Walk 29 October 2017 Pico Lucero

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We had 2 walks organised this week, an easy walk with Hilary from Restabal and the big, end of the month walk to Pico Lucero.
Pico Lucero
We had an early 08.00 start on Sunday, well, we had to make the most of the available daylight on the day the clocks went back.
It was only 7 degrees when we arrived at the start of the walk, the valley is in the shade, fortunately there is about 1 km where you can walk at a brisk pace and generate a bit of heat. Of course Plym, being immune to cold weather, chose to walk in her sleeveless T-Shirt.
After crossing a river, note no one fell in, we started on the climb and into the sun. It wasn’t long before the fleece jackets were coming off. The beauty about this walk is that you climb a bit, then it levels out, and this keeps repeating until you eventually arrive at the top.
After the first climb, and with our destination looming over us, we stopped for a quick break, it’s a good spot to stop but it does make you think you might have been better staying in bed.
Resuming the walk we had a level section, and then another climb, before coming to the final ascent. From a distance it looks impossible that you could get to the top.
There is a remarkably well constructed track that zig zags its way up the hillside, and in no time at all you are at the top. It was a strange experience on the way up, the coast side of the mountain was covered in cloud, the Granada side was in sunshine and blue sky.
 On the top we stopped for lunch and to admire the views, you had the choice of sun or clouds, it was up to you.
 With the cloud looking like it was going to close in on us we decided it was time to head home. We retraced our steps partway down the hill then cut across the hillside directly to the cars. We were treated to a spectacle of about 50 Griffon Vultures soaring just over our heads. We didn’t know whether to stand still and watch, and possibly become their next meal, or keep moving.  
An excellent day out on my favorite mountain.
We walked 19.1 km and climbed 1021 metres

Hilary’s walk from Restabal
It was a day with clear blue skies and temperatures in the low twenties, perfect for wandering along the rios Dúrcal and Torrente and around the Embalse de Beznar.  I'd promised birds and fossils but the fruitfulness of the autumn countryside proved more of a distraction.  We started with 18 people and 1 dog and returned with 17 people, no dog and bags bulging with pomegranates, membrillo, caqui and nuts.  .....
We walked for 3 hours and covered 10 km.
Hilary
Thank you Hilary for leading the walk, whilst the loss of one and a dog is regrettable it is within acceptable attrition rates, so don’t worry. What is of a major concern is a claim, made on Facebook, that Mike had awarded  everyone on the walk 200 Brownie points. Now I know that not many points have been awarded recently but this probably reflects the new governance exercised by Mike, the head honcho of the Brownie point committee. He would not award 200 points to anyone, particularly if they were Dutch, as have they have been caught cheating in the past.     

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