Lanjaron to Bubion

Day 2:  Monday 8 April 2013

Another wonderful day in the Alpujarras, although it did have its moments!

It took a while to walk right through Lanjaron, so it must have been about 8.30 before we really got going on a lovely sunny morning. We climbed up for about 40 minutes and found ourselves in a sort of field, with lovely views all around. 

Acequias

Delightful walking for quite a while, especially through herb fields of wild thyme, borage, sage, rosemary, mint and lavender; but then on the other side of a deep valley we could see our trail taking us up onto a very scary looking track, part of which seemed to cross a slip at a great height above the valley below, and nothing but rock. We wondered if there was any way around it, but nothing looked easy, so we approached with great trepidation. Somehow we made it across the worst bit and after that the track got easier, all the way to the very pretty village of Canar. 

Canar

We were very glad to stop in the bar where we had a cafe con leche and tostado with tomato and cheese. Excellent. It was a bit tricky finding our way through the village, very few markers, but at least there always seems to be a fuente with good water.

Rio Chico

Another very pleasant stretch of track took us around the head of the Rio Chico where there was an impressive man-made waterfall, and a good tree-trunk bridge with handrails across the river. Just beyond this, an insect flew into my mouth and made me cough, at which point I fell over landing on my head, very hard. I made a hellofa noise and Rob rushed back to help me up. Both knees took a clobbering, both hands, but mainly my head. I was lucky I didn't break my glasses or camera. So now I have a cut on my nose, a grazed forehead and a big bruise. A good black eye in the making.

On the way to Soportujar

It was good to reach Soportujar where we eventually found a nice spot for a small lunch, and a rest. The morning seemed quite long and hard, with a lot of climbing and we had another 11 km to go. We set off about 2, mostly good track but plenty of climbing. We turned into the Poqueira Valley and saw ahead the white villages of Pampaneira and our destination, Bubion, with the highest mountain in Spain Mulhacen looming above, splendid with snow.

Pampaneira

It took a while to reach Pampaneira, we needed a rest along the way. It is a gorgeous town, and must be famous for woven rugs, there were many on display. Lots of people around, rather touristy.  

It was a long climb up through the narrow streets, then on to an ancient track between the 2 pueblos. Boy, were we glad to reach the town at 5, but we still had to climb up narrow streets and stairs before we found a lovely place to stay, Las Terrazas de las Alpujarras. 36 euro for a double room and our own bathroom, and for a couple more euro we can have a simple brekkie. Nice. Our room has a view over a terrace, trees, and down into the valley beyond. We met the friendly owner and another guy who gave us much good advice about the GR7. They recommended Tiede for dinner, and we headed there for delicious red wine and a beer, with interesting tapas of fish and chippies and bread. We had spotted an older woman back at the hotel, and she was seated in the restaurant on her own. Rob asked if she would mind our company, and there ensued a very nice evening chatting to Elaine, from Exeter. I had a wonderful dish of aubergines, and Rob had rabbit, followed by good hot chocolate. Managed to stay up really late, it was about 10 when we got to bed, a very peaceful night. 

Bubion

Rob spotted a lot of birds today, including a small eagle, possibly a Hobby.