Walk 19th July 2015 Porqueira

By -


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 finally emerged from it we discovered we had acquired a dog. Where she came from I have no idea, but she appeared well groomed and nourished and was happy to just run about on the hillside. After walking about 6 km we came across 2 women walking towards us. They had set off from the refugio with the intention of going to Trevelez. We explained they were heading in the wrong direction and they would have to turn around to get on the right path. This seemed to confuse them until we discovered that they were Australians, they had a map but they had been holding it upside down. Our dog obviously decided they were in desperate need of a guide and set off with them.
We continued towards the refugio, from a distance it does not look a large building and Marcel could not believe it slept 90 people, he believed it even less when we said you also slept 12 in a bed, as some of us on the walk who are now very good friends, know.
 Normally on a walk we find a nice rock or something to sit on for lunch but Dave does like a table and chairs. This week, as a treat for him, I had organised our lunch break at the refugio, we even had coffee laid on.
From here it is all downhill back to the cars, even on the 7 km section that follows the acequira. Poor Mike can’t accept that water only flows downhill. We had even brought along a physics professor to try and explain to him this simple logic. This did not stop him insisting we measure the height every 100 metres with the GPS. I must have climbed in and out of that damned acequia 60 times and every time it showed a it going downhill. On the next walk he will probably claim to have seen a bloody Pine Martin.
We arrived back at the cars 16 minutes behind schedule after a superb walk, and for most of it we had gentle fresh breeze.
  
We walked 18.4 km and climbed 626 metres, the acequia dropped 160 metres over a distance of 7 km.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brownie point report
Stuart and Elsa. A Point each for trying very hard to show that the water in the acequia was not flowing uphill: although Stuart is going to take his gps in for a service.
Dave. A point for assisting in crossing a stream. Congratulations; in the black.
Scottish Weather. A Point for delaying the final round of The Open till Monday.
Julie. Minus A Point for falling asleep on the walk.
Points Standing.
4 Points. Rene, Stuart.
3 Points. Dave(dental), Mark, Hillary, Graham, Fernando.
2 Points. Jim, Conchi, Jan, Ray, Me, Julie.
1 Point.   Pete, Denise, Antonia, Paul, Carolyn, Danielle, Giles, Chris D, Christopher, Martine, Kees, Anne, Elsa, Dave, Scottish Weather.
Minus 1 Point. John R.
The Distinguished Wise One.
Mike.
How can Scottish weather get a point, it’s not in the group.  He’s being got at by the SNP, next thing you know they will want to impose their lousy Scottish weather on us and make us wear skirts. Stuart

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