Lecrin Valley Limpers

Last week the weather was wet in the valley and a bit snowy on the tops, which has left the Sierras covered in deep snow. The forecast for Sunday was cold and sunny, our choice of a walk in the Alpujarras was looking like a wise decision. It was our big end of the month walk and we had an large international turnout of eager walkers. Our destination was Tozvizcón, the little pueblo nestling in a valley on the Cadiar road at the foot of the Sierra Contrevesa. The walk starts from the center of the Pueblo and follows a marked route called “Ruta de Pedro Antonio” I never found out what was amusing about the name but Carmen and Conchi thought it was funny. The path meanders beside a small stream for a couple of kilometers, steadily gaining height and warming you up for the climb out of the valley. With the top still another 5 km away you continue along, climbing all the way, it is a well graded track and it never gets steep. At the top we had extensive views down to the coast at...

Lunch on a foggy hillside Dear All. I have received a few comments about some inaccuracies that may have occurred in last week's email. To address these issues I have rewritten the email, so please disregard anything you read last week. Dear all We went for a walk and then went home. Stuart This weekend, the 17 February, we went to the Sierra Manar, the hill behind Dilar for our walk. I had advertised this as a superb walk with great views over the Sierra Nevada. A Dutch lady in the group wants her money back because the walk contravened the trade descriptions act. I left Chite in early morning sunshine, by the time I got to Durcal fog had reduced the visibility down to 50 metres, it was slightly better at our meeting point in Cozvijar. We decided to continue with the walk with the expectation that the sun would soon burn it off. Setting off from above Dilar, well they had to take my word for it, you could not see the Pueblo because of the fog, we headed up a track towar...

The Almond blossom walk Dear All. This week we went to Albunúelas for a walk amongst the Almond blossom. There were doubts as to whether the blossom would still be out. This year it started appearing at the beginning of January, and with all the wind I thought it might have blown away. The weather conditions were perfect for walking, blue sky and the wind had taken the day off. We met at the car park in Albunúelas and walked out through the village on the GR7 path and then climbed up onto the plateau. With the hard work over we now had a leisurely stroll amongst the blossom which was still in full bloom on most of the trees. Dropping down into Salares Arthur had problems with his knees and found it easier to go down backwards, with Mike guiding him. We picked up the GR7 again in Salares and followed it back to Albunúelas and up to the bar. This is where things went wrong, I had gone off on a medivac mercy mission to recover Arthur, leaving Kees and Conchi to look after, and n...

Our lunch stop on El Calar The weather in the valley last week was excellent, but the forecast for the weekend was for a return of the cold northerly wind. We had organised two new walks for the group, an A team harder walk and a B team easy walk, both setting off from Mark and Anne’s house in Gúéjar Sierra. On the car park in Cozvijar at 9 a.m., sheltering behind the cars out of the wind, there were only 6 brave souls willing to pit themselves against the elements. Because there was only Hilary for Hilary’s B team walk she decided to go home and sit by the fire, leaving 5 of us to make the journey to Gúéjar. Along with Mark and Anne there were another 4 people waiting for us, making a respectable group of 11 to walk to the top of El Calar, the hill behind Gúéjar Sierra. For a long time Mark has been extolling the virtues of this hill with its commanding views of the Sierra Nevadas. As we set off on the short walk into Gúéjar we were protected from the wind by the hills to t...