With Rene setting off for the UK her seat in the car was sublet to Dr Mike. We had been looking forward to Mike joining us on a few walks, no longer would birds be little brown jobbies, we would have the definitive sub species name and a complete resume of its habits.
The plan was to complete section 9 and walk to the Mirador, the point we had got to in this section a few weeks ago. The Sulayr path crosses the Ragua road and so access is very easy in a normal car, what is difficult is actually finding the path because it is poorly signed and overgrown.
The path is only 8 km to the Mirador, and starts by climbing up through a pine forest eventually coming out on the forest road that skirts around the edge of the Sierra Nevada National park. With no obvious alternative way back we would be walking the route in both directions.
Last week I mentioned that I could not agree with Mike’s and Cees’s discovery of finding an Acequia (small canal) flowing uphill, it defied the laws of nature. My views going against their combined wisdom were met with derision and it looked like the whole episode might blow up into another Pine Marten scandal. As we were walking up a gently raising forest road section we noticed that there was a small stream flowing alongside it, this was also flowing up hill. Unable to believe this phenomena we marked the position and promised to scientifically investigate it on the way back.
We arrived at the Mirrador in just over 2 hours and, whilst there was not a lot of climbing, it was a respectable pace in the heat and there were numerous stops to admire the fauna and flora. With a plan in place to resolve the mystery of the up hill stream we set off to investigate. Approaching from the opposite direction, what had appeared to be an up hill section was now a downhill section on a uphill path, simple an optical illusion, to confirm this we took GPS readings at both ends which confirmed a fall of a metre along the length of the water flow. The boys from Lecrin, and this was first time we did not have a girl with us, have proved that the Alpujarran legend that the moors had invented a way to make water flow up hill is a myth. I feel sure other great scientific oddities will be solved as we continue our journey.
We found a delightful shady spot with picnic tables for lunch and then continued back to the car, one of our options for the walk was that after reaching the car we would continue on for another couple of Kilometers to finish section 9 but storm clouds were building and by the time we arrived back it was thundering, no one seemed keen to continue the walk and we decided a glass of beer might be the better option.
It was at this point that Kees announced that he had lost his glasses. We have known Kees for some time now and have come to accept some misfortune will occur at sometime during the day. We ascertained that if he had indeed lost them it would have been within the last 2km. With the clouds now black, the thunder getting more intense and heavy rain only a few minutes away, we all agreed he should go back and look for them, we would wait for him in the car. After searching the car and rucksack one final time his glasses were discovered in Rays sac, another case of a Kees calamity. With that we set of for Laroles and the bar and some tasty tapas. Another enjoyable day out.
The walkers Mike, Kees, Ray, Dr Mike, and myself.
Distance walked on route today, 8.2 km. Total distance today 16.4 km. Height climbed today 228 metres. Total distance walked on the Sulayr path 116.9 km. Distance left to do 184.1 km. Total height climbed 8370 metres. Total distance walked 257.2 km.
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