15th Sept: Trevelez in the Alpujarras

This area is reknowned for its hiking, so we thought we would head up to Trevelez which is the highest village in Spain.

We thought at this altitude it would be cool enough to walk, but it was HOT, we managed to find streams for the dogs to lie down in every 20-30 minutes, and we kept walking, even though we didn't really know where we were going - we didn't even have a map!

Then we met a young Brit going in the opposite direction, he assured us that he had also come from Trevelez, so we thought 'Great, a circular walk!'

We descended from the mountain after crossing several ravines, walking down a thickly forested valley. We found the perfect place for a picnic by a fast flowing stream tumbling over over boulders with delicious pools for the 'girls' to lie in.

After lunch we had to cross the stream. There was a very precarious log bridge that we both chickened out of crossing, choosing instead to jump from rock to rock. Suzy, however showed us up by running across it several times, but she does have 4 wheel drive!

Then the valley became a gorge with vertical rock sides and the path was obliterated by a  landslide! Hmm, the lad we had passed was wearing 'Jesus' sandals, how the heck had he managed it?!

So, although it was a bit hair-raising in places, the scenery was so stunning it was worth it.

After 5 hours we were very relieved to catch site of Trevelez again!

 

 

We believe the route we took was officially closed because of all the landslides - and we did have to climb over a few fences, but it was still worth it!

The town itself was quite run down compared to its more properous neighbours lower down. But we did more 'free' camping in the car park that was just a few yards from the local pizzeria. Can't argue with a 6 euro pizza and a bottle of rioja for 9 euros. We thought we would splash out as we had saved on camping fees!