Lecrin Valley Limpers

The original plan this week was to go on our big walk to the refugio Elorrieta, this is at over 3000 metres and it is at the head of the Lanjaron valley, with access from veleta. By the middle of the week the weather forecast was predicting cloud so a backup plan was made, with a walk from El Dornajor visitor centre at 1600 metres. Sunday morning was very cloudy and there was lot of speculation when we met in Cozvijar as to whether or not El Dornajor would be in the cloud. Cloud was the least of our problems by the time we arrived there, it was cold and pouring down. My idea of what is light drizzle late in the day is obviously different from the man who wrote the weather forecast. Our group now consisted of thirteen people, twelve of of them were looking at me and thinking they could have stayed in bed. I needed to pull a rabbit out of the hat and pretty quickly if I was to retain any credibility within the group. There was no chance of walking from here, the only way to...

This week we went on a new walk for the group to the Barranco de la Luna. This is an amazing valley that runs between Albuñuelas and Saleres, we only discovered it last year. Such an unbelievable valley, 5 km from home, and we never knew it existed. The walk starts from Saleres and, for a few minutes, follows the road as it climbs towards Albuñuelas, you then turn off and follow a campo road as it drops down to the river. We could not have timed it better, as the moon was positioned in a crystal clear sky directly above the barranco. Arriving at the river a number in the group were reluctant to plunge into it. I think they were hoping they could keep clean and dry, not a chance, they were going in and they were going to get wet and dirty. The path is the river bed, in parts the barranco is only 2 meters wide and 50 metres deep with sheer sided rock faces. To start with you are lured into a false sense of security as the path gently meanders upstream. The last time we were...

Hi. This week we had planned to go for a big walk to the refugio Elorrirta but the weather forecast was for low cloud, I did not fancy climbing up to 3000 metres only to be covered in cloud. A lower walk was required, one out of the cloud. Trevenque fitted the bill, at just over 2000 metres it should be low enough and, if not, there were other walks we could do from the carpark. Over the week the weather forecast slowly improved and by Sunday we had clear skies. So Trevenque was our destination, This is the triangular, evil looking mountain above Cumbres Verde, the one that looks like it should have black smoke coming from the summit and the Devil himself sat there hurling rocks down the sheer rock faces. I have not been up it for about 7 years, it is not the easiest hill to climb, in actual fact you don’t climb it, you scramble up it. For the first 5 km you follow an easy track as it slowly climbs from the Sevilla carpark. Then comes the scramble, this is where we sorted...

This week it was the big one, Mulhacen, the highest peak on the Iberian Peninsular. The weather forecasts had kept changing throughout the week ranging from thunderstorms, snow, rain, to sun and cloud. After heavy rain on Saturday we awoke to starry skies on the Sunday morning. It was still pitch black when we met in Beznar at 7 am. With 19 booked to go on the walk every time we had a full car load we dispatched it to Capileira, and to the bar for a quick cup of coffee. There was so many of us the Medio Ambiente gave us our own “Lecrin Valley Limper” bus, it’s a pity the door would not close properly, we could have used it on all our excursions.   The bus takes you on a 20 km forest drive on the lower slopes of Mulhacen up to an altitude of 2688 metres. By the time we got off the bus the clouds had started to build up and the summit was covered. I had spent many sleepless nights devising alternative routes just in case the weather conditions prevented us getting to th...

This week we went for a wet scramble in the Rio Durcal. This is a superb walk in a steep sided gorge in the hills behind Durcal. We met at los Monderinos in Durcal and I was surprised to find that the group kept swelling, in the end we had 21 in the party. We had a short drive to the start of the path down by the recreation area in the gorge.   The walk starts by crossing the river on a new bridge, we could have done with this in February when we had to cross the deep, freezing cold river on another walk. You then climb up to an acequia that runs high above the valley floor into the gorge. From the valley it looks impossible that there could be path up there. The path is only 20 cm wide and some in the group did question the wisdom of walking along it, especially the part that has a 50 metres sheer drop into the river. Eventually the river and acequia meet and the pretence of trying to keep your feet dry ends. There is no option, you have to plunge into the river. For...