Walk 8 October 2017 Venta del Fraile

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This week we had arranged a walk from Venta del Fraile, on the Carretera de Cabra road.  The walk starts from just below the bar and for the first couple of kilometres follows the road. This is not a problem on a Sunday as the quarries are shut, mid week it’s not very pleasant due to the constant stream of lorries.
By contrast the return route is along a superb high level path. We stopped for a group photo, I don’t know what went wrong, but one of us was left looking a bit translucent. There have been comments made on Facebook that maybe my copy of Photoshop could do with updating, but I blame the camera operator who hadn’t had his porridge for breakfast and was not been strong enough to press the button on my camera.
Three of our group decided to return on the high level path whilst the rest of us extended the route by following a barranco down the side of an old abandoned  quarry. The path is superb as it makes it’s way past giant boulders. At the bottom the path takes you through Almond fields alongside the bottom of the quarry.
Rejoining the road again we followed it around and back to the high level return path. I don’t know why but there are no nice comfy rocks to sit on along this path, they are all jagged and rough, so we had a bit of difficulty finding a good spot for lunch. Eventually, with hunger setting in, we compromised on comfort and found a shady spot.
Regaining the path it wasn’t long before we lost Rafa and Ingo. I didn’t think you could get lost on this path, it’s an old Mule track, it’s well constructed with no turnings off, but for some reason they decided a goat track looked more appealing. We had just formulated a plan to go to the bar before launching a rescue mission when they were spotted wandering about on the hillside, after a few encouraging words they were able to rejoin us, and to think that both the Danes and the Spanish were once instrumental in discovering the modern world.
Unusually the bar at Venta del Fraile was open so, as we were passing, we decided to partake of some refreshment. Our waiter was Antonio Taxi so it was good to see him again.
On the motorway on the drive back to Cozvijar I suddenly remembered Rafa was sat in the back of my car, now normally this isn’t a problem but we had picked him up at the Repsol garage in Padul. Rafa did not appear too keen on walking back to Padul from Cozvijar so feeling sorry for him, I ran him back.
A good day’s walking and the weather was perfect.

We walked 15.7 km and climbed 448 metres

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