It’s very pleasant to visit a place that exceeds your expectations. That was the case in October 2006, when Lesley and I visited the Sierra Nevada.

Getting there:

Having decided to stay in the village of Capileira, a noted good walking base, we used the Alsina Graells bus service from Malaga to Granada and then on to Capileira itself. We found that the 9am service from Malaga got us to Granada in plenty of time for the 12:00 bus to Capileira, but were glad that we bought our Capileira tickets as soon as we arrived at Granada bus station because the bus was full of people going to Lanjaron for the spa. The latter stages of the journey are not for the potentially travel sick, or faint hearted, as the narrow road weaves across the hill sides of the Alpujarra and then into the Poqueira Valley. The view from the right side bus windows was interesting, in fact at some points possibly too interesting!

Accommodation:

We stayed in the Meson Hostal Poqueira, or rather in its annexe just across the road. We had a nice en-suite room with a fine view of the Capileira church and the west side of the Poqueira valley and made use, on occasion, of the Poqueira’s bar for an early morning juice or a late evening brandy.

Eating and drinking:

There’s certainly no shortage of places to eat and drink in Capileira. We ate at El Asador, a great place for lots of meat, and got tapas, juice and something stronger from El Tilo, El Castano del Corral, the Café Europa and El Atroje. The latter was particularly good for locally produced wine from the barrel, as well as local cheese and sausages.

Walks and wildlife:

We used Jeremy Rabjohns’ excellent book ‘Holiday Walks in the Alpujarra’ as an initial source of information, but also acquired a copy of the ‘Editorial Alpina Mapa Excursionista Sierra Nevada La Alpujarra 1:40,000’. The latter was on sale in the supermarket behind El Tilo and proved to be useful for linking up some of Mr Rabjohns’ walks and also in walking to some of the other villages in the area.

Poqueira Valley. We linked up parts of routes 2, 3 and 4 in the section of Mr Rabjohns’ Poqueira Valley walks to do a circuit from Capileira taking in La Cebadilla, Puente Chiscal, Bubion and then back to Capileira. This walk gave some fine views of the Poqueira valley and also proved productive for butterflies, the latter including Queen of Spain Fritillary (Issoria lathonia) and Swallowtail (Papilio machaon). Despite the lateness of the season we were able to find some streams still running, this proving useful as the walk involved a fair bit of up and down in quite high temperatures! On a latter occasion we made our way down the road from Capileira to Pampaneira, then back via Bubion using a short but steep section of the GR7. Again some fine views of the valley, but road traffic made photography a little difficult.

Ruta de las Nieves. This took the form of a straightforward, but quite long, road walk from Capileira to the Sierra Nevada access control point at 2,100 metres and back. While the day started fine it clouded over later on, and when higher up in those conditions a fleece layer or windproof shell was definitely needed. Having walked up there once we both agreed that it would be ethical to use the little Sierra Nevada bus on subsequent occasions.

Pitres. The Ruta de las Nieves also formed the starting point to this walk, but in this case we followed the turnoff onto the GR7 to Pitres, eventually picking up on the Pitres walk description in Mr Rabjohns book. After a juice stop in Pitres, during which we encountered a delightful expat lady, we walked back to Capileira via the hamlet of Capilerilla and a rather fine Fritillary butterfly.

Trevelez. Again a walk that started with the Ruta de las Nieves, but turning off onto a forestry road that runs east and then north all the way to Trevelez. The initial stages of the walk proved a good place for Long-tailed Blue (Lampides boeticus) and Sage Skipper butterflies (Muschampia proto), actively feeding on what may have been Camomile flowers. The forestry road is joined in its latter stages by the GR7, which then breaks off in an apparent shortcut via Las Alacenas. Perhaps the line of the GR7 has changed or perhaps we just misread the map, but this shortcut lead to long delays due to its ups and downs in the spur valleys of the area and as a result may be best avoided. No complaints however about the last GR7 shortcut to Trevelez itself; this took us into the top of the town and some local people gave us directions to the bus stop for the return journey to Capileira.

Cortijo Corrales de Pitres. A fine half day walk following part of Mr Rabjohns’ Poqueira Valley route 2 walk from Capileira. A really nice walk this, one that gets you out into the higher reaches of the Poqueira Valley, clear of the trees and with spectacular views of the high Sierra Nevada tops. Autumn Crocus (Crocus nudiflorus) was flowering in the latter stages of this walk, and the waters of the Acequia Baja were a delight. The acequia is a still working part of the original Moorish irrigation system that served the cultivation terraces of the Poqueira Valley.

Capileira. Mr Rabjohns’ Capileira village stroll formed an ideal end to our visit, although not quite the end with ham, cheese and wine for lunch at El Castano del Corral.

Purple prose, probably resulting from the above mentioned lunch: “Capileira cats carouse in the cool courtyards of the Calle Real”.

Postscript:

Went back in October 2007, staying for a few nights at the excellent Hotel Berchules and then on to Capileira. Walks this time in the Rio Grande area, also the upper reaches of the Poqueira valley. Awesome!