A short break after the steep climb
Our mission this week was to do a short section of tramo 18 that is difficult to get at, we have twice made attempts at it and failed. The first time was on the 31st of May when we were beaten by a chain across the road, and by the time we had walked the 6km to the start of the walk the prospect of another 18 km and a 600 metre climb was too daunting.The second time was on the 25th August when the sun was at its hottest, we did manage a short 2km 350 metre climb of the section. Can I just say we did not spend all day on the hills just walking 2km. I know the wives think we are using the walk as an excuse to get out of their way and that we spend all day in the bar, in reality we are just trying make sure that at least one group of walkers have managed to complete the full 300 km. We feel very honoured, it is like the whole thing was created just for us.
What we needed to do was a 4.2km section along the Rio Vadillo, from below Peña Partida to the refugio El Calvario. The other part of the walk down the “Vereda de la Estrella” we have done many times, it is the classic walk of Granada, even David Cameron (British PM 2010-2015) did it this year.
We had a late 8 am start and picked Mark up in Gúéjar Sierra and then continued to the start of the walk at San Juan in the Maitena gorge. We substituted Rene this week for Plym who was desperate to get into the high mountains after spending the summer in Devon. The weather forecast was not too promising and I had issued a wet weather gear notice the day before. In true Plym style she turned up with her jacket tied around her waist and 2 Bananas in her pocket. For the first hour the route is very easy along the Estrella path high above the Rio Genil. The track was used for access to the various mines that existed up until the civil war. After this things start to toughen up, the path heads down hill, crosses the river and for the next hour climbs up the Cuesta de los Presidiarios to the Calvario refugio. This is not one of the big manned ones, but it does have bunks and it is dry if you are caught out in a storm. At this point the path splits, one track continuing as a high level route that eventually rejoins the Estrella path and the other our route to Peña Partida. This is the section we had come to do, it is an important junction in the path but as always when you need a marker there is nothing. After a short but very steep section we left the Rio Genil valley behind us and headed for the Rio Vadillo. The path was easy as it headed for our destination in a forest at the far end of the valley. Graham was on point duty and can usually be relied upon to navigate the route, I was second and just following the leader. Third was Kees who put all his recent training into good practice when he spotted a marker sign and path our leader had missed, if Kees continues the good work he may graduate to his “Path finder badge grade 2”, Graham was sent to the back.
All that was left to do now was link up with the path we had done in August which was somewhere in the forest. Mike was convinced that it was somewhere near the beginning and had slowed down in preparation for his well deserved lunch. Unfortunately the junction was still a little distance away, some may question the word “little” as I understand there was a growing mutiny taking place at the rear. Normally we look for somewhere either comfy or with a view for our lunch stop but today, after climbing 1068 metres, we just slumped by the side of the path when we reached our destination and greedily tucked into our sandwiches, even Plym looked on enviously whilst eating her banana.
With storm clouds gathering over Veleta we decided it was high time we hi-tailed it back down the hill, Mike is not too keen on spending a night in a refugio.
Once again we had no option but to return back along our outbound route, the only problem was some of the sections were quite steep and the knees can take quite a pounding, we are not known as the “Lecrin Valley Limpers” for nothing. Plym suffered the most this week and by the time we got back to the car she was hobbling quite badly but assured us that with a good sleep her knees would return to normal.
We stopped off in Gúéjar Sierra for a well deserved beer before our journey back to the valley. In the end the impending storm did not develop and we did not need our rain gear, another excellent day out in the hills.
The walkers Mike, Kees, Plym, Graham, Mark and myself.
Distance walked on route today, 4.2 km. Total distance today 23.2 km. Height climbed today 1185 metres. Total distance walked on the Sulayr path 182.5 km. Distance left to do 117.5 km. Total height climbed 14,410 metres. Total distance walked 418.5 km.
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