Comments on: A walk up the Silleta del Padul

By: admin

admin — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 07:18:56 +0000

BTW The restaurant opening and closing times vary considerably. certainly closes at 5pm and intermittently during the week when the guy feels like it. Shame on a hot day when you have been looking forward to a beer or two!

By: admin

admin — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 07:16:19 +0000

Interesting stuff Andy. Must be access from Padul/Durcal area. In the winter we go up from Niguelas to ski on the Caballo and I know you can get over that way to the back side of the Alayos Ridge. Long 4WD track though.

We park quite often at the Aula de la Naturaleza Ermita Vieja. Boca de la Pesca takes about 1.5hrs to ascend on a steep but well graded track. The Corazon de la Sandia is also accessible from here up a dry rambla to the right.

Good walk up the Dilar valley too but if you don’t want to come back the same way you will be in for a long day!

Never done the Silleta del Durcal from there. We shall have to try to find an alternative route back though so we don’t cover the same ground twice.

By: Andy2

Andy2 — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 20:54:42 +0000

When I said West, I meant East – this could explain why my self guided walks take longer than everyone else’s.

By: Andy2

Andy2 — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 20:52:42 +0000

OK – I managed to get up to the Silleta to today, but unfortunately not from Durcal/Padul. I found the access road on the map (6kms from the roundabout off the motorway exit, following the N323A) but this quickly became blocked by a barrier – it appears to be a mining access road and so is restricted. This might not be a problem during the week? I explored a bit on foot but I was hoping to drive quite a bit higher and the scenery was not that interesting so I headed back to the car and tried to find your route up.

Going through Dilar I missed the turning for Nuestra Senora de Las Nieves and instead ended up at a bridge over the Rio Dilar, crossing this and following the river for a couple of km, I came to a large car park, just below the “Aula de la Naturaleza Ermita Vieja”. It was well set up, with a popular restaurant and public toilets as well as a well marked tracks heading off North East along the Rio Dilar (looks like an awesome place to have a go at the Cerro de la Boca de la Pesca) and to the South, up to the Silleta amongst other peaks.

Fed up with driving and keen to get burning calories, I opted for the lazy route, following a well marked track which followed the contours below Cerro Domingo, Puerto de Mala Mujer (great names!) up to the Silleta (by the way coming in from this end it is signposted as “Silleta de Dilar……”). The round trip took about 5 hours and the downside of this route was that I had to follow the same path back down again.

The restaurant was closed by the time I got back – so I expect that this is a lunch time thing only and possibly not during the week, but it was certainly popular today. It was a nice gentle gradient on very good track for the most part, an easy day out.

I really liked the look of this area and I think I’ll be back over the winter to try and explore further to the West.

By: admin

admin — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 23:15:48 +0000

Thanks for the info. Ill try to dig out the old map. Tried to find the access from Durcal before but not successful. If you manage it can you let me have details. Good luck!

By: Andy2

Andy2 — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 20:32:12 +0000

Thanks for this – it looks interesting. I’m not sure if you were using it but the Mapa Excursionista (Sierra Nevada la Alpujarra 1:40,000) http://www.editorialalpina.com which I was sold by the local tourist information office in Lanjaron does seem to cover this area and a number of the landmarks you mentioned on the drive in. Its an inferior map for the actual Sierra Nevada versus the penibetica version, but it does cover the area to the West better.

From this map there seems to be a quicker drive in (if coming from Lanjaron and the Alpujarra’s), via Durcal and turning off the N-323 at Aguadero- have you tried this route and discounted it? I’m tempted to try it tomorrow.