Pico de lopera

We decided to try another walk from the "Walk the Axarquia" book by Charles Davis. This was described as an "easy" walk in the mountains. To get there we drove up the old Almunecar to Granada road. This road snakes up the mountain and is a fantastic drive. Unless your a nervous passenger like Monica, who was gripping on for dear life.

Nice safe drive up the mountain.

We arrived at the start point "Meson Los Prados" in one piece, narrowly avoiding death on a few occasions. On leaving Nerja it was a beautiful, sunny day. We had applied plenty of sun cream. I was wearing shorts and t-shirt only. Monica had brought her sweatshirt. Turns out that was a great idea. The weather turned and it was cloudy, threatening rain. Still, we continued with the planned walk.

It started off quiet promisingly. We entered the gates of the "Los Prados" estate and it was like being back in England. The woods were lush green. The weather was looking increasingly English too. The wind was picking up and I was getting cold. We passed two cortijos and soon was in the open countryside.

The sierras or the Pennines?

Why do we always get lost when we use this book? Some of the directions are a bit poor. We always have to re-read the book several times before we are sure of the way. However, we soon get bored and guess at the way. This was why we walked about an hour and a half in the wrong direction.

We started to get suspicious when the "Sharp left turn" was more of a barely left. Also, the book described a steady climb. We were certainly going down hill. We continued on fearlessly and arrived at a ruined cortijo. No mention in the book? We accepted the inevitable. We were lost. Still, I was sure that we would eventually get back on track.

This was not in the guide, sure sign we're lost.

We arrived at an information point near another cortijo just as it started to rain. Monica realised that this was a way point on one of the other walks nearby. We were miles off track. Time to finally admit defeat and turn back.

We finally got back to the point in the book where we had gone wrong some 2.5 hours into the walk. We must have been distratced by the information point 50 yards after the turning. Not to worry, we will return.

Back on the beach in the sun.