Birthday trip to Sierra Nevada

Just spent a nice couple of days walking in the Sierra Nevada to celebrate Christine's birthday. The weather wasn't too good with low cloud and rain on both days, can't complain though as the farmers are desperate for rain, as we have not had any for months. The first day we drove to our rented apartment in Cumbres Verdes and checked in before going on a little walk from the apartment through a forest and along tracks towards Boca de Perca. After about 20 minutes Scoobie disappeared but the other dog that we are looking after (Max) stayed close by us. We kept putting on and taking off our waterproofs as it rained a few times. Before the start of the ascent to Boca del Perca we turned left on a track which took us along a ridge away from the mountain towards the main track down to Jardin Botanica.

When we joined the main track we turned left again back towards the apartment. We left the main track shortly afterwards onto a small path, which led to restaurant El Hervidero Casa Macarino for a coffee, by this time the track was very muddy because of the rain but we managed to get into the restaurant, which we usually sit outside to eat and drink but because of the wintery conditions the outside area was open to the elements and we had to go inside. We were ushered into a small bar (maybe because we were wet with very muddy boots and they didn't want us to go into the restaurant part which was crowded with people eating. There were no tables or chairs in this bar so we just stood by the bar to drink our coffee.

el hervidero casa macareno
Somewhere over the rainbow
Somewhere else over the rainbow

After leaving the bar, we made our way back to the apartment and by this time after a 3 and a half hour walk, it had stopped raining, still no sign of Scoobie. Before we got ready we went for a drive along the track to see if there was any sign of her, but we could not see her anywhere. There were 4 of us staying in the apartment so we took it in turns to get ready to go out for a meal for the birthday girl. When we were all ready we had a toast of champagne. We had to drive into the nearby village of La Zubia as the restaurants in Cumbres Verdes all closed at 7 pm. We had been to a nice restaurant before on one of our trips to the Sierra Nevada, so we went back to there again, but, this time, the food was not as good and we had to wait a long time. We finally finished the meal and went back to the apartment to consume another bottle of champagne before retiring for the night. Still no sign of Scoobie so her new years resolution of not running off has been blown completely as she has done it twice already and it is only 3rd January.
The next morning we went out to check if Scoobie had come back during the night and sure enough there she was underneath one of our cars, she was wet through, so we towelled her down and gave her some food and she seemed OK. We left the 2 dogs in our room and went down for breakfast of croissants, toast, fruit juice and as much coffee as we wanted, which was very nice. After breakfast, we checked out of the apartment and went for a walk (Scoobie didn't want to go, I wonder why?). Today was forecasted to be a better day weatherwise but it rained on and off again. We just did another walk along a good track as the cloud was still low over the mountain tops. The track went past the Puente de los Siete Ojos (seven eyed bridge).

Puente de los Siete Ojos (seven eyed bridge)





We still managed to be out walking for 3 hours. When we got back to our cars we said goodbye to our friends and drove home after a couple of nice but damp days.

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