Lecrin Valley Limpers

The weather forecast for Sunday appeared to change every time a new one was issued. In the end the best I could come up with for a walk was to go to Lanjaron to escape the worst of the wind, and choose a route with lots of escape possibilities in case it started to rain. In the end we had a superb walk suitable for everyone including the Old Gits. The walk started from the Repsol garage in Lanjaron and climbed up through the town on to an acequia. Eventually, after a bit of climbing, you end up at a superb picnic area above the rio Lanjaron, We stopped here for a short break under the chestnut trees and the group photo. After our mid morning snack we climbed up to another acequia that takes you back towards Lanjaron. After walking on the acequia for a couple of kms the group split, with the Old Gits taking a lower return path back to Lanjaron, they walked 8 km and climbed 300 metres and the Fit Bits continued the climb up to the hill side. Whilst the path climbs a...

On Saturday we held the group Christmas lunch at the Alcadima hotel in Lanjaron. This was a great success and we have to go back again in the future. After last weeks heavy rain, which brought a lot of snow to the Sierra’s and some much needed rain to the valley, the weather has now changed to blue skies and freezing temperatures. In an effort to try and keep warm I changed the walk to one down on the coast.  At 9 am Sunday morning the temperature in the valley was 2 degrees. 30 minutes later, in the car park above Playa de Cantarrijan, it was 12 degrees, it was like being on another planet.  The walk starts by following the old coastal road towards La Herradura, and then a road that takes you down to the beach. Reluctantly we decided to stop for coffee at the beach front bar. I don’t know why, but there is something very satisfying about sitting in the sun, on a beach, while the rest of the world is freezing its rocks off.  We could justify the coff...

We had a new Sunday walk this week in a barranco near Jayena. It’s a walk we discovered in the summer when we had planned to go all the way from the Carretera de Cabra to Jayena. The way through was blocked by brambles so we found another route for our return. This is the route we did on Sunday, slightly modified to remove a difficult scramble.  The weather conditions were perfect, blue skies, a bit of frost on the trees out of the sun and wonderful views. The walk follows a forest track for a couple of kms until the start of the barranco. It begins in an inauspicious way, and slowly builds the further you go. The autumn colours on the trees were a perfect match to the canyon walls. We stopped for a little lunch in a great natural amphitheater with sufficient seating for 500.  A few weeks ago in an effort to try and clear a path the Tuesday group had returned armed with machetes and secateurs. We hacked away for what seemed like hours but gave up after clear...

We had a big storm on Friday night and Saturday brought further heavy rain to the valley and fresh snow to the Sierra Nevada, so I was quite surprised to find 19 walkers waiting in Melegis. Dave and Julie joined us when we knocked on their door. It’s a good job we did as I think they would have spent the day in bed. We now had 21 to walk the plank on the way back, most of the group did not know what was coming. Last week Hilary lost 1 walker and a dog, this week I did much better, I returned minus 9 but more of that later.  After passing through the Orange groves of Melegis the walk starts on the 400 metre climb to the ridge between Melegis and Conchar. At first it is quite steep but it soon turns into a pleasant climb with the views opening up the higher you go. At the top we split into 2 groups the “No fear” group going with Dave down a superb path with steep drops, the rest of us followed the Campo road down into Conchar. We had arranged to meet up at the La Hue...

We had 2 walks organised this week, an easy walk with Hilary from Restabal and the big, end of the month walk to Pico Lucero. Pico Lucero We had an early 08.00 start on Sunday, well, we had to make the most of the available daylight on the day the clocks went back. It was only 7 degrees when we arrived at the start of the walk, the valley is in the shade, fortunately there is about 1 km where you can walk at a brisk pace and generate a bit of heat. Of course Plym, being immune to cold weather, chose to walk in her sleeveless T-Shirt. After crossing a river, note no one fell in, we started on the climb and into the sun. It wasn’t long before the fleece jackets were coming off. The beauty about this walk is that you climb a bit, then it levels out, and this keeps repeating until you eventually arrive at the top. After the first climb, and with our destination looming over us, we stopped for a quick break, it’s a good spot to stop but it does make you think you might h...

This week we had an easy walk from Pinos del Valle along Phil’s Wild Boar cycle track. Fortunately we had arranged to meet up outside bar Venicia, there were 29 of us and I think the landlord would have had a fit if we had met in the bar for coffee.  The walk began by getting most of the climbing done at the start of the walk and, as we were making our way up, we passed a group of hunters all dressed in camouflage uniforms. I don’t know what they hunt but we made a rapid exit just in case we turned into the quarry. There was a slight navigational error as we crossed the track up to the ermita. The error was well within the navigational accuracy of a GPS unit and was soon corrected when someone suggested we were going the wrong way.  I know Phil had upgraded this old abandoned path for use as a cycle track but it makes an excellent footpath as it meanders through the pine forest above Pinos. Eventually it comes out near the scout camp and this is where we started ...

On Sunday we did a circular walk from Dilar. It was a mixed walk, a steep climb, high mountains and an opportunity to get wet. It was a bit chilly when we met up for the start of the walk from the river side car park in Dilar. It wasn’t worth putting a fleece on because I knew that within 10 minutes, when the climb started, things would soon warm up.  Sure enough as soon as the climb started we came out of the shade and into the sun, it was like someone had turned on the heater. Not that we needed the sun now to keep warm, as the climb was 400 metres straight up the steep side of Boca de la Pesca. There were no prizes for getting to the top and everyone just took it at their own pace. The last couple of times I have been up this path I have ended up collapsing in a heap at the top. This time, with Dave carrying a defibrillator and walking alongside me, every time I showed signs of flagging he would give me a cardio shock, it worked wonders, I made it to the top wit...

This week we had arranged a walk from Venta del Fraile, on the Carretera de Cabra road.  The walk starts from just below the bar and for the first couple of kilometres follows the road. This is not a problem on a Sunday as the quarries are shut, mid week it’s not very pleasant due to the constant stream of lorries. By contrast the return route is along a superb high level path. We stopped for a group photo, I don’t know what went wrong, but one of us was left looking a bit translucent. There have been comments made on Facebook that maybe my copy of Photoshop could do with updating, but I blame the camera operator who hadn’t had his porridge for breakfast and was not been strong enough to press the button on my camera. Three of our group decided to return on the high level path whilst the rest of us extended the route by following a barranco down the side of an old abandoned  quarry. The path is superb as it makes it’s way past giant boulders. At the bottom the...

This week Stuart had asked me to lead the walk while he was off gallivanting around the country. I had planned a short walk in one of my favourite areas Cumbres Verde walking up to the fire look out at Boca de la Pescá. As we entered the Cumbres Verde park I thought  Stuart had been doing some serious recruiting as there were four or five coaches disembarking hordes of walkers all kitted out in the same t-shirts.   Anyway, we drove further into the park where twenty of us met and set out on a pleasant track alongside the pine forest. We had only been walking a few minutes, as we turned to look back at the fine views over Granada, I realised we had already lost the Dutch contingent and one or two others. At first, I was thinking they just didn’t trust me to lead them into the mountains but it turned out that someone had left something in the car. We walked for about 3Km along farm tracks before climbing, seeing some of the largest onions known...

This week we had arranged two walks, an easy one with Hilary to Beznar and a harder one in Huetor. The harder walk started from the exit 259 on the A92 motorway, and we had arranged to meet up with the Granada contingent there at 9.40. How was I supposed to know that the motorway was reduced to a single carriageway and you had to go nearly to Guadix to turn around. Yes, they are resurfacing the road and they have closed the exits off, making a 27 km detour to get to our meeting point. At least everyone else was late in arriving as we all had to take the diversion.  With everyone assembled, goodness knows how many are still driving up to Barcelona trying to find somewhere to turn around, we set off on our walk, under a deep blue sky and the temperature was perfect. For the first couple of kms the path follows an easy 4X4 track. We then picked up the first of the advertised steep climbs, it’s all in the forest and a delightful path that turns and twists about a...

This week we had an easy walk from Dilar up to the Ermita Vieja. We had arranged to meet in the riverside carpark, unfortunately the last car in our very large convoy from Cozvijar got stuck in the traffic lights in Otura, and did not know where the carpark was. We were thinking of setting up a rescue party to go and search for them. Note:- we were only thinking about it, what’s a loss of 4 limpers when we already had 18. Fortunately after driving around Dilar for a while they managed to find the carpark and join the rest of us. It was cold down by the river, I mean proper cold, around 12 degrees and it was good to get the walk started to generate some heat. The way up to the Ermita is mostly along 4X4 tracks which makes for easy walking at a reasonable pace. The higher we climbed the warmer it got and we were soon stopping to take off our fleeces and jumpers. By the time we arrived at the Ermita the conditions were perfect so we stopped for our lunch break. After l...

Last week was our big walking weekend away, staying at the Poqueira refugio above Capileira. We started out on Friday afternoon with an easy, leisurely walk up to the refugio. It was not like last year when it was a boys only weekend, sleeping on the floor. This time we had real luxury, we had a bed, not each but one bunk bed that sleeps 10 people, boys, girls and kids all together, there was even a dog but he slept outside. There are actually 8 of these giant beds and, by the second night, every one of them was occupied, sheer bliss for the perfect night’s sleep. I must have been the only one amongst the other 79 who did not snore. (!!!)  There were two walks on Saturday. The first relatively easy and safe and the second one for the idiots amongst us, and there were 5 of us. All determined to throw caution to the wind and cross the vertical north face of Mulhacen. Both Martin and myself have been part way across this path before but none of us had ever done the full c...

There has been a serious change in the weather this week. It started with a terrific thunderstorm on Sunday evening (Sunday the 27th August), heavy rain on Monday and a marked drop in temperature for the rest of the week. Conditions are now perfect for walking and to help us celebrate the approach of Autumn we went on a circular low level walk from Meson los Prados.  The walk started from the bar, where we had arranged to meet Rafa but, after waiting a few minutes for him and unable to get a signal on our phones, we decided to move on. The walk passes through open countryside, farmland and forest. It’s a good combination with great views in all directions. On the way back we spied in the distance a couple sat having a spot of lunch, as we got closer the couple turned into Rafa and his friend, who had missed us by a few minutes at the start of the walk. After stopping for a short break with them we left them to continue with their walk and we followed the path back t...

The weather forecast this week for Granada was not very good. If we had got all the rain that was forecast the poor folk in Houston would have been offering us aid. Fortunately the promised unremitting deluge was constantly downgraded. By Sunday the forecast for the Alpujarras was for a cloudy but dry day. Our walk was a moderately high altitude one at around 2000 metres, starting from a quiet, picturesque recreation area above Capileira. It’s so quiet I have never seen anyone else there, so I was a bit surprised to find a lot of people camping by the side of the road as we drove to the carpark. It soon became obvious why there were so many people, they were holding a Barranquismo competition in the waterfall we were intending to bathe in after the walk. The competition involved following the river downstream using ropes and completing it, in the shortest possible time.    Our walk followed a track uphill as it climbed Loma del  Jabali. At the top we met up...

This week the conditions were perfect for our walk to the summit of los Machos. There was no wind, unlike last time when they had to close the ski lift. We didn’t see a cloud in the sky all day and the temperature was around 23 degrees. What more could we ask for? We started the day with coffee in Pradollano before catching the ski lift up the side of Veleta. The lift drops you off at 3000 metres, so saving you quite a bit of climbing but leaving you breathless when you hit the first slope.  This side of Veleta looks a bit tatty in the summer with all the detritus of the ski resort littering the hillside but, within 10 minutes, you move into a different world as you drop down into the Guarnón valley under the north face of Veleta. There were a number of climbers making their way up this sheer rock face, it’s not for me, even attached to a rope.  Our ascent of Los Machos started from the valley floor, it’s still a steep ascent but it is walkable and only 2...