Lecrin Valley Limpers

This week we set a new Limper's Record. We started the walk with 21 people and finished with 4, this beats by one the mark set the first time I did this walk. We met at Cozvijar at 10 o'clock, except for one person, who shall remain anonymous and drives a fancy Mercedes, who pitched up at 9 o'clock. We drove to Lidel to meet up with the rest of the group. I'll have to find a different place to meet, because every year somebody disappears into the shop. Eventually we set off on our walk, a nice FLAT gentle walk as promised. After 45 minutes or so we arrived in Plaza Bib Rambla for hot chocolate and Churros. I selected a nice cheerful café with a cosy heated outside sitting area, but this didn't meet with Conchi's approval, so she led us further along the square and eventually we found a café that would serve us. The chocolate and Churros met with general approval, except for Jan who gave them the thumb's down; give him another 20 odd years in...

Last week it finally snowed in the Sierras , it was also a bit damp in our valley. The snow was ideal for myself, Kees, Conchi and Fernando who were having a weekend away on Veleta on a photography course. Mike volunteered to lead the walk to Pico Lopera. I think that the 22nd of December is my favourite day of the year. We have passed the hurdle of the shortest day, and from now on the sun greets us a little earlier each morning and stays with us a little longer in the evening. Everything is on the Up! With this in mind we embarked on our journey to Pico Lopera, one of our more scenic walks, and there are a good many. We parked our cars outside the Bar, always a clever move. The day was perfect; a clear deep blue sky, little or no wind, and the sun rising over the snow clad Sierra Nevada shining down on us, warming our cold bones. What more does a body want? In Jan's case a new one. He'd gone down with something horrible, so he opted to take himself and...

This week we went on a new walk that started high on the hillside above Monachil. We have driven on part of it, walked on part of it and there was a new bit, but we have never combined them into a walk. We had two meeting points, one in Cozvijar and a second one in Monachil, where we were joined by another 9, including Jesus and Christina on a motorbike. Our group now consisted of 10 Espanolas, 8 Brits and 1 Dutch. The walk starts from collado del muerto, an auspicious place to start from, and follows an old Mule track, the Camino de los Neveros. That dates back to 1526 when it was used to bring ice down from the summit of Veleta to keep the good people of Granada cool in the summer. Nowadays it makes an excellent way to climb up the hill towards Dornajo, the Sierra Nevada visitor centre. Just before Dornajo the track the meets the Sulayr long distance footpath that some in the group walked in 2011/12. A book of our travels on the Sulayr path will be published soon, let m...

Whilst we are still experiencing cool weather it is under a clear blue sky, so as long as you wrap up well you can have a fabulous day out. Our walk this week was to Silleta but this time we approached it from a different direction. We started from Dilar and climbed up Sierra Manar, a good way to get warm. But with the temperature varying between 14 and 2 degrees, depending on if you were walking in the sun or shade,  you had no idea whether to strip off or add another layer. We stopped for a quick break on the top of Sierra Manar before tackling Silleta. The summit would have been the obvious place to stop for lunch but we were far too early, even Conchi wasn’t hungry,so a few intrepid souls climbed the last few metres to the marker post. It was well worth the extra effort, the views were spectacular. The walk continued by dropping down the Padul side of Silleta and then heading towards the Ermita Vieja. Finding a sunny spot with good views we stopped for lunch. ...

It was another cold morning on Sunday as we stood in the car park waiting for folk to arrive. Everyone had their hats, coats and gloves on, and were stamping their feet and flapping their arms. Eventually we numbered 27 and I thought it was time to go before anymore arrived, 2 more managed to sneak in at the back whilst we were making our way out of the village. The walk started from the carpark in Nigúelas and headed down hill before turning off and heading to Acequias. Hilary had decided to do a shorter walk suitable for the kids so we stopped in the plaza for a full group photography session. If the group keeps expanding Conchi will have to buy a wider angle lens. Hilary took her group of 5 on the lower level route and we picked up the GR7 as it headed uphill towards Lanjaron. After 3 km Arthur and Mike decided to take a shortcut back to the bar. The path continued uphill for a further km and as this was the end of our climbing we stopped for a quick snack. We didn’t sta...