Day 52 – to Puerto Saucillo (above Yunquera)

I was keen to have a couple of days in the Sierra de las Nieves, for the reasons I mentioned yesterday, it’s uniqueness as a National Park, and that was evident as soon as it’s skyline could be seen. The area still shows that it has a different climate to the rest of the mountains in southern Spain, that being, much more rain and humidity, even though it has barely rained in the Park this summer. That does appear all about to change at the weekend though, as four days of rain are forecast.

I chose to head out on the Sendero Cascadas, aware that the river and its waterfalls would not have much water in them, but what there was, the dog certain,y enjoyed. The first of the three waterfalls approached from a clockwise direction on the circular route is the best for a swim. It is about 600 metres off the track, and named the Charco de la Virgen, which commemorates another supposed appearance, and a story very suitable for the week of Halloween. In the late part of the 20th century a group of children were playing above the waterfall, when one of them slipped and plunged over the drop. The others couldn’t see at first what the outcome was, but it seemed certain the young girl was dead. They hurried around the path to the pool, and she was fine. She claimed the virgin had swooped down and caught her mid-flight, then dumped her, unceremoniously, into the freezing water.

In the late afternoon I drove the van around to the village of Yunquera, at 500 metres asl, then up a rough track to the pass named, Puerto Saucillo, at 1100 metres. The plan is to do a hike up here tomorrow morning. It’s a windy spot up here, and the temperature noticeably cooler, so much so that I had the heater on. A place all to myself again though.