Lecrin Valley Limpers

With the unsettled weather continuing we had organised an easy, short walk from Lanjaron. The walk had numerous options for modification to fit in with the weather.  It had rained first thing in the morning but the tea bags were predicting a dry walk. By the time we met at 09.00 in Beznar there were black clouds swirling about above us, leading some to question the the accuracy of using Yorkshire tea bags in Spain.  The walk started from the Casita de la Papel in Lanjaron, a convenient place for drinks and tapas after the walk. It was closed for holidays, and there was me thinking we could help Ray kick his 70th birthday celebrations off in fine style. The path goes up past the ermita de San Isidro, a chapel built for the labourers of Lanjaron in the early 20th century. The path continues up through the campo, and past a quarry before finally coming out on the GR7 Nigúelas/ Lanjaron road. Ever since Mike and I discovered this route years ago I have never unders...

The autumn rains came to Spain with a vengeance last week, summer is well and truly over and the daytime temperatures have dipped down to 25 degrees. We even had snow on the Sierras.  Our walk this week was to the windmills above Albuñuelas. We met at the carpark and then drove up onto the ridge for the start of the walk. Since the last time we did the walk they have concreted the road which has made parking difficult, we ended up abandoning the cars at a cortijo.  Setting off I did not need to consult the GPS as we have done the walk a few times before and I know the area quite well. After a couple of kms we came to a junction I did not recognise. It was time to look at the GPS, and yes, we should have turned off 1 km back. All was not lost though as the good track we were on did lead to where we wanted to be. After another couple of kms we joined up with our original track, which we then followed.  Over the years we have been walking in this area fences...

On Sunday we went to Monachil, and for a change we walked through the gorge It’s a while since we have done the gorge walk, instead we have been going around it. What’s changed in the intervening years are the number of people out walking. If you saw 20 other people you would thought it was busy. On Sunday there were hundreds, there was even 3 coaches in the car park by the time we arrived, and by the time we got back there were cars parked everywhere. I blame it all on Decathlon, they have all this fabulous walking gear that people are buying and, instead of wearing it as a fashion statement, they are actually going out and using it. We followed the path through the gorge, crossing the swing bridges which we had to queue up for before making the crossing. If things continue like this it will worth while opening up the abandoned buildings and selling tea and coffee whilst you await your turn, they could even do jam and cream scones, I would come back every week. We all made...

Our walk on Sunday was to Moclin. The walk started in Olivares, a small village at the bottom of the hill, Moclin with it’s castle sits at the top of the hill. So yes, you have guessed it! We had to climb up to it. There was a lot of cloud about when we met up in Cozvijar but, by the time we arrived in Olivares, it had cleared away and turned into a spectacular day. We made good progress on  the climb up to Moclin and I thought we had time for a coffee before we went on to the castle for a quick visit. The bar was packed, I have never seen so many people in Moclin, by the time we had all been served it was getting too late to go up to the castle. Going on past experience it was to be expected as we have never managed to get into a castle in the 13 years the group has been running. In anticipation of this, and to avoid disappointing all the castle lovers, I had arranged for some guys to bring along a bouncy castle and erect it in front of the bar. Even this failed, the ...