Lecrin Valley Limpers

Sunday was our big end of the month walk and we went to the refugio Elorrieta. The walk starts from the carpark at Hoya de la Mora and for a change it wasn’t windy.  There were 14 of us in the group, all looking forward to a day on the hills, walking above the snow line. Yes, even though the temperature is still nudging 40 degrees in Granada, up here you still need a fleece on, well some of us do and there still big patches of snow to cross.  For the first hour the walk passes above the ski station at Borreguiles, not my favourite part of the walk, but as soon as you get to the ridge by the radio telescopes you leave all the detritus behind you and move into the stunning scenery below the tajos de la Virgen. This is where we came across the first of the snow, not as much as the last time we were here a couple of months ago but enough to play in. The walk follows a good path as it climbs up on to the ridge and the refugio at Elorrieta, a stunning place....

This week our chill out walk was a short one, in the barranco de la Luna. Up until a few years ago this did not exist, well truth be known, it existed but no one knew about it. Now the whole world knows about it and they will be selling tickets soon to visit it. I was amazed at the number of people in our group (24) + 1 dog. The walk is in the most incredible barranco, at this time of the year the water in the river is not deep, just enough to ensure you get wet. By the time we were heading back to the cars there appeared to be thousands of people heading down to the river, I am glad we went early. I am pleased to report no one fell in the river, everyone except Tim and Helga’s dog enjoyed it. After the walk we stopped off at Los Nos for drinks. We walked a bit and climbed a bit, but not much.

This week our walk was to the top of Mulhacen, the highest point on mainland Spain. After this everything else is insignificant, a mere pimple on the landscape.  As usual for the Mulhacen trip, we had an early start, 7 am from Beznar. I swear half the group were still asleep when we met up. The reason for the early start is that we had an 8.30 bus to catch from Capileira and there were tickets to pick up, besides the coffee and tostada to be had.  The bus takes you to the base of Mulhacen, from where it is an easy 7 km walk to the summit. Well that’s is what it used to do, it now stops 2km short, resulting in an extra 4 km of walking, so now you just have to walk a bit faster, to catch the 16.30 bus back down the hill. Full of enthusiasm we set off for the summit, the biggest advantage of the new starting point was that it got you used to the lack of oxygen in the air before you started on the ascent proper. The group split on the ascent, with some choosing the...

This week in an effort to keep cool we sought refuge in the Rio Durcal. It was the first time this year we had been up so I didn’t know what to expect after all the rain we had in the winter. I am pleased to report that some of the boulders have moved, but to a better location and, in general the conditions underfoot were good and the rocks were stable.  We had met up in Durcal at 09.00 and driven down to the start of the walk. Our group were the first to arrive, so we had the choice of where to park, a far cry from when we returned and every available space and picnic table were taken.  I have never seen so much water in the acequia, it was overflowing and bursting its bank in places. The first waterfall you come to was impressive, with a high volume of water cascading down. It was still early and there were no takers in our group to take a cooling dip. I think they were saving themselves for later.  The walk up was very pleasant, the water temperatu...

This week some of us decided to take things easy and go on a picnic. Others in the group, who wanted a bit of exercise,  went for a swim.  Dave and Julie had entered into an open water swimming competition on the pantano at Bermejales. It looked an easy level course and at only 1.5 km, I feel sure we could all have done it, if it had been spread out, over a few days. We were there as support and cheerleaders for team GB.    All our hard work paid off with Julie romping home to gold and Dave coming first in the old gits class.  Not only did Julie win a superb gold cup, which I feel sure will have pride of place in her display cabinet, she won a selection box of fruit and wine.  After all the excitement we nearly forgot what we had gone for, so, finding a nice shady spot under the trees we held our annual picnic.  Well done to Julie and Dave,  you made a great picnic into a brilliant day out.   We walked 0.2 km...

This week, in an effort to cool down, we went for a walk to pico de Veleta, at 3394 metres it is the second highest peak in the Sierra Nevada. After taking a detour through Pradollano, because the road was closed due to a road race, we arrived at Hoya de la Mora and a reserved car parking space, thank you Fernando.  There are a number of options available for tackling the summit.  The easiest way is to catch the bus or the telecabina, both of which are far too easy.  A track up the San Juan valley, discounted due to excess snow.  Following the road, the easiest way but it can get a bit monotonous.  A direct path which intersects with the road a number of times, preferred option, but I     was planning on coming back this way anyway.  In the end we took a mixture of the last 2, On the easier cross country bits we took to the footpath, the rest we did on the road until we got over 3000 metres, where, due to a ...

Some of our group were very excited about a major sporting event due to take place on Sunday. So, following advice from my friends who know about these things, I planned a short local walk from Murchas.To try and avoid the worst of  the summer heat we had an early 08.30 start. The walk started from the bridge in Murchas and followed the rio Torrent up to Nigúelas, normally at this time of the year the river is dry, but this year it is still flowing.  Things started to go wrong just before we arrived in Nigúelas, we had made good time and it was still cool so we decided to extend the walk a little bit. I know, I can hear you all groaning,  “There he goes again, advertising a short walk and we end up doing 20 km”. But this was just an extra 1km and brought us into the village along the upper sendero. Ellen and John decided not to go on the extension and we arranged to meet them in a bar up by the church. When we arrived in Nigúelas we looked everywhere f...

The destination for this week's walk was Caballo, the little hill behind Nigúelas. At 3015 metres it is the lowest of the 3000 metre peaks in the Sierra Nevada but for those of us living in the valley it is our hill and must be climbed. Access is not easy as it entails a 15 km drive on a rough 4X4 track. This year we only had available 2 vehicles capable of making the journey so our numbers were limited to 10 people. In the end, only 8 people wanted to go which made the drive a lot pleasanter for those sitting in the back. They were shaken not stirred. It’s a great way up as from the start the summit is in view, and it remains so for most of the climb. There was surprisingly little snow on the way up, after last weeks lower altitude walk in the snow I had been looking forward to sledging all the way back. The views from the top were superb in all directions, most of the remaining snow was down in the valley of the Rio Lanjaron, obviously, this was our intend...

We had a cooling experience on our walk this week. Our destination was the Laguna Yeguas on the side of Veleta. We had arranged to meet at the Hoya de la Mora which, fortunately this time,  was clear of snow. The last time we were there the carpark was under 4 metres of snow and just the cabin roofs were poking through it.  The temperature, at 12 degrees wasn’t bad but it was windy which brought it down into the chilly range and I was glad I had some warm clothing with me, unlike Brenda who looked liked she was heading for the beach. The higher we climbed the cooler and windier it became, fortunately we managed to find a bit of shelter out of the wind up by the observatory. After a short break we headed off across the snowfields towards the Laguna. I was starting to get excited, the last time we had seen so much snow was a number of years ago and there were icebergs floating on the Laguna, would we be fortunate enough to see them again? Yippee, there they we...

This week we had a short walk from Padul, It was short for 2 reasons. The first was that it was the Chite fiesta and we had to get back in time for the Paella, the second reason was I did not expect to get much sleep on the Saturday night and the thought of getting up for a longer walk, when I wanted to stay in bed, was not appealing.   There were 16 of us eager for a walk,  this week it’s Rene’s turn to be the missing mystery person who did not get on the photo. The walk started on the outskirts of Padul, and it was cold, with low cloud swelling around the summit by the cross and it looked like it could rain at anytime. The route starts with a short climb up to a forest which you walk through for a couple of kms. The path then slowly makes its way up the hillside, I know some will say it was quite steep in places but it wouldn't be a proper walk without a bit of climbing. Normally, in June, after 10 am we look  for some shade when we stop for a break...

This week Stuart had left me in charge of leading the walk whilst he took Olwyn out for a well deserved birthday lunch. I had decided on a trek around Venta Fraile which is relatively moderate walk suitable for all. With Stuart away, I was expecting a low turn out with not many entrusting the stand in group leader. Well the hoards kept turning up, so it was left to me to organise the car sharing, I’m sure Stuart must have had long flowing locks of hair before he was faced with this weekly task. Eventually, with everyone in a vehicle, we set off to meet more friends at the second pick up point where we met another two to make the group 26.  Having a large number is always handy as you can afford to lose one or two. The walk starts out with the first stretch along the road which is a lovely gentle way to start out a Sunday morning walk. After a while we climbed up a short steep scree slope to take in our first small diversion to a high point for nice views over Pad...

There wasn’t a walk organised this Sunday because a group of us had just got back from our Benidorm walking holiday. I know Benidorm and walking holiday are words that are not normally associated together but we had a superb time.  We had hired a big house about 20 km outside the resort. Situated in the mountains it was in an ideal position for exploring the area. Most of us were new to the Costa Blanca mountains and were unsure what to expect. We were not disappointed, expectations were exceeded on every front. The walks were always stunning and different. Our chefs produced some amazing meals, we had everything from Thai curry to BBQ salmon and there was always a vegetarian option. The SAT NAV’s took us down some unbelievable roads, many of which we had to reverse out of. We had no wash days when the water supply to the house failed, I have never seen a bar empty so quickly when we walked in. We met Elisa’s mum, dad, and Catalina the Donkey...

To celebrate the start of summer, well at least a day when we didn’t get wet, we went to the Reloj del Sol, the big Sundial above the Alhambra Palace. The drive up to the carpark is a bit rough in places but with care it is passable.  By the time we all arrived for the start of the walk there were 25 of us, all eager to enjoy the day out.  The carpark is the highest point of the walk, so if you want to go anywhere you have to lose some height. This means you have to go up at the end of the walk. For good measure we went as low as you can, down to the rio Darro. One of the advantages of all the rain is that now everything is green, even hills where normally nothing grows are now full of colour. Another advantage is that the rivers are full. When it came to crossing the river we had two choices, we could take a short cut and cross the river on a bridge, or stick with our original route and hope we could wade across the Darro. A democratic vote was taken and o...

This week we had 2 walks arranged, a shorter walk with Hilary from Beznar to Melegis and a longer one with me around Moclin. Stuart’s Moclin walk. This months big end of the month walk started from Olivares, a small pueblo at the bottom of the hill below Moclin. As is usual with our walks I had no intention in staying in the moderately level surroundings of Olivares. Instead our first port of call was the village at the top of the hill, Moclin. To describe this as an easy climb, would be wrong. Whilst the track is a 4X4 route I think most off road  drivers would refuse to go up, especially if they had a nice, new, shiney SUV. A battered old Land Rover might be able to chug it’s way to the top. We arrived in Moclin without one word of dissent, but in need of caffeine. After a democratic vote, and with the motion carried, we went to the bar for coffee.    There was talk about going to the castle but this was not scheduled into the itinerary, and b...