4 August 2011 Laguna Cuadrada

Pico del Tajo de los Machos

Plan A was to visit Lagunillo de Lanjarón, a small Laguna at the end of the Lanjarón valley.  To gain access to the Laguna involves a long and strenuous walk so we thought an easier option would be to look down on it from above and get the car to take some of the strain by driving some 12km off road up to the 2000 metre line above Soportújar.
The walk starts by following a track heading uphill that eventually turns into a fire break, Kees and myself had fully charged batteries and were able to set a good pace, Ray had had time only for a quick charge and was running at about 75% efficiency, Mikes battery was flat, he was struggling from the outset.
The walk went up and over Pico de las Alegas before starting the ascent of Pico del Tajo de los Marchos. By this time the path had disappeared and it was a matter of picking the best way up over the shattered rocks that are a feature of this range of hills. The route up was steep, but this did not phase Kees who powered ahead like the Duracell bunny heading for the finishing line. My Ever Ready batteries were now running down and I struggled along with Mike and Ray to the top, wondering with every step what we were doing here, when we could be sat at home in the shade with a cold beer. Everything changed when we reached the summit, the views were breath taking, I don’t think I have ever seen a finer range of mountain tops anywhere. All the way from Caballo in the west to Alcazaba in the east it was a continuous line of 3000 metre tops. The map shows 44 summits and peaks over 3000 metres all within view, unbelievable, I can feel another project coming along.
Stopping for lunch on Pico del Tajo de los Marchos and consulting the map we came to the conclusion that we were not going to able to get into a position to look down on Lagunilo de Lanjarón because it was hidden away behind a hillside. Instead we were able to see the Lagunas Cuadrada and Najera. Not wanting anyone to think we had failed in our objective of seeing Laguna Lanjarón we implemented plan B and re -named the walk “Laguna Cuadrada”.
We now had a 2 km ridge walk before we picked up a path that was shown on the map. As we have discovered before, what is on the map is not always the same as what is on the ground. The way back was down a steep hillside, the 1172 metres we had climbed on the 8km way up we had to lose on a rough 4km down hill section. There was no sign of the footpath anywhere, and it was a matter of threading our way down gullies, streams and over boulders. Whist there were one or two interesting sections it is not a route that I will ever want to repeat.
The final part of the walk was a 7km path alongside an Acequia but we were all too tired to appreciate the easy walking. Arriving back at the car after 10.5 hours on the hills we were completely knacked and the only thing we could think off was a beer or two in Soportújar. Driving back down the mountain we were rewarded by the sight of a Golden Eagle sitting on a post by the side of the road.  
A very hard walk but it was worth it for the views

On the walk Mike, Kees, Ray, and myself.
Distance covered 19.27 km, height climbed 1172 metres, maximum altitude 3084 metres.
Total distance on Laguna walks 84.97, Total height climbed 4078 metres.

26 July 2011 Lagunas Rio Seco

On the Granada Capileira road.

Two pieces of good news this week, first we managed to find some lagunas on our walk, unlike last week, and second Kees finally succeeded in gaining his path finder badge (part 1). After many attempts he successfully managed to lead us safely back to the carpark, mind, the path was so well defined that a blind man on a dark night could have found his way.
Our mission this week were the Lagunas of the upper part of the Porgueira gorge. The access point we choose was from Hoya de Moro above Prado Llano, at 2500 metres this is as high as you can drive in the Sierras. From here you follow the old Capileira road up towards Veleta. The road was built in the 1940s to allow a bus to run in the summer from Capileira to Granada, at 3200 metres it was the highest bus route in Europe. The road is now in disrepair and closed to traffic, but it makes a superb path as it traverses across the high ridge line between Veleta and Mulhacen.
Walking up the road we were impressed with how our fitness level had improved since last year when we walked up the same stretch of road to Veleta. We were managing 4km per hour up hill at altitude, not bad for old gits.   
The first Laguna we saw was Yeguas which we had visited a few weeks ago and so it did not count, we were heading for virgin territory. Leaving the road to Veleta we started the long traverse towards Mulhacen. We were surprised to find the road still blocked by snow, necessitating a steep drop down a snow gully, rejoining the road again we were directly above Lagunas de Aguas Verde. The laguna is rich in minerals and these give it a distinctly unhealthy look, I had originally said that we ought to have a swim in every Laguna we discovered, but we thought we would give this one a miss. This is nothing new, as we haven't been in any of them yet, we are awaiting the return of Plym who will show us how it’s done. The high level traverse was superb with views down to Capileira, Alcazaba and into the Estrella gorge. We passed the Lagunas of the Rio Seco and looked down onto the Lagunillos del Púlpito. We had hoped that we might make it as far as the Laguna Caldera but, after walking out for 12km and with the cloud starting to build up, we decided to save it for another day. Turning around we retraced our steps, stopping off for lunch at the top of the snow gully. The way back was a little shorter as we took a shorter but steeper way back.
Stopping off in the carpark for a well earned beer we were surround by new cars and trucks on test from all the German manufacturers, what a job, driving new cars in this stunning area.
An excellent day out in some stunning scenery.
                            
On the walk Mike, Kees, Ray, and myself.
Distance covered 21 km, height climbed 897 metres, maximum altitude 3207 metres.
Total distance on Laguna walks 65.7, Total height climbed 2906 metres.

19 July 2011 Laguna Cura

The only Laguna we found

Laguna Cura is an obscure little lake that is hard to find. In the book it is called Cura, on the map it is called Cabrero, and on the ground well! More about that later. The laguna is on the northern side of Caballo and the best access point we could find was from Fuente Fria, some 13km above Nigúelas. The road is not in the best condition and we bounced about for an hour in the car before finally arriving at our starting point, an abandoned house in a superb position. There is quite a community around here of Cortijos, but I would hate to think I was driving that road on a regular basis.
There are no footpaths marked on the map but it did show up an acequia heading in the right direction. Acequia are always good to follow, there is always a good path by the side of them for maintenance and they are never steep, they just have a gentle drop, falling a few metres every hundred metres or so. We picked up the acequia and set of on a good track, but we soon ran into trouble. The path had became overgrown with nettles and spiky bushes, all intent on inflicting damage on our unprotected legs. Mike was the sensible one, he was wearing long trousers. The rest of us, true mountain men, were wearing shorts. Eventually with our legs torn to shreds we abandoned the path when we found a dirt road heading in the right direction. When this petered out we rejoined the acequia, which had now turned into a superb way into the mountains high up above the upper reaches of the Rio Durcal.
As the track approached the area where we expected to find the Laguna it crossed some open pasture land where a lot of mountain cattle had collected. The first lot ignored us, preferring to carry on munching some very green grass. The second lot, close to where we wanted to be, were not quite so friendly, turning towards us and shouting to their mates to come along and have some fun. The odds were in thier favour at about 15:1. We decided to beat an hasty retreat around the side of hill, have a spot of lunch, and work out some tactics for finding the laguna. We had not had more than a couple of bites of our sandwiches when they reappeared with reinforcements, they were obviously looking for a bit of practice before they went into the bull ring. Once more we retreated further up the hillside. They seemed happy with this and left us alone while we finished off our lunch.
There did not appear to be any way to get to the Laguna without incurring their wrath, so we decided to call it a day and make our way home. We again followed the acequia back the way we had come, stopping off to let Kees cool his ankle down in the chilly water. We had only just got going again when I decided to re-enact my favorite party trick, I stumbled on a rock and fell into the acequia, fortunately I did not need a complete change of cloths like the last time and I soon dried off.
Whilst we did not achieve our objective of finding the Laguna we did explore some fabulous countryside, and there was the prospect of beer and tapas in Migúels bar to look forward to when we returned to Nigúelas.
Migúel was closed when we got back and we ended up with beer and crisps served by a right miserly guts at another bar.                                  
On the walk Mike, Kees, Ray, and myself.
Distance covered 18.1 km, height climbed 713 metres, maximum altitude 2523 metres.

10 July 2011 Laguna Yeguas

The group at the laguna Yeguas

Access to the Laguna Yeguas is good so we included this walk in our Sunday walks with the whole group. With the weather warming up we thought it would be a good idea to go somewhere cool this week, so a trip up into the snow on the Sierra Nevada and hopefully another chance to look at the icebergs we saw last year was planned. The big worry was that with all the snow we have had this year we might have trouble getting up to the Laguna Yeguas.
The walk starts from the carpark at Hoya de la Mora and there was a cool breeze blowing when we arrived, which had everyone digging in their bags for fleeces. As we started to climb the wind got stronger and its direction kept changing, one second you would be stooped over leaning into the wind like a ninety year old and the next you were going arse over tit down the hillside. The higher we climbed it became apparent that all the expected snow had disappeared and even the icebergs had melted, global warming was spoiling our day out. In an effort to get some snow we climbed a little higher up to the Lagunillas de la virgin. These were covered in snow, but it was a lovely spot out of the wind so we stopped here for a bite to eat, as lunch progressed boredom set in and it was not long before a snow ball fight broke out. We were so well sheltered out of the wind we thought it must have died down, it came as a shock again as we rounded a corner to be met by a gale force wind, we had to hang on to the lighter members to stop them flying off, what we should have done is add some ballast to their rucksacs to keep them on the ground. Arriving back at the carpark we found that some of the bars had closed as they were unable to keep their chairs from taking off, but one was open and serving refreshing beers and good tapas, or so I am told, it was meat. We were all wind blown and covered in dust but we had a good day out and it certainly blew the cob webs away.
We walked 12.1 km and climbed 444 metres
On the walk Mike, Kees, Ray, Mark, Marie Carmen, Conchi and her cousin Conchi, Charley and myself.

Distance covered 12.1 km, height climbed 444 metres, maximum altitude 2454 metres.
Total distance on Laguna walks 26.6, Total height climbed 1296 metres.

28 June 2011 Laguna Caballo

 Mike at the pimple

This all started with an ambition of Mikes. Every morning for the past 5 years he has jumped out of bed, pulled the curtains back and stared at the pimple. Most folk would have gone to the doctors after looking at a pimple for 5 years, but Mikes pimple is a small outcrop of rocks on the side of Caballo, a big hill in the Sierra Nevada range of mountains. There are other mountain tops more imposing in the Sierra Nevada but he can’t see those. He wanted to go to the pimple, measure it’s altitude and be able to say to Juan his next door neighbour “I have been there”. When Mike first mentioned this burning ambition to go to the pimple it was winter, and Caballo was covered in snow, at 3011 metres it gets a lot of snow in winter. As spring approached Mike was tasked with giving a snow report each week. It was mid June when he reported that the pimple was clear of snow, we could now plan our ascent. It seemed a bit of a waste to spend all that energy just to visit the pimple, and we have been to the summit of Caballo before, so we decided to go a bit further and go to the Laguna del Caballo, a lake we have looked down on but not visited. Mike had lent me a book with pictures of all the Lagunas in the Sierra Nevada, and it looke like it might be fun to visit as many as possible in the summer when it was too warm to walk on the Sulayr track, our 300 km walk we had started earlier this year.
We all met in the Nigúelas carpark at 7.30 to drive as far as possible up the side of Caballo. The track is rough and progress was slow, but after 1 hour we had climbed up to 2175 metres and could go no further due to a chain across the road. This would be our starting point, it was a beautiful day and at this altitude the air is cool and fresh. To start with the path follows a forest road before cutting off across country heading for the ridge line that heads straight up Caballo. The path is little used and  indistinct but you can't  get lost, you just keeping heading over a series of little summits. So unusual was our little party that the mountain goats just stood on the rocks staring at us as we passed by. After 3 hours of walking Mike announced that we had reached the pimple by the simple expedient of if we went any further we would not be able to see is house in the valley far below us. At 2757 metres Mike’s pile of rocks is not named on the map but he did not care, he had got there.
From this point it is a simple matter to continue on what now turned into a very good path coming up from Lanjaron, heading for the Laguna Caballo. We were now in the snow line and we had a number of snow filled gullies to cross as we made our way to the Laguna. The views were stunning as we could see the range of hills going up to Veleta.
There is a small Refugio by the side of the Laguna and we stopped here for lunch before heading off back to the car on a slightly different route.
We finished off the walk in Migúels bar in Nigúelas with cold beer and his excellent tapas.
Mike’s neighbour Juan was not impressed when Mike told him where he had been, it just confirmed his suspicions that all the English are loco en la cabeza.  

On the walk Mike, Kees, Ray, Mark, and myself

Distance covered 14.5 km, height climbed 852 metres, maximum altitude 2841 metres.