12 January 2017 – Pinos Fossil Walk

We had excellent weather and a good turnout for our first walk of the year.   There were fifteen of us in all, including Dave and Sue of Casa Carrascal.   They earn their living leading walks and joined us on one of their few “rest” weeks!

This walk is normally led by David, but it is not surprising that I had no problems finding the route today – having done a recce last week.

I also used my new satnav for the first time whilst leading a walk.  I found it to be surprisingly distracting.   I had recorded a waymark at each track junction, but today found that I did not need so many.  In future I will only use them when necessary.

There is a steady climb for the first hour or so, and everyone was pleased to reach the finca where we had our “banana stop”.

The next section is a pleasant downhill track when everyone could recover from the climb and enjoy the scenery.

Dave took most of the photos of today’s walk, and as well as being a very good photographer he also has the knack of relaxing his subject to avoid that frozen look.

There are not many suitable spots for our picnic lunch on this walk, but fortunately we found this one during our recce last week.

Not only plenty of suitable seating, but also pretty impressive views.

I don’t remember what Dave said, but it must have been pretty funny

Despite very pleasant weather and pretty good views everyone was ready to move on again after quite a short lunch break.

The next section of the walk is also level, but the track is narrow and uneven, making it more difficult to admire the wonderful views of Bernia.

We soon reached the cairn marked downhill track which I failed to find on last week’s recce

No problem recognising it today, not only because I remembered it but because the satnav was spot on.

These two always make us very welcome when we reach their field, and today was no exception.

Both Jan and Susan had brought apples to feed them, which would no doubt explain why they always head for passing walkers.

This photo gives a very good impression of the last section of the walk, through a very impressive valley.

And finally fifteen weary, but happy, walkers make their way back to the cars

Thanks to Nick for the stats for this week’s walk.  

This circular walk is about 8 kilometres from the bridge on the Pinos road.   We started around 360 metres above sea level, reached a high point of around 636 metres and included a total ascent of around 323 metres.   It took us 4 hours and 15 minutes to complete, including a couple of water stops, a lunch stop and a donkey break.   Our average walking speed was 3.2 kilometres per hour.

Thanks also to Dave for this YouTube video of the walk