Bayarcal

Day 6: Friday 12th April 2013

The huge bed last night with soft pillows was luxurious, but the duvet too hot for us. Those darn church bells went all night too. Some people are never satisfied. 

David served us a generous breakfast of muesli, fruit, yoghurt, fresh croissants, bread and other pastries, as well as orange juice and coffee. Fantastic, but we couldn't do it justice. We took some bread and pastries for our lunch, and a few sweets for the tough days ahead. Set off about 9.30, got money on the debit card, posted cards home and headed straight up - as usual - on a nice track to Nechite, then along the river which we waded across with shoes and socks off; it was only ankle deep, but cold water! 

On to Mairena through some lovely herb fields, and across another river but this time on a little wooden bridge. No problems getting through Mairena, and on a little track to Jubar, just a short distance away.

Then it was a long haul to Laroles, which looked very close but was on the other side of a valley, and our track took us away up the valley for ages. The descent down to the river was on a pleasant track, and I saw a huge lizard. Rob had seen one earlier, and we were pretty sure a snake slithered off. We had lunch at the bottom and then crossed on a pole bridge and headed up the other side, some of the track a bit dodgy but it improved quickly and we were soon in Laroles. At some point along the way the track was littered with spent cartridge cases, hope they were not shooting birds.

Laroles is quite a big town, and we went into a bar for an orange juice and directions. Didn't really get the latter, but we managed to find the right track after a short false start. Only, ha ha, another 4.5 km to Bayarcal. The track went down into another river valley, and again we had to take socks and shoes off and wade across, but again only ankle deep. On the way down we saw quite a few mountain goats perched on a steep slope opposite. I also discovered my camera shutter stuck, and a dent on the lens, probably happened when I had my fall.

The final haul of the day was a hot climb up to Bayarcal which we could see way above us. So far we have not found a place to lay weary heads, but we are enjoying a cold beer and good cheese in the bar. A young man showed Rob where a hostel was, but could not rouse anyone. Hmmmmm. At least as we wandered around the place looking for a hostel we found tomorrow's track. A huge day tomorrow, we are at 1225 meters and have to climb to a pass at 1990 meters, and it is about 28km to La Calahorra. But where will we sleep tonight?

We got here a bit after 4.00 and had to click our heels for ages. The bar owner made a call and explained in Spanish that the owner of the hostel would be here at 7 and give us a room. But in the meantime Rob had gone off to the supermarket to buy supplies for dinner, thinking that we would have to camp somewhere. We decided to wait, had a wine and cheese and bread, but still the hostellier did not arrive. We were regretting our decision to wait, and getting hungry, no food available at the pub, so we went outside to eat what Rob thought were tacos. Hilarious, turned out to be very smelly but tasty squid. Had only just opened the oily mess when the hostellier arrived! She was very nice and showed us next door to a very nice room with bathroom for 30 euro. We were very glad to have a place, and were soon tucking into squid and more bread. Rob had also bought sardines and diced ham, rather strange collection of items but we managed to eat ok. Each have a wide bed but we are a long way apart.

Time for bed, we have that big day tomorrow, day 7 of our walk in the Alpujarras.