Lecrin Valley Limpers

Hi We have been having some very strange weather this week with the temperatures up to 25C, and the wind on Saturday made you reluctant to go out doors. The strange thing was it appeared to be coming from all four directions at once, and it was warm. An Englishman  died in Nigúelas when a roof tile fell on him, and a number of people have reported damaged roofs. Our walk was in the Húetor Natural park and we were going to look at the autumn colours. I was afraid that with all the wind not only would there be no leaves on the trees but the trees would have gone as well. The walk started from car park at junction 259, and followed a high level track as it wandered about high above the Rio Darro. After about 3 km we dropped down into the valley and then followed the river, cris crossing the Darro a number of times. Fortunately at this point it is only a narrow stream, so I don’t think we had any wet feet this time.  We did have a few muddy knees when we came to a...

This week with a promise of fine weather we decided to go and have another try at Sierra Manar, after cancelling it last weekend due to low cloud. By 9.00 at the BP in Cozvijar there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, except over the hills we were intending to climb behind Dilar. Why these hills attract the clouds I do not know. A quick poll was taken, and a decision was made to go ahead with the walk as it was the considered opinion that, by the time we started walking, the clouds would have disappeared. Driving through Padul a few minutes later we had to put the headlights on as we were enveloped in fog. I wanted to head for a bar but was persuaded to carry on with the plan. The walk started from the Cunadas urbanization, and by the time we got there the clouds had miraculously disappeared. An abandoned housing estate does not sound a promising start for a walk, but within two minutes of leaving the cars we were on a forest track in the middle of nowhere. At first the walk fo...

Hi I wasn't too confident that this weeks walk would go ahead, as heavy rain was forecast for Sunday morning. In the end the rain passed through the valley around 4 am leaving the morning overcast but at least dry. Our planned destination was the Sierra Manar, the ridge behind Dilar. At 9 am, at the BP garage in Cozvijar, you could see the ridge and it was covered in cloud, well in actual fact you ccouldn't see the ridge because it was covered in cloud. No one appeared willing to spend the day walking in a thick mist, like the last time we were up there, so a new plan was developed. We would drive to Nigúelas where the sun was poking through the clouds and do a circular walk from there. We set off from the carpark in Nigúelas and walked up to the top of the village, and then took the acequia track out of the village. It is now repaired and open again after the recent landslip. At the end we turned down the valley towards Murchas. We passed a couple of other places...

For this weeks adventure we introduced a new game called dodging the bullets. Our walk was to the Windmills of Albuñuelas, not the romanticized Don Quixote ones of La Mancha, but the modern wind turbines we all have to live with. We had discovered this walk earlier in the year but then it was a 25km outing, a bit long for a Sunday stroll, so we have split the walk into two parts, we will do the second part in a few weeks time    The walk started from the ridge above Albuñuelas and set off down into the upper reaches of the barranco de la Luna, this was not our destination and we were soon climbing out and heading for the hills. In the distance we could hear the occasional bang of a rifle going off, it, being November I assumed it was the local hunters out trying to decimate what was left of the local wildlife. The further we walked the closer we got to what now appeared to be a full blown war. I am sure they were using machine guns. In an effort at trying to...