26 April 2015 Sierra Huetor

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This week we had a wet walk, not like our lovely summer wet walks in the river, but a true mountain wet walk.
When the walk was planned the weather forecast  was predicting a warm sunny day, but as the week progressed it was looking likely we would have to cancel the walk due to heavy rain and thunder storms. By Saturday night the forecast was for the rain to arrive late Sunday afternoon, there was just enough time to complete our 22 km walk and get back to the cars before the rain arrived.
The walk was in the Sierra Huetor on the south side of the motorway, We had discovered the walk last year and it offered good views over the Sierra Nevada.
23 of us set off for the the walk, the conditions were good, the sun was shining, there were a few clouds in the sky but no sign of any storms. The route was a good one because it offered various ways back if we needed to shorten the route.
Our first stop was at some abandoned buildings what had once housed a drug rehabilitation clinic, what a shame it had fallen into disrepair, it would have made a great Limper weekend retreat.
We passed various places where we could have taken a shortcut, but, whilst it was clouding over a bit, the conditions were still good.
We stopped for a little lunch with the promise that we would have a big lunch after all the climbing which we had still to do. At the point of no return it started to rain, not a lot, but sufficient to need waterproofs on.
We walked a bit further and then discovered that Cees and Rafa had disappeared. Cees had left his walking sticks at our lunch spot and had gone back for them. I would have bought him a new pair if I had known because the rain was starting to come down quite heavily and we were getting cold waiting for him.
There was one last short cut we could take that would save 2 km, it wasn’t a track we knew but on the GPS map it looked like a forest trail. In fact it was a forest trail, it was just different from anything we have come across before. For the first ½ km it was fine except for a continuous series of  switchbacks. Someone had turned a good road into a roller coaster. It slowly dawned on us that the Medio Ambiente had built a motor bike scramble track. This was confirmed shortly afterwards when the path became vertical and 10 motorbikes appeared from nowhere and tried to get up it.
By now the rain was pouring down and the fog had reduced visibility to around 20 metres. The good news was that the track was heading directly to where we wanted to be. We trudged onwards and upwards, stopping at the highest point for a photo and to admire the view. No one seemed too keen to stop for lunch so we kept moving to keep warm. We soon picked up our original track and headed off back towards the cars which were still 5kms away. So eager were we to get back that we were walking at nearly 6 km an hour, a record for a Sunday walk.
To say we were wet is an understatement, we were soaked but in good spirits.
It will be interesting to see if anybody turns up for this weeks walk.    
We walked 19.9 km and climbed 487 metres. Cees and Rafa walked 22 km.



---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brownie point report
Stuart           For getting us thoroughly soaked.                                  - 1
                                     
Kees                For leaving his sticks and causing us to get even            - 1
                       more soaked.
Stuart           For showing disrespect to Burnley. (Report 12. 4)    - 1
Jan                For not losing anybody at the back in the clouds.      + 1
Rene             For showing immaculate taste in hats.                           + 1
Points Standing:
Jan                   1
Rene                1
Kees               -1
Stuart            - 2
The Distinguished Wise One.
Mike.
I think this management job has gone to his head,  How can anybody from God´s own country respect anything in Lancashire?   
Just a short history lesson for our Spanish friends. When God created the world he did it in 5 days not 6. On the 6th day he took all the best bits he had made and put them in Yorkshire, and on the 7th day he took the day off and had Fish and Chips on the beach in Whitby and the people from Lancashire have been jealous ever since.
And a point for wearing a hat, next week everyone will have a silly hat on.


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