Lecrin Valley Limpers

Our walk this Sunday, the 21st June, was from Dilar. Due to sickness and other excuses our numbers this week were sadly depleted. Rene went home before we even got to Dilar, declaring it was too hot to walk. The walk started from the carpark next to the river which we followed for 1 km. Just before the Hydro station there is a small path that heads steeply uphill to Boca de la Pesca. This path always causes me problems and I arrive at the top utterly exhausted. So, like a true leader, I decided to direct operations from the rear and let the whippets Mike and Ray race on in front. I followed on behind at a snail's pace, stopping every 100 metres to recover my composure.  At the top of the climb we stopped for a short break to let the old man recover and then continued on till we picked up a path heading down hill and back towards Dilar. We had to make a small deviation from our intended route when we discovered a new house had been built on the road we were on. I say h...

Our walk this Sunday, the 14th June, was from Albuñuelas, we had arranged to meet in the carpark and then we had a short drive up on to the ridge. The temperature had been falling for the previous few days and there was a chill in the air, only the brave or foolhardy were tempted to wear shorts and T-shirts, the rest preferring thermals. There was an ominous bank of cloud in the distance which I was hoping would not blow over our way and bring with it the possibility of rain. We set off in the direction of the windmills, the walk was virtually all on campo tracks which makes for good easy walking. After 6 kms there is a gate across the road which necessitates a small diversion through a field. I don’t know why this brought a few questions about getting lost again, this was a known deviation and was part of the original itinerary. The walk continued, now heading downhill to a large sink hole, where a whole field had sunk by about 3 metres. We took our lives in our hands ...

I apologise for the missing walk report last week, but the Mrs and I were dashing off to Madrid for a short break. We had a good time and I would recommend it to anyone who hasn’t been yet, there must be others who have lived here for 12 years and never been.  Our really, really big walk to Caballo on the 31st of May was a new walk for the Sunday group. It’s a walk we have done many times midweek but we have never had sufficient 4X4s to be able to do it on a Sunday.  This month we were fortunate enough to to find  5 people willing to supply cars, so a big thank you for that, as it enabled us to take a group of 23 up to the summit.  We had planned an early 8.30 start from the carpark in Niguelas as we had to drive up the mountain to reach the start of the walk.  I had just marked John up as a no show when he rang up just as we were setting off from Niguelas. He had mis- read the start time, could we wait 10 minutes for him. We all agreed, subject...

Hi The weather in the valley this week has been mixed, warm and sunny one day, and the next wet, cloudy and cool. trying to get an accurate weather forecast is impossible, you get a different forecast every couple of hours, My crystal ball works better than the latest meteorological computers. The forecast for Sunday was not promising, with rain and low cloud on offer. Sunday morning dawned dull but dry, and it looked like our walk from Cumbres Verde would be OK. By the time we arrived for the start of the walk the low cloud had lifted sufficiently for our path to be in the clear. We were only going up to 1,400 metres and there was a lower level alternative route as a backup plan For the first ½ km we followed the forest road before heading off down into the barranco. This was a new path we had discovered last year, and it makes an interesting alternative route for climbing Cerro Gordo. I thought I might have pushed my luck a bit when it started to spit, fearing a soaki...

This week we walked up a hill to look at the Eagles. It’s been a very hot week in the valley, with temperatures up to 39 degrees in Granada, so we wanted somewhere with a cooling breeze. To try and cool things down a bit the town hall had switched on all the wind turbines in the valley. This had an immediate effect, there was a nice cool wind blowing up on the carretera de Cabra, I nearly regretted putting my shorts on. Why they can’t turn them round and have warm air blowing up from the coast in the winter is beyond me. The walks starts up near to the Venta del Fraile bar and follows a campo road for about 1km. After the easy road section the path heads uphill steeply into the forest. There looks to be a lot of footpaths to choose from but, in fact, they are all wild boar tracks that appear and then quickly disappear. It is just a matter of heading upwards until you get to where all the tracks converge at a dried up pond, where all the pigs meet after a spot of rain....

Hi This week it was our annual May weekend away and we went to Castril in the far north of Granada province. We had an early start because it was a long drive and we had a lot of things to fit into our day. I thought we would be able to stop for breakfast just before we got to Castril, unfortunately the bar I had chosen to stop at was closed. Not wanting to upset anyone before the walk had even started we headed into Castril. I have never been here before but even on our short visit it looks well worth a look around. After breakfast we returned to our plan, which was a drive up the Rio Castril. This is a beautiful valley and we followed the road as far as it went. This was the start of our first walk, to the Naccimento of the Rio Castril. It was an easy walk in the valley bottom to a spot where the river appears out of the rocks. The path then continued up the valley getting steeper all the time. At one point they had cut steps into the steep sided gorge, it felt like th...

This week we had a wet walk, not like our lovely summer wet walks in the river, but a true mountain wet walk. When the walk was planned the weather forecast  was predicting a warm sunny day, but as the week progressed it was looking likely we would have to cancel the walk due to heavy rain and thunder storms. By Saturday night the forecast was for the rain to arrive late Sunday afternoon, there was just enough time to complete our 22 km walk and get back to the cars before the rain arrived. The walk was in the Sierra Huetor on the south side of the motorway, We had discovered the walk last year and it offered good views over the Sierra Nevada. 23 of us set off for the the walk, the conditions were good, the sun was shining, there were a few clouds in the sky but no sign of any storms. The route was a good one because it offered various ways back if we needed to shorten the route. Our first stop was at some abandoned buildings what had once housed a drug rehabilitat...

This week we welcomed Graham back to the group after an 18 month absence, we chose a easy walk for him around Monachil. We needed to pressure test his new plumbing work before taking him into the high mountains. I am pleased to report that after our initial testing his recently serviced pump appears to be running well. The walk started from the centre of Monachil and crossed the river before heading uphill on roads, tracks and paths. At the top there are superb views down into the Monachil gorge. After many years of walking up the incredible gorge route I have now decided I prefer this route, especially this week when there appeared to be thousands of people scurrying  around down there while we travelled in tranquility on our high level route. We stopped for lunch overlooking the valley before continuing along the path under the goat farm back to Monachil. I have never seen so many people on this walk, there were even coaches in the carpark. With time pressing s...