Lecrin Valley Limpers

Our walk this week was to the Lavadero de la Reina. It was a walk with a 12km off road drive requiring 4X4s. This limited the number of people who could go to 17, but we managed to squeeze an extra one into Mark’s trusty little Renault to bring the number up to 18. The weather forecast was for a dramatic fall in temperature down to 30 degrees in Granada, almost autumnal after the stifling heat of the summer. After a dusty drive along the rough track we stopped at what must be the car park with the best view in the Sierras.As you head off walking in the direction of the refugio at Pena Partida you are surrounded by the lofty peaks of Veleta, Mulhacen and Alcazaba. The refugio made a good stopping point for our mid morning break. Up at this height the temperature was around 15 degrees with a strong north westerly wind. What was not forecast was the cloud that was sneaking up on us. It was not above us but it was coming up the valleys below us. The refugio sleeps about 12, ...

We had an easy, short walk today, short in that we only went about 5 km but it still took us 3 hours to complete it. We had arranged to go on the Rio Durcal river walk to cool down. but the oppressive heat that has been hanging around for weeks disappeared during the week and it was decidedly cool down by the river at 8.30 in the morning. It looks like big things have been happening on the tourist promotion front. There is now a footpath sign pointing to the start of the walk and some of the most dangerous drops from the acequia now have a rope barrier. The path starts by following the acequia as it winds its way into the mountains, it eventually joins the river near to a waterfall, sadly this year the waterfall had dried up. From now on you are walking in the river and scrambling over rocks, it’s just like being 5 years old again, you keep expecting to see your mother with a towel and some hot Cocoa to warm you up after you emerge dripping wet from playing in the riv...

Hi We have been experiencing some very muggy weather for a while now, so, in an effort to find somewhere a bit cooler and fresher, we headed off for Mulhacen and boy, did we cool down. We had a very early, 7am departure from Beznar in order to get to Capileira for 8am, we were catching the 8.30 National park bus. It’s normally quiet in Capileira at that time in the morning but on Sunday it was buzzing. There was nowhere to park and all the girls were wearing high heels and evening dresses. Normally they would be wearing hiking boots and carrying rucksacks. We then discovered it was a fiesta weekend and they were just going home, we ended up parking a bus ride away. There was just enough time for a quick coffee whilst we waited for our bus. When I had tried to book the bus a couple of weeks ago. I was told there weren’t sufficient places for 18 people but, after speaking to Paco who works for the National park in Capileira and who we have known for many years, he organiz...

This week we had to wear our fleeces in an effort to try and keep warm. The walk was to the refugio Elorrieta, a large abandoned  underground building 3180 metres up in the Sierra Nevada. We had an early 8am start from the valley and arrived at the Hoya del Moro, the top carpark on the side of Veleta, just before 9am. I know there had been a few complaints about the early start but if we had been any later there would not have been anywhere to park as everyone else in Granada must have had the same idea, “Lets go to Veleta” and besides it was good practice for nexts week´s walk, starting at 7am. It was very windy around the car park, and all around us you could see people searching in the bottom of their rucksacks looking for that long ago lost fleece. We set off to follow the road  up to Veleta in what must have been a force ten gale. One minute, when you were heading into the wind, it was two steps forward and one back, the next, with the wind behind yo...