Atrekinthesun attempts autumn ascent of Alhama de Granada Gorge

On this cold crisp autumn morning, we decided to go for the ascent of the Gorge.
We arrived at the starting point the Presa del Rio Alhama just outside Alhama de Granada in Spain at about 10 am and it was only still only 3 degrees, we parked up opposite El Ventorro which was not yet open, so no hot coffee before we started.

Presa del Rio Alhama




Finally, we got started and it was very cold as the gorge was still in the shade and there was still some frost on the ground. After a couple of minutes, we were in the gorge so we could let Scoobie off so at least she could run around and get warmed up.
We didn't see any other hikers on the route it was obviously too cold for anyone else.
We did pass a couple of old cave houses and an Ermita along the route.








Crossing the Rio Alhama

Approaching the end of the gorge we had a great view of the town of Alhama de Granada

We also saw the famous rock containing the hoof prints of the horse that had been spooked by a snake on the cliffs high above the gorge whilst carrying a knight from Malaga. Unfortunately, the horse died, but the knight survived for a few days during which time he requested that the Ermita was built to honour the occasion, or so the legend goes.
Arriving safely at the top of the gorge in the beautiful town of Alhama de Granada we rewarded our efforts with a much-needed breakfast of coffee and tostada, aceite con tomato at Bar Andaluz, by which time the sun had arrived and we had to remove some layers of clothing.
The descent back down the gorge went well and this time it was much warmer and we met up with a few more people doing the ascent.
Finally arriving back at El Ventorro unscathed, we indulged ourselves in the Arab Baths for a couple of hours, we were so lucky that we had the place to ourselves and were fully recovered afterwards for our drive back home.

The reward at the end of the hike

On the way home, we got a great view of snow on the Sierra Nevada

View of snow in the Sierra Nevada

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