On thursday the wind was too strong, but it was warm and sunny, so a walk in the mountains was the suggested activity for the day. I decided to take the guys to the lagoon called Laguna del Duque See the description in the routes section. It is one of my favorite walks because it is easy and yet you feel like a real mountaneer. The scenery once you reach the top is fantastic, very wild, with magnificent peaks all around you. This time in the year the broom has all its flowers on display and the yellow bushes make the landscape even more spectacular and fragrant.

The walk starts at the hydroelectric station of “El Chorro”, near Solana de Avila. This was built in the twenties, and the long tube coming down through the rocky gorge from the dam 300m above is still rather shocking. The climb took about 30 minutes, and then we carried on walking all the way round the lake and had a well catered picnic on a rock enjoying the views and the sunshine. No aminals were spotted except what looked like an otter in the water, but it turned up to be Mike who had gone for a swim in the freezing cold waters of the lagoon.