11 Mar 2013 – Montgo

Ten of us met at Los Lagos for this second attempt to do this walk.   It was a bright, though cold, morning and the top of Montgo was clear of cloud.  Quite an improvement on last Monday.

The walk starts with a long, hard climb up the “hidden valley

There is not much opportunity to admire the view.  It’s more a matter of head down and keep going.  The track is quite difficult, so not even a matter of everyone going at their own pace.

There were occasional stops to allow everyone to close up, but it was too cold to stop for long

Then on and up again.  It took us about 90 minutes to complete the climb and reach the main track around Montgo.  

We had planned to have our banana stop here.   To sit, admire the views and recover from the climb.   But it was much too cold in the bitter wind.

So we carried on for a short distance to find a more sheltered spot.

By now the clouds were spreading, and we felt the loss of the sunshine.  But at least we were out of the worse of the wind.

The next section of the walk is along good paths with all around views of the coast on one side and the mountains on the other.

We were ready for lunch when we reached the cave.   It was not long after 1pm, but it had been a challenging morning and most of us needed a break.

We were fortunate that the sun made an appearance for our lunch break, and the cave faced away from the wind.   Pat and Wendy make the best of the break.  Wendy confirmed that this is one of her favourite walks, and she certainly seemed to enjoy it.

We often climb to the Montgo Cross during this walk, but had not done so today because it was too cold and windy.  Instead we did an extension towards the Iberian Settlements, which included a walk through the woods on the way back.

Monday 18 May 2013    

Next Monday will be a choice of three walks.   Meet at Tramonti car park in Parcent at 9.45am.   Depending on the weather conditions Pat will then decide whether to do Carrascal, Castells castle or Fig Tree.