We thought we'd escape the heat and wall-to-wall fiestas with a little stroll in the mountains, maybe for a couple of nights, and duly packed our (sub 4kg) rucksacks with sleeping gear, some food and water, and plenty of sun-blocker. We decided to drive as high as we could in the early evening, bivi near the car and have the benefit of 2 meals 'out of the boot'...less to carry on our backs!
This worked really well, the night was calm (more meteorites) and we even had a sup of wine with our cold chicken and home-grown tomato salad. The following morning we delayed long enough to have a nice chat with a local fire-watchman and do some scouting about, then set off towards the high sierras about 10 am. As usual, the first 200 metres was hard work, adjusting to the altitude (2000m), the heat and the gradient, but we soon acclimatised. At Alto de las Chorreras (2647m) I stopped to sit in the sunshine (and cool breeze) while Steve went scouting for water. This could be our last chance to fill the platypus (1 litre, to add to our existing 1.5 litres) for the next 24 hrs. I watched a couple of eagles playing on the thermals and a few young cows ambling down the slope towards the valley below, then snoozed for 10 minutes until the man returned with good news. He had found a small spring just to the east of our spot, trickling out pure, uncontaminated and cool liquid...a lovely little grassy area with reeds and gentians...spot on! With the help of a silver foil spout and some ingenuity, we managed to extract over a litre, drank as much as we could, and then continued towards Peñon de Puerto (2754m).
As usual, over 2,500m the weather began to change, the wind getting much stronger, funneling up from the south west. Beanies and wind-jacket time! We found a large herd of horned sheep nestled into the lee of the biggest 'rock' up there...more like a towering crag all on its own...and decided to press on to the Loma de las Albardas and Puerto de Jerez, before looking for a bivi. It was only 6 pm, another 3 hours of good daylight left. In fact, after a steep descent, we ended up having to ascend again diagonally up another 300m of steep scree and stone, blasted by the wind...very hard work and taking much longer than expected.
We decided we had done enough and hunted about for places to sleep and somewhere to get the little stove going. A hot drink and/or noodles was essential as by now we were chilled and tired. My legs had had enough! We found some dry roots to fill Steve's dog-food tin and get the water boiling...the wind roaring past us on its way to Guadix and Alicante, over what looked like the plain of Mordor far below. Our respective sleeping quarters turned out to be a fabulous cave for me (standing height, only 1 side exposed to the elements, just a bit of goat poo to clear), and an absolute coffin for Steve (no room to do more than slide in and stay put). Heroic sacrifice of the highest order!! In fact, neither of us slept very well due to the ceaseless, increasing wind and, in my case, the sound of stones clinking as the fox hunted about outside for our food cache (too well buried, sorry old boy).
We made a very early start, at first light, fighting our way off the mountain into the teeth of the gale, and waited until we were back down at our water source before we stopped for breakfast. This became a luxurious meal of hot muesli, tea, coffee, remains of a walnut cake...the sun shone, we got out of our jackets...the wind was abating a bit...we were homeward bound. We could see shadows of Africa across the sea, the much nearer pristine slopes of the Contraviesa, and close by a flock of sheep with their shepherd, slowly working their way up the hillside. Delightful. How could we know that by lunchtime we would be sitting in a shady garden, wafted by the hot breeze, at 'only' 1400m, and grateful for ice-cold beer...and that when we got back to the village, the neighbours would be saying 'a COLD wind, are you sure?'
Yes, sure I'm sure. 65 kph at 3000m, even in August, is not a force you want to deal with for very long.
East, west, home's best.