February 18th 2011 Puente Palo

It had rained all week, but come Friday the sun was shining and it was looking promising for our first day out walking along the Sulayr path.
The plan was to drive to Cáñar in the Alpujarra, and then take the forest track as it winds its way up to the start of our first section of the walk. At 300km the walk was never designed to be done at one go but it is divided into 19 sections of varying lengths, even this is difficult to do without someone dropping you off at the start and  picking you up at the end. The sections are generally a long way from public transport and are usually at the end of a 15km forest road. Our plan for the walk is that we drive to the start of our chosen section, walk out a reasonable distance and then return to the car.
From the valley floor the conditions did not look too bad, a bit of snow had come down to around 1500 meters but this was nothing for the Boys and Girl from the Lecrin Valley Limpers/ A Team/ All Terrano group/ Sulayr section. This was going to test the new 4X4 but confidence was high we would get to our destination. This confidence soon evaporated when we found the road was covered in sheet ice and, with steep drops to either side and still another 6 km of up hill to go it was decided to park up and walk. The higher we walked the deeper the snow got, and what had looked patchy from Orgiva was in fact about 30cm deep, a wise decision to leave the car.
After a 6 km slog up hill we arrived at the start of our intended walk. The weather was incredible, a deep blue sky, no wind, and temperatures around 18 degrees. Our well laid plans were in disarray but after struggling to get here we had to make a start on our mission. With the sign post pointing to the Puente Palo picnic site, 1.7km away, it was decided this would be our destination for the day.
Lunch was taken at the picnic site once the snow had been removed from the seats. Our return the same way that we had come was a lot easier as we had foot prints to walk in, and by the afternoon the sun had melted a lot the ice. Stopping in Cáñar for refreshment we enjoyed beer on the terrace of a local bar, I say beer advisably here because the ones amongst us who wanted sin cerveza ended up with apple juice. A fantastic day out even if we did not manage to crack off many miles.
Km today 1.7km     Total done 1.7 km     Total left to do 298.3 km