Walk Sunday 28 January 2018 Velez de Benaudalla

By -



This weekend was supposed to be our big end of the month walk but the weather forecast was predicting doom and gloom with heavy rain, high winds and low temperatures, not my favorite combination of conditions for walking in the hills. As a compromise we decided to go down the hill to Velez de Benaudalla where at least the temperature would be a bit higher. Hilary was also going to lead a shorter walk from Velez so if the conditions were as bad as predicted we could always join them for a lower level walk, and, failing that, we could go to the bar.
 At the meeting point in Beznar it was 4 degrees but at least it was dry, 15 minutes later in Velez it was 8 degrees and there was a patch of blue sky, no wonder Cees refers to the village as The Beautiful  village of Velez de Benaudalla. To cap it all the village was protected from the easterly wind by the big hill of Sierra Lujar.
We said goodbye to Hilary, who was taking the VOGs out for an airing, and set off up to the castle. As castles go it’s not much to look at, it’s just a tower really, we are certainly not going to come down to fight them for it.
 The walk then continued along to the Nacimiento, a delightful little park where a small warm stream appears out of the rocks. We then followed various roads and tracks up to the motorway which we crossed by way of a tunnel.
It was now starting to look a bit black and we had an option to take a quick way back to Velez or continue up the hillside and stick with the original plan. We all had a positive attitude and waterproofs so we went for the longer option. True to form as we reached our highest altitude, and the furthest point from Velez, it started to rain. Fortunately it was only a quick shower and the sun was soon shining again.
Taking advantage of the good weather we stopped for an early lunch under some Almond trees that were in full bloom, what a wonderful sight knowing that spring is on it’s way. Resuming our walk we headed off downhill, accompanied along the way by a mixture of showers, wind and sunshine.
In Velez we stopped off in a bar for refreshment, it had a been a pleasant walk in conditions  a great deal better than I had being expecting.

We walked 14.6 km and climbed 599 metres.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Walk Sunday 2 December 2018 Sierra Manar

By -
Image
This week we went walking in the Sierra Manar, the range of hills behind Dilar.  The walk had been postponed from a few weeks back when it was raining every day, it’s not a walk to do when the ground is wet and muddy. The weather forecast for this Sunday was for sunshine and temperatures of 21 degrees, perfect walking conditions.  The walk starts from the Ermita Nueva and heads up a gentle slope through Olive trees.  After 1 km the path follows the tree line on what at first looks like a level track. It soon becomes apparent that it’s not level at all, but a series of switchbacks with steep ups and downs.  There were only 9 in the group, and we all walked together, chatting and enjoying the warm sunshine. Nobody thought to check that we all turned onto a path into the forest. It was only when we emerged on the other side we noticed our group had dropped to 7, Elsa and Martine were missing.  At first, we weren't worried, we thought they would soon rejoin us. After
Read more

Walk Sunday 4 November 2018 Nerja

By -
Image
This week with snow on the Sierras we decided to go down to Nerja for our walk, at least it would be warm down there. I left home in long trousers, fleece and a jacket. One hour later, at the start of the walk from the caves, I was down to shorts and a T-shirt, don’t worry I had not thrown caution to the wind, they were all in my rucksack along with another 2 coats.  The route was a circular one setting off from the caves and the idea was that we could do an easy and a harder walk, with the easy walkers walking with us for the first half of the route and then making their way back along a 4X4 track, whilst the harder walk went up a hill. Trying to keep track as to who, and how many there were in the group was impossible, even Einstein would have had trouble keeping up with all the comings and goings. For the first 1km, the track follows a 4X4 road to the picnic site, it then drops down into a superb barranco which fortunately, even after all the rain, was still dry. Th
Read more

Walk 18 November 2018 Talara

By -
Image
The walk this Sunday was a local one from Talara. The weather forecast was not promising. It wasn’t a matter of if it rained, it was at what time would it start and how heavy.  We met at the crossroads in Talara and the fallback wet weather option was coffee in Antonio’s where we could reminisce about walking in dry sunny weather. It would only be a short discussion as dry weather was sadly lacking in 2018. It was decided to skip the coffee, it wasn’t raining yet, and we had a walk to do. The route was designed with 12 options to shorten it when the rain started, it also went close by a number of Limper homes where we could seek refuge if necessary.  The walk passed through Chite where we picked up a couple of stragglers and then headed off down to the dam. This is a wonderful path as it winds its way down the hillside in and out of the Agave plants, Fortunately, I had brought my machete with me, as a number needed trimming. I had to be careful this week, my care
Read more