Órgiva: A windy day

Meteoblue (the weather app) warned us this morning that we should be ready for wind gusts of up to 42 mph (68 km/h) today, so we weren’t surprised to see swirls of dust or leaves or last year‘s black olives rolling down the track in front of us as we walked from Órgiva down to the west side of the ford on the Rio Chico. This is the same ford we couldn’t cross two days ago when we arrived on the other side and found the only “bridge” was a precarious tree. When we got to the crossing today, we saw a man with a backpack and his dog trying to cross the river from the opposite side. He gathered some large rocks and tossed them into the water, trying to create a path to get across, but it was a hopeless task. He eventually gave up and, just as we had done, turned around and walked back the way he came.

Having known ahead of time that we wouldn’t be able to get across, we were perfectly satisfied with poking around in the area and noting the extensive amount of damage to the lane that leads to the ford. It was badly undercut by four tall eucalyptus trees whose roots had clearly served as battering rams.

This area must see a lot of water damage every year, given the number of rivers that roar down the steep slopes of the Sierra Nevada and converge here. On the other hand, all that water makes it possible for the olive and orange groves to be numerous and healthy. We even spotted one of the oldest cortijos in the area, the Cortijo del Ticino.

All those trees need irrigation throughout the dry period of the long Andalusian summers, so there were acequias everywhere along our route, carrying water diverted from the Rio Chico. Most of them were relatively small and narrow, often beautifully maintained with stone borders. One had a feature we’ve never seen in a small irrigation acequia before: the water flowed along at a high level and then jumped down to a lower level via a waterfall. How lucky we are to get to see all this!

Today’s track:
https://loc.wiki/t/254214307?wa=scLæs mere