Walk 10 April 2016 Colomera

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This week we went to Colomera, a small Pueblo north of Granada.We discovered this walk 12 months ago on our Tuesday outings but it was the first time we have done a Sunday walk from here.
By the time we arrived in Colomera there were 21 of us in a convoy of 6 cars and I was worried there would not be sufficient space in the village for all our cars, and that we would spend half the morning rounding everyone up. Amazingly we all managed to park close together and we were soon ready for the off.
I had spent the whole week polishing my crystal balls and was confident that we would not have any rain before 8pm, but one or two in the group took a bit of persuading to leave their umbrellas and waterproofs in the car.
 For the last five years I have been relying on my GPS to guide us on our walks. This week I thought it would be a good idea to go back to basics and walk unencumbered by electronic devices, and try using the Cerebral Cortex for navigation, that the GPS was sat at home in a drawer had no influence in this decision. I also felt it was about time someone else took some decent pictures for a change so I had left my camera in the same place.
 The walk leaves the village heading downhill to a Roman bridge before heading uphill on a campo trail. At the top the road splits, this was when a slight doubt as which route to go on crept in. Fortunately we had the old sage, the wise one, with us, taking his advice we went left and lo and behold we found ourselves on the right path. He truly is the wise one.
 After stopping at what must have been the coldest spot on the route for a little break we continued along the track down to the lake. Now last time we were here there was a gate to go through and it was unlocked, not this time, someone had locked it and we had to climb over the fence. Why? It’s a reservoir what are you going to steal, water!
 Resuming our walk we continued along a quiet country road for 1 km only to find ourselves in the middle of a car rally. I think it was an excuse really just to drive around fast and make a lot of noise, there did not appear to be anything official about it.
 Then next thing to confront us was new sign on a campo track we wanted to go up. The sign said we weren’t allowed up it anymore either in a car or walking, as this bit of track was crucial to our walk we took legal advice from Fernando, Antonia and Conchi, reclassified them as English and ignored the notice. The road went through Olive groves, just like every other road around here, and after 1km there was sign saying you could not go down. What was there to nick other than Olives, just like the ones in the other fields.
 The way back required us to find a narrow path heading steeply uphill, it had taken some finding last year even with a GPS, and now my reputation was at stake This time all we had to rely on was luck, good fortune and of course the Old Sage. After a quick consultation we set off through the Olive trees in search of the path. We hit it first time, no one had a clue that we could have been wandering around the hills lost, forever.  
We stopped at the highest point of the route for lunch and then we began the descent back to Colomera. We had not gone far when we discovered that we had lost half the group. Retracing our steps, and after a lot of shouting, we discovered Julie had gone lame, a stick had stuck in her leg, we had to make a quick decision. Should we render first aid or continue to the bar for drinks and tapas. A compromise was soon reached, we gave Julie a sticking plaster then headed for the bar.  
A good day out in a new area, I will try and remember the GPS next week.
We walked 15.9 km, climbed 755 metres.

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