Walk Sunday 17 July 2016 Alburgue Fransisco

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We were a small, select group this week for our walk to the Albergue Francisco. The higher the temperature the more inventive the excuses become for not turning out. Can you believe the Distinguished wise one wanted to watch 2 men hit a ball with a stick in the rain, and Speedo Dave wanted to go swimming in the sea wearing a white cap. Why? He’s bald and does it matter if lost a few hairs in the sea.
 The walk started a couple of kms above the Dornajo information centre on Veleta. It’s a walk we have not done for a while as, last time we did it, the way back was across a difficult hillside on a non existent path. So this time, after many hours searching maps and Google earth, and discovering what looked like a possible path that would cut the difficult section out, I thought it was worth  doing and exploring this quiet and overlooked area of Veleta.
 I planned the walk in the opposite direction this time as it would get all the climbing, and possible difficult bits, out of the way while we it was still cool and we were fresh.
 After a short scramble up the hillside we came across an old footpath and a sign laying on the ground. The only problem with the sign was you could use it to point in any direction you wanted. Relying on the group motto of “the only way is up” we started climbing. At some point in the past this must have been a major route. I have never seen so many signs, they were every hundred meters. After walking 2kms on the new path we came back on to our original track close to the road up to Hoya de la Mora. The path continued up until we had reached our maximum altitude for the day at 2331 metres. It was time for a short break to admire the view and recover from the climb, it was all downhill from here, well we still had 80 metres to do but it was well spread out.
 After our break we walked down to the Albergue Francisco and then into the forest for some shade and lunch. The way back continued in the shade of the forest until finally coming out on to the hillside leaving us with about a 30 minute walk back to the cars.  
I have now modified the route again to remove the scramble and to give us a superb summer walk for next year.
On the way home it seemed a shame to drive past all the bars without stopping, so we called in for drinks and tapas at the first one.
A great day out
  

We walked 12.5 km and climbed 542 metres, with an estimated calorie burn of 801.

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