Lecrin Valley Limpers

To help us cool down this week we had a river walk. With an early 8am start we set off for Dilar, it was still cold (anything below 30 degrees is classed as cold at the moment) and the sun had not even got into the valley by the time we got there. The path follows the river, criss crossing it numerous times. Getting your feet wet is not an option, though some have tried to keep them dry in past. Eventually they end up falling in and getting completely soaked. It’s much better to go prepared for wet feet and get on with it. The first crossing was a bit of a shock, I don’t think the temperature was up much above zero. We will have to check if there are any icebergs still floating in the laguna Yeguas, the starting point of the Rio Dilar, when we walk past it next week. After the initial shock we just ploughed in and out of the water like true water babes, there were only a few comments about being unable to feel anything from the knees down, well alright, there were a lot o

With the temperatures still forecast to be above 40 degrees in Granada we decided this week to go high, well at least up to 2639 metres. Our mission was to have lunch at the refugio Porqueira.  We had another early 8 am start from Beznar, and then a long twisting drive up to Capileira. We parked next to the high acequia, up at 2000 metres, and it was cool and fresh up there. I even debated about taking a fleece along just in case it did not warm up. Then common sense kicked in, of course it would warm up, it’s the middle of July.  For the first km we followed the road up to the National park barrier. Just before the barrier there are some buildings in the forest, I have often wondered what they are but have never had time to investigate them. As we were passing them we decided to have a look, it appears it is an abandoned National park interpretation centre and also 2 enormous shaded areas. Most of the climbing was done in the cool and shade of the forest, when we final

With temperatures forecast to reach 40 degrees on Sunday we decided on an early 8 am start and a short walk. I was most surprised to discover 17 eager walkers who were prepared to forsake their beds in order to walk in the cool of the early morning. We met in Marchena and then had a short drive to the start of the walk. We followed the camino forestal for 1 km before picking up a small footpath that cuts across the hillside heading uphill on a gentle climb. Last October we had some very strong winds which had brought down a lot of trees in this area, and at one point we had to take a diversion down the hillside to avoid some fallen trees. Well, some took the diversion while the little ones walked under them. After a couple of kms on the path you reach the camino forestal again, which we followed uphill until we reached the first of the available return paths. I had advertised the walk as a 8 km one but everyone was looking fresh and healthy and, as it was still modera