Walk Sunday 21 February 2016 Ermita Vieja

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This week we did the Dilar walk that we had canceled last week because winter had arrived. This week, with the winter behind us and with the return of spring, we were able to resume our walking activities.
The walk to the ermita vieja offers extensive views of Caballo and the ridge line all the way up to Veleta. A perfect walk to view all the fresh lying snow.  
 By the time we had all met up at the car park down by the Rio Dilar there were 20 of us, a respectable number for a spring walk. I think everyone needed to get outdoors after being stuck inside for 3 days.
 Setting off we could not see the tops of the hills because they were shrouded in an early morning haze, it was nothing to worry about as it would soon burn off as the sun got up. To start with the path follows the forest road as it gently climbs its way up towards the ermita. Mike wanted to continue on this gentle sloping climb, but I had other ideas. There is a nice barranco that you can follow that turns the walk into a circular one, it also exercises the heart muscles a bit more. Near the top of the barranco a little path leads off and zig zags up the hillside. Unfortunately the forestry workers have been extracting the trees that had fallen in a storm about 18 months ago. They have obliterated the path with a caterpillar track that headed straight uphill.  We all got a good cardiovascular workout on this section, but it would be all worth while for the views.
 It was a pity that the sun had not shifted the mist, all we could see was a faint image of some unidentifiable hillside, but hey, this is the Sierra Nevada and anywhere looks beautiful even if you can’t see it.
 The walk continued up to the Ermita passing through an area that had been decimated in the storm and now, after the forestry work, it was devoid of trees.
We stopped for lunch at the Ermita before picking up the easy downhill track back to the carpark. We lost a couple on the way down, which necessitated us putting our search and rescue plan into operation. Basically this is we will hang about a few minutes and if they haven’t turned up we  leave them.
 Back at the carpark our thoughts turned to refreshments, the bar on the carpark was closed for the winter but there is another bar, La Casucha, a little bit further down the river that was open so we decided to go there.
 All the tables were set for lunch so things did not look too promising for a bunch of grubby walkers. After some lengthy discussions with numerous members of the staff we were told we could have a table for a few minutes but they could not serve any tapas as they had a booking for 180 people.
We were allocated a young waiter who must have just been brought in for the day as he did not have much of a clue as to what drinks anyone wanted. The big problem came when we wanted to pay, no one seemed interested in taking our money, then they served up the biggest tapas we have ever seen, it was a carnivores delight, they were in heaven. The  owner came round and wanted us to stay all afternoon and he said he would provide all the food for free. It was such a fantastic place that we will return here later for our Spring BBQ.  
We walked 9.9 km, climbed 513 metres.

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