Lecrin Valley Limpers

Dear Limper Our walk this week was subject to a last minute change due to low cloud, whilst the Valley of Happiness was bathed in sunshine with a cool wind, our destination at Cumbres Verde was cocooned in a thick blanket of fog, thank you to Colin and Lesley in Monachil for alerting us to the situation. With no one willing to trade the sunshine for the fog a hasty about turn was made and we headed for Murchas and the walk to the Arabic castle before returning, via Melegis and the headless woman statue, to Murchas. Our decision to postpone the Cumbres Verde walk was, on balance, a wise one as low cloud continued to hang in the hills all day, whilst the sun shone on the righteous. Upon our return to Talara, Arthur suggested that refreshment be taken at the Noche Azul, no doubt so he could sample Miguel's Pork tapa. We will try next week (Sunday 3rd December) to do this weeks postponed walk (subject to suitable weather) the details are the same as last week, a walk...

Report from walk leader Graham. Circular walk from Albnúelas Sunday 5th November A small select band of English and French gathered in the overspill carpark, all prompt before 10am. The stand in leader, Graham (in the absence of El Presidente, Stuart) decided we would wait for 5-10 minutes for any latecomers. Where upon at 10.10 prompt we were suddenly overwhelmed by a large raiding party of Dutch. Finally we departed in the direction of the gorge with a group of eight Dutch, five English one French and 4 dogs (additionally, it is worthy of note that there were only three men in the group thus making it very difficult to keep control). Nethertheless, the walk proved to be a success with beautiful weather and very pleasant views, particularly with interesting cloud formations above Nigúelas. Two new members, Plym (not sure of the spelling- apologies) and Deborah both said that they enjoyed themselves and promised to join us again in the future. Liz and I are returning ...

Dear Limper Our walk this last weekend was a delight, I won't hear anybody say anything wrong about Izbor again, by the way, if you could not get the Izbor spell checker thing to work last week, I will just say that mine came up with "Inborn" whilst trying to correct "Izbor". The arrangements last weekend involved a lot of moving cars around, so we all met in Pinos del valle, then the drivers took the cars down to Izbor while the rest of us retired to a bar for coffee and tostada whilst awaiting the drivers return. The walk was being led by Nick and Carol who live in Pinos so I was a bit reluctant to mention anything when we headed up hill in a Northerly direction, when according to my memory Izbor was down hill and South,. We proceeded to hit all points of the compass for about 1 hour before finally heading off in the right direction. Nick did reassure us that he knew where he was going and was enhancing our experience of the area by taking us on u...

Dear All Well this Sunday found us all heading off for the Alpujarras once again, I am really enjoying the walks in this area, its just a pity that it takes such a long time on slow and twisting roads before you arrive at your destination, you can then look back down the valley and see the hermitage above Pinos del valle only about 20 km away in a straight line, but 1 hour away by road. We had been promised sunshine on Sunday after a week of rain and heavy grey cloud, so it was with joy in our hearts that we set off from Fondales with blue skies and sunshine on what promised to be a spectacular walk, The path drops down into, and crosses the Rio Trevélez by way of an old arched bridge. In the past this bridge and route was used by the moors to transport their silk that they harvested and spun in the area. After a long steady climb we reached an old and apart from one modern house an abandoned community with spectacular views all around. No doubt soon some property develope...

Dear Limpers Well what an interesting day out we had today, let me start at the beginning, A couple of weeks ago Alan and my self were invited to join a walking group run by Guillermo from the Nomadas outdoor sports shop in Durcal (The number 1 spot in the area for all your outdoor gear) and we had a very enjoyable day out and met and made friends with a group of Spanish walkers. To thank them for their kindness shown to us, we invited them to join us on today's walk. So it was with great excitement that a group of 11 British and 13 Spanish made their way to Guajar Alto. Where,, after stopping for coffee at Comidas Carmen a long line of walkers set of for the walk back to Guajar Faraquit. We had not been walking for long before it soon became apparent that what once had been a very good path had detoriated after the storms a couple of months back, and it was not long before the group spread out with the leaders disappearing into the distance only reappearing again when...

Dear Limper Our walk last Sunday, walking with Giants in the Sierra Nevada turned out to be one the best multi-ability walks we have done. What looked like a shambles and a disaster in the making, was transformed into something better than the original concept. The original plan was that we would drive to Capileria catch the 11 am national park bus that would take us up Mulachen, walk for 4 hours before catching the 4.15 bus back to Capileria. We discovered by chance on the Saturday that we had been accidentally booked onto the Saturday bus instead of the Sunday an easy mistake to make in English but not quite so easy with Sabado and Domingo in Spanish, but never mind, nothing lost when they told us we could transfer to Sunday instead , except that we could not catch the 16,15 bus we would have to take the 18.45 instead. this left us with a further 2.5 hours to fill. After hours of debate into the early hours of Sunday morning and so many different plans that we were inves...

Dear Limper The planned Izbor walk for the 8th October has been postponed, Because we have to fit in a high altitude walk before the weather deteriorates. This walk is a unique opportunity for everyone to experience walking amongst the Giants! The highest mountains in Spain, Mulhacen at 3479 Meters, Veleta, Caballo, and the best bit there is no effort involved. All the hard work is done by a bus run by the Sierra Nevada National park which takes us from Capileira to the Mirador de Trevélez at 2700 meters. leaving you with a virtually level high altitude walk along the old Veleta mountain road. The intended destination is the Glacial lake of the Laguna de Caldera but because we use the same route for both the outward and return journey you are under no pressure to walk further than what you feel comfortable with. We catch the 11.00 am bus from Capileira which drops us off about 1 hour later at the top and we catch the return bus at 4.15 leaving us with about 4 hours to exp...

Dear Limper It is with deep regret that I have to announce that this coming weekend the 1st of October there will be no organised Limper walk. This is due to an expected hangover on the Sunday morning. Our walk this week from Albunuelas to Restabal was a great success the weather was ideal, deep blue skies, warm sunshine and a tail wind. The walk is a linear one and so involves having enough cars to transport everyone to Albunuelas and leaving something behind so that the drivers can return later to retrieve them. With 18 Limpers turning out it was obviously too much for our logistics manager and it was a disorganized rabble who made their way to the start of the walk. From Albunuelas the walk follows the GR7 path, (the second time in 2 weeks that we have been on a section of the GR7 at this rate we have only got another 3000 km to go and we will have done it all) all the way through the campo land down to Saleres before crossing the Rio and continuing into Restabal, wh...

Dear Limper Our walk last Sunday started from the car par in Niguelas. We headed off on the GR7 route to Murchas before taking the newly upgraded road going down into and across the Rio Torrente. The road has been constructed at great expense but does not appear to serve any purpose what so ever. Once over the river we climbed the opposite bank into Acequias. For the return trip to Niguelas it was democratically decided to take the higher of the two routes as this affords good views over the Torrente and Niguelas. About halfway up this path you can take a branch of the GR7 that returns you to Niguelas and this was our chosen route. We had not gone very far when we came across a Scorpion hiding under a rock, for me and a number of others in the group it was the first time we had come across anything so dangerous and there was only Dave who wanted to stroke it. Back down by the Rio Torrente we decided to take a detour on a recently reconstructed footpath running along side a...

Dear Limper The walk last Sunday found us heading to Capileira and up the Poqueira gorge as far as the hydro station at La Cebadilla, The walk climbs steeply at first as it leaves the village of Capileira causing a few members to question their judgement in choosing to come out walking again with the group, but after 10 minutes or so the track levels off and all is forgotten as we head towards the abandoned village of Cebadilla reportedly built to service the hydro station. The track is easy walking and gives magnificent views of the surrounding peaks. At Cebadilla the track crosses the river and returns along the opposite bank passing through terraced farm land. If we had had more time and carrier bags with us we could have stopped to pick delicious tasting Blackberries growing in the hedge rows. The path meanders along the hillside for about 1 hour before recrossing the river and climbing back up into Capileira, where we stopped for a drink before returning to Chite fo...

Dear Limper The walk this Sunday was to the small white building that sits on top of the tuberia that used to feed the hydro electric station behind Durcal, you can see it from the valley floor, The walk itself involved climbing some 700 meters up a well graded zig zag path. The views from the top are extensive and well worth the effort involved in getting there. Sadly only Margaret and myself were there to take in the vistas. The walk up was in the shade most of the way and a very pleasant breeze accompanied us down via the Barranco de la Rambra. On our return we went to Pacos bar in Cozvijar. The walk this coming Sunday is a new one on me as we are taking it straight out of the Alpujarras walks guide book. The walk is from Capileira to La Cebadilla and is described as only 7 km long and with 300 meters of ascent and takes 145 minutes it also passes the best picnic spot in the valley and it suggest taking a towel so you can have a paddle. I accept no responsibility if t...

Dear Limper What a wonderful start we had to the new walking season with 13 people turning up for the walk up Veleta, including Antonio from Niguelas on his first outing with the Limpers, who said afterwards that it will be another 2 years before he will be fit enough to come again. A number in the party had expressed reservations about whether they would be able to complete the walk due the altitude, so they joined us for the first hour as far as the chair lift station before returning to the car park. This left the brave and foolhardy to be whisked away on the ski lift up the flank of Veleta. I must say I find this method of climbing a mountain brilliant and I would recommend it to anyone. As welcome as the lift is, it still leaves you with a good hours walk to puff and pant your way to the summit. Whilst it was quite cool and windy at the top the views were outstanding and well worth the effort of getting there. Our return track was somewhat shorter than the ascent as w...

Dear Limper What a wonderful start we had to the new walking season with 13 people turning up for the walk up Veleta, including Antonio from Niguelas on his first outing with the Limpers, who said afterwards that it will be another 2 years before he will be fit enough to come again. A number in the party had expressed reservations about whether they would be able to complete the walk due the altitude, so they joined us for the first hour as far as the chair lift station before returning to the car park. This left the brave and foolhardy to be whisked away on the ski lift up the flank of Veleta. I must say I find this method of climbing a mountain brilliant and I would recommend it to anyone. As welcome as the lift is, it still leaves you with a good hours walk to puff and pant your way to the summit. Whilst it was quite cool and windy at the top the views were outstanding and well worth the effort of getting there. Our return track was somewhat shorter than the ascent as w...

Dear Limpers Well I hope you are all feeling refreshed and raring to go after the summer recess. Whilst you have all been sat at home sun bathing the path finder section has been out looking for new and exciting places to visit. First on the list is Veleta, Spain's second highest mountain. We have found a relatively pain free way of getting to the top, but it still involves about 2.5 hours of ascent and of course what goes up must come down. The proposed walk is (subject to weather conditions, and that certain advertised transportation methods are still operating), that we drive up into the Sierra Nevada mountains to the Hoya de la Mora car park above the ski resort of Pradollano. We then walk for about 1 hour up and around to the upper ski station. Here we can buy a ticket for the chair lift (6.50 euro) that will take us up Veleta about 450 meters, leaving us with a walk of about 1.5 hours. The actual walking is very easy as it is virtually all on a well graded road,...

Dear limper. Can I start by saying how disappointed Alan was at 8 am Sunday morning when totally out of character he was ready and waiting on the car park and there was only me about to witness the fact. Because of the poor turn out for the planned walk up Cumbres Verde (me and Al) it was decided that we would explore a track nearer home that neither one of us had been up before. The track sets off up the hillside to the right of the Rio Durcal and when it was built it must have been a major engineering feat as it twists and turns up the hillside it would also have been wide enough to drive on. Sadly as time has passed by the track has fallen into disrepair and it was not long before we came to our first "Oh Cacka" moment where the path had been washed away as it crossed a baranco. the crossing now involved climbing down into and out of the baranco before picking up the track again. This was repeated a further 3 times before the path levelled off and we were ab...

Dear Limper The major high light of the week was the planned BBQ on Thursday night at the picnic site in Guajar Alto, as usual when food is on the menu, we had a good turn out with 12 turning up as opposed to 4 for the walk on the previous weekend. Sadly when we all arrived at the picnic site there was a notice proclaiming by Royal decree that BBQs were not allowed from the 31st May until the 1st of November. There was a big discussion as to whether this applied to us, obviously if it had been a truly British BBQ party we would have been exempt from any Royal decree not signed by our own Queen Elizabeth, but because of the large international gathering of Dutch, French, Lebanese and Irish, we decided to follow the guide lines and just have a picnic instead. The venue is perfect with tables and chairs laid out overlooking a waterfall. A note has been made to reconvene here at the beginning of November. In order not to waste all the BBQ food we had taken we returned to Chit...

Dear All It was a very poor turnout we had for our Sunday walk, with only 4 members bothering to get out of bed for the 7am start from Niguelas.We all enjoyed the drive in Mark's 4x4 as it carried us up to the 2000 meter line. It wasn't that we did not want to walk this section, but we thought that it was an ideal opportunity for Mark to find out if his car would actually go off road. The area that we drove through and the initial forest road at the start of the walk is in the area that was devastated by last year's fire. So what previously was a nice wooded area is now a landscape devoid of any vegetation. After the first hour of walking the track leaves the road and the devastation behind and heads for El Caballo. It must be an optical illusion but it looks higher and further away at this point than it does when you are sat in the bar in the valley. With a number of stops along the way to take on fuel and recover ones breath ( which I found was increasingly m...

Dear Limper Well there is trouble once again in the group, this time it is a recently formed Anglo French breakaway group creeping off in the middle of the night to do our planned 5pm walk, on the pretext that there was a football match to watch in the afternoon. If that was not bad enough one member of the group had the audacity to turn up for tapa. The late start circular walk from Albunuelas was a success and not too hot due to a pleasant breeze which took the heat out of the day. The main reason for doing the walk was the Oleander bushes that were in full bloom, unfortunately due to the thunder storms and heavy rain that had fallen on this part of the Lecrin Valley last week the flowers were looking a bit battered. The walk finished with drinks and tapa at Bar Jovi in Restabal. The walk this coming Sunday will have limited appeal as it panders on the masochistic tendency of certain group members, it climbs up to the 3011 meter summit of El Caballo, We are planning to...

Sorry for not including this in the previous email. Lecrin Limpers Walk Report for : Sunday 18 June 2006 Destination: top of valley ridge beside La Jara(1365m) behind/above Pinos de Valle By the arranged rendezvous time at the lavadero top of Pinos (actually in use at the time by a local senora) 7 of us had mustered: Graham & myself along with 5 chicas Josette; Liz; Margaret; Pat&Val- oh yes and Rudie/Rudy!(not a chica!) A decision was made to attempt to go as far as possible along the initial campo access track, to the loop T-junction which almost proved to be achievable even for Josette’s car(Val driving!) We did not get quite as far as the loop T-junction aimed for, but still 20 mins into the route parking up about 20 mins walk short- but this seemed quite agreeable to everyone and the cars were safe ‘off road’! At noon (2 hours later)we were having our well deserved ‘snap-snack’ from our knap-sacs and everyone was fine- no ill effe...

Dear All Our walk and picnic last Sunday to the Rio Dilar was a great success, Well can I rephrase that, the picnic was great, but there appeared to be a lack of motivation when it came to the walk, with 3 members giving up on the walk after 100 meters when the first picnic tables appeared and the rest of the group turning back at various places along the route. I think the problem was, that there was a lot of mistrust amongst the walkers. That the game keepers left in charge of looking after the food would turn into poachers,.and there would be nothing left if they stayed away too long. But everyone enjoyed themselves and no one fell in the river which was a first in itself. The walk this Sunday the 18th June is a walk above Pinos del Valle, It is a linear walk up a very pleasant valley along a campo road, being linear you can return to your car whenever the fancy takes you. The gradient is slightly uphill and should not pose a problem for anyone. The after walk tapa c...

Dear Limper The walk this coming Sunday is a nice gentle affair with a return to the Rio Dilar. I know some of us were only up there a couple of weeks ago but most of us were tired on the return down the valley could not enjoy the beauty of the area and a number of folks could not make the walk anyway, So it has been decided that we should return with sandals so we can paddle in the water, walk as far as you want to go, up a very pleasant virtually flat valley then we all meet up some where near the car park for a big happy families picnic by the side of the river. There are tables and chairs there but if you want to bring along more comfortable chairs you should not have to carry them too far from the cars. The walk is classed suitable for Olwyn. Meet at the acropolis bar Mondujar 10.30

Dear Limper We had the first of the hot weather walks on Sunday when we returned to Dilar. The walk was advertised as suitable for all abilities with the intention that we would follow the river up the valley and return via the Boca de la Pesca, with the strollers amongst us turning back when they wanted. But with the temperatures expected to reach 32 degrees and everyone looking fighting fit, it was decided to get the hard part over at the start by climbing the 1000 ft ascent up Boca de la Pesca. This track takes no prisoners and everyone was relieved when they arrived at the top, There was no takers to the suggestion that we should go to the summit a further 300 foot of ascent. From this point the path runs level all the way around to the car park at Cerro de Sevilla before it descends back down to the Rio Dilar. Lunch was taken under a full services pine tree that provided comfortable seating and wonderful shade. Given the option I think the group would have stayed the...

Dear All Our outing this last weekend took us back to everyone's favourite destination of Monachil, but this time we were not out to enjoy ourselves. The four selfless souls were on a mission, to boldly go where no limper had gone before, to discover new tracks and distant hillsides, So on a bright sunny morning 4 men and a dog set off heading for the halfway point where we normally turn back and cross the river for the return journey. But this time we were doing the walk in the reverse direction and instead of turning around we headed up the hillside following the signs for Hoya Romero which after quite a steep climb eventually brought us out in a large daisy filled pasture. Congratulating ourselves that the worst of the climbing was over we all heartily tucked into our snap, The walk had not resumed for more than a few minutes when a decision had to be made, did we head downhill and back to the bar and the car, or uphill and away from the bar and the car. A vote was ...

Yo Limpers, Dis is da Al taking over for da week. Lecrin Limpers Walk …. Sunday 14 May ’06 Leaving the valley in its misty mire, 7 intrepid Limpers had the most delightful of walks, in the Sierra de Huetor Parque Natural for approx 3 hours. We were of course so disappointed & dismayed to learn at the last minute that Stuart & Olwyn, would not be able to make it-despite the coolbox being ready & packed with a host of picnic goodies- seems urgent attention was required due to a pre-breakfast crisis in’t casa! But we survived- life limps on regardless! It would seem everyone thoroughly enjoyed the experience- a veritable botanical bonanza(again!)- especially, if like me, you’ve never seen a wild peony before this week- the area was rife with them and ‘Broken-Wing’ was beside himself, stopping us every 20m to view yet another ….. wild orchid!! Refreshment & a well deserved sitdown was at the Cuevas del Aguas, complete with viewing a...

Yo Limper Well after a bit of a damp week the weather settled down for the weekend enabling us, finally, to get to Monachil, and once again experience what must be one of the finest walks in Spain. For a long time members have kept asking how far this or that walk is, and the answer has always been 'well its about this or that'. So it was with great excitement this weekend that we set off on the Monachil gorge walk with Haley and her new pedometer, with the sure knowledge that finally our 'this or that' estimates would be accurate. Sadly I have to report that the reading we ended up with was 2. We were unable to make this fit with any of our previous 'this or that' estimates, it later transpired that she had been carrying the pedometer in her rucksack, which may have contributed to the error. In an effort to boost member numbers we have now resorted to picking up strangers on route. We had not been walking long before a young French lady caught us u...

Dear Limper Our outing last Sunday to Guajar Faraguit went ahead as planned in glorious sunshine. The logistics of getting the right cars in the right places at the right time, was a nightmare and a considerable amount of beer was drunk whilst trying to solve the problem. In the end Liz was appointed Logistics manager when she came up with a brilliantly simple plan, Liz was not drinking that day. The walk follows an old trail from Faraguit to Alto on the hillside looking down into the gorge and whilst the views are always fabulous, it was the variety of wild flowers that made this walk so stunning. I had never realised before the wide diversity of knowledge that the Limpers posess and it was a delight to walk with Arthur Titchmarch Howells who had a name for all the horticultural specimens we passed. He should write his knowledge down in a book, because the botanical names that rolled of the tip of his silver tongue are nothing like any wild flower book I have read. We mus...

Dear Limper With two limper outings and an A team expedition it has been a busy week. First off the A team went looking for new walks above Cumbres Verde and came back with a wonderful, if a little strenuous, stroll of about 5 hours. The walk sets off from the car park at Cerro de Sevilla and at Puerte de los siete Ojos (the bridge of the seven eyes) sets off up the very steep path towards Pico de la Carne. Not a very auspicious start to a walk for a vegetarian. After about 15 minutes of climbing with the heart, lungs, and legs all complaining we took a well earned breather. So it was a surprise to see a hombre Espanola of similar vintage coming strolling up the path in shorts and a T shirt, at this point we were still wearing fleece's. In an effort to maintain the macho image of the A team we set off on his tail but we were soon left eating dust as he disappeared over the next ridge. So it was a surprise some one hour later as we sat eating our snap to see Super Mar...