David and Jo's Adventures: Walk - Beas De Granada to Granada!

Monday 9th June 2014

Up and off the site by 9 am on our 18kms walk to Granada, weather was perfect a lovely clear day. Got 50 metres down the road and realised we had left the kettle behind, so Jo had to walk back up the hill to get it (well I couldn't as I was carrying the backpack!!!!, that we do take in turns to carry ).Stopped off at the supermarket for some supplies for the day ( the lady told us that we could of joined some of the villagers on a shorter route to Granada on Saturday which would have been good, although difficult when you don’t speak the language and around here peoples English is limited.)The route that we had printed out was detailed and again the path was a pretty good gravel one with the occasional signpost which always helps. This was a wonderful walk, we were expecting to be following the dry riverbed in a valley to Granada, but instead climbed up out of the village and walked on a fairly level path along the ridge of the mountains with magnificent views of the snow-capped Sierra Nevada Mountains and surrounding hills and valleys. We saw no one else walking but at different times about 10 mountain bikers and even one guy ran past us when we had stopped for a coffee break. It was still a big walk but not as bad as Saturdays which was steeper and hotter. Stopped after about 13 kms to have our noodle lunch and have a rest in the limited shade taking in the views and watching 3 Paragliders hovering over the mountains for ages, going up and down with ease, the thermals must be great. The last 3kms was a steep descent into Granada through pine forests and past the Alhambra. Got there at about 4pm and stopped at the same bar that we stopped at with Hope for a welcome few beers and tapas, and felt very pleased with ourselves and another great walk. Got the bus back to the campsite at 6.30, and had showers, a light dinner and finished off the evening with chats to some fellow campers. So about 6 hours of walking - it was fantastic!