The Guardia Civil mountain rescue teams were called out five time during last Saturday and Sunday; a 57-year-old man who had fallen off his mountain bike amongst them.

But let’s start at the beginning; three rescue missions on Saturday: a person tripped over and fractured his ankle whilst out on a walk in the Cahorros de Monachil.

A 2-man team drove there and walked the last 700 metres to pick up the victim. They immobilised his leg and carried him by stretcher back to their vehicle. They handed him over to an ambulance in Monachil.

The next rescue involved two hikers, one of whom took a tumble in the Geoparque del Cuaternario, which is in the municipality of Gorafe. A woman had twisted her ankle and couldn’t walk. A helicopter was despatched and both hikers were whisked to Baza hospital.

Whilst this was going on, there was another rescue after a married couple became lost in the Alayos area, within the municipality of Dílar.

Again, the helicopter was despatched after it returned from Baza with its two rescue-team members on board. The couple were located and they were flown to where they had parked their car.

In other words, between 16:00h and 20:00h on Saturday the 16th the Guardia Civil carried out three rescue missions, picking up five people in total.

Then came Sunday…

The first rescue was in an area frequented by climbers within the municipality of Alfacar. The emergency number 112 alerted the Guardia Civil to a climber who had had an accident in the Dablan area of the Sierra de Alfacar. He had dislocated his left knee – silly bugger – and was unable to move.

In went the mountain rescue team again. They drove to a spot near where the climber was and walked the rest of the way. Having immobilised his leg, they slung him on a stretcher and carried him back to a waiting ambulance, which took him to Hospital Virgen de Las Nieves (Trauma) in Granada.

The last rescue involved a 57-year-old man who had come a cropper on his mountain bike and smashed his elbow. The Guardia civil arrived and put him out his misery with their service pistol… just joking!

Editorial comment: it is ridiculous the number of rescue missions that the Guardia Civil have to make because people like the 57-year-old are out pretending they’re 20-year olds with rubber bones. Or some married couple that got lost… too many of us over estimate our physical capacity and/or don’t stick to clearly marked footpaths and trails.

This isn’t some pleasant English countryside for frolicking with a flask of tea and a walking stick – it’s the Andalusian, mountain wilderness with scorpions, snakes and lots of nasty vertical landscape – Hell, we’ve got an erupting volcano in another part of Spain.

Spare a thought for the Guardia Civil that will have to lug you over kilometres of mountainside on a stretcher because you’re lost and exhausted or buckled & bent.

Amen… and sorry for the outburst.

(News: Granada, Andalucia)