January Challenge - NEW DATE

NOTE - The villagehouseinspain 2013 January Challenge (Roldans Notch) will now take place on Saturday January 12th 2013 (previously January 19th).

Puig Campana - Recce and Run!

I was keen to check out one of the timings ref. 'The 2013 January Challenge' (Roldans Notch). This meant that I would need to ascend the Puig via the gully on the Finestrat side (PR-CV14). Because I had recently been impressed by the speed that competitors had gone up the mountain (the winner in just over 35 minutes) as part of the Skyrunners Vertical Kilometre race, I was curious to see how quickly I could do it - apart from being in a different league to these guys, I had absolutely no intention of running up the mountain (down it maybe, but not up!).

So, I started my little excursion at 08:00 this morning, setting out from Font Moli, just above/behind Finestrat village. It was all fairly quiet at that time, but a couple and a single guy were all setting off just as I was parking my car. I never saw the couple again (they may have gone on a different walk) but I did pass the single guy several hours later as I was coming down (he was still on his way up and about 200m from the summit). 

The timing that I was interested to check was how long it would take to reach the point in the gully where you turn left (coming up from the bottom) and start the scramble up to the notch. Previously we had parked in the valley just below (20 min walk) the refuge/hut (Refugio José Manuel Vera Catral) we then walked up to the coll (@ 1200m) before dropping 200m down the gully to the point in question, this had taken just under 2 hours, and the 200m descent down the gully had not been the most pleasant experience! Today, coming directly up the gully (admittedly on my own and not hanging around) I reached the same point in 1 hour and 10 minutes - good news for January!

So, now I was able to focus on reaching the summit, 730m of ascent done, just another 270m to go! It was a steady slog, but a beautiful morning for slogging, with blue, cloudless skies, although now as I got nearer to my goal, the wind seemed to pick up with every metre of ascent, and 25 minutes later as I stood on top of the Puig it was really quite strong and did not encourage me to hang around!

To see the GPS data for the ascent on Garmin Connect CLICK HERE

Although my ascent had taken an hour longer than the winner of the Vertical Kilometre Race, I was still very pleased with my efforts (1:35:25) and I had actually done it quicker than some of the competitors! After snapping a few quick photos I began what I hoped was going to be a quick descent. I had decided to descend via the slightly more forgiving and slightly gentler route that joins and follows the circular path (PR-CV289). Although further, 7.46Km vs 4.76Km on the way up, I was still optimistic that I could get down quicker than I had come up. Wherever possible I ran back down and was back at Font Moli and the car in 1:13:37. 

To see the GPS data for the descent on Garmin Connect CLICK HERE

Sunday Circuit



Old Eric Proverb

"if you have 4 legs, are small, black and fat - then DO NOT go out in Sella countryside on day of Gran Batida" (wild boar hunt) Mabel!!!

 

At 8 o'clock this morning men with guns and lots trailers full of hunting dogs (like the one pictured below) met up at the Sella car park. This just happened to be the time that Eric, Mabel and myself were off for a bit of a morning stroll, past the car park!

Mabel really does need to learn that there is a time to give it large, and there is a time not to give it large - and 8 o'clock this morning was definitely NOT the time not to be giving it large (barking her head off) as we walked past numerous trailers, laden with hunting dogs, who's sole objective for the day, was to chase short, black, fat 4 legged animals around the countryside! They were going mental when they saw her - thankfully the trailers are rather well made!

Morning Stroll - Ruta de Agua (baixa)

After some heavy rain over the last week or so the Sella rivers are both flowing well, as is the waterfall down by the mill which we walked past on our morning stroll as part of the Ruta de Agua (Baixa).

 

If you want to see where we went CLICK HERE

 

 

Bite!

Don't worry the mosquitos around Sella are not that big!

The teeth that inflicted this little nibble had four legs attached to them!

10Km

Skyrunning!

Skyrunning is defined as the discipline of running up mountains, up to or exceeding 2000 meters and where the incline exceeds 30% - I think it is therefore, by its nature, what one would call an extreme sport!!!

Anyway, one discipline of the sport is called the Vertical Kilometer Seris and this year there have been 5 races, the first 4 being in Russia, Greece, Italy and Switzerland. The 5th and final Vertical Kilometer race of the year took place today in our neighbouring village of Finestrat, where competitors (or lunatics - depending on your perspective) were invited to run up the Puig Campana Mountain! Oh, and of course the route was not the slightly easier circular path, oh no, but straight up the scree!

Anyone who is vaguely familiar with the mountain, will appreciate that the idea of running up it is somewhat challenging, let alone actually doing it. Well just to give you an idea of how incredibly fit some of these people are I will tell you how long it took the winner (and you aint going to believe this!) 35 minutes and 46 seconds! That is truly incredible.

Amazing Rainbow Over Sella