Lovely walk to Orgiva

I had a lovely and short walk to Orgiva today. The uphill bit was sharp and a real pulse-raiser. The flattish bit was gorgeous and really Wild West. There were horses and a fabulous cortijo with its threshing circle and a very primitive building. 

Dogs were a real issue today. I had to resort to Andrew's trick of bending down and pretending to pick up a stone. In fact I did pick up several stones. And almost threw them at a particularly nasty dog that looked like a cute Westfield but was really going for my ankles. 

The downhill bit was horrendous... Dry loose stone and grit made it like scree running. I was way slower downhill than uphill.

Orgiva is interesting. There is no sense of up and down leading to a central core, so I keep getting lost and going round in circles. The people are dark-skinned and remind me of photos of guerillas I have seen in Spain before.

After I have checked in I am going to walk a 5km route to look at some ancient olives. The other choice of an 8 km route to see some old mines just goes up too high. I need to save my knees for the 1000 m minimum ascent tomorrow!

One other thing. This place is FULL of dreadlocked hippies. Lots of English ones too. I am going to avoid them. This is the Spanish Dunmanway.