Walk Summary
With rain all day and thunder in the afternoon forecast, the plan was to set off from an overnight 'wild' (well almost) wild camp at Honrubia service station off junction 168 on A3/E-901, drive to Almenara trailhead at 38°34'7.513"N, 2°23'12.098"W, find somewhere to wild camp for the night, catch up on some photo editing and be in place for an early start next day giving a chance to possibly manage two P600's in one day.
On reaching the trail-head at about 2pm the only rain we had had was some heavy showers early on and skies brightening from the west.
Also the mountain track based on previous experience looked eminently driveable. This would be the 4th time I had driven up an unpaved road on this trip and this one is probably the best of the lot. No problem for a standard road vehicle though I did not expect to ever bring my campervan up roads like this.
Continuing to follow the road eventually brought me up to within 300m of the summit with only 150m of ascent. A 5km walk e/w saved.
Further more there was a marker post, albeit upside down for some reason, with a clear dirt path weaving it's way straight up to Collado del Portillo de la Buitrera, over jagged rock.
Once at the ridge turn left and keeping left, there are various routes with a bit of scrambling to the summit 50m higher about 100m away. Just stay left at to avoid some serious scrambling on the right.
High point is the trig pillar though rock to the east might be as high or slightly higher.
The descent should have been pretty much the same as the ascent but with the onset of the threatened rain 3/4 of the way up made summit rituals awkward and somewhat curtailed. Planned to come back the way I had come up but without referring to the map, being able to see where you are going and driving rain over the left shoulder, it is interesting to see what route selections you make to get lower and out of the rain.
Turns out I found a more direct and straight forward route without too much down climbing or getting in to any difficulty. Just goes to show there is usually more than one way up and of course down.
Following a change in to dry clothes it was still before 4pm so plenty of time to head further south closer to start point for tomorrows planned summit of Blanquilla
Walk Statistics
Peaks visited
Route
More Photographs
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| Planned start point in sight of Masegosillo at junction of CM-3216 and AB-415. Decided to check if track is drivable. It was. |
On reaching the trail-head at about 2pm the only rain we had had was some heavy showers early on and skies brightening from the west.
Also the mountain track based on previous experience looked eminently driveable. This would be the 4th time I had driven up an unpaved road on this trip and this one is probably the best of the lot. No problem for a standard road vehicle though I did not expect to ever bring my campervan up roads like this.
Continuing to follow the road eventually brought me up to within 300m of the summit with only 150m of ascent. A 5km walk e/w saved.
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| Follow track from van past upside down marker post |
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| Last look back at summit trig pillar from east and side of rock which may be highest point |
The descent should have been pretty much the same as the ascent but with the onset of the threatened rain 3/4 of the way up made summit rituals awkward and somewhat curtailed. Planned to come back the way I had come up but without referring to the map, being able to see where you are going and driving rain over the left shoulder, it is interesting to see what route selections you make to get lower and out of the rain.
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| Could probably see van from summit if it was clear. This is first sight on the descent |
Following a change in to dry clothes it was still before 4pm so plenty of time to head further south closer to start point for tomorrows planned summit of Blanquilla
Walk Date - 14 October 2018
Walkers - Steve Smith
Walkers - Steve Smith
Accommodation - Rio de los Molinos, Siles
Start Point - Trackside at 1641m spot height near Fuente del Pino de los Muchachos (N38°42'43" W2°26'44")
Start Time - 14:33
Start Time - 14:33
Finish Point - Trackside at 1641m spot height near Fuente del Pino de los Muchachos (N38°42'43" W2°26'44")
Finish Time- 15:17
Total Duration - 0hrs 44mins
Overall Average pace - 0.55mph
Total Distance Walked - 0.40 miles
Total Height Ascended - 134.00metres
Overall Average pace - 0.55mph
Total Distance Walked - 0.40 miles
Total Height Ascended - 134.00metres
Spain/Portugal 600m Prominence Peaks (168S - 185S&P - 2165E)
Almenara (29S - 30S&P - 59E)
Spain/Portugal 300m - 599m Prominence Peaks (1000+)
NONE
Spain/Portugal 150m - 299m Prominence Peaks (3000+)
NONE
Spain Autonomous Community High Points (19)
NONE
Spain Province High Points (52)
Moncoya (5&6)
S: Spain
P: Portugal
E:Europe
P: Portugal
E:Europe
Other walks on this trip
2018
September
17th Signal d'Ecouves & Mont des Avaloirs
18th Mont Baïgura
19th Autza
October
02nd Pico Collarada
04th Peña Telera
07th Itzaga
18th María
19th Sagra
19th Sagra
21st La Atalaya
22nd Cerro de Javalambre
24th Terrier de Saint-Martin-du-Fouilloux & Maine-et-Loire High Point
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| Still clear looking east beyond Collado del Portillo de la Buitrera towards 1743m spot height with 1645m spot height to it's left. Looks like rain moving in from the left though. Click on photograph to view slide-show |