22 February 2015 Cogollos de la Vega

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This week we went to Cogollos de la Vega for our Sunday walk and we nearly lost someone before we had even set off. The weather during the week has been a bit miserable with heavy rain and a cold northerly wind, it is really getting to be a nuisance this year but the conditions for Sunday looked favorable.
When we met at 9 am in Cozvijar the temperature was 5 degrees and you could hardly stand up, the wind was so strong. We were in such a hurry to get in the cars and be away that we nearly left Elsa behind.
Driving into Granda we were surrounded by low clouds and the temperature was down to 2 degrees, not ideal walking conditions, but there was no turning back, we were meeting people on the way to Cogollos.
The walk starts about 4 km outside the village of Cogollos. The problem is finding the road that takes you to the start. I normally consider myself quite proficient in finding my way around but when it comes to this track I have a mental block. The road is steep, and it zig zags up the hillside with roads branching off on every corner. For some reason I always take a left instead of a right and we end up down a narrow street that we have to turn around in. One car is easy to turn around, but with 4 cars and no passing places it’s difficult. By the time we arrived at the start some of the drivers were tearing their hair out. This is how I lost all mine, I had long golden curly locks before we went walking here. So sorry Guys and Girls for misleading you around the village. Next time we go Cees can walk in front of the cars and direct them.
It was like arriving in a new world when we finally started walking, The wind had gone, the clouds had been replaced by a deep blue sky and the temperature was rising, what more could we ask for?
The first part of the walk is uphill and, at one point, it gets quite steep when the path heads up a hillside, but it is good to get it over with at the start of the walk because after this the path just meanders up and down.
The path goes past some trenches used in the civil war, it’s sad to think that not many years ago people fought a war in this beautiful place.
We continued our walk along a ridge giving us superb views over the snow covered Sierra Nevada, After the snow last week it looked magnificent. We then made our way down into the valley, stopping off for lunch at a ruined farm house. After this we continued our way back to the cars.
After a not too promising start we had a great day out, the conditions were perfect and everyone enjoyed themselves.
We walked 11.9 km and climbed 531 metres.

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