Mirca

With this circular tour based on Santa Cruz I found that what I had planned was beyond my abilities and after nine hours of slogging uphill and falling downhill, I abandoned the tour and relied on my right thumb to get me back to Santa Cruz. Fortunately, that only required two lifts and not too much waiting for them.
I started the tour from the main parade of buses in Santa Cruz and headed up the Avenida Maritima until I came to Avenida del Puente and started the slow climb up this road. Eventually this road became a track that then split. I took the right-hand fork to Las Territas, the way being clearly marked by a signpost.
Las Territas became Velhoco without my being aware. As you cross the road, the correct path to take is the right-hand one, but if you take the left-hand one you will still be able to pick up the correct one without difficulty. There is a Mirador de Velhoco, but I was not that impressed with the view from there.
The path climbs up on stones through a wooded area and then descends to a roundabout. From there it is an uphill climb on a road that leads to Las Nieves , a pretty little village on top of a hill with a lovely church, a small plaza and a cafe. I think it would have been an enjoyable and rewarding tour to stop the hike there and possibly return by bus.
Instead I carried on taking the path to the left of the cafe down steps and continued along Carretera de la Nieves, turning off to go through La Verada and after descending a path arriving at a T-junction. This is another place where I could have turned right and followed paths back to the capital.
Instead, I turned left and carried on my planned route. The path began climbing and I did not have any difficulty to start with. However, when the path got close to the main road of LP-401, it got very steep without much by way of footholds or anything to hang on to by way of vegetation. I tried crawling with limited success, ending up laying on my side. At one point I jammed my trekking pole between two rocks to give me something to pull on. Eventually, after an age, I managed to get vertical again and reach the road. Here I should have had the sense to give up and tried thumbing a lift.
Instead, I carried on crossing the road and climbing up through the trees. The climb seemed interminable as it snaked through the trees. Fortunately, it was reasonably simple to follow; yellow and white blazes helped, though they were too infrequent. This is the PR-LP3.
I hoped there would be a top to reach and some level land on which to walk. Not to be. I came to a cross-roads, both leading to Santa Cruz, but one a bit shorter. I decided to take the longer one since t had a planned route. This route crossed the LP4 twice and proceeded downwards and it was along this stretch that I started falling. The ground was covered in loose pine needles that got rolled up into big bundles that hid the ground and also acted as rollers if you stood on them. I think my bottom hot the ground at last five times!
I came to a cafe in the forest and spent a lot of time trying to find the path there. Had he cafe been open I suppose I could simply have walked through. After that I came to the road, walked down it for a short way and picked up the path. I slipped on this stretch and decided finally to abandon the trek and started hitching a lift.