30 June 2013 Cortijo Hornillo

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Cortijo Hornillo

Sunday, the 30th June, was billed as our big walk. It is not always a walk of great length or with a lot of climbing but it normally takes longer than our normal Sunday excursion. This Sunday was no exception,it was 8pm when we all got home.
We met as normal at 9am and drove over to Guejar Sierra and then on a steep, twisting and, in parts, a dirt road to the Serpentina quarry, not the source of  snakes but a green stone.
We were going to do the Estrella walk but on a different route. This involved walking up to Cortijo Hornillo, which is now a selection of mountain refugio huts, high up on the hillside of Veleta. The first hour of the walk is quite a pull, but after this the path eases off and continues at a gentle climb through woodland and open fields, with the views towards Mulhacen and Alcazaba improving all the time.
Mr Ferrari ( Graham), had been running well, with the wheels now fixed after last week’s crash and with his engine running smoothly we continued climbing up to our summit of 1850 metres. We had just started down on our descent into the Estrella valley when we came across two voluptuous Bikini clad ladies making their way up the path. This created much excitement amongst the group, well, at least amongst the men, and caused the Ferrari to overheat, an old recurring problem. This time the problem spread and the wheel came off again. Temporary repairs were administered but he remained in limp mode all the way back. We stopped for lunch in a delightfully shaded wooded area, which we hated to leave but we still had 8km to go.
Resuming the walk we made our way down to the river and then picked up the Estrella path and made our way back to the cars. The final sting in the tail was the 150 metre climb back up to the cars on the Sulayr path.
We had a choice of venues for drinks but, by a show of hands, Mark’s offer of a cup of tea won hands down. So we all made our way to Mark and Anne’s house for tea and Cherries. Sitting on their patio it was a great way to finish a walk.
Reluctantly we had to leave and make our way home, and it was while driving back towards Pinos Genil that Antonio’s wheel really did come off, when he had an altercation with another car. The group responded, taking on traffic control duties, this worked well until the two Grua’s turned up and crashed into each other.  No one was injured, it was just a bit of metal that got bent.   
A very enjoyable walk, even if it was a little warm at times.
We walked 15.8 km and climbed 742 metres our maximum altitude was 1851 metres.
         

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