Navachica a Medditeranean summit

In early June before it got too hot to do much I climbed Navachica. At 1834m it is the highest summit in the Sierra Almijara area of the Axarquia ranges and sits inland of Nerja. Starting from the El Pinarillo picnic area inland from the famous Nejra caves the route follows a number of dry barancos;- los Cazadores, la Charca and del Rey. The route follows an old mule trail which served a number of mines in the area, passing mine entrances at the track side. In its heyday this area must have been a hive of activity with a clear track running the length of the valley. Now with the route having been recently re way-marked we follow a less well maintained rocky path with the occasional short scramble up rock steps in the river bed. From the head of the baranco del Rey, the climb makes a tortuous ascent to meet a slightly easier line to the final summit. The guide book gives an ascent of 1,300m which makes this one of the biggest routes in the region and not to be undertaken lightly. Whilst my book described a return using the ascent, it also hinted at a number of more ‘’interesting’’ ways off. I chose to head due south from the summit along a route that I had spied during the climb. Heading toward the Med I descended toward El Puerta. What path there was limited to very vague lines through vegetation across easy ground. The route led to the top of a steep section of rock which I had noted during the ascent and had thought would be the crux. I had presumed it could be by passed on the far side, no such luck. There was a small cairn marking a vague descent line down through loose and quite steep ground and with a bit of shuffling around and backtracking occasionally the route did ‘go’ and reverted back to a reasonably clear trail. From here the path ran along a narrow ridge with some huge drops to the west into the upper section of the Rio Chillar valley. The north ridge of an unnamed 1,440m summit just north of la Puerta offered an exhilarating scramble before I returned to the normal route and a long descent back to the car. A great route for cooler days at the end of the year.

Spring Dangers !

Hopefully, with the onset of Spring, we will begin to get some great walking days again. As I write this I’m sheltering from the fourth day of rain, having to run a generator to use the computer. Oh the joys of solar power! I know we need the rain and snow. How else would I fill my alberca, but after a couple of days we do get a bit stir crazy. For those who do get out in the next couple of weeks there is a potential danger to look out for, the Pine Processionary Moth caterpillars (Thaumetopoea pityocampa). The adult moths lay eggs inside a distinctive silky nest in pine trees where the eggs and later caterpillars will over-winter. Once hatched and outside the nest the caterpillars are fascinating to see as they often create a trail of up to a meter long as they follow each other nose to tail, crossing your path or descending a tree. The caterpillar is covered in fine hairs which can be a severe irritant if touched and in later stages of the caterpillar’s development can be released into the air. If breathed in, the hairs can cause severe allergic reaction in susceptible people. They are also a problem for dogs or cats. If they sniff or lick the trails of caterpillars they can have a severe reaction, problems with breathing and possibly be killed. As the name suggests they are predominantly found in pine woodlands so at this time of year beware if you walking in an area of pine trees. If, like me you have a pine tree on your land you may have more of a problem. Having cut out branches infested with nests for a few years, my pine tree was beginning to look a bit bald. I asked Manolo, my neighbour, how to deal with the nests and was told, quite seriously, to use a shotgun. Apparently the idea was to break open the nest before winter to expose the inside to frost and hence kill off the eggs and larvae. Not possessing a shotgun I initially used an air rifle borrowed from another neighbour. However, though we hit the nests, the pellet didn’t break them open. The answer was to get a fisherman’s catapult suitably equipped with a bait cup. This, when filled with gravel, did a great job of bursting the nests and hence allowing the frost do its job. We tried this the winter before last and had no nests at all this winter. Just beware, don’t do it once the caterpillars are hatched as they will rain down on you. Also if you or your neighbours have solar panels, greenhouses, expensive patio doors etc anywhere near, you might get a few complaints if you start firing stones around willy nilly!

Cero de Caballo winter ascent

Last week I had walked up the mountain above us to open up a compuerta (sluice gate) on our acequia when I met the young goat farmer who works the mountain side above He was on his way back from his daily outing with his herd when they graze the hillside. Nothing unusual in that but he had with him his pet pig!!. ( I know it sounds like a story from Driving Over Lemons but its true) he seemed a bit upset when I asked him if it was for eating, which is wasn’t. The pig, a small black pot bellied example seemed friendly enough and trained enough to follow him along with the goats and various dogs. This week I climbed Cero de Caballo ( Hill of the Horseman) 3,011m which lays claim to be Europe’s most westerly 3,000m peak. My finca is on the south ridge of the mountain at 1,000m and in theory I could go straight from my back door to do the peak. I didn’t though, and made the most of the drivable tracks above Lanjaron which take you up to about 2,000m on the mountain side. In the past you could drive to a point below an old mountain refuge, The Ventura, however now a cable has now been strung across the track stopping access along the last 3 km of track. It’s likely to have been done by the Parque Nacional to stop traffic getting into what has to be said is a fantastic and remote high mountain valley and thereby protecting the habitat of the area. Unfortunately it now means that there is an extra 6 or 7 km of walking involved in any routes in the valley. The ‘new’ route up the south ridge of Caballo now follows the line of a steep fire break before hitting the ridge proper where there is an old track along the crest which after about 4km reverts to a footpath traversing the western flank of the ridge. With some snow on the ground covering the path I stuck to the clearer rocky crest and was able to get to within about 2km of the summit before donning snowshoes for the final ascent. Needles to say with blue skies above the views of the main ridges and snow covered summit of the range was magnificent. Leaving the summit I kept my snowshoes on and was able to make quite a quick descent and by linking up snow patches kept them on until I was about half way back to the car.

La Maroma, Axarquia

Whilst still waiting for the snow to arrive I took advantage of the good weather to do a mountain that has been on my list for a long time. La Maroma ( The Rope) is the large limestone mountain that lies NE of Velez Malaga. At a 2,068m it offers a great open ridge walk with views down to and across the med. to the south or back toward the Sierra Nevada and other ranges inland. There are a number of popular ascent routes up this mountain. Two come up from the from the western end above Lake Vineula however the route which is easiest to access form Lanjaron is the one from La Robledal (the oak grove) which lies to the North East of the range itself. El Robladal , is an area of mixed forest with native oaks and pine, there is a camp site here and picnic areas. Higher up the route are yew trees which are quite rare with young specimens being protected by fencing on the upper slopes of the mountain. The car park at El Robladal can be accessed from Alhama de Granada or from Arenas de Rey both routes requiring some driving along tracks. The ascent route itself is well way marked and starts easily enough as it follows forest tracks to eventually revert to a small path through the tress as the more serious ascent begins. The route eventually emerges form the forest and climbs more broken ground which leads to a very pleasant and rocky traversing section below the final slopes at a area called Salto de Caballo ( horseman’s leap). Once through this rocky traverse the route opens up as you crest the ridge to get views south to the coast. Here a very steep path comes up from the countryside above Sedella just to join our route. There is then a a quite exposed section with a steep drop to our left as the route crosses a narrow spine of rock at Cortados de Maroma. From here cairns mark the final ascent across an open expanse of limestone blocks. The summit marker is an obvious 3m high stone spire with rungs up the front to allow you to get even higher. I must say from where I sat and had lunch I’m sure it isn’t actually on the highest point which seemed to me to be at the eastern end of the ridge. The summit was quite crowded when I got there with walkers coming up from both ends of the ridge. A full traverse of the mountain seems feasible if you can arrange cars for pick ups and would make a good walk into a great one as unfortunately I had to return the way I came.

Autumn walking

I was back in England recently doing the usual family visits during the October half term. I did manage to get some walking in in the White Peak area of Derbyshire though which is an area I didn’t know too well before. I was there redoing my First Aid certificate needed to maintain my qualification to work as a guide. This was great hands on course but very different for the fist one I ever went on when the doctor running the course showed us how to do a tracheotomy using a biro and a pen knife!!!. The recent course was for wilderness first aid aimed at use way from the nearest phone or medic. I must admit I’ve been lucky enough never having to do much more than stick a plaster on (checking for allergies first though) and that has tended to be at home rather than out on the hill. Having got back from reasonable weather in the UK we had two weeks of fairly constant rain here which didn’t allow for much walking and surprisingly put little if any snow down on the mountain directly above us. The peak, Cero de Caballo is 3,011m and as such is the most westerly 3,000m+ summit in Europe. Seeing snow on its summit is a great indication of conditions further into the range. As I write the unusually mild weather isn’t allowing the low temperatures needed to allow snow fall or if it does fall to thaw out on the ground. Hopefully early days yet though and I‘m sure we will soon be out playing in snowy mountains. Once the rain eased however I did manage to get out and did a short walk in the sierra north of Granada. I had seen a walk near the village of Moclin which includes quite a spectacular gorge section. I headed out and having done an early drop off at Granada bus station was walking by nine on a very misty morning. I must admit once I was out in the cool it was very nice to walk and not be concerned about over heating and avoiding the sun as I have been for most of the summer. The route is a delight and was made better by cloud coming a going thoughout the walk which made for very atmospheric views of the gorge and surrounding cliffs and castles. The river which runs through the gorge was in spate which made the crossing of a very bouncy suspension bridge even more dramatic than it would normally have been . The route is well marked and easy enough to follow though perhaps at its best in summer when I dare say you could get into the river to cool off. for more information about walking holidays in the Sierra Nevada, Walking in the Alpujarra contact The Life of Riley at

Tajos de la Virgen

In order to avoid the worst of the blistering heat that most of us experienced over early August I recently used the cable car and chair lift on the western flank of Veleta (3396m) above Granada’s ski village. The lift carries you from about 2,000m up to 3,000m and is a great way to access the high mountains. I had planned to avoid the summit of Veleta and just head for the Tajos de la Virgen ridge which runs south from the main peak. Once off the lift however the route to the top looked inviting and I headed off and within about an hour was sat at the top chatting to a fellow walker who was in training for a trip up Kilimanjaro. Apparently I had met up with him on his third ascent that week. He was based in Granada and using the mountain for some altitude training. Having summited I headed back to the planned route along the rugged ridge which runs from the Carihuela refuge below Veleta south to the Elioreta refuge. After the initial section of rocky walking the way up to the ridge proper is a short but fairly exposed scramble. Since I had last done this section small white arrows have been painted on the route to assist route finding. It was clear though as I watched a fellow walker descend away from the correct line that the arrows only work in ascent. What was also clear was that he was quite poorly equipped with a bottle of water in one hand and a carrier bag and wooden staff in the other. I know that some of us, myself included, tend to take a bit to much gear particularly in summer but the amount he was carrying did seem a bit extreme. Once on the ridge proper the route becomes clearer for some way before passing below a distinctive pinnacle of rock on the very crest of the ridge. This is El Fraile (The Friar) and can often be seen from miles away as it stands in profile on the ridge. Beyond El Fraille the ridge has a section of large boulders which are quite difficult to navigate before the ridge finally opens out at the Elioreta. Formally used by TB patients to aid recovery the refuge still has tiles on some of its rock floors and two rooms which are reasonably weather proof. From here the return to the cable car is an easy descent on an old mule track to some small lagoons from where a small path leads back up (a bit to steeply at that point in the day) to the chair lift and a very relaxing descent without any chance of damage to my knees.

River walks in the Sierra Nevada

As it August and as we know only mad dogs and ….. are the only ones to venture out I thought it might be worth mentioning a few of the better river walks for those, like me, foolish enough to still want to go walking. Most of these provide a chance to at least get your feet wet if not a full blown plunge Its worth remembering though that particularly at the end of summer there is a chance of thunders storms and torrential rain which can suddenly flood these rivers so look at the forecast and when out walking keep an eye out for storm clouds building. Inland there are a number of walks:- Monachil Gorge, perhaps the most famous inland route passes through a fairly narrow gorge with suspension bridges crossing the stream at the start of the walk. There are a number of plunge pools en route with the chance to take a quick dip to cool off. Rio Dilar. Just south of Granada this valley route start at a popular ‘’ area recreativa’’ which even has a chiringuita bar. There are loads of shallow pools at the start with river crossing higher upstream before the valley opens out into an area of dramatic rock scenery. Rio Cebollon, on the north of the Sierra de Tejeda this river feeds the Embalse de Bermejales a wonderful inland lake well worth a visit in its own right. The route along the river crosses and re crosses the river and there is a wonderful waterfall and pool for a cooling dip. The route has a reasonable amount of forest walking as well providing some shade. The coast also has a couple of very popular river walks the best known two are true river walks where you wade the river bed rather than simply ford the stream like the inland routes. Rio Chillar, perhaps the best known this runs from the N.W. corner of the village. You are soon in the water with the best section of ‘’cahorros’’ about an hour upstream. Here you pass though a very narrow section gorge where you can easily touch both rock walls either side of the stream. If you want a longer day’s walk the stream can be used as part of a circular route incorporating a section of the Linman Trail. Rio Higueron. Start from the centre of Frigiliana from where the route is signed. Near the start of the route is a large water deposit which is a popular swimming spot and well worth a visit as you return. The best sections of the route take some time to get to but once there the upper section provide great fun for those who like scrambling up waterfalls and inevitably getting wet.