Lecrin Valley Limpers

Dear all For our last walk of 2007 a tough walk was called for, billed as a waist buster it was designed to undo all the Christmas excess. The walk involved following the Durcal hydro electric feed pipe up the mountain side of Peñon de Granada. At 1715 meters Peñon de Granada is the high spot behind Durcal, and getting to the top involves some effort, but at this time of the year the sun does not get on to the path until late in morning, so not too much sweat is wasted as we followed the well graded path up to the summit. The weather was perfect for such a walk not a cloud in the sky all day and as is general at this time of the year the visibility was incredible, leading one walker to describe the views as awesome, (Please note Peter does not want this quote attributed to him). For our return journey we came back via the Barranco de la Rambla, it is the first time we have been down here since the big storm, it is still difficult to believe the amount of destruction ...

Well I messed up real bad on Sunday! I apologise for a serious error of judgement, What should have been a wet day, according to local and national weather forecasts, turned out to be dry and relatively sunny, so Sundays walk, that I canceled on Saturday when it was wet and misty, could have gone ahead. The most important part of the day went ahead as normal and 17 turned up for tapa at Josettes, Thank you to Josette for hosting the tapa and everyone else for turning up with delicious food again. By request the walk will be rescheduled for Sunday 6th January. The walk this coming Sunday the 30th is designed to get rid of the excess weight put on over Christmas, and make room for the New Years Eve parties. We are going up thetubo, this is the hydro electric feed tube that runs up the hillside behind Durcal. The zig zag path is very good, but it does take 2 hours to climb the 660 meters to the summit. The views are good all the way and from the top ofPeñón de Granada they are stunning a...

All week we have had blue skies and sunshine, so it was a bit of a let down on Sunday morning when we awoke to grey skies, but because our intended route was around the valley it was not going to cause us too many problems. Our path led us fromChite down to the lake and along the path to Restabal where we witnessed the damage done by the September storm, I hope they are going to get a grant from somewhere to repair the damage because it is going to cost a few Euros to restore thebankings and the road. From Restabal we headed up to the castle at Murchas, sampling the first of this seasons oranges along the way. By now the clouds had parted and the blue skies had returned and everyone was busy shedding the extra jumpers needed earlier. We returned toChite via Murchas, and the Noche Azul in Talara . This weeks prize for plonker of the week goes to me, for falling down a pot hole and then later slipping off the footpath and down a banking whilst doing a diversion caused by the storm. We r...

Dear Limper After a promising start on Sunday, in sunshine and blue skies, we set off for what I had billed would be one of the finest walks ever. A beautiful mountain and fantastic views in all directions. Well, by the time we had driven the 1.5 hours including 20km on a forest track which took us deep into the Sierra Almijara, some in the group were questioning their wisdom and sanity on choosing to come out on todays outing, the weather had started to deteriorate, the clouds were rolling in, and the wind was starting to freshen. but our goal was still in sight, Pico Lucero, stood there, majestically, waiting for anyone foolish enough to climb her, ( I know it is masculine, but climb him does not sound right). As we started to climb the mountain the clouds crept lower and the wind picked up, by the time we had been going about 40 minutes we were in mist, and walking at a funny angle, Quina´s dogs were being carried as they were in danger of taking flying lessons. So wi...

Our walk on Sunday was up Silleta, this is the saddle back mountain above Padul. The start of this walk has always been a bit steep for the first 200 meters especially from a standing start, but while surfing Google earth I discovered an easier route, which I had intended to check out the previous week , unfortunately I had spent 4 days in my sick bed ( thanks to Dutch Bob). This resulted in trying to find the route on the day, and missing the path by about 20 meters, This led us into walking about 50 meters across virgin ground, before regaining the right path. I sincerely apologise for this lapse in planning. Once back on track we chose to do the route in the reverse direction. Whilst this still results in attaining the summit ofSilleta the way up is not steep and is in effect a Dutch flat walk. The main feature of this walk is the rock called the Ventana, which is a large arched rock high on the hillside. Well worth the effort of getting there, especially with the back...

After a wet week, (yes it does rain in Spain sometimes!) Sunday dawned bright and clear, setting the stage for what to most people was a new walk.The walk starts from the car park at Sevilla above Cumbres Verde, christened the " Super Mario " after a super fit older gentleman left us standing, when we surveyed the walk last year. Our original route started with quite a strenuous 1½ hours of climbing, but by reversing the direction of the walk, the climb to the summit becomes an easy 3.½ hours walk. As most of you have probably noticed I tend to walk at the rear of the group, this is to give encouragement to the tailenders , and also so we don´t lose anybody. Noticing that the group was mostly comprised of good walkers and being a new route, I decided to walk at the front. A big mistake! We had not gone more than 2km when we noticed that the 12 happy wanderers were no more, one had gone AWOL, Peter had taken time out to inspect a tree, and in an effort to catch u...

Dear all We awoke on Sunday to some suspicious looking cloud floating about on the Sierras, as this was the destination for this weeks walk I had to do some head scratching and try and think of an alternative venue. Fortunately by 9am the clouds had cleared and the sky was a deep blue, so back to the original plans ofPico Pioacho. This is a 1743 meter high peak, 10 km up a drivable forest road from Durcal , the road did suffer a little in the big storm in September, and so in a number of places you have to shut your eyes and tighten your seat belt, but it is well worth the white knuckle ride to save a 20km walk. The walk starts by following a goodzig zag path up to the peak, before reaching what must be one of the best high level traverse paths in Spain, with extensive views across the RioDilar, Travenque and Veleta. At the end of the traverse we climb another small path over a col, and into a baranco for an easy return back to the forest road, at this point it was dif...

Dear all Due to circumstance's beyond the managements control our planned Sunday Urban walk around Granada walk was rescheduled to Saturday, this was not because has some of our lady walkers suggested because the shops would be closed, but it was to fit in with Pablo our guides busy diary. Our tour took us up and around the caves of Sacremonte and through unknown parts of the Albayzin . Pablo kept us entertained the whole time with the history of the area and wild tales of debauchery, and other goings on, among the ruling class. Something I did learn along the way was the Annie is the illegitimate daughter of Arturo, and I, have been having an affair with her, whilst betrothed to Margaret, who is Arturo's legitimate daughter, and Alan my dad, is not happy about having to give Arturo is 2 Euro dowry back. The above explanation was given to help explain one of the complicated family stories that Pablo was telling us in the middle of the Albayzin , the good folk of ...

Dear all After checking the historical record's, carefully stored away in our underground vaults, I can confirm that today's turnout of 24 Limpers was a group record. The walk started a little late after the inevitable delays associated with getting to Fondales high up in the Alpujarras, but the weather was warm, the sky was blue, so who cared. Our route followed a number of historic trails used by the Moors when they lived and worked in the silk trade in this area. With a group of this size we were soon spread out along the hillside as the path made its way up the Sierra de Mercina, making it very difficult to organise our breakfast stop, we will have to consider culling the slow walkers or giving the fast ones rocks to carry. The highlight of the walk is the zig zag path back down into the Trevélez baranco, what a superb bit of engineering this was. In an effort to spur the group on it was mentioned that the bar in Fondales might be open, this turned out not...

Dear all Our outing this week was not the usual walk, it was more of a ramble in the forest around Pico Lopera, because this week we went hunting for mushrooms. It was obviously a group of mixed hunting abilities because some managed to bag a bag full, whilst others went home empty handed, We certainly chose the right place to be weather wise because the Lecrin Valley was blanketed in cloud most of the day, whilst we were under blues skies and warm sunshine. Sandie was awarded first prize for best selection of setas. We managed to loose Bianca and Antonio in the forest somewhere, as this was a free forage exercise we had no back marker to sweep up the stragglers and when they failed to turn up at the rendevouz point we decided to adjourn to the nearest bar, after a few drinks we forgot all about them and went back to Chite for tapa. If anyone is over that way this week and manages to spot them can you tell them we went home and we will see them next Sunday. Our walk t...

Dear all Our walk on Sunday was a return to the old favorite "Monachil" and what a beautiful walk it was, lovely warm sunshine and deep blue skies, you can´t beat it! Monachil is always a popular walk due to its stunning gorge and the swinging rope bridges and Sunday was no exception with 18 turning out for the walk. It must have been national walk the gorge week because I have never seen so many people out for a walk, it was great to see everyone enjoying themselves. Or maybe it was a chance to star in the latest film from Nick nic productions that was being filmed, there were hundreds of Tom Cruz and Angelina Jolie lookalikes all looking for leading rolls. Annie took it upon herself to interview a number of the male actors and at one point the hussy was caught inspecting his nuts, and Elsa had a star part falling off a ledge into the river. Afterwards we returned to Chite and Rob and Sandies house for tapa, where this week the Veggies had a field day with a t...

Lecrin Valley Limper Dear Limper What a hectic day Sunday turned out to be, first we had our walk in the morning from Marchena which attracted 20 keen and eager walkers, the walk had two objectives the first was to check out the state of the forest road after the storms, no serious problems found on the section we walked, the second was to check if the Seta (Mushroom) season had started yet. We found some Setas but as they were already in someone’s basket, and as we had a member of the Granada National police with us, we thought it best not to take them. The walk was a linear one as we did not have time to make it into a circular one, and so after stopping at the Ermita Vieja for a quick snack we returned the way we had come. The reason why we were so short of time was that we had to attend the film Premier of the “The Rock” This is a major new film that is going out on General release this week. The stars of the show can be seen by following the link http://picasaweb.go...

Lecrin Valley Limper Dear All Our walk last Sunday the 16th has always been amongst my favourites, and every time we return here some else adds the comment “the best walk I have ever done” so if you could not make it this time, make sure you look out for “Huétor parque natual” the next time it comes around. The conditions were perfect, blue sky, T shirt warm but not too hot, what more could we ask for. There were a few grumbles on the couple of places where the path got a bit steeper, but nothing I could not ignore, knowing full well once they got to the top, and saw the views the pain would soon be forgotten. Part of the group claimed to have seen a 2ft Lizard, mind you it was a bit like the old fishing story it got bigger with the telling and we have no photographic evidence to prove this. On our return to the valley we all went around to Gillian and Charlie’s house for tapa. A good day was enjoyed by all. The walk this coming Sunday, the 23 rd September, is the walk from L...

Lecrin Valley Limper Dear All With the temperatures plummeting this week to the high 20s, it made a welcome change to be able to climb a hill without sweating too much. Our walk took us from Mondújar up to the GR7 Niguleas, Lanjaron path, about 1.5 hours of steady climbing through Pine and Olive woods. There must have been some misunderstanding in my last email about the state of the path. I had said the path up was good, I never mention the path down. and this caused a few grumbles as we made our way back via Mondújar castle. The path was a bit steep and stony in parts, obviously having suffered severe storm damage in the past 12 months, as in my minds eye it was of wonderfully path meandering by the side of waterfalls with nymphs dancing in the dappled sun light, how ones memory suffers with age. The trip to the castle was offered as an optional extra, and typically it was only the men and Sandy (who misunderstood that it was an option) who made the climb to what is reported to...

Lecrin Valley Limper Dear Limper Our Sunday outing last week was around Albunúelas, A walk we have done a number of times in the past, but it is nice and easy and a rest from the previous week’s excursion up Mulhacén. When we got back to Albunúelas we stopped off at the local bar for drink and tapa, and I appear to have upset a number of people with my suggestion that instead of just dividing the bill, you actually paid for what you had had, A fairer system all round, but hey ho you can’t please all of the people all of the time. The tapa was arranged at Ken and Joan’s house and what a wonderful spread we had. After last weeks email regarding the etiquette around the BBQ, it was good to see Alan in charge and maintaining the 3 meters female no go area. Thank you to the ladies for making the salads. Our walk this Sunday the 9 th September starts off in Mondújar and goes up past the old Buddhist centre of La Penna before joining the GR7 path for a short distance and dropping b...

Lecrin Valley Limper Dear Limper Our walk on Sunday up Mulhacén necessitated a very early start, this was required because we had 11 places booked and paid for, on the mountain bus leaving Capileira at 8.30. So we met in Mondújar at 7 am and in the true Spanish tradition, we even had time for coffee before we met the bus and Paco, our Sierra Nevada interpretación guide. It was worth the 7.7€ bus fare just for the entertainment value of listening to Paco as he described in detail the flora and fauna of the Sierra Nevada. The bus service is a great way to get at Mulhacén as it saves some 1200 meters of ascent and 4 hours of walking, 8 hours if you also count the return journey. The bus drops you off at the Mirador de Trevélez and the first thing we all did was dig the fleece jackets out of the rucksacs. Little did we know we would be wishing we had brought another two by the time we got to the top. The path to the summit takes around 3 hours, it is not steep and normally would n...

Lecrin Valley Limper Dear all To get over last weeks hard walk and to rest the group up in preparation for the attempt of the summit of Mulhacen, all we had arranged was a very easy stroll and a picnic, so a full turn out was expected. So it was slightly worrying when at the appointed meeting place and hour, there were at least 7 missing. From past experience we knew something terrible must have gone wrong, as they would never pass up on a picnic. Little John´s group had got delayed by a misplaced telephone request for a pickup. While they were correcting this, they came across Rob and Sandy, who some of you may know as Hanna, or Barbara, I thought it was only on the Costa del Sol , that people went under different names ! Rob and Sandy, who have had a difficult week with in-laws visiting them, decided to meet us some place where the rest of us weren’t. So setting off some 20 minutes late we headed off in the direction of the Alpujarras. This is an area that we all know well, the...

Lecrin Valley Limper Dear All With an early start scheduled for this Sundays walk it was a pleasant surprise to find that 16 Limpers turned up for what promised to be a great days walking. Our walk up Veleta had been postponed a few weeks back due to strong winds which caused the cancellation of the chair lift, so it was with some relief when we arrived at the car park at Hoya de la Mora to find everything working normally. There are a number of ways that you can get to the summit of Veleta but our preferred option is to walk from the car park for about 1 hour to the upper ski resort allowing some time to acclimatise to the altitude, we then take the chair lift up another 300 meters which leaves us with another 300 meters to climb over a distance of about 3.5 km. The distance walked to get to the summit is only about 7 km but when you are unaccustomed to operating at this altitude it is far enough. So about two and half hours after leaving the car park 14 tired but very happy w...

Lecrin Valley Limper A Limper family and friends day out is proposed for this coming Wednesday at the pool in Puntal, it`s suggested that we have a picnic so bring the usual tapa and beakers, knifes and forks. We have not been this year but last year there was a large shaded area with tables and chairs to have a picnic in. If you don´t know the way follow the Durcal bypass towards Padul, continue passed the 2 Padul turn offs, and just after Delgardos there is a blue iron walkway crossing the road turn right here. Cross the service road and go up in Puntal. Turn right and follow the road round, turn left at the sign to the restaurant and go down to the little roundabout opposite the restaurant and park around there. Walk up the road 30 metres and the entrance to the pool is on your right. There is loads of shade a really big pool and sun loungers. Meet in the pool at 1.30. Our walk this Sunday the 12 th August is our second attempt this year at the summit of Veleta, our prev...

Lecrin Valley Limper Dear Limper The weather over here has started to get warm with the mercury now hitting 38C or in old money 100F on a regular basis, and it was only the true ´´die hards´´ who chose to get out of bed for an early start this week. Our destination this week was Pica Lopera, A relatively easy walk with spectacular 360 degrees views from the 1800 meter summit. We had only been walking about 5 minutes when we discovered Annie had started collecting fir cones, after a bit of persuasion she did agree to leave them and collect them on the way back. Because of our early start we were at the top and having breakfast in a very pleasant breeze by 10 am . At this time of the year the fire watch tower on the top is manned, and the warden had even taken his dog and budgie up with him to keep him company, not expecting that anybody would be daft enough to walk up there in July. The advantage of an early start is that you can get into the bar sooner and so we high tailed back...

Lecrin Valley Limper Dear all Today’s walk was bound to be popular, 10 am start, easy river walk and a picnic. What more could you ask for on a sunny Sunday morning. So the 19 Limpers set off for the short drive to the rio Dilar. For anybody who has never been before and for the ones making a return visit, this is a delightful steep sided valley with a river running beside the footpath. I know that for UK residents at the moment any river is to be avoided, but for the Limpers a river offers the opportunity to cool the feet down. The path keeps crossing the river by a series of stepping stones useful in the winter, but in the summer it is more fun just to wade across. Last week we sat by the side of a lake 2850 meters up Veleta, this week we walked in the river from the lake 2000 meters lower and it was wonderful .Because you have to retrace your steps, you can return at anytime you want. In an effort to keep some sort of order in the proceedings it was decided that the picnic ...

Lecrin Valley Limper Dear all On Sunday we awoke to a bright sunny morning, alleviating the fears we had during the week that the threatened cloud would cause us to cancel our long awaited walk up Veleta. Because this is quite a long day out with a an hours drive and a 5 hour walk, we could not afford to waste time hanging about for stragglers, this left at least one with a shiny pair of boots and no mountain to climb. When we arrived at our starting point for the walk at Hoya de Moro conditions were a little different from what we had left in the valley, there was a howling wind and temperatures that sent you scuttling for the fleece jackets, what a difference 2000 metres make. To further dampen our spirits there was no sign of the chair lifts operating which we were hoping to use to help us reach the summit of Veleta. After a hastily convened committee meeting it was decided to abandon the attempt on the summit and instead go and have a look at Embalse de lay Yegnas. This was an ...

Lecrin Valley Limper Dear all As predicted last week the transport arrangements this week were chaotic, I thought I was doing a reasonable job of organising everything when the blond said we needed a proper logistics manager. She promptly got in her car and set off in the wrong direction. At this point I must own up by saying I then committed a serious error, when I was bringing the drivers back from Izbor ,before the start of the walk, I missed the Pinos turn off and had to do a circuit back to Lecrin. I will also like to say that the blond trainee logistics manager committed the same error some 5 hours later, perhaps she will be able to apply for the job again at a later stage. The walk was from Pinos del Valle to Izbor and our guides this week were Nick and Carol, this routes uses a series of tracks, paths, and short cuts as it twists and turns on the wooded hillside between the two villages. I started a new game that was soon taken up by Veronica and Rob, it involved fin...

Lecrin Valley Limper Dear Limper Our walk this last Sunday was a return to one of our summer favourites, and judging by the approval ratings, it must rank amongst best of the best. The problem with the approval ratings system we have, is that after nearly every walk someone will say " I enjoyed that, it's my favourite" and everyone agrees, so can someone please devise a points system, so we all know which is the best walk. We met in the car park in Niguelas, and I was quite surprised at the large turnout, 18 eager souls wanting to go and play in the river, and of course you always get one who comes home wet. The walk starts down by the recreation area and follows the Rio Durcal as it twists and turns its way in a steep sided canyon. You follow an Acequia on the left of the canyon to start with, before walking in the river and passing a magnificent waterfall, it was the best I have ever seen it. 12 months ago after a violent thunderstorm, the riverbed was totally alter...

Dear Limper Our walk this last Sunday took us to the castle above Guajar Faraguit, We started off with 8 intrepid members but shortly after we started climbing up to the Castle one was taken ill with heat exhaustion, so 2 had to return back to the car. The views from the Moorish castle are well worth the climb even on a hot day and you can see why it was positioned here, but it must have being a long way down to the bar even in them days. The bar was what spurred the group on as the sun climbed higher and the temperature rose into the 30s. One of these days we will learn to go straight to the bar and miss the walk out completely. The walk is a circular one and the return leg takes you through Guajar Fondon, how anybody ever learns to find their way about in these narrow streets and alley ways is beyond me, but eventually we found ourselves back at the starting point and a very conveniently positioned bar where cool drinks and tasty tapa were consumed. We were very lucky with our choice...

Dear Limper Our walk on Sunday was a circular walk starting off from Restabal. After nearly four years of Limping we are starting to get the hang of this walking lark so our first stop was at the bar Sifon to order drinks and tapa for our return, after last time when 17 thirsty walkers trouped through his bar, doubling his day´s takings, we thought we would not shock him again. We then proceeded to climb the hill up to the new Moorish archway they have built at the entrance to the abandoned village. We have now got two stories as to why it was left to fall into ruins. The first is that an earth quake destroyed it and it was never rebuilt. The second is that there was difficulty with the drinking water supply, so they all moved down into Restabal. My own theory is they got fed up of walking up the hill after visiting the bars Sifon and Jovi. After spending 10 minutes walking around the ruined village it came as a surprise about one hour later when Sandie asked when we would be seeing th...