30 March 2014 Pico Lucero

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This week it was our big end of the month walk, and we went to Pico Lucero, my favorite walk of all time.
Pico Lucero is in the Sierras Tejeda, Almijara y Alhama Natural park and, whilst the mountains are not as big as the Sierra Nevada, the views are just as spectacular and the mountains themselves are far more rugged.
We had our usual 9am start, as it was the weekend of moving the clocks forward we lost an hour in bed. We had a long day ahead of us so we could not waste time under the covers.
It is an hours drive to the start of the walk and you end up with a 5km drive along a forest track which takes you deep into the interior of the Natural park.  The walk starts by continuing along the forest road for about 10 minutes, which is just perfect to warm the muscles up before the climbing starts. First though there is a river to cross. It is a bit of a contentious issue within the group that some of the walks I choose involve crossing rivers that don’t have bridges. It is not so bad if someone falls in at the end of the walk but at the start, with 18 km still to go, it would be a disaster. Fortunately we all made it across safely, disappointing some who had their cameras out.
The path then starts to climb, and for the next hour it is all uphill. At the top we stopped for breakfast before continuing along forest tracks to the start of the ascent of Lucero.
This has got to be the best way to the top of a mountain ever devised. The path twists and turns amongst rocky outcrops all the way up. The views are opening up all the time, one minute you are looking towards Granada, the next looking down to the sea, and all the while Pico Lucero is in front and looking impossible to climb.
The final assault is up a zig zag path  that clings to the side of the mountain, The path was constructed to take troops up to the look out post at the top during the civil war. The one remaining wall now serves as a convenient shelter out of the wind. It was cool at the top, and we stayed for a quick lunch before returning back down the mountain. Part way down we turned off and headed across country on a more direct route than the one we had chosen for the ascent. We arrived back at the car, tired after 7 hours of walking, but well satisfied after an excellent day out.  
We walked 18.9 km and climbed 1039 metres.

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