El Perro Negro

Grumpy old mountain man living in Spain

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El Perro Negro (@elperronegro) on Khumbu

Sat in a bar in Granada waiting for some minor repairs on my car. Heat suddenly ratcheted up to 32C over last few days. Summer is just around the corner although from my barstool I can see the snow covered Sierra Nevada.

By the way, non alcohol beer has got very tasty these days. Currently drinking Mahou 0,0

View over a motorway towards some snow covered mountains

A bottle of Spanish Mahou non alcohol beer

Things don't always work out as planned. Nature always wins eh? Today I had packed my high mountain gear ready for a snow day but our dirt road into the high mountains was blocked by a landslide. Instead we headed for the much lower Pinos de Conchar trail in the Lecrin valley south of Granada. Haven't done this before but it was a fine hike with superb views.

A hiker in yellow T-Short passes along a narrow mountains trail on the right. To the left a deep green valley/gorge

The village of Conchar in the Lecrin valley at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains of Spain

3 hikers in the lower left walking down a mountain trail

5 hikers walk down a wide trail with the 3009m high Cerro de Caballo rising in the distance

View on the way to "work 🤣" yesterday!

Pampaneira town with Capileira outlined on the higher shoulder above the Poqueira Gorge. The peak of Veleta (3394m) in the Sierra Nevada beyond.

A town with white buildings sits at the foot of a long valley leading up to snow covered mountains. On the right at the head of the valley another white village can be seen

Taking a photography group through the "Pueblos Blancos" villages of Capileira, Bubion and Pampaneira yesterday.

So, guess what? Here's some images of white village scenes 😂

Some people pass along a narrow road with pink roses lining the street to the left and a small wall to the right. White house beyond

Typical village scene in Capileira, Alpujarras

Two short tress are split by a lamppost against a church wall. Some people sit in the shade

A line of steps in Pampaneira leads up to an old "Lavaderos" washing room

Barranquismo (Canyoning) looks fun. This guy certainly seemed to be enjoying it as he descended the waterfall at Tajo Cortes, Rio Bermejo, Alpujarra yesterday.

I've spent a lifetime trying to avoid slippy wet rock but maybe I should give it a try?

A person with orange helmet rappels down a red rope in the middle of a waterfall

Sorry I'm a bit late for as I didn't get back yesterday until late. Here are the spectacular Tajo de Cortes of the Rio Bermejo, Alpujarras

A spectacular waterfall bounces of opposing rock walls as it plunger downhill. Trees illuminated in the sun to the left

This week I'm having to leave my comfortable status of retirement and actually "work". Yes, it's true! I'm guiding a photography group led, by Andrew Scriven, around the Alpujarras, searching out photogenic opportunities.

I am definitely a landscape photographer at heart but here's a few of the "arty-farty" ones I grabbed along the way.

https://www.andrewscriven.co.uk/

Some green ferns above an iron coloured stream bed

The waterfall at Fuente Agria

Morning light shines through a narrow tree lined gorge

A multi colored rose

A piece of film history, then and now, 60+ years apart. Clint Eastwood and Eli Wallach in "The Good the Bad and the Ugly" at a place we know as Crocodile rock in the spectacular Tabernas badlands of Almeria, Spain.

The same place some 60+ years apart. A low jutting rock protrudes from an overhanging piece of rock. The the left hand frame are two movie actors. The background is wild, arid, scenery

1/ Tough hike but what a day, still buzzing! Sometimes I don't think we fully appreciate just how much raw, untamed beauty and wildness we have so close to our homes. Saw nobody all day. Gotta go back soon, maybe for an overnight-er.

Upper Lanjaron Valley, Sierra Nevada,

Two people and a dog in the lower right pass right of a deep river valley. Above and ahead rises a peak (Cerro de Caballo) with some snow fields

A green area to the right of a river contains some hikers. The river plunges down a series of small cascades. Mountains rise behind

Remaining snow patches line the right hand banks of this river which is tumbling down a series of cascades

Three hikers pass along a grassy track with a green and rocky hillside rising beyond a deep valley

The savage beauty of a mountain river in the springtime. Contrast with the summer months when it's simple to cross using stepping stones.

Foreground rocks emerge from a snowfield. Beyond is a river in spate crashing down a mountainside, spray thrown up into the air

Just one of the many spectacular waterfalls we passed on yesterdays hike up into the upper Lanjarón valley, Sierra Nevada, Spain

Melt water rushes down a series of waterfalls with some large snowbanks lining the right hand side of the river

Really pleased and proud that my eldest daughter, Emma, has become a qualified cave leader (in addition to her mountain leader). She only started doing outdoor activities in her 40s, despite all my previous efforts.

My other daughter Claire was her assistant in the assessment making sure clients were clipped on properly for belays. Well done to her too.

Shows if you put your mind to something and enjoy it, anything is possible. Inspiring!

A lady in a red cave suit proudly displays her qualifications as a cave leader

Oh what a tangled web we weave. Spiders web covered in droplets of morning dew

Spiders web amongst the scrubs and plants. Covered in droplets of morning dew

A local road winding it's way through the lush woods. A gray day in Lanjaron, Alpujarras today

A small local road winds and meanders it's way uphill through lush green woods

Thought I had our 3 week trip to the Central Pyrenees in June all sketched out. Then I came across "Le Chemin de Liberté" (Freedom trail) that escapees and evaders used in WW2 to escape south over the mountains from France into Spain. I read up on some of the fascinating stories involved.

Le Chemin de la Liberte is one hardest of many escape routes. This particular route is about 60km with 3500m ascent/descent. Must say, I'm very tempted.

Sulayr 2025, the new cable car project to Sierra Nevada that supports the Granada business community

Forgive me for being a bit wary of this ambitious project. Access controls to the mountains?

Sulayr 2025, el nuevo proyecto de teleférico a Sierra Nevada que respalda el empresariado granadino

Perdónenme por desconfiar un poco de este ambicioso proyecto. Controles de acceso a las montañas?

https://www.elindependientedegranada.es/economia/sulayr-2025-nuevo-proyecto-teleferico-sierra-nevada-que-respalda-empresariado-granadino

Our local "acequia" has now been repaired and for the first time in 3 months we have flowing channels and irrigation water.

The hillsides are now full of life again and wonderful places to go for a local hike.

Water cascades down a series of small rock steps with rock wall to the right and trees and scrubs to the left

The, not very imposing, immigration office in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, capital city of Kamchatka. Had to go here as I had lost my entry permit to the Russian Republic and without it I probably couldn't have left. Some interesting memories from a wild place!

A scruffy white door with torn posters and faded writing stands surrounded by a snow drift