Lecrin Valley Limpers

Last Sunday’s walk was a big one, to the summit of Veleta, at 3398 metres it is the second highest mountain in the Sierra Nevada range. We all met up at the Hoya del Mora carpark at 9.30, it had been quite warm on the drive up so it was a shock when we got out of the cars to find the temperature was down to around 15 degrees. Everyone was soon unpacking their fleeces and looking for woolly hats, last used in the winter. Setting off we decided to stick to the old road, it is a lot longer route, at 12 km against the 5.7 km for the direct route, but it is also a lot easier on the heart and lungs, having a gradient of only 7.5%. After walking for one hour we stopped for a refreshment break and we were rewarded by the sight of 8 Eagles slowly circling above us. This was the closest we have ever seen them. We have so many twitchers in the group now that we were instantly able to recognize them as either Bonelli, Imperial or Golden, depending on which bird book they were looking i...

This week we had an easy walk planned, starting from the BP garage in Cozvijar, so no driving either. I am spoiling you guys, just don’t expect it every week. When it cools down a bit, it will be back to the hard slog. We started by following the campo track to Mike’s house. We then headed downhill and across country, following a little path that had some very tasty Blackberries and a lot of brambles obscuring the path. Kees is the official path clearer and carries a pair of cutters for this very purpose. This week he did not have them with him. He has agreed to recompense anyone who had the skin ripped from their arms and legs. Just send him an invoice for all your pain and suffering. We then got our feet wet as the river was flowing over the road, no compensation for this, it is a natural disaster. The path then continues downhill following the river, finally coming out above the waterfall of the Arroyo de la Alcáza. From here we took a new path down to the base of the ...

This week I have been kept busy caring and wearing my nurses uniform as I looked after the Mrs who has now been diagnosed with shingles (Culebrina), can I thank everyone who passed on their good wishes. With Olwyn starting to feel a bit better and me in urgent need of some respite care I decided to join in on this weekends walk. We had changed the day to Saturday so that Mike could go on the walk, it’s the fiesta in Cozvijar this weekend and on Sunday they put on a special meal and some fancy wine for all the old gits in the village. He did not want to miss the walk as we have tried to do it three times in the past only to be defeated, after a long walk, by poor weather. He certainly did not want to miss his lunch, where else could he get tipsy, for free, on wine from the bodega del Señorio de Nevada. There was also a problem with Mark, Anne has been away for two weeks and was coming home on Sunday, so he needed time to throw the beer, women and wine bottles out. We had a...