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Friday, 11 October 2019

Aljibe


Walk Description

Aljibe will be the second P600 of the day.
Not very often joined by my wife Gina on a P600 and not very often manage two in one day. Today I managed both even with a cloudy ascent and difficult drive up Gitano earlier in the day.
When Gina is with me I try to pick routes and days that show the benefits of hill-walking at it's very best. A one hour drive to cover 9km up a badly maintained mountain road to stand on a windy summit in thick cloud and pouring rain hardly reached that qualification.
During our stop off at Cafe la Josefa off exit 80 near Los Barrios on the Autovia A381 I discussed the options with Gina. Given that we were already two hours away from the campsite and the cloud on the inland mountains did not seem as cloudy Gina suggested we press on with the 90 minute drive ahead to La Sauceda and the trailhead for Aljibe. Maybe she is getting the hang of this peakbagging malarki - or more like did not want another 2 hour drive to return.
Ruins of church at Poblado de La Sauceda
The plan was to follow the Carril Bici from La Sauceda, however a map at the trailhead showed there was a path to Refugio de Montaña La Sauceda where we crossed the Garganta de Pasadallano to the abandoned Poblado de La Sauceda then following the Garganta de Pasadallano and a more direct route to Carril Bici saving quite a bit of distance.
Joining the track at 36°N 31' 22'', 05°W 35' 27'' I expected to turn left and join the track marked on the IGN map to Aljibe. However the sign clearly pointed right and not believing the sign we had to go left and find out for myself that the track marked on the map was only a vague line through thick undergrowth. Returning to the sign we continued along the track until another sign to Sendero Pico del Aljibe pointed to a well defined path which is the SL-A136 up towards Puerto Oscuro. The path actually skirted around below the puerto and joined a well defined and marked path along the summit ridge to Aljibe trig pillar.
Soon after joining track leave Carril Bici on the left and use path  following SL-A136
At this point the cloud began to drop obscuring what view we had. It was still warm but hardly the best conditions for me to impress Gina with the joys of hill walking.
As we approached the summit we came to the first tor which crossed my mind was the summit giving me further anxiety about having to scramble up to the high point. Fortunately the only relevance it has to the route was a gate which we went through to pass the tor on it's left.
Cloud had dropped along main ridge.
Not going to get Gina up that if it is the high point. It is not, pass it over fence through gate on the left
Visibility was not improving but the next tor appeared through the cloud and it was on this the trig pillar and what I thought was the summit would be found. The easiest route was round it's right side and up some steps to the broken trig, snapped off at the ground.
Gina wondering why I had to go back to drop a waypoint from Aljibe trig pillar
At this point the cloud started to lift then suddenly clear leaving brilliant views and a near temperature inversion with clouds clinging to the valleys below.
Amazingly the cloud is clearing leaving cloud below filling valleys. Almost a temperature inversion
Gina was in photo mode and I was so happy the conditions had not only improved but turned out to be very special.
Descending the tor I realised I had not done all of my bagging rituals including dropping a way point and logging on peakhunter. Gina was very understanding, though she did have a familiar expression on her face, whilst on the summit for the second time looked to the south and thought the next tor was even higher than the trig. So on my way down I continued to the trig and stood on the high point. certainly a scramble involved but nothing too difficult.
Gina wondering why I had to go back to drop a waypoint from Aljibe trig pillar
After finally persuading Gina to stop taking photos we descended along the same route as the ascent.
Was wondering how I was going to explain why we are here when can't see anything due to cloud.
Now it is clearing cannot get her down
We did think about staying with the track and Carril Bici all the way down but in view of the late hour and failing light decided to leave the track at the water storage tank and take the quicker but steeper option down the path to the Poblado de La Sauceda. This route is actually called the Sendero Sauceda.
Can carry straight on along Caril Bici back to van.
Or turn left at concrete water tank and descend down path to Poblado de La Sauceda used on ascent
We returned to the van at 8pm with about 30 minutes daylight remaining. All that remained was the two hour drive and late finish back at Camping Cabopino. Too late to eat but well worth it.
End of path.
Just as well being as we have a 2 hour drive back to Cabopino

Walk Statistics

Walk Date - 11 October 2019
Walkers - Steve Smith, Gina Smith
Accommodation - Camping Cabopino, Cabopino 
Start Point - Off road parking area at La Sauceda (36.52927°N, 5.58601°W)
Start Time - 15:44
Finish Point - Off road parking area at La Sauceda (36.52927°N, 5.58601°W)
Finish Time- 19:56
Total Duration - 4hrs 12mins 
Overall Average pace - 1.50mph
Total Distance Walked - 6.32 miles
Total Height Ascended - 604metres

Peaks visited

Spain/Portugal 600m Prominence Peaks (168S - 185S&P - 2165E)
Aljibe (69S - 71S&P - 100E)
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)
NONE
S: Spain
P: Portugal
E:Europe

Final walk from previous trip

2019
July

Other walks on this trip

2019
August
27th Oitz
September
02nd Umbría
22nd Cerro del Lastonar attempt with Gina
25th Pico de Mijas with Gina
October
11th Gitano
11th Aljibe

Route

More Photographs
Full set of captioned photos providing journal and description of key parts of ascent, descent and summit photographs.
Does not look it, but this is probably the high point south of trig on left
Click on photograph to view slide-show
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