25 August 2013 Veleta

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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 in.
The weather forecast had said there was a possibility of rain in the afternoon but the conditions were perfect on the way up, not a cloud in the sky and the temperature was just right for walking. We stopped again at the bus terminus and questions were raised as to why we could not have come up on the bus. The answer is it would have been classed as cheating, and is only to be used by old gits and cripples, so maybe next year we will go up on the bus. With the summit of Veleta now looming very closely we set off again for the final sprint to the top, mind it still took another one hour fifteen minutes, so it was not much of a sprint. A nice steady pace is much more preferable than racing up and knackering oneself.
The views from the top were superb. We stopped for lunch and to admire the views, particularly over to Mulhacen, our destination in a couple of weeks. By now a few clouds were gathering and not wanting to caught out by the promised rain we decided to return back to the cars. This time we took the direct route that heads straight down the hill, missing out all the zig zags, and we were back in two hours. As usual after a walk in the mountains a celebratory drink was taken before we returned to the valley after very enjoyable day out.
Fortunately even though the clouds did build up, it did not rain on us.
Well done to the Veleta virgins, it was a magnificent effort. We walked 17.6 km and climbed 883 metres, our average speed was 3.8 km/h.

The photo was taken on the summit of Veleta

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