31 August 2014 Capileira

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Hi
This week it was our end of the month hard walk, we went to Capileira and a walk in the Poqueira gorge.
There were 10 in the group so we squeezed into 2 cars for the drive. The weather forecast was predicting rain from 5pm onwards so we had no time for  coffee at the start, we needed to get going to avoid the heat in the valley, and the rain later.
The walk starts in the village and heads uphill towards the Hydro Electric station at Cebadilla, this is a pleasant trail, one we have used many times when we have wanted a short walk around Capileira. Today our sights were set a lot higher as we were heading towards the Poqueira Refugio. From the Hydro station the path follows the river in this wonderful valley, next time we will come in late spring when all the wild flowers are out.
The path is easy to follow, it is wide and well marked, it, being the main access route for the refugio.  It was a bit of a shock to discover we had lost 2 in the group. Yes, we had lost Kees and Rafa. Kees I can understand, he has lived most of his life below sea level, so anything higher than 25 metres and his head starts to spin and he becomes disoriented, but Rafa was born here, he looks like a true mountain man. The type of man you would follow anywhere. Well, obviously, not on a footpath in the Poqueria gorge. We had just organised our search teams when they were spotted on the hillside above us. What they were doing there goodness knows! They were on a steep hillside with no path. We were on a steep hillside with a path.
Reaquainted we continued up towards the lower acequia, the path was steep and it was getting warm. John decided that he had had enough and was going to return to Capileira. Volunteers were called for, to accompany him back. With some trepidation I accepted Kees and Rafa’s offer to go along with John, we watched them disappear down the path and wondered if we would ever see them again.
Our return path was along an acequia, just above Big Willy a scarecrow who watches over the valley. This acequia makes an ideal level path high above the valley floor and we made good progress back to Capileira.
My worst fears were confirmed when we arrived at the bar, they were not there, telephone calls went unanswered. We had a couple of drinks and decided we would give them until 6pm, then we would have to go home, we didn’t want to be too late for our evening meals. With a couple of minutes to go before 6 we saw them staggering down the road, hot, tired, and thirsty. I didn’t have the heart to suggest that we go home, they each had a need for a large beer.
As we keep losing folks this year we might have to look at getting a sheepdog to round them up.
It was a good walk, even if it got warm at times, the temperatures are not cooling down at all so far this year. The predicted rain did not arrive.
 
  We walked 19.3 km and climbed 972 metres.

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