Lecrin Valley Limpers

We had two walks organised this weekend. The the big walk was to Maroma, where most of the group returned totally knackered, but with that inner satisfaction that comes from achieving something big. The second walk was led by Hilary from Restabal. The big walk. Our walk this Sunday was a spectacular one. It was a walk the “Old gits” had discovered last year. Please note a change of name from the A team to the Old gits, this is because of the very poor performance by three unnamed members of the previously named A team. I don’t know how to explain in Spanish what an Old git is but you know the old men who sit in shade all day discussing the weather, well these are old gits. La Maroma is the very large hill that sits between Alhama de Granada and the sea. It is only just over 2000 metres in altitude but it is an enormous and spectacular mountain. We had a early 8.30 start because it was going to be a long day. The drive takes 1 hour 20 minutes. There  are a numb...

We had two walks organised this weekend, Hilary led an easy walk around the gardens of Nigúeles and I led an easy walk around Capileira. Most of the group going on the Capileira walk met at 9 at the Beznar roundabout and then drove up to Capileira where we met Jan and Martine, who had driven to Pampaneira and then walked up to Capileira, they thought our little 9km needed extending a bit. Antonio also joined us in Capileira, he hadn’t got out of bed in time to make the Beznar meeting point. The weather forecast was predicting light rain after 2 pm, no problem, we would be heading home by then. With 12 now in the group we set off towards Cebadilla, the hydro station in the Poqueira gorge. We had sunshine and cloud but the temperature was a little down on  what we have been used to over the last couple of weeks, three of the group had shorts on and they were complaining it was a little chilly. We made good progress to Cebadilla, but the clouds were starting to build up...

We had three walks organised for the Saturday Melegis charity walk, one easy, one a little harder and one a bit harder still. The walks were open to all so it was good to welcome some new faces, after all we were doing the Orange walk to raise money for Acompalia. All three walks set off from Melegis in a staggered start, carefully designed to get everyone back at the same time of 2pm. The harder walk set off in the direction of Murchas castle, on a track amongst the Orange blossom. There was a slight hiccup in the proceedings when we had to climb up to an acequia, this gets more difficult every time we come on this walk. At one time access to it was level from the path, now its a 3 metre climb, but with some carefully placed hands and a bit of push me, pull me, we all made it up. We continued to climb up to the castle where we stopped for a short break and photos. We left the Oranges behind us and went into Olive country as we walked into Murchas. From Murchas there is ...

We had two walks organised for Sunday, one easy and one a little harder. On Sunday we went on a local walk to the Ermita Vieja. The weather forecast was predicting 24 degrees and wall to wall sunshine. Everyone was expecting a cracking walk  with perfect conditions in wonderful countryside, they were not disappointed. We met in Marchena and then drove a couple kms to the start of the walk. The path starts off with a steep uphill section, fortunately it only lasts a few minutes. After this the path continues uphill, but the gradient is only 12%, so we were able proceed at a good pace. In part this was down to our new trainee guide. Conchi had expressed an interest in leading a walk and this was her first day, with on the job training, I think she forgot about the old guys at the back! After walking for 1 hour uphill and with the views opening up over the snow covered slopes of Cabello, we stopped for a well earned rest and refreshment. I must say it looked fantastic,...