Lecrin Valley Limpers

This week it was our big end of the month walk and we went to Mulhacen. It was a walk for the tough and the brave, a walk to remember, a walk with no views. We have had a pretty mixed bag of weather this week. The promised rain finally appeared along with some heavy thunderstorms. The forecast for Sunday, whilst not good,  did look like we stood a reasonable chance of remaining dry. As usual for the Mulhacen trip we had an early, 7 am start from Beznar, this gives us enough time for the drive to Capiliera, a quick coffee and sufficient time to get the tickets for the bus. There was 15 of us and I counted up how many actions the ticket issuer had to go through, each ticket needed 11 ticks, stamps, or something written on it. 165 actions to issue 15 tickets. We could have had an extra 30 minutes in bed. The cloud was hanging about at around 2500 metres, somewhat short of the predicted 3800 metres in the forecast, and considerably lower than the 3482 meter summit of Mu...

Hi This week the weather forecast had been predicting rain for the weekend so I had found a local walk on hard tracks, one we could shorten if it turned wet. We met at the crossroads in Talara, the sky was grey and the cloud base was low but the temperature was perfect for walking. We headed off in the direction of Chite bajo, and then down into the barranco that runs down to the Pantano de Beznar. The path kept crossing a small stream and it was quite slippy. I kept expecting to hear a SPLAT as someone went in but no, everyone remained dry. The path alongside the lake was overgrown in places, some in the group called for the man with the sharp Machete to clear it. I maintained it looked like a weeks job so we just struggled through it. We stopped at the Beznar recreation area for a drink and Javi and Rosa joined us. Seemingly they had been tracking us since Talara, they had gone for a coffee before the start of the walk and when they came out we had gone. Losing two befo...

Well, this week we went to the Barranco de la Luna and for a change we did not lose anybody, a bit boring really, except for the fact that this must be one of the most spectacular barrancos in Spain. I could not believe the number of people who turned up today for the walk. When the number reached 33 I thought it was time to leave before the whole valley decided to join us. The walk starts off in Saleres and heads uphill on the Albunúelas road. Always a good start when you are supposed to be heading down into a barranco. It then heads downhill, following  a number of campo roads, before finally dropping down on to a little track down to the river. We had a short break to change shoes, because from here on the path gets wet. The stream does not look much at this point but it does get deep in places. The start of the barranco was obscured by undergrowth. I should have brought the Machete because we had to fight our way through a jungle. Talk about exploring, it looke...

Hi This week we had a short but interesting walk to Picacho Alto and we nearly lost the guide. We had to limit the walk to 14 members because there was a 11 km drive on forest tracks to get to the start of the walk, and we only had 3 suitable vehicles. We met in Marchena at our new winter start time of 9.00, I know the forecast was for 36 degrees but this time last year we were walking in fresh snow. OK, it was the top of Mulhacen but you never know and the walks are planned months in advance! The walk starts at the base of Picacho Alto and heads straight up. The path is good, wide, but with steep drops off the side. It did not cause anyone any problems, except for one silly bugger who stepped over the edge whilst taking a photo. Fortunately Kees caught my rucksack as I was sliding down the hillside. Afterwards it turned out he was after my GPS because no one else knew the way back. The views are superb all the way up, but they really open up at the top, a pleasant br...

Hi This week it was our end of the month hard walk, we went to Capileira and a walk in the Poqueira gorge. There were 10 in the group so we squeezed into 2 cars for the drive. The weather forecast was predicting rain from 5pm onwards so we had no time for  coffee at the start, we needed to get going to avoid the heat in the valley, and the rain later. The walk starts in the village and heads uphill towards the Hydro Electric station at Cebadilla, this is a pleasant trail, one we have used many times when we have wanted a short walk around Capileira. Today our sights were set a lot higher as we were heading towards the Poqueira Refugio. From the Hydro station the path follows the river in this wonderful valley, next time we will come in late spring when all the wild flowers are out. The path is easy to follow, it is wide and well marked, it, being the main access route for the refugio.  It was a bit of a shock to discover we had lost 2 in the group. Yes, we had ...