Walk 23 February 2014 Soportujar and the Buddhist centre

By -



This week was our February end of the month big walk, and we went to Soportujar in the Alpujarras.
It was still quite cool when we arrived, even though it was a cloudless blue sky, and the forecast was for temperatures of 17 degrees later in the day. So, wrapping ourselves up in our jackets, we set off by walking through the village following the GR7 back towards Cañar.
It’s not long before the path starts to climb steeply and at the top of the first climb the jackets came off. Continuing along by an acequia we slowly climbed up to the Rio Chico waterfall. I know that it is man made but it is still worth a look.
At the top of the waterfall we stopped for a quick break before continuing on our climb up towards Puente Palo. The path is mostly a zig zag one through the pine forest, but in sections it gets quite steep. These bits played havoc with the ones recovering from the various winter maladies that have been going around the valley these past few weeks,  
so it was a welcome relief when we reached the acequia del Almiar. At 1797 metres this was our maximum altitude for the day, it was all downhill from here. Some wag suggested we should carry on up to the 1800 mark, to round the numbers off and reach the highest point of the year so far. Looking at the bodies laying around I think they would have lynched me if I had suggested we climb another 3 metres, well, they would if they could stand up.
I thought it best to declare a  stop for lunch as the sun was shining, the views were superb with the snow covered peaks behind us to the distant views of the Mediterranean. Some even thought they could see Morocco, but the consensus was that it was just clouds out at sea.
It is amazing what a short break and a bite to eat can do for a body, and it was not long before we were off again on a path that follows the acequia del Almiar. This must be one of the best sections of the long distance Sulayr path in the whole of the Sierra Nevada as it twists and turns for 3 km through an oak forest.
Our next destination on today’s itinerary was the Buddhist centre of  O sel Ling, but first we stopped at a lookout point with views over the Pogueira gorge and Mulhacen. Below us we could see the Buddhist statue of Tara Verde, this is a wonderful sculpture of a Buddhist woman which leaves nothing to the imagination. Continuing down we passed numerous sculptures that are dotted about the hillside before arriving at the giant rotating drum which claims to have 165 billion scriptures inside.
From here it is just 4 km back to Soportujar, down what in parts is a steep path. Arriving back in the village we had intended to head for a local bar but we were informed that there was a funeral taking place in the village so we decided to leave and go to very interesting bar we know about on the main road.
An excellent day out in some stunning countryside, enjoyed by all, even though some did go home knackered. We will add this walk to the long list of best walks ever.           
 
We walked 18.1 km and climbed 940 metres.
Apologies for the extra 3 km, a miscalculation by me of all the zig zags.





Hilary’s shorter walk
The short walk took 4 hours but some of that was spent tucking into Miguel's bagel and mini omelette tapas.  We started in Talara, followed the Rio Torrente to the brick works, puffed and panted up the little footpath to Acequias, strode along the edge of the gorge as far as Lawrence's palace and then returned via the sendero de la pavilla [the one that follows the acequia] to Niguelas ?  My instructions to meet at Rincon de Miguel were misinterpreted by more than half the group who disappeared off in the direction of El Rincon, Alqueria de Los Lentos.  An easy mistake which earned them an extra 1.5 km but as you can see we were all reunited before the final sprint home.
Jane, our official record keeper, tells us we walked between 10 and 14.5km.  The prizes goes to Lesley who walked all the way back to Melegis and Poppy as junior hiker. Jane and Dave walked 13.5 km and Elsa cheated by accepting a lift back to Talara with Grahame [our photographer].

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Walk Sunday 2 December 2018 Sierra Manar

By -
Image
This week we went walking in the Sierra Manar, the range of hills behind Dilar.  The walk had been postponed from a few weeks back when it was raining every day, it’s not a walk to do when the ground is wet and muddy. The weather forecast for this Sunday was for sunshine and temperatures of 21 degrees, perfect walking conditions.  The walk starts from the Ermita Nueva and heads up a gentle slope through Olive trees.  After 1 km the path follows the tree line on what at first looks like a level track. It soon becomes apparent that it’s not level at all, but a series of switchbacks with steep ups and downs.  There were only 9 in the group, and we all walked together, chatting and enjoying the warm sunshine. Nobody thought to check that we all turned onto a path into the forest. It was only when we emerged on the other side we noticed our group had dropped to 7, Elsa and Martine were missing.  At first, we weren't worried, we thought they would soon rejoin us. After
Read more

Walk Sunday 4 November 2018 Nerja

By -
Image
This week with snow on the Sierras we decided to go down to Nerja for our walk, at least it would be warm down there. I left home in long trousers, fleece and a jacket. One hour later, at the start of the walk from the caves, I was down to shorts and a T-shirt, don’t worry I had not thrown caution to the wind, they were all in my rucksack along with another 2 coats.  The route was a circular one setting off from the caves and the idea was that we could do an easy and a harder walk, with the easy walkers walking with us for the first half of the route and then making their way back along a 4X4 track, whilst the harder walk went up a hill. Trying to keep track as to who, and how many there were in the group was impossible, even Einstein would have had trouble keeping up with all the comings and goings. For the first 1km, the track follows a 4X4 road to the picnic site, it then drops down into a superb barranco which fortunately, even after all the rain, was still dry. Th
Read more

Walk 18 November 2018 Talara

By -
Image
The walk this Sunday was a local one from Talara. The weather forecast was not promising. It wasn’t a matter of if it rained, it was at what time would it start and how heavy.  We met at the crossroads in Talara and the fallback wet weather option was coffee in Antonio’s where we could reminisce about walking in dry sunny weather. It would only be a short discussion as dry weather was sadly lacking in 2018. It was decided to skip the coffee, it wasn’t raining yet, and we had a walk to do. The route was designed with 12 options to shorten it when the rain started, it also went close by a number of Limper homes where we could seek refuge if necessary.  The walk passed through Chite where we picked up a couple of stragglers and then headed off down to the dam. This is a wonderful path as it winds its way down the hillside in and out of the Agave plants, Fortunately, I had brought my machete with me, as a number needed trimming. I had to be careful this week, my care
Read more