Walking connections between Lobras and Tímar

On some walking routes in the Alpujarras you cross a river where there is no bridge. In general this should not be a problem, but at this moment of writing this can not be taken for granted. Today we found out that the rivers can be so swollen as a result of the heavy rains the past weeks, that it might be difficult or impossible to get to the other side. This we experienced while walking the GR7 between Lobras and Tímar, when we tried to cross the Río Tímar. Luckily there is now also another walking route connecting these two lovely villages, the path along the Acequia de los Castaños. In the past this was the principal walking connection. Every year less people went from one village to the other on foot, so the path became overgrown and in the end impenetrable. Thanks to an employment creation programme, this old connection was restored last year. The last day of the ´Taller de Empleo´ was on the 29th of December, right during the ´temporal´or spell of bad winter weather. Unfortunately some improvements did not withstand the heavy rains, but it is possible to follow the route without any problem. Luckily they made a proper bridge to cross the Río Tímar close to the village of Tímar. The route is not signposted, but from Lobras it is easy to find. At a crossing where you would go down towards the river following the GR7, you continue straight on along the irrigation channel. To find the route from Tímar is less easy, you need to find the old camino real next to the school building. This map gives an idea. We found it on the website with a lot of useful information on Tímar. They suggest a circular route, which will be lovely again in a few weeks or months when less water is running through the river. We can recommend the new route to everybody walking this part of the GR7. It is a more beautiful path and easier because you can avoid the steep climbing and ascending in order to cross the river.

The Sierra Nevada at its best

After any spell of bad weather, the Spanish sun is bound to show up again. Today, the Sierra Nevada showed its most beautiful face. Virgin white snow against mediterranean blue skies with enjoyable springlike temperatures. It makes you forget last night´s stormy weather instantly.

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Rain and storm damage

There is much damage to bridges and paths as a result of the spell of rough weather we have had. Heavy rain for days on end caused landslides and waterfalls. As a result a number of our walking routes are not possible at the moment. Today was the first day we went out for a short walk. We followed the GR7 out of Trevélez and saw how a great part of the path before crossing the Río Chico had disappeared and that there was nothing left of the bridge. This is just one example. From what we have heard and read in the newspapers, many dykes, ditches and retaining walls have collapsed. We will try to gather information and go out ourselves to check our routes, so that we can inform our guests in the best possible way.

A short walk for an autumn day

Looking down into the valley of Narila and Cádiar from the terrace of ´El Paraje´, it is a joy to still see the lines of poplar trees with their bright yellow autumn leaves. Before the leaves will all have fallen, we decided to do a walk which would give us a nice ´poplar experience´. This meant we set off from the western limit of Juviles, near the Cerro Macilla. We followed a small path to a poplar grove from where we picked up a path along an irrigation channel, the Acequia de Cástaras. From the large water reservoir Alberca del Cerro, the path down to Nieles is steep and turned out to be quite overgrown, but nevertheless it is well worth the effort. This path was waymarked, but the yellow and white paint marks have faded over the time. From Nieles we followed the Ruta Medieval to Cástaras. The view down into the valley with the poplar lined Barranco de Alberquilla was fabulous. Better still was the view of the village when we got round the corner. On a beautiful sunny autumn day, when enclosed by yellow poplars, Cástaras looks as picturesque as ever. From the high part of the village we followed the ´camino real´ back to Juviles. This old cobbled path passes through the Barranco de Fuente Medina, another enchanting poplar lined valley. It is a circular walk of about seven kilometres that we can definitely recommend on a autumn day. Those who want to start off at ´El Paraje´, need to add another eight kilometres.

Vaya veranillo

We have had a month of quiet weather with above normal temperatures after the rains at the end of September. Most countries have a special term to refer to the calm sunny days with blue skies in autumn. Having experienced a warm weather period with spectacular yellow and red leaves in the United States once, the term that came back to mind is Indian summer. The Dutch have a quite practical word ´nazomer´ translated as ´after summer´, and the Spanish use the diminutive ´short summer´ or ´veranillo´. Having had a look at the forecast this morning, we see that this spell of warm weather is coming to an end this week. With temperatures above twenty degrees in the shade today, it is difficult to imagine that we might have snow at ´El Paraje´ the coming weekend. In the meantime, we are enjoying the Indian Summer while it´s around, because one thing is for certain, it never lasts!
related keywords: el tiempo, het weer, le temps, das wetter