Walk Sunday 27 August 2017 Capileira

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The weather forecast this week for Granada was not very good. If we had got all the rain that was forecast the poor folk in Houston would have been offering us aid. Fortunately the promised unremitting deluge was constantly downgraded. By Sunday the forecast for the Alpujarras was for a cloudy but dry day.
Our walk was a moderately high altitude one at around 2000 metres, starting from a quiet, picturesque recreation area above Capileira. It’s so quiet I have never seen anyone else there, so I was a bit surprised to find a lot of people camping by the side of the road as we drove to the carpark. It soon became obvious why there were so many people, they were holding a Barranquismo competition in the waterfall we were intending to bathe in after the walk. The competition involved following the river downstream using ropes and completing it, in the shortest possible time.  
 Our walk followed a track uphill as it climbed Loma del  Jabali. At the top we met up with an old favorite track of ours. The Sulayr long distance path as it traverses across the hillside between Capileira and Trevelez. We stopped for a bite to eat at the high point of the walk. We were just having a discussion under grey clouds on the chances of getting wet. When we heard the distant rumble of thunder, with no chance of seeking shelter, we made a hasty retreat.
We continued to follow the Sulayr path nearly back to the cars. We did manage another food stop and we are grateful to Ingo who courageously acted to protect the rest of the group by sitting on the highest point with a metal stick and acting as our sacrificial lightning conductor. I am pleased to say he survived unscathed.
 After arriving back at the cars we walked down to the waterfall to watch the competition that was in full swing. A number of our group had a go and we won gold medals in the free style, Mr Cool and co-ordinated style categories. Cees also came first in the fastest descent competition. Pictures are posted on facebook. The winners are automatically entered into next year's competition in order to defend their titles.
On the way home we stopped at the Stalactite bar in Soportujar for refreshment where you are always guaranteed to be the only customers.
We walked 12.3 km and climbed 550 metres.

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