Walk 6th January 2008

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 that it caused. We had a excellent walk, because of all the Christmas and New Year parties at this time of the year we did not arrange any tapa this week.

First walk for 2008 very easy.

Walk Sunday 6th January 2008

This walk is the one we had to cancel on the 23rd December, so I will just repeat the description. I know I have a reputation for stretching the truth sometimes (undeservedly) when it comes to describing the walks, but this one is easy, the lowest rating, classed suitable for Olwyn, it is 90% down hill, and the other 10% is hardly a hill at all, it is about 11km long on a good track from the carretera de Cabra back to Padul with excellent views over the Sierra Nevada, estimated walking time 3 hours. The hardest part is organising the transport, as it is a linear walk we need to position vehicles at the end of the walk, before driving to the start of the walk. If you want to go on the walk meet at 9am. opposite the Taberna Baeta bar in Padul, ( from Durcal take the first junction for Padul, follow the road into Padul going round the left hand and then right hand turns, the bar has a covered area, over the pavement and is about 50 meters on your right just before the 2nd set of traffic lights). As it is the Conchar mosto fiesta this weekend, there is no tapa organised as I know a number of you want to go there in the afternoon.

Walk 30th December 2007

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 as they look out over the Lecrin Valley and Caballo. We then follow the path as it heads around to the Barranco al la Rambla and follow this path back to the start. Walking time about 5 hours, difficulty medium high. (note the 660 meters). The weather forecast for Sunday is good, sun all day! I hope it is a bit more reliable than last weeks. There is no tapa arranged so we will go to a bar somewhere. If you are up to it, meet at 9am outside theCorivan Supermarket on the Durcal bypass.

There is a party at our house on New Years Eve from around 8pm, usual tapa rules apply, all are welcome.

Have a good week and enjoy your Christmas celebrations.

Stuart

No photos this week

Walk 23rd December 2007

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 reconvened back at Arthur's house for tapa, another excellent day and great tapa, thanks to everyone. This walk was voted number 1 by Damien.

Walk Sunday 23rd December

I know I have a reputation for stretching the truth sometimes (undeservedly) when it comes to describing the walks, but this one is easy, the lowest rating, classed suitable for Olwyn, it is 90% down hill, and the other 10% is hardly a hill at all, it is about 11km long on a good track from the carretera de Cabra back to Padul with excellent views over the Sierra Nevada, estimated walking time 3 hours. The hardest part is organising the transport, as it is a linear walk we need to position vehicles at the end of the walk, before driving to the start of the walk. If you want to go on the walk meet at 9am. opposite theTaberna Baeta bar in Padul, ( from Durcal take the first junction for Padul, follow the road into Padul going round the left hand and then right hand turns, the bar has a covered area, over the pavement and is about 50 meters on your right just before the 2nd set of traffic lights). Afterwards tapa is arranged at Jossete´s house in Chite, around 3.00pm.

At the moment the weather forecast for this week is not looking too good, with a chance of rain on Sunday, if we have to cancel the walk, please come to tapa at 3pm.

Have a good week, and I wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

Stuart

The photo shows Margaret, Alison, Damien, Sandy, Josette, Plym.

Walk 16th December 2007

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 with still another 40 minutes to go to the top, the health and safety committee made a decision to abandon the expedition to conquer Lucero. A wise choice, even as we dejectedly made our way back to the bar Venta del Fraile the mist continued to swirl around us. it was only when we returned to the Valley that we discovered that they had had sunshine all day.

On our return to Chite we all headed to our house for tapa, can I thank everyone who turned up for the walk and tapa, an excellent turnout and fantastic food. I was disappointed about the weather, fortunately we do not get too many like that, anyway we still enjoyed the day.

Our walk this coming Sunday is from Chite down to the lake and across to Melegis and returning via the castle at Murchas, a bar in Talara and back to Arthur's in Chite for tapa around 2.30. Total distance about 10km with no serious hills to climb. If you are going on the walk please meet at our house in Chite 9am.

The only photo we managed to get was of a little elf sheltering from the bad weather, (not my sarcastic comments this time)

Walk 9th December 2007

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 drop of Caballo and Veleta covered in snow. We stopped for lunch on the summit of Silleta before returning to Padul, and on to Alans in Nigúelas for tapa. Thank you to Alan who jumped in with a late availability venue and to everyone who turned up.

Our walk this Sunday the 9th December is Pico Lucero, this for me is the finest mountain walk you can find. It is not a big mountain, only 1608 meters high, and there is only about 250 meters of ascent, but what a wonderful ascent it is, as the excellent path with open views to all sideszig zags up to the summit of what is a true gem. Total walking distance is only 6km, estimated walking time 3.5 hours. A must for anyone who needs a fabulous day out. It is not difficult but may not be suitable for vertigo suffers. If you want to go meet in the car park inNigúelas at 9am. We have to drive to Jayena and Fornes before picking up a forest road to the start of the walk, this forest road is generally in reasonable condition and we have seen all classes of vehicles up here, but it is about 20km long. Afterwards tapa is at our house inChite around 4pm.

Over the last four years the Lecrin Valley Limpers has grown, from simply being a small group of friends going out for a walk on a Sunday, into a group of about 80 individuals, and is well known in the area for its weekly outings. The expansion of the group has brought its own difficulties, but in general we have all muddled along and enjoyed ourselves. Over the years we have engaged in a wide range of activities, to which everyone has been invited, not everything has appealed to everyone, that did not matter, you were invited, as with the walks, come if you want to, if you don't come, it does not matter, we will be happy to see you next time. It is good to see that a lot of you have made new friends whilst out walking with us, and that you want to expand your friendship with them, that is why we invited you to join us. It is great that there are now a lot of new groups operating in the area offering a variety of things to do.
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The photo shows Martin, Quina, Alan, Rob, John, Pepa, Peter, Me, Charlie, Gillian.

Walk 2nd December

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 up with us had mistakenly taken the wrong path, being very concerned, but not knowing in which direction he had gone, we decided to sit down and have breakfast while we planned a rescue mission. Our main concern was that he had the car keys, fortunately before we had time to call out the Guardia he had realised his mistake, back tracked and found the right path, much to Stella's relief, as he was carrying the sandwiches. In future we will appoint an "off piste monitor" at the start of each walk. At our next stop at the Refugio we were delighted to see an Eagle flying at tree top height looking for unwanted tit bits, needless to say he did not find any, another unusual sight was a Andalusian sheep dog wearing a bell, out for the day guarding his flock. An aspect of the walk and something I have not done for a long time, was to walk in mud, what a treat! On the flat summit we had extensive views of the Sierra Nevada´s snow covered tops. The last few weeks most of the walks have had Trevenque (The Milton refusal) as a back drop, this has not been a deliberate policy, to put the fear of God into Little John, but it is quite funny to see his knees start to shake when it comes into view. A good walk that we will have to repeat in 2008, but again when have we been on a bad walk?

Afterwards we returned to Ken and Joan´s house in Albunúelas for tapa and a wonderful selection of Curries, pies and cakes. Once again thanks to everyone for another good day.

Our walk this weekend is Silleta. This is a great walk that normally sets off from Padul and climbs up to the cross of Atallaya before continuing on to the summit of Silleta, and then back by the window, which, if you don´t know it, you will have to come on the walk to witness this dramatic view point. For a change we will try doing the walk in the reverse direction in order to appeal to a wider audience. It involves about 700 meters of climbing over 3.½ hours to the summit and 1.½ hours back, note these are estimated walking times and are subject to the groups ability and stops. The paths are good and well graded. If you want to go on the walk please meet at the first Padul junction, on the road from Durcal at 9am. There is no tapa arranged this week.

The photo shows Pepa, Quina, Sandie, John ( Lord Travenque ) pending, Rob, Linda, Alan, Annie, Peter, Stella, Rob.