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5th March 2017 Hiking - Walking: Puerto de la Ragua 2000 Wind Direction: Wind Stength: Surf / Sea State: Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: cloudy and breezy :( Max Speed: Distance Covered: Saturday 4th March – sightsee travel – wind, rain, snow and sun! What a top night tucked in a sheltered backstreet in the tiny La Fabriquilla near Cabo de Gato as the wind blew and the surf pounded!!! The wind had eased slightly when we woke but the sea was still wild so with cloud cover and a bit chilly I had a lay-in with a late breakfast. We packed up and left after a quick walk to the sea at just past eleven with a few hardy big campers still in the exposed carpark. Stopped just down the road to take some pics of a big church in the middle of nowhere and the little boats on the beach. Then a little further on a coach tour had pulled into the La Salinas bird reserve hide so we went to have a look. We spotted loads of flamingos and avocets with a load of gulls sheltering from the onshore breeze. My windsurf guide says of this place ‘Strong Ponienteis common, it’s best to look elsewhere as large waves and onshore winds conspire to make the spot unsailable very quickly’ and this was true of today as there were no windsurfers or kiters out and none were seen all the way to Almeria! Our plan was to drive to Almeria and perhaps let the bad weather pass with a day sightseeing but it was pretty uninspiring as most Spanish towns seem to be, so headed for the mountains. Not the best option on a cloudy day but the coast on a poor day isn’t fun either! We were found the right road but got in a muddle at Pechina, it’s hard sometimes navigating with our current map as it hasn’t got much detail – unlike our brilliant French one - but with the help of the sat-nav for the next town and we were soon on the right road driving up into the Sierra Nevadas. It was a new road all the way to Alcolea as they had left sections of the old road as big lay-bys and the scenery was amazing from fruit trees in bloom and Olive trees to vineyards and rocks of all sorts including scenes that could have straight out of a western movie (several famous ones were apparently filmed around here). The sun even came out for a while! Then things took a turn for the worse as the cloud came down and the heavy rain started so we stopped for lunch. Our revised plan was to find somewhere in a small town en-route before driving up to the coll Puerto de la Ragua 2000 tomorrow because we had checked the weather on Mags phone and it was getting much better next week:) Sadly we found nowhere to stop ending up on the windy mountain road to 2000 metres in the rain and low cloud. The views I am sure would have been great if we could have seen them! Then as we neared the top the cloud thinned and the rain turned to snow with a light covering everywhere:) Then as if a miracle had happened, as we reached the tree lined coll the sun came out. There were several at the top carpark which was for most part very muddy but people were out on the snowy slopes walking and sledging:) The sun was out fully on the way down the other side so we drove down that way for a bit to see the plain and valley with loads of wind turbines and solar farms but then had trouble finding somewhere to turn around! Back at the carpark we found a place to park on some concrete away from the mud, blocks under the wheels and kettle on for cuppa and cake. We passed a pleasant few hours reading and dozing with Mag knitting. We watched people come and go including three hikers with big rucksacks heading off up the mountain for a night out. Some arrived after dark with torches! Top Lidl lasagne for tea with fingers crossed for a nice day tomorrow so we can walk in the snow! Sunday 5th March – walk *** Puerto de la Ragua 2000 – cloudy and breezy :( Not too bad a night at 2000 metres here at Puerto de la Ragua 2000 in the Sierra Nevada’s but sadly woke to a light dusting of snow and low cloud:( In no hurry to get up so had a lazy start to the day reading, dozing and watching the locals arrive, some to snow shoe, ski tour and sledge, we didn’t fancy heading up the snowy slope opposite as you could hardly see your hand in front of your face! After a late breakfast, we packed some snacks put on our boots for a walk in the pine woods that back onto our van leaving just before midday. There were two tracks heading off the same way, it looked like one for walkers and the other for forestry vehicles and mountain bikes but both were icy and covered in snow. A man on a quad bike had just come down so I followed his track on the higher road while Mag took the lower, there was a walk sign with map saying about a 7km. walk to a Lake but we were not sure that it was the way we were going and you wouldn’t be able to see it in this poor visibility:( The pretty tracks gently sloped up with several trees with snapped off branches from the recent strong winds. Mag joined me on the upper path and we spotted animal tracks running for ages along with us. We stopped to watch some tits flit about in the trees when the quad bike man returned so I flagged him down to ask about the prints and he said that he ran husky dogs for the public both summer and winter and he lived along this track and that the prints were probably fox. We did see one more sign saying the lake was 10 km so continued for miles along the muddy track which would be great for mountain biking if dry but now it was muddy or covered in an inch of snow. The sun did try very briefly to come out and the cloud cleared so we could see down to the road we drove up yesterday. Then eagle eyed Mag saw some deer tracks that had very recently crossed in front of us and I peered over the edge and saw 3 / 4 deer in the gloom below:) The breeze was getting up and we were cold so after about an hour and a half turned around. There had been a lot of horse poo on the path and once again it was Mag who saw the wild horses feeding above us, it didn’t look like horse habitat to me way too high, cold and snowy with poor grazing. There were several cars in the carpark when we got back which is odd as the weather is foul so not much fun for sledging but the people were up on the hill or with picnics in the wood and carpark – nuts or what! We had been out for 3 hours covering 5 or 6 miles so were pleased for the diesel heater, now working fine with a cuppa and cake. Will move on tomorrow with fingers crossed the weather improves! Photo Gallery Here |
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