Lecrin Valley Limpers

This week we went to Cogollos de la Vega for our Sunday walk and we nearly lost someone before we had even set off. The weather during the week has been a bit miserable with heavy rain and a cold northerly wind, it is really getting to be a nuisance this year but the conditions for Sunday looked favorable. When we met at 9 am in Cozvijar the temperature was 5 degrees and you could hardly stand up, the wind was so strong. We were in such a hurry to get in the cars and be away that we nearly left Elsa behind. Driving into Granda we were surrounded by low clouds and the temperature was down to 2 degrees, not ideal walking conditions, but there was no turning back, we were meeting people on the way to Cogollos. The walk starts about 4 km outside the village of Cogollos. The problem is finding the road that takes you to the start. I normally consider myself quite proficient in finding my way around but when it comes to this track I have a mental block. The road is steep, ...

Hi The weather forecast for Sunday got steadily worse as the week progressed. By Saturday it was predicting rain for most of the day. A change of plan was called for, a walk was needed that was adaptable to the varying conditions. The old standby of walking around the laguna in Padul was used to substitute the planned walk to the watch tower at Conchar. The new walk had the advantage that the route could be modified if the weather did turn wet. We met at the BP garage in Cozvijar and, to be honest, the conditions did not look good. The clouds were dark and swirling around only a couple of hundred metres above our heads. We set off walking from the garage and we had not gone far when blue sky started to appear, over the watch tower in Conchar. Unfortunately we were by the lagunna and it was still overcast. The walk continued to the visitor centre, it was shut. Now that was a surprise, but with this years luck with finding touristy things open on a Sunday, it was not ent...

A truly historic event took place on Sunday. For the first time ever the start time for a walk was put back by one hour. Some will question the reason behind the change, I maintain it was because of the bitterly cold Saturday night temperatures, 6 degrees that had been forecast. Others claim that, because I will be a pensioner next month, I am becoming too old and frail to go out when it is cold, Mike even suggested that it was to stop him watching his football team, El magnifico Burnley, who were on the television at 1pm. I feel vindicated with the decision to delay the start when you look at the group photo, no one is wearing shorts or skimpy tops. Our walk this week was in Granada and started from above the Alhambra, There were 19 brave souls who turned up on a cold morning for the drive down to the city where we met up with another 6 who were waiting for us by the Muslim cemetery. With our now expanded group we set off down to the Alhambra, which very conveniently has s...

We have had a mixed bag of weather this week, Glorious warm and sunny at the beginning of the week, and wet and cold on Saturday. It was so bad I was expecting to have to cancel the walk on Sunday morning. Overnight the cloud and rain had moved on, leaving us with clear skies but with a bitterly cold northerly wind. It was 1 degree at the roundabout in Beznar when we met at 9am, I was not expecting many people to turn up but they did.As fast as we were loading cars up another one would turn up. In the end we had 23 people. Our destination was Lanjaron, normally warmer and protected from the cold northerly airstream. By the time we arrived the temperature had risen to a balmy 3 degrees, and the British government say the old folk in Spain don’t need a winter fuel allowance! We set off for the Ermita San Isidro, a small chapel at the top of a magnificent flight of stairs. Normally the wind drops as soon as you arrive in Lanjaron, but it continued to blow as we ascended the ...