Walk Sunday 26 August 2018 Elorrieta

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Sunday was our big end of the month walk and we went to the refugio Elorrieta.
The walk starts from the carpark at Hoya de la Mora and for a change it wasn’t windy.
 There were 14 of us in the group, all looking forward to a day on the hills, walking above the snow line. Yes, even though the temperature is still nudging 40 degrees in Granada, up here you still need a fleece on, well some of us do and there still big patches of snow to cross.
 For the first hour the walk passes above the ski station at Borreguiles, not my favourite part of the walk, but as soon as you get to the ridge by the radio telescopes you leave all the detritus behind you and move into the stunning scenery below the tajos de la Virgen. This is where we came across the first of the snow, not as much as the last time we were here a couple of months ago but enough to play in.
The walk follows a good path as it climbs up on to the ridge and the refugio at Elorrieta, a stunning place. Reportedly in the past it was a TB hospital, I do wonder how anyone managed to walk there. It must have been a kill or cure kind of treatment.
We had lunch at the refugio and were entertained by a pair of Golden Eagles who put on a spectacular fly past, just below us. It was worth the climb just to see them. All that was missing was a good photographer with a telephoto lense, where was Fernando when we needed him. We found him 1 hour later messing about on a photographic course. He could have won the international wildlife photographer of the year competition if he had been with us.
We headed back the way we had come and stopped for refreshments at one of the car park bars.
The weather stayed perfect all day, not a cloud in the sky and the temperature was just right for walking.
A great day out.

We walked 15.5 km and climbed 725 metres

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