Weekend in Huescar 7/8 May 2016

The 7 and 8 May was our annual weekend away and this year we went to Husecar. We have gone away the same weekend for the past 3 years and the weather has been perfect, this year the forecast was not promising.

We had planned for a walk on the Saturday and to explore some of the  archaeological  sites in the area on the Sunday.

By Friday morning the forecast was for heavy rain on the Saturday with an improvement for Sunday. So I decided to swop things around and do the archaeological tour on the Saturday as we could alway seek shelter in the museums and bars we planned to visit. Driving up on Saturday morning in our 8 car convoy the conditions were miserable with rain and fog, I felt smug that we had made the right choice.

We had a guided visit booked at 10.45 at the Centro de Interpretación del Megalitismo in Gorafe. But first we had a breakfast stop planned at a little bar on the autovia, it was closed. My smugness took a dip and I could see what everyone was thinking,  “He is going to lose points for this”.

Fortunately we had discovered another bar in Gorafe a few weeks back and they were happy to accommodate us. With the threat of lost Brownie points, but with no Mike this weekend, we elected Julie as the interim manager as she is known for her impartiality.       The interpretación centre was only a couple of minutes walk away and we arrived at the appointed time. Everything was waiting for us including our 3D glasses for a film that took us back to man's first settlement in this area.

The weather had improved by now and, whilst it was still cloudy, it was warm and dry for our next visit to an acequia at Alicun de las Torres. It was a  15 minute drive away, if we could find the way. After getting lost in Gorafe and losing a car and our interim Brownie point leader we returned to the village where we discovered a very nice man who offered to show us the way. Little did we know that in his spare time he was a stunt double for Lewis Hamilton and he was out to set a new land speed record between the two villages.

Arriving in Alicun with smoking tyres Conchi set out to find Fernando, a local guide who would explain the area to us and the mystery surrounding the unique acequia we had come to see.

We were told Fernando was waiting for us down on the footpath to the acequia but we were unable to find him. I have never seen anything like this acequia, it ran along the top of a natural wall built up over the years from the calcification of hot water running along it. It is incredible to see. The walk continued to an area with Megalithic tombs and the weather had improved so much that we were able to sit and enjoy a picnic.

 Our next stop was in Galera and another prehistoric site, unfortunately we arrived at 4pm and it did not open until 7pm. More Brownie points lost.

 We were only a few kms away from our hotel in Huescar so we decided to go along and check in and then go for a short walk and have a beer in the village.  Rafa had found the hotel, the El Maño, for us a few months back and we had managed to negotiate a good deal in what is a very comfortable hotel. It was cheaper than when 10 of us, boys and girls stayed in a refugio a couple of years back and had to share a bed, yes, 1 bed for all nine of us plus one stranger.

 We had an excellent meal with plenty of wine and loads of fun before retiring to bed because some of the group had an early start. 14 of us had decided that due to the spectacular improvement in the weather we would do what we had intended to do and climb La Sagra, the 2183 metre high mountain that rises up behind Huescar. The rest of the group could have a lie in and then they would pursue their own different interests.

 After breakfast the 14 set off for the half hour drive to Las Santas, an Ermita at the foot of La Sagra. Low cloud was obscuring the mountain, which was a blessing, because there was no way they would all have set off if they had seen where they were going.

The walk started off going through the forest, I had downloaded a GPS track to follow and, out of the 100s of tracks I could have chosen, I had picked one that did not follow the obvious main route and we were soon diverging off our intended track. With the mist obscuring the mountain we decided to cut across country to regain the path. After what appeared to be an age wandering around in circles but in fact was quite a direct route we regained the path. Without GPS we would have had to return to base defeated. Now on a good path we continued our ascent, once again the mist was working in our favor as we could not see how steep the ascent was.

We came across another large group of youngsters who had lost the path and we were able to offer them guidance and help them on the way. I have been carrying a bar of Kendal mint cake for years as emergency rations, with Cees struggling with the climb it was time to open it. He was soon up and away, racing for the summit. No wonder Sir Edmund Hillary had conquered Everest with it. Unfortunately for Cees someone had beaten him to the top and built a cairn, which you could not see in the mist until you bumped into it.

 It was cold at the top so we had a quick sandwich, filled in the achievement book telling the world that the Lecrin Valley Limpers had reached the top and then started our descent. We had not gone far when the clouds lifted and we could see where we had been. Feeling confident that the conditions were improving we stopped to admire the view. Two minutes later it started to rain, it came down in bucket loads, even the ones with their umbrellas were not immune to the soaking we got. For 2 hours we walked in torrential rain but our spirits remained high and there was no moaning. We had conquered La Sagra and overcome adversity, we were true mountain Men and Women.

Soaking wet, and with the prospect of a 2 ½ hour drive home in front of us, we did a stripteaze sheltering under umbrellas in the car park and changed into dry clothes, well Cees didn’t, he had somehow managed to get his dry clothes wet. Well done everyone.

The others in the group visited various local attractions.

In spite of the weather we had a superb weekend, A big thanks to Rafa for all his help in smoothing out the wrinkles.

On the Sunday La Sagra walk we climbed 1186 metres and walked 15.4 km