Andalacia day 4, the climb to the refugio

Today is the start of our High altitude program, the target is to reach the 3394 meters high Pico Veleta on the second day in this program, but first we need to get to the Refugio on 2500m.

At 11 o'clock David (yes yet another David) would come to fetch us and the bikes to bring us to Capileira, so the start of morning was relaxed no need to rush. David indeed arrived at 11, loading all our bikes in his van and away we were. After an 30 minute drive we arrived at Capileira: Height 1400, already 1000 height meters gained by doing nothing... David the guide parks his car safely for 3 days and after saying bye to David 'the driver' we're off into the direction of the National Park's entrance. The climb starts on asphalt and continues onto a wide gravel road, luckily the weather is a little overcast today so not too hot to climb. We make good progress, but stop regularly to enjoy the views. After a while we arrive at the entrance of the National Park, where we take the opportunity to take our lunch, but we're missing Nicky. Maybe she continued instead of stopping, so I go look for here, but don't find here directly, normally she wan't go that far in front, so I probably missed here and yes after returning to the lunchspot I hear she turned around the corner the moment I left, I suspect she has been waiting there all the time :-)

After our lunch we continue to ascend and we're getting really into the clouds. it's getting colder too, luckily the gradient of the climb stays stable, we pass the viewpont to Trevelez but due to the clouds we can't see that much and a little later we're at the highest point of today: 2711 meters.

Now it's descending to the Refugio which lies at about 2500 above sea level, but for this we need to climb twice, not much, but then out of nothing we see the refugio, finally we're there. We place our bikes in the hallway, no fear of thieves here and go inside where the fireplace is the place to be. We order our first "Vino Caliente" and enjoy the place. At 7 o'clock dinner gets served, after some strange moving of furniture we can eat a nice 4 course menu. After dinner the clouds clear up a bit and have a nice view of the valley.
A little we go to sleep, which for some us seems harder to accomplish then for others, a loud snoring noise comes from one of the other dormetories...