10/11 May 2014 Weekend in Antequera

By -




This week was our fun weekend to Antequera. We had arranged two walks, an easy one for the Saturday, and a long one for the Sunday.
We had an early 8 am start from Cozvijar, stopping off in Granada to meet up with the rest of the group who live nearer to Granada.
We had arranged to meet Hans, a guide who works for the National park, he was going to spend the day with us, showing us parts of the park not normally open to visitors.
We started off in the restaurant with breakfast, this was going to be an exhausting day, we had 10 km to cover in around 8 hours, so we needed our strength building up. Setting off on the walk Hans told us some of the history of the park, and how it was formed, he was also able to show us things we would have walked past if we had been exploring by ourselves.
In the parts of the park where the rif raf weren’t allowed we discovered fantastic rock formations, balancing on a knife edge, Ammonites, unusual trees, and caves.
We returned to the restaurant for lunch and then set off again on the second walk. This side of the park was totally different, very green, with a lot of wild flowers and deep valleys.
At one point Hans wanted us to remain quiet, to experience the tranquility of the park. There was no chance, can you imagine trying to keep a party of Dutch and Spanish quiet. The Brits were OK but it was a lost cause with the other two. After the walk we stopped for Ice creams in the bar and then went on to our hotel in Antequera.
Can I say thank you to Hans for showing us around, it was enjoyed by everyone.
We walked 8.7 km and climbed 315 meters, our average speed was 1.2 km/ph a new record for us.
We stayed at a smart hotel on the outskirts of the town, just don’t get used to this standard of accommodation, especially if you are going on the next weekend away to the refugio in the Poqueira gorge.

Our walk on Sunday was planned to be a hard one setting off from El Chorro, but my GPS was playing up and it would not display the route. I decided to cancel that walk and go on another one, setting off from the Hotel. This was an easier option and, given the temperatures we were experiencing, it was easy to sell the change of plan, especially as it visited some Dolmens, megalithic burial chambers.
There was a pretty steep ascent at the start of the walk, but fortunately most of it was in the forest so it never got too hot.
Now have you ever tried to find a pile of rocks that are used for a tomb on a hillside covered in rocks. We searched high and low, needless to say we did not find them. The only problem we had was on the return section of the path, our intended GPS route did not exist on the ground and we spent ½ hour trudging up and down a hillside trying to find the path. Eventually we found it and returned to the hotel, hot and hungry.
The hotel had supplied us with a packed lunch, so we ate them at the hotel before driving over to EL Chorro and the lakes near Ardales. I had promised Plym that she could have a swim in the lake. What did surprise me was how many others wanted to join her, some even going in nearly fully clothed. It did look inviting but a few of us did maintain our modesty, and stayed on dry land.
We returned home in the late afternoon and got back to the valley around 7.30, after a very enjoyable weekend.            
   

We walked 11.8 km and climbed 565 metres.

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