Walk 11 November 2018 Albuñelas

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With the temperature forecast to reach 20 degrees on Sunday we decided on a walk from Albunúñelas. Last year Jan and Martine had discovered a barranco that we had never explored. I thought it was time for us to take a look.
I was astounded by the number of people who turned up at the carpark. I had thought by advertising it as a Jan walk it would have put most people off.
Originally the plan was to drive from the carpark up on to the ridge but there were so many people and cars I thought we would have difficulty parking when we returned to the village looking for a bar. A new plan was drawn up, we would walk up to the ridge and afterwards finish the walk in the village, next to the bars. This would add a bit of climbing and distance to the walk, but not a lot.
From the ridge we had superb views over to the snow-covered peak of Caballo, bathed in sunshine under a deep blue sky. A far cry from the poor people of Nigúelas who were wandering around in a thick fog.  
 The walk was being led by Jan and Martine had the onerous task of backmarker, I was on a free day and could just relax and enjoy the day, I also did not have a copy of the route on my GPS having forgotten to download it.
The barranco we were going to explore was a bit overgrown but not difficult, a few snips from Jan’s secateurs soon got us past the worst bits of overgrown undergrowth. We had travelled about 500 metres when Jan started to look worried, it appeared we were in the wrong barranco. Now usually, when we find ourselves on the wrong track, we can pass it off as a diversion to see an interesting plant, view or some such excuse without actually admitting we had taken the wrong track. This time there were no views, no plants of distinction, we had to come clean. I am just glad Jan was in charge, at least my reputation for never taking a wrong turning remains intact.
 The walk continued by retracing our steps and finding the right barranco, which turned out to be superb, wonderful rock formations, fossils and, we are not including Janice in this, some scrambling. In fact, I vote for it to have the accolade of the barranco of the year award.
 After climbing out of the barranco we rejoined the 4X track and climbed up towards the windmills. We stopped for lunch at the highest point of the walk, then headed back downhill towards Albuñúelas. I say downhill advisedly as there is one steep climb before the last descent into the pueblo, but the effort is worthwhile as the bars and fleshpots of the village await us.
You can imagine our disappointment, after walking for hours under a searing sun, to discover that the only bar that was open had no tables available and only had a window through which to serve drinks, we went home thirsty and dejected.
Thank you Jan and Martine for a superb walk, it was a great day out.  
 We walked 16.4 km and climbed 624 metres.

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