The offending sign post
6 March 2012 Padules
We had a choice this week, we could either go and do a section on the Sulayr path or continue along the GR142. As both paths started in roughly the same area, the far end of the Alpujuarra, we said we would wait and see what the weather was like before deciding what to do. In the end we decided on the easiest option because Kees was having problems with a persistent cough and we had promised Marjan we would look after him.
We drove to Padules, the centre of last weeks escapade when the bus went without us. This week we were going to walk without the aid of the bus on the section we did not manage to complete last week. We only managed to walk 10 metres before stopping to buy Churros, a donut type of snack, on sale in the market. Last week we did not have time to explore the village, but this week we followed the route as it wound its way along the narrow streets and out into the campo. We were heading for Almóeita which turned out to be one of the nicest little villages we had visited, a lot of the house had poems written on the walls. We were not too concerned when the signs for the GR142 were replaced with the GR140 as around Laujar de Andarax the two routes were on the same post, the GR140 comes down from Puerta Ragua and goes to Almeria. The GR142 goes its own way in Canjáyar, but around here both appear to follow the same path. After Almóeita the route is on the main road for 1 km before heading into the campo again.
According to the map we should have picked up a little path heading steeply uphill to where we had turned around last week. We could not find any sign of the GR142 going over the hill but there was a big sign for the GR140 going around it. The further we followed this route the more convinced we became that we had gone wrong somewhere. Eventually we came up with a new plan, we would return to Padules on a short cut we had discovered and yes, this short cut really did work. We would then drive to where we had stopped a week ago, the map showed a track we thought we could get the car down and then we would resume our walk and see where we ended up. The drive was easy enough even though we did expect to fall down an old mine shaft at any moment. We stopped for lunch on the same place we had stopped at last week and then set off walking again.
After 2.5 km we arrived at the GR140 sign we had looked at in the morning. Careful examination revealed that the post should have had a GR142 sign on it as well, pointing to the little path heading up hill. Apparently the GR142 goes over the hill and the 140 goes around it, but the 140 is not shown on the map, life in Spain is not always as easy as it seems. We turned around and headed back for the car, happy that the mystery of the missing path had been solved. Mike developed a new game involving the throwing stones at the numerous large rocks that abound in this area. We were most impressed with his skill as he managed to hit every one, after each throw he announced howzat. It was only when we questioned his ability by asking him to point out in advance what he was going to hit that we realised he was a complete fraud he could not hit anything. It was down to the Auzzie to show the poms how to do it, she hit the rock on the first throw. What a girl! she can be on my team anytime. Mike was issued with a 3 walk suspension for cheating.
Once again we stopped off in Cadiar for a beer before returning home.
On the walk Mike, Kees, Rene, and myself.
Distance on GR142 8 km, ascent 567 metres, total distance 16.6 km.
Total on GR142 98 km , Total walked 161.9 km. Total ascent 7846 metres.
