The start of it

For a long time, whilst out walking in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, we have come across footpath signs to Sulayr but we were never able to connect the signs to any known path, they always seemed to point to somewhere high in the Sierra Nevada. Then in August 2009 whilst on the Mulhacen mountain bus Paco, the guide, explained that it was a 300 km circular path running around the Sierra Nevada National park.
Slowly my interest in this walk was aroused, but it always looked like it would be a ambition never undertaken. The path runs around the Sierras at about 2000 meters, and the thought of taking our poor little Renault Kangoo up all those access tracks to the start of a new section of the walk filled me with dread, it was our only car.
In 2011 the chance came to buy another car, and the thought of walking the Sulayr path gained momentum. What was needed were some good buddies to share the experience. My wife has always classed the “The A Team” of the Lecrin Valley Limpers as something out of “The Last of the Summer Wine”. A group of old men who go out in to the mountains for the day and come home raggy arsed, tired and dirty. After careful consultation with fellow team members who jumped at the chance of expeditions into the high Sierras I decided to buy a small 4X4.
This is the story as it unfolds.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

May 13 2011 Section 3 Loma de las Acequias to Tello

Logistics this week dictated that we change our walk day from Tuesday to Friday, a change that in retrospect worked out well for us as the weather on Friday was better for walking, we had high cloud which kept the temperatures down.
The walk starts at the 1600 metre line high above Lanjaron and follows a path that slowly descends towards the Rio Lanjaron, we have enjoyed walking  on the other side of this valley in the past ,but today’s walk high up on the opposite bank surrounded by wild flowers with views of the snow covered  Cerro del Caballo and  Veleta was truly magnificent, one of my favorite sections of a walk ever.
The initial destination, Tello, is a point imprinted in the mind of anyone who has walked in the hills around Lanjaron. For miles around there are signs pointing to Tello, you begin to think it must be a place of great importance, in fact it is a derelict old building not worth a second look.
From here we left the Sulayr path and started a long ascent to a high level route heading back to Nigúelas. The path was excellent and we soon crossed out of the Alpujarras and into the Lecrin Valley, and then down to meet up with the Sulayr path heading back to our starting point.
It was on this section that the conversation once again returned to the bloody Pine Marten. You may recall that a few weeks back Graham claimed to have seen two of them on the walk. As Graham was the only one who knew what a Pine Marten was,( I myself thought it was a bird, Mike thought he saw a fox with short legs or a big Rabbit, Rene remained aloof not wanting to get into a serious discussion, Kees thought it was a Orchid, I don’t know what Kees is smoking these days but it is good stuff), anyway Graham has been a bit upset that I would not credit this sighting of the Pine Martens to him. Mike tried to smooth things over by now saying he also saw the Pine Martens, how someone who saw a big Rabbit can now claim to have seen Pine thingies I have no idea. So things remain unresolved except for the fact that Graham showed me a picture of one last week. So for the sake of harmony, and the fact that the old git is now 65 and I don’t want to upset him anymore, we will credit him with seeing 2 Pine Martens.
The walk continued with the views changing back once again to the Alpujarras. Arriving back at our starting point we drove back to Talara where we stopped for light refreshment in a local bar.
The walkers Mike, Kees, Rene, Graham and myself.
Distance walked on route today 7.7 km. Total distance today 18.3 km. Height climbed today 690 metres. Total distance walked on the Sulayr path 68.9 km. Distance left to do 231.1 km. Total height climbed 5171 metres. Total distance walked 166 km.  

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