Sierra Nevada -Day 5 Berchules

Distance: 17km
Ascent: 800m
Weather: hot and sunny, cooler in the morning than other days
Ibis bum, angry bee, orange butterflies.

Today's walk was from the hotel, up through the village passing the fountain where we collected our water for the whole day, about 3 litres each.

We headed down out of town and along to a bridge over the river. Along the way, Sammy got very excited about something that turned out to be an ibex, possibly an infirm ibex, but an ibex nonetheless.

From the small bridge over the gorge, we took a zig zag path up the other side of the valley and up on to a flatter area, which had scrubby bushes and smelled of thyme. We passed some bee hives, and met some bees, one of whom was very angry and stung me on the face, which was totally uncalled for.

The way headed uphill, with massive pinecones underfoot. We reached a track and followed that, contouring around the edge of woodland. The track was shady and easy going,  then we turned off down a rocky path through the trees, which wound its way prettily up and down the hillside, stopping for lunch on a rocky outcrop.

The path became hotter and dustier as we descended, the riverbed was stony and wide,  but there wasn't much water in it. The path undulated along the opposite side of the valley, from where we had stunning views and saw some goats up on the rocks.