this is the saddle back mountain above Padul. The start of this walk has always been a bit steep for the first 200 meters especially from a standing start, but while surfing Google earth I discovered an easier route, which I had intended to check out the previous week , unfortunately I had spent 4 days in my sick bed ( thanks to Dutch Bob). This resulted in trying to find the route on the day, and missing the path by about 20 meters, This led us into walking about 50 meters across virgin ground, before regaining the right path. I sincerely apologise for this lapse in planning. Once back on track we chose to do the route in the reverse direction. Whilst this still results in attaining the summit ofSilleta the way up is not steep and is in effect a Dutch flat walk. The main feature of this walk is the rock called the Ventana, which is a large arched rock high on the hillside. Well worth the effort of getting there, especially with the back

After a wet week, (yes it does rain in Spain sometimes!) Sunday dawned bright and clear, setting the stage for what to most people was a new walk.The walk starts from the car park at Sevilla above Cumbres Verde, christened the " Super Mario " after a super fit older gentleman left us standing, when we surveyed the walk last year. Our original route started with quite a strenuous 1½ hours of climbing, but by reversing the direction of the walk, the climb to the summit becomes an easy 3.½ hours walk. As most of you have probably noticed I tend to walk at the rear of the group, this is to give encouragement to the tailenders , and also so we don´t lose anybody. Noticing that the group was mostly comprised of good walkers and being a new route, I decided to walk at the front. A big mistake! We had not gone more than 2km when we noticed that the 12 happy wanderers were no more, one had gone AWOL, Peter had taken time out to inspect a tree, and in an effort to catch u