Lecrin Valley Limpers

The walk on Sunday was to the Ermita Vieja, the walk started from the Merendero in the Rio Dilar and followed the Camineo forestal as it snaked its way up the hillside to the Ermita where we stopped for breakfast and to enjoy the views. Afterwards we continued following the path to the base of Picacho Alto where we changed directions and followed the barranco back to the car park. We were entertained on route by Antonio who gave us an impromptu 4 hour Spanish lesson. The weather forecast had not been good for Sunday, but it turned out to be bright and sunny, if a little breezy at times, with that cool northerly wind coming down from the UK. I understand that things have been a little rough in the old country, these last few days/weeks/months (strike out accordingly) but can I just say that I empathize with you all and fully understand the difficulties you are going through. There, that should get me a few brownie points and put an end to the torrent of abuse I usually get when I ...

Dear all S undays walk took us to the Rio Verde, and what a wonderful days walking it turned out to be, after dropping a car off at the finishing point we set off on the path down into the Rio Verde, this is a well maintained path, and whilst steep at the end presents no problem as a way down. Upon arriving in the valley there is a waterfall and pool, which we sat by and enjoyed our mid morning snack. Rob, ever eager to explore, came back after discovering a cave, this cave was full of stalactites and stalagmites, anywhere else they would charge 5€ to go in and look, here it is free, wonderful. We then continued on, climbing up to the small lake that feeds the waterfalls in the area. It was great to watch a Shag fishing in the lake. From here we made our way down to the river and had lunch amongst the rock pools, before setting off back to the car, because we had come down about 330 meters into the valley , we had to regain our our height. This was done by using the C...

Dear all I hate to start the letter this week by mentioning the weather, particularly when you poor souls back in the UK have been inundated with non stop rain since goodness knows when, but this weekend the weather has been unbelievable, absolutely fabulous, not a cloud in the sky, T shirts and shorts weather. There, that's upset 50% of the group in the first 2 lines. Our walk this week was to Restabal castle. The walk started in Restabal and followed the path up to the abandoned village, and then continued as far as the camp site, where after persuading the owner to unlock the gates we stopped for a very enjoyable coffee on the terrace in the sunshine, and a tour of the site, while his cabins look comfortable enough, the ground looks a little rough for camping. Fortified with coffee and biscuits we resumed our walk to the castle at Restabal . I can't imagine that the castle was ever attacked, because nobody would ever find it, as the only evidence that it is there are t...

The walk on Sunday was the impressively named " Goldfinger walk" I know that Ian Fleming once wrote a book with a similar name and perhaps made a few bob out of it, but the original authors of this walk are Dutch Bob and Alan, who many years ago set off to mark the route with a can of Gold paint, and came back with gold digits. Because neither of the original crew were on the walk this week we were able to adapt the walk to suit our needs better. We set off from the car park in Nigúelas and made our way via the Rio Torrente to Acequias . From there it was a steady climb, joining the GR7 along the way, to the summit of Cerro Alto. After stopping for breakfast we made our way back into the barranco near the Hydro station, by way of excitement we then followed the Acequia into Niguelas along the newly built footpath. This is a delightful way into the village, the excitement part comes in negotiating the large rock at the start, Alison had said she only suffe...

Dear all I hope you all had a good Christmas and New year and are once again looking forward to this years walks around Granada. Inevitably it will mean a repeat of the old favorites, but we will introduce new ones as well. We will try and stick to the tried and tested format with a wide range of walks appealing to different abilities, and the usual after walk tapa club when it can be arranged, If anybody wants the important job of organising the tapa venues please let me know. To ease everyone gently back into walking after the Christmas excess it was decided an easy walk was called for, and what better stroll could you wish for than the Carretera de Cabra . This walk is virtually all down hill, and gives you uninterrupted views over the Sierra Nevada mountains, and after this weeks heavy snow falls, it looked wonderful. Mind you it did not look too great when we set off, the weather forecast all week was saying sunshine and 16 degrees, and one of us must have belie...

Dear all For our last walk of 2007 a tough walk was called for, billed as a waist buster it was designed to undo all the Christmas excess. The walk involved following the Durcal hydro electric feed pipe up the mountain side of Peñon de Granada. At 1715 meters Peñon de Granada is the high spot behind Durcal, and getting to the top involves some effort, but at this time of the year the sun does not get on to the path until late in morning, so not too much sweat is wasted as we followed the well graded path up to the summit. The weather was perfect for such a walk not a cloud in the sky all day and as is general at this time of the year the visibility was incredible, leading one walker to describe the views as awesome, (Please note Peter does not want this quote attributed to him). For our return journey we came back via the Barranco de la Rambla, it is the first time we have been down here since the big storm, it is still difficult to believe the amount of destruction ...

Well I messed up real bad on Sunday! I apologise for a serious error of judgement, What should have been a wet day, according to local and national weather forecasts, turned out to be dry and relatively sunny, so Sundays walk, that I canceled on Saturday when it was wet and misty, could have gone ahead. The most important part of the day went ahead as normal and 17 turned up for tapa at Josettes, Thank you to Josette for hosting the tapa and everyone else for turning up with delicious food again. By request the walk will be rescheduled for Sunday 6th January. The walk this coming Sunday the 30th is designed to get rid of the excess weight put on over Christmas, and make room for the New Years Eve parties. We are going up thetubo, this is the hydro electric feed tube that runs up the hillside behind Durcal. The zig zag path is very good, but it does take 2 hours to climb the 660 meters to the summit. The views are good all the way and from the top ofPeñón de Granada they are stunning a...

All week we have had blue skies and sunshine, so it was a bit of a let down on Sunday morning when we awoke to grey skies, but because our intended route was around the valley it was not going to cause us too many problems. Our path led us fromChite down to the lake and along the path to Restabal where we witnessed the damage done by the September storm, I hope they are going to get a grant from somewhere to repair the damage because it is going to cost a few Euros to restore thebankings and the road. From Restabal we headed up to the castle at Murchas, sampling the first of this seasons oranges along the way. By now the clouds had parted and the blue skies had returned and everyone was busy shedding the extra jumpers needed earlier. We returned toChite via Murchas, and the Noche Azul in Talara . This weeks prize for plonker of the week goes to me, for falling down a pot hole and then later slipping off the footpath and down a banking whilst doing a diversion caused by the storm. We r...

Dear Limper After a promising start on Sunday, in sunshine and blue skies, we set off for what I had billed would be one of the finest walks ever. A beautiful mountain and fantastic views in all directions. Well, by the time we had driven the 1.5 hours including 20km on a forest track which took us deep into the Sierra Almijara, some in the group were questioning their wisdom and sanity on choosing to come out on todays outing, the weather had started to deteriorate, the clouds were rolling in, and the wind was starting to freshen. but our goal was still in sight, Pico Lucero, stood there, majestically, waiting for anyone foolish enough to climb her, ( I know it is masculine, but climb him does not sound right). As we started to climb the mountain the clouds crept lower and the wind picked up, by the time we had been going about 40 minutes we were in mist, and walking at a funny angle, Quina´s dogs were being carried as they were in danger of taking flying lessons. So wi...

Our walk on Sunday was up Silleta, this is the saddle back mountain above Padul. The start of this walk has always been a bit steep for the first 200 meters especially from a standing start, but while surfing Google earth I discovered an easier route, which I had intended to check out the previous week , unfortunately I had spent 4 days in my sick bed ( thanks to Dutch Bob). This resulted in trying to find the route on the day, and missing the path by about 20 meters, This led us into walking about 50 meters across virgin ground, before regaining the right path. I sincerely apologise for this lapse in planning. Once back on track we chose to do the route in the reverse direction. Whilst this still results in attaining the summit ofSilleta the way up is not steep and is in effect a Dutch flat walk. The main feature of this walk is the rock called the Ventana, which is a large arched rock high on the hillside. Well worth the effort of getting there, especially with the back...

After a wet week, (yes it does rain in Spain sometimes!) Sunday dawned bright and clear, setting the stage for what to most people was a new walk.The walk starts from the car park at Sevilla above Cumbres Verde, christened the " Super Mario " after a super fit older gentleman left us standing, when we surveyed the walk last year. Our original route started with quite a strenuous 1½ hours of climbing, but by reversing the direction of the walk, the climb to the summit becomes an easy 3.½ hours walk. As most of you have probably noticed I tend to walk at the rear of the group, this is to give encouragement to the tailenders , and also so we don´t lose anybody. Noticing that the group was mostly comprised of good walkers and being a new route, I decided to walk at the front. A big mistake! We had not gone more than 2km when we noticed that the 12 happy wanderers were no more, one had gone AWOL, Peter had taken time out to inspect a tree, and in an effort to catch u...

Dear all We awoke on Sunday to some suspicious looking cloud floating about on the Sierras, as this was the destination for this weeks walk I had to do some head scratching and try and think of an alternative venue. Fortunately by 9am the clouds had cleared and the sky was a deep blue, so back to the original plans ofPico Pioacho. This is a 1743 meter high peak, 10 km up a drivable forest road from Durcal , the road did suffer a little in the big storm in September, and so in a number of places you have to shut your eyes and tighten your seat belt, but it is well worth the white knuckle ride to save a 20km walk. The walk starts by following a goodzig zag path up to the peak, before reaching what must be one of the best high level traverse paths in Spain, with extensive views across the RioDilar, Travenque and Veleta. At the end of the traverse we climb another small path over a col, and into a baranco for an easy return back to the forest road, at this point it was dif...

Dear all Due to circumstance's beyond the managements control our planned Sunday Urban walk around Granada walk was rescheduled to Saturday, this was not because has some of our lady walkers suggested because the shops would be closed, but it was to fit in with Pablo our guides busy diary. Our tour took us up and around the caves of Sacremonte and through unknown parts of the Albayzin . Pablo kept us entertained the whole time with the history of the area and wild tales of debauchery, and other goings on, among the ruling class. Something I did learn along the way was the Annie is the illegitimate daughter of Arturo, and I, have been having an affair with her, whilst betrothed to Margaret, who is Arturo's legitimate daughter, and Alan my dad, is not happy about having to give Arturo is 2 Euro dowry back. The above explanation was given to help explain one of the complicated family stories that Pablo was telling us in the middle of the Albayzin , the good folk of ...

Dear all After checking the historical record's, carefully stored away in our underground vaults, I can confirm that today's turnout of 24 Limpers was a group record. The walk started a little late after the inevitable delays associated with getting to Fondales high up in the Alpujarras, but the weather was warm, the sky was blue, so who cared. Our route followed a number of historic trails used by the Moors when they lived and worked in the silk trade in this area. With a group of this size we were soon spread out along the hillside as the path made its way up the Sierra de Mercina, making it very difficult to organise our breakfast stop, we will have to consider culling the slow walkers or giving the fast ones rocks to carry. The highlight of the walk is the zig zag path back down into the Trevélez baranco, what a superb bit of engineering this was. In an effort to spur the group on it was mentioned that the bar in Fondales might be open, this turned out not...

Dear all Our outing this week was not the usual walk, it was more of a ramble in the forest around Pico Lopera, because this week we went hunting for mushrooms. It was obviously a group of mixed hunting abilities because some managed to bag a bag full, whilst others went home empty handed, We certainly chose the right place to be weather wise because the Lecrin Valley was blanketed in cloud most of the day, whilst we were under blues skies and warm sunshine. Sandie was awarded first prize for best selection of setas. We managed to loose Bianca and Antonio in the forest somewhere, as this was a free forage exercise we had no back marker to sweep up the stragglers and when they failed to turn up at the rendevouz point we decided to adjourn to the nearest bar, after a few drinks we forgot all about them and went back to Chite for tapa. If anyone is over that way this week and manages to spot them can you tell them we went home and we will see them next Sunday. Our walk t...

Dear all Our walk on Sunday was a return to the old favorite "Monachil" and what a beautiful walk it was, lovely warm sunshine and deep blue skies, you can´t beat it! Monachil is always a popular walk due to its stunning gorge and the swinging rope bridges and Sunday was no exception with 18 turning out for the walk. It must have been national walk the gorge week because I have never seen so many people out for a walk, it was great to see everyone enjoying themselves. Or maybe it was a chance to star in the latest film from Nick nic productions that was being filmed, there were hundreds of Tom Cruz and Angelina Jolie lookalikes all looking for leading rolls. Annie took it upon herself to interview a number of the male actors and at one point the hussy was caught inspecting his nuts, and Elsa had a star part falling off a ledge into the river. Afterwards we returned to Chite and Rob and Sandies house for tapa, where this week the Veggies had a field day with a t...

Lecrin Valley Limper Dear Limper What a hectic day Sunday turned out to be, first we had our walk in the morning from Marchena which attracted 20 keen and eager walkers, the walk had two objectives the first was to check out the state of the forest road after the storms, no serious problems found on the section we walked, the second was to check if the Seta (Mushroom) season had started yet. We found some Setas but as they were already in someone’s basket, and as we had a member of the Granada National police with us, we thought it best not to take them. The walk was a linear one as we did not have time to make it into a circular one, and so after stopping at the Ermita Vieja for a quick snack we returned the way we had come. The reason why we were so short of time was that we had to attend the film Premier of the “The Rock” This is a major new film that is going out on General release this week. The stars of the show can be seen by following the link http://picasaweb.go...

Lecrin Valley Limper Dear All Our walk last Sunday the 16th has always been amongst my favourites, and every time we return here some else adds the comment “the best walk I have ever done” so if you could not make it this time, make sure you look out for “Huétor parque natual” the next time it comes around. The conditions were perfect, blue sky, T shirt warm but not too hot, what more could we ask for. There were a few grumbles on the couple of places where the path got a bit steeper, but nothing I could not ignore, knowing full well once they got to the top, and saw the views the pain would soon be forgotten. Part of the group claimed to have seen a 2ft Lizard, mind you it was a bit like the old fishing story it got bigger with the telling and we have no photographic evidence to prove this. On our return to the valley we all went around to Gillian and Charlie’s house for tapa. A good day was enjoyed by all. The walk this coming Sunday, the 23 rd September, is the walk from L...

Lecrin Valley Limper Dear All With the temperatures plummeting this week to the high 20s, it made a welcome change to be able to climb a hill without sweating too much. Our walk took us from Mondújar up to the GR7 Niguleas, Lanjaron path, about 1.5 hours of steady climbing through Pine and Olive woods. There must have been some misunderstanding in my last email about the state of the path. I had said the path up was good, I never mention the path down. and this caused a few grumbles as we made our way back via Mondújar castle. The path was a bit steep and stony in parts, obviously having suffered severe storm damage in the past 12 months, as in my minds eye it was of wonderfully path meandering by the side of waterfalls with nymphs dancing in the dappled sun light, how ones memory suffers with age. The trip to the castle was offered as an optional extra, and typically it was only the men and Sandy (who misunderstood that it was an option) who made the climb to what is reported to...

Lecrin Valley Limper Dear Limper Our Sunday outing last week was around Albunúelas, A walk we have done a number of times in the past, but it is nice and easy and a rest from the previous week’s excursion up Mulhacén. When we got back to Albunúelas we stopped off at the local bar for drink and tapa, and I appear to have upset a number of people with my suggestion that instead of just dividing the bill, you actually paid for what you had had, A fairer system all round, but hey ho you can’t please all of the people all of the time. The tapa was arranged at Ken and Joan’s house and what a wonderful spread we had. After last weeks email regarding the etiquette around the BBQ, it was good to see Alan in charge and maintaining the 3 meters female no go area. Thank you to the ladies for making the salads. Our walk this Sunday the 9 th September starts off in Mondújar and goes up past the old Buddhist centre of La Penna before joining the GR7 path for a short distance and dropping b...