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Walking in the Amijara, December 2004
It seemed like a good idea at the time, a couple of weeks away from the cold and damp of England in december, sunning ourselves on the beach or walking over Spanish mountains in the Almijara. December was a bit later than usual for us, and instead of the Costa Blanca we opted to move a little down the coast to the Costa del Sol to an self catering apartment in Capistrano Playa, a few miles outside Nerja. The flight with First Choice took us to Malaga where we picked up a car from Crown, it was then about a 56km drive to Capistrano. Little boxes on the hillside and probably made of ticky-tacky but quite adequate for our needs, it even had a proper cooker! It would have helped though if the Thomas Cook rep had given us some information as to how find the place, and if there had been someone there to receive us. However, we coped. See right, early morning.
Monday morning was bright but hazy and we pottered around, buying food, exploring the place and visiting nearby Nerja by walking along the coast (01). The evening turned hazy and tuesday morning it was raining, followed by wednesday, thursday and much of friday afternoon. Thursday, more in hope than anything else we drove to Granada to visit the Alhambra Palace. One of the most beautiful palaces in Spain but the weather was just like England, cold and wet. Crowded? I think not, there was us, four Dutch tourists, two Germans and a school party. Picture 02 is the Alhambra with Alcazabra, the old town on the right taken from the gardens of Generalife.
The main attraction of the Alhambra is undoubtedly the Nasrid Palaces. These comprise three joined palaces, The Mexuar, the Comares and the Leones and building seems to have been started during the reign of Yusef 1st in the middle of the 14th century. The detail in these palaces is stunning, with Muslim epigraphs and arabesques of stucco, stone and wood woven into mesmerising designs that cover walls, pillars and ceilings. My descriptions can't even begin to scratch the surface of all that the palaces contain, suffice to say that they're well worth a visit even on a miserable wet day. There are numerous other attractions within the walled Alhambra including formal gardens. Outside of the walls is the garden complex and museum of Generalife. Not quite as attractive as the palaces, particularly in the pouring rain though it did give them a sort of wistful charm I suppose.
Another essential visit is the Cave of Nerja, discovered in 1959 by a group of boys looking for bats. A few years ago I did quite a lot of caving both home and abroad and saw some stunning formations. Nothing compares with these though, columns flutings, giant stalactites and stalagmites were everywhere, at every turn there are more and more until in the lower galleries there is what is probably the biggest stalactite column in the world at 32m high. There are other galleries not accessible to the public except by special arrangement, which contain similar extravaganzas. The caves are also famous for their cave paintings which show that it has been occupied for over 25000 years. Got the t-shirt!.
Eventually it stopped raining down in the Costa del Sol and we got out walking Almijara . Picture 03 shows Suzy in the Barranco de los Cazadores, a deep ravine which just gets better and better as the ancient mule path twists and turns up the sides to avoid impenetrable scrub and cliffs, eventually passing ancient lead mines - all looking a bit Middle Earth. Eventually we left the valley and traversed back along the side of Almendron and La Puerta on our way down to Fuente del Esparto and our car at the Pinarillo picnic site. picture 4 is a view west from Cuesta del Galgos before we began the descent, see also pictures 07 and 08. We walked the northern loop of route 25 in the Rother Walking Guide to Andalucia South that starts at the village of Maro. We drove up the dirt track from Maro, thus avoiding 12km of track walking. The Rother guide time was 7.5 hours for the whole route. It took us 6.5 hours from Pinarillo so beware of these times, we can only assume that Bernd Plikat is a very fast walker. Brilliant walk though.
We did more walking in the Sierra Almijara, particularly memorable were two from the nearby village of Frigiliana. One was the trail to Fuente del Esparto (5 and 6), a splendid and well marked trail that continues to the adjacent picnic spot and car park at Pinarillo - about 15km return. Also from Frigliana is the Rio Higueron circuit featured in Matt Butler's Holiday Walks from the Costa del Sol route 5. Take your wading sandles if it's been raining. Another excellent outing is the circuit of Cerro Verde from Competa; route 22 in the Rother Walking Guide or route 3 in Holiday walks. Times 4.75 or 6 hours depending on guide, it took us 6 hours.
Out on a limb is the Rio Verde route 27 in the Rother Walking Guide. The approach drive is quite long and takes one above the 1000m contour past the village of Otivar. The 28.7km post mentioned in the description is quite hard to spot, but look out for the second information board. Rio Verde is a beautiful karst area with some breathtaking waterfalls and revines leading down into the Barranco de las Chorreras. Rather than follow the rather tedious track out of the valley as described in the guide we would recommend reversing the route. Allow 4 hours.
So what is this, 06? No, it's not our accommodation but a rather delapidated old farm or Cortijo, as they are called in Andalucia. I just liked the look of it. Seen better days and done better things. Picture 09 the aqueduct near Nerja and 10, somewhere there is our apartment.
Guide Books.
Andelucia South by Bernd Plikat. Rother Walking Guide translated by Gill Round. ISBN 3-7633-4824-7
Holiday Walks from the Costa del Sol, Matt Butler. Sigma Leisure, ISBN 1-85058-790-6
Andelucia and the Costa del Sol by John and Christine Oldfield.Sunflower books ISBN 1-85691-208-6
Map.
Mapa Topografico de Sierra Almijara, Escala 1:25000, Miguel Angel Torres Delgado Ingeniero Tecnico Topografia. Archaic style and difficult to read, seek out the better and waterproof 1:40000 Tour and Trail maps by David and Ros Brawn.
Useful Bookshop.
W.H.Smiffs, C/Almirante Ferrandiz 10 (Post Office Street), Nerja 2970, Malaga, tel/fax 95 252 3102, whsmiffs@hotmail.com. Loads of English books and maps.
Tour Operator.
Thomas Cook
Us
chris.jackson@zen.co.uk