Sump To Summit

After another cozy night in the hobbit house, we left the village to hunt down another climb. With only two days to play with, we were determined to actually get to the top of something this time! To reach the climb, we had to drive up a dirt track that didn’t exactly scream “well-traveled.” At one point, El had to hop out to clear some logs from the road—proper adventure vibes already!

We parked up high on the mountain, but the approach was still a decent trek. Setting off under beautiful sunshine, we hiked toward our goal. The views were incredible, and the lavender everywhere smelled amazing! At the base of the climb, we racked up, and it was my turn to lead. The rock looked a bit green (not ideal), but we decided to give it a go anyway.

I’d barely climbed 3 meters when I felt the first drop of rain. I called down to El to check if she’d noticed it too. Turns out, she had but was trying to pretend it wasn’t happening. Classic optimism! We waited for a few minutes, but the drizzle turned into proper rain, and it was clear it wasn’t letting up. Reluctantly, we called it a day—another “climb” in the Sierra de Gredos scratched off the list for all the wrong reasons.

The walk down was stunning but would have been far more enjoyable without a full rack and two ropes weighing us down. Lesson learned: climbing in Spain in May should be incredible, but in reality? It was green, windy, rainy, and absolutely freezing!

Time to trade climbing gear for churros and make our way to Toledo for the wedding!