Atlas Descent bike trip to Morocco

This is a short movie of the Atlas Descent bike trip we went on and really enjoyed, last week, in Morocco.  It was the second of two Exodus trips during a month’s stay in Morocco – I’ll post some more about our other experiences in Morocco in the coming days.

The bike trip, entitled ‘Atlas Descent‘ is rated ‘5’ on the Exodus Challenging scale, with the explanation “You have a good level of fitness and are looking for a physically challenging holiday. Previous experience is essential for activity based trips.”  Indeed, Lindsey and I found it quite challenging at times, and we had only a little previous experience of mountain biking.  Thank goodness we prepared a little over the summer.  We were the oldest people in the group of eleven, and sometimes it showed…however the group was patient with us when we needed to catch up.  I have to say that the other people on the trip were really nice, intelligent and much travelled folk.  My opinion of mountain bikers is that they are extremely tough people!

The trip involved four days biking in the Anti Atlas around Tafraoute and Tiznit, and two days biking in the High Atlas.  The scenery was wonderful, as I hope you will see from the movie.  The food was good, and the guide, Radu Man, looked after everyone extremely well.

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Walking in Andalucia

Here’s a short video of our walks in Andalucia in October 2017.

With the wind at our backs

We cycled to North Berwick today, then caught the train part of the way back.  48km by bike altogether, though it was pretty easy with a strong westerly wind blowing us along.

I’ve only ridden on one train in the last seven years.  Nowadays they have purpose-built areas for bikes on relevant routes.  I noticed ‘new’ stations at Wallyford, and Musselburgh (where we got off).

Walks in Andalucia: Fábrica da Luz

This was our last walk in Andalucia, 14.4 km on a warm day.  For this walk I used ViewRanger for tracking purposes, and found that it provided good maps and seemed to use up less battery on my mobile.

We drove to Fábrica da Luz, and then took the track west up the mountain, to 900m, then followed the track round the valley, coming back down beside the river.

Quiz question: What do you think these are?

Coming back along the Arroyo de la Gallega

The opuntia currently have a disease in this area. We met some Brits on this walk who told us that they will recover and grow again.

The walk I describe above is a shorter version of this one.

On the way back to Canillas de Albaida we saw these

Walks in Andalucia: From Frigiliana up the GR 249 to Cuesta del Chillar and on to Collado de Pinta

This walk was less than 8km, but was quite steep at times, and being nearer the coast and in fine weather, it was a very hot day.

Once again, the track started above a football pitch, this time in Frigiliana.

Very quickly, we lost height, and then walked up the Higuerón riverbed for a few hundred metres.  The GR 249 track to the right, up the mountain to the Cuesta del Chillar is well marked.  We met two Brit girls who were lost, having walked from Nerja without a map, so we pointed them to the track we’d just taken, from Frigiliana.

Lindsey was using only one of her poles when walking, so kept up fine on the steep path.

Looking north east from the Cuesta del Chillar

Looking down on Frigiliana

The path goes across the dried up course of the Río Higuerón

If you’re in Frigiliana, don’t miss the top, old part of the town, which is very picturesque, as the following photos show.

Walks in Andalucia: From Camillas de Aceituno to half way up La Maroma

La Maroma (in the distance) from Canillas de Albaida

La Maroma looked clear when we set off by car from Canillas de Albaida to go to Camillas de Aceituno, but it later clouded over a bit, and we eventually called a halt beside the Collado de la Gitana, at 1340m, 729m below the top.  Despite this, it was a good walk, with extensive views over many hills and valleys.

Camillas de Aceituno

Looking down on Camillas de Aceituno

Careful consultation of the Piolet Mapas 1:25,000 Parque Natural Sierras de Tejeda, Almijara y Alhama meant that we hit the SLA142 track above Camillas de Aceituno without problem.  We saw no-one else on the track all day.

Looking over to Cerro el Fuerte from Las Hazas

Highest point we reached – 1340m

On the way down, the sun came out and it was a pleasant late afternoon

I wrote previously that it I’d noticed Lindsey was walking up and down the steep bits much slower than usual.  Sometimes we walk at the same pace, sometimes she takes the lead, but as my normal walking speed is a slightly faster than hers, I am usually in front, and then I occasionally stop and wait a couple of minutes for her to catch up.  On the walk half way up La Maroma I was having to wait much longer than usual, when the track was at all steep, and it was the same on the way down at those bits.

I walked behind Lindsey for a while and watched closely.  I soon saw what the issue was.  She was using two walking poles.  Two poles can be great if you’re walking on the flat, or a slight gradient, or a very good, well-maintained track, but if there are steps or quite steep bits, simply deciding where to put both poles and then both feet was really slowing her up, and apart from that it wasn’t necessary to use two poles at these bits.  I suggested to Lindsey that she use only one pole.  Hey presto!  She immediately speeded up.

Walks in Andalucia: Canillas de Albaida to Salares, Sedella, and back over the puente medieval

I won’t go into detail about this 16 km walk, as we took a wrong turning not far from the beginning and ended up walking on the MA 1408 road for much of the time, and later got lost up the Cerro del Pina, not far from the puente medieval north east of Sedella.  We met two walkers who had also got lost on the Cerro del Pina, and who had spent two hours looking for the track indicated on their map – the same track that I could not find either.  When all four of us met three other walkers who showed us where the track was, it was obvious that the maps were wrong.  The maps have the track running south a bit below the top of Cerro del Pina.  The track we took ran south from the deserted goat shed, much further down the hill.

It was on this walk that I noticed Lindsey was walking down the steep bits much slower than usual.  It was not until the next day that I figured out why, when we were descending Las Hazas on SLA-142 near La Maroma.  I’ll reveal all in another post.

The road west of Canillas de Albaida

Looking back to Canillas de Albaida

Puenta medieval, near Sedella

Looking to Sedella from the Cerro del Pino