The start of our big adventure
It’s day one of our new adventure, we are going to walk the Granada section of the GR7. There are 7 of us eager to put our feet on the ground and make tracks, but first we have to get to Ventas de Zafarraya, 80 kilometers away on the western edge of Granada province.
The first section of the walk is 20 km long and finishes in Alhama de Granada, this is very convenient as it means we can leave a car in Alhama, drive to Zafarraya, walk back to the car and then drive back to Zafarraya. I know that does not sound convenient but the alternative would be to catch a bus, risky, as we once tried this and missed it, or do the walk in two sections.
We set off for the drive in a convoy of three cars, we had not gone far when we lost one. The navigator, Rene, and the driver,José, are in agreement that it was not their fault. It’s funny, two women get lost and it must be a man’s fault, all they had to do was follow the car infront. We left Josés car in Alhama and then continued on to Ventas de Zafarraya where we left the other two cars and proceeded to the start of the walk. I had brought along a guide book which contained a map and a detailed description of the route. The guide book does state that at the start of this section there are no route markings and that you need to follow the directions in the book carefully. Kees had been reading the book in the car and had made the comment that it was a good book to have with you, and it was a handy size that fitted in your pocket. Where was the book? it was in the car. He did offer to go back and fetch it, but at that moment we were battling a force 10 northerly gale and we wanted to get away and into the shelter of the hillside.
This area is totally new to us,and it is also a very different type of terrain from what we are used to. The countryside is intensively farmed and for the first half of the walk it was strange to be walking alongside fields full of Tomatoes, Cabbages, Beans, Artichokes you name it, it was growing. We are more used to the long ago abandoned farms of the high Sierras.
There was some confusion as to where the halfway point of the walk would occur. Mike thought it should be at the 6 km point, whilst the general opinion of the group was more inclined to think that 10 km would be a bit more accurate. We have always relied on Mike to be the mathematician and have entrusted him to work out our bar bills, next time I think we had better bring a calculator with us.
The second part of the walk was totally different. We had entered the Sierras de Tejeda and Almijara natural park and we were back into Holme oak and Olive trees. Following the track we headed down hill towards Alhama. We could not find the path for the final part and ended up going down a track to some private property, a guide book would have come in very handy. We met a very nice man who pointed us in the right direction, and after clambering across a field of felled trees we were soon heading down a fantastic path in the steep sided Los Tajos gorge and then on into Alhama. Where we headed for the first bar for refreshment.
The plan now was whilst the rest stayed in the bar, José, Dave and myself would head back to Zafarraya for the cars. With these collected we returned to Alhama and picked the rest of the group up. Now the way out of Alhama is confusing and, as we have learnt today, anyone can make a mistake. Fortunately the local police were not on duty when I led our convoy down a one way street. Because we had the biggest cars we were able to muscle our way through, sometimes there is an advantage in having a 4X4.
On the walk Rene, José, Julie, Kees, Mike, Dave, Stuart
Distance walked on the route today 21.4 km Total distance on route 21.4 km
Distance walked today 22.1 km Total distance walked 22.1
Height climbed today 593 metres Total height climbed 593 metres
Distance driven today 160 km Total distance driven 160 km
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