Lecrin Valley Limpers

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...