Up there, soak your feet in the cool waters of the Laguna Grande de Gredos, with the Almanzor my back and surrounded by snowfields glacial circus, I thought again that the mountain is wonderful. Nothing mattered the two hour drive from Madrid, and the other two now waiting for us to return. Even fewer walk from the platform. Gredos had been kind to us. We had given the illusion of solitude in one of the classic routes, and the busiest, Spanish hiking.
Just a dozen people enjoying the lake the morning of San Juan, thoroughly scattered to feed the conversation always aware of the mountain man, which is no more than the echo of consciousness returning to our fears and insecurities raquetazos. Sitting on the grass, was more eager to follow up, to reach the summit of Almanzor, lower than. The instinct mountaineer, I guess. But there was no time. And right then guessed already calculating a return visit and the early start times.
Few scenarios such as glittering chew daily joy of living that we are drained by small disappointments sink
Few scenarios as glittering as the Circo de Gredos, Stone border between Avila and Caceres, molding dreams, to chew the joy of living that daily we sink drained by small disappointments. The immensity of the mountain miniaturized our concerns but, at the same time, acts as a sounding board for our longings.
The arrival here from platform, where asphalt parking surrenders to the field, is signaled to the extent that is quite a heroic lost. The cobblestone path, marked with wooden sleepers, makes you think that any time you're going to run into the protagonists of Wizard of Oz. Respect protectionism in nature and the effort to define the routes is commendable, but that is not the mountain where I feel comfortable, not the mountain I've known since childhood. For me it is synonym for freedom and between signs of "not abandoning the path" I feel a stranger, a pimp if I think of disobeying searching for grass.
The mountain is for me synonymous with freedom and between signs of "not abandoning the path" I feel a stranger
The climb is not demanding. After an initial slope, arrived at the bucolic Meadow Ponds, which saves the stream by a concrete bridge. Leaving our left the cliffs of the Black Wall, steepen the path again to lead, after leaving the Source of the Diggers (now dry), to plateau of Barrerones, the highest point of the tour (2.170 meters). Among the lush thickets of broom yellow flower looming summits Circo de Gredos, with Almanzor (2.592 meters) the background. After a few minutes llanear, you reach a viewpoint upon a cliff (hour and a half from the parking) It needs a few minutes to sit in silence these landscapes resounding. The stone walls are colored emerald rock lichens, a picture more typical of the kingdoms that populated the imagination of Tolkien.
From here, the road gradually loses height, and the largest lagoon in sight, first a gentle hillside and then, more abruptly, thanks to a short zig-zag. There are still many snowfields in the landscape in the north face of Morezón and, occasionally, overlooks a small herd of mountain goats. We arrived at the bank of the lake in two hours and five minutes we surround on its right bank towards the Elola shelter, that requires ten minutes of walking. The path to the Almanzor is drawn quite full of snow at its end. Under its summit and the Cuchillar of Knives Ballesteros and the rest half an hour to eat and soaking the feet.
Back in Madrid we stop at historic parador de Gredos, just overcome the threat of closure
The rise and fall of the return (no more turn away from the pond must save a drop of 230 meters to the lookout) and, especially, the paved trail, extend around, Which brings us another two hours. The sun, at this time, no friends. Returning to Madrid, we stop at the historic Parador de Gredos, just overcome the threat of closure. There, a few meters from the room where the framers of our Constitution were locked in 1978 to finish the Magna Carta, we said goodbye to Gredos.
