16th November 2015 Sierra Manar

By -


This week with a promise of fine weather we decided to go and have another try at Sierra Manar, after cancelling it last weekend due to low cloud.
By 9.00 at the BP in Cozvijar there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, except over the hills we were intending to climb behind Dilar. Why these hills attract the clouds I do not know.
A quick poll was taken, and a decision was made to go ahead with the walk as it was the considered opinion that, by the time we started walking, the clouds would have disappeared. Driving through Padul a few minutes later we had to put the headlights on as we were enveloped in fog. I wanted to head for a bar but was persuaded to carry on with the plan.
The walk started from the Cunadas urbanization, and by the time we got there the clouds had miraculously disappeared. An abandoned housing estate does not sound a promising start for a walk, but within two minutes of leaving the cars we were on a forest track in the middle of nowhere.
At first the walk follows the edge of the Natural Park on a delightful undulating track. This instills a certain sense of well being, a feeling that finally the leader has seen sense and found an easy level path. After 3 km the path turns uphill, and any feeling that you are out for a Sunday stroll disappears. The way up looks daunting and I heard the odd comment of “surely we are not going up there”. The path is well graded and after a 350 metre climb you reach the top. OK there was a bit of puffing and panting along the way. I did have a few moments of worry near the top as the clouds appeared to be coming back, but they quickly disappeared and left us with a clear blue sky. We found a comfortable spot for lunch with good views over a snow covered Veleta.
After our sarnies we followed an easy forest road that meandered back to the cars.
We just had time to squeeze a quick beer and tapas in at the Mezquita bar but the afternoon sun was so good we stayed longer than planned, we then had to quickly dash off home to get changed for tapas around at Plym and Tony’s.
We  walked 12.3 km and climbed 537 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