Jackie with her Caminito del Rey hat and hairnet. There's one of me to on the Youtube below
We were the first feet on the Caminito del Rey on Friday morning at 09.30. We were overtaken by a couple of couples very quickly, but that was due to excessive photo taking. After this we spread out very nicely so we did feel like we were on our own which was a great surprise. It was a good walk, but that is all it was, a walk, through lovely scenery, not like when they had removed 30’ at either end to prevent access, but climbers were making money leading people on it. We did miss one of the boardwalk sections as they sent us through the aqueduct in the hillside as there was still too much wind which was a shame, but safety first I guess. We finished had a great sandwich and chips for brunch and got on the bus to take us back to the start or (or in our case drop us off at the campsite) only for the couple we had been talking to in the queue to arrive. They had struggled even more with the website than we did and had been completely unable to book. On ringing they had been told to just turn up, so never give up hope, they’ll always take your money.... Here's a link to a website about the Caminito del Rey. It's really quite interesting, particularly the history describing how 30m each end was removed in the 80's to stop people using it, with a €6000 fine. It didn't stop climbers who guided people over it by climbing the rock face above and fixing ropes:http://www.andalucia.com/province/malaga/el-chorro/caminito-del-rey-history.htm Here's our 4 minute Youtube of our photos:
A few pictures that are on the Youtube video
Saturday he wanted to do a walk with several viewpoints looking down on the Caminito. I’d spoken to the guy in reception who had scribbled a map on the back of our invoice which started right from the campsite. The path started ok and then petered out on the rocks, we blundered about following many goat tracks, retracing our steps before finally achieving the summit. It was a nice scrambly walk but trying to reign Brian in, stopping him just going up is getting harder and harder... The rest of the walk was on good paths, with a good view onto the caminito, which again seemed to have nobody on it.
It's a very long way down into a slot canyon
We were surprised by how quiet the campsite had been over the weekend, having expected it to be really busy, one of the reasons we’d stayed Saturday night, but now it really was time to move on. A late breaking decision was to go to Grazalema, just because it had been mentioned in a Facebook thread I had been following. Really glad we did, stunning drive, lovely scenery, arriving at our first ‘Pueblo Blanco’ as these white hill towns are called, just in time for lunch. Somehow eating out is so much nicer on the weekend, the vibe is lovely. We had 5 tapas, 4 beers, 2 bread, less than €16 and very very full, so no dinner required! (Parking location: 36°45'42.9"N 5°21'43.7"W) (Parking area amenities with photos: click here them item 59 in list)
This was a bit we'd already done and there's the following crowds that fortunately we were ahead of
It was quite easy and felt safe but quite exciting at the same time
Rain had been forecast for Monday and to be honest I think we were both hoping for it, having done a lot of walking just recently, but no, it was clear and bright. Even on our days off we generally manage 5km, exploring a town, a ‘little walk to the dam’ or ‘just to that mirador’ (viewpoint). I’d wanted something ‘nice’ to go with the big salad I had planned, and struck lucky with 800g of big frozen prawns for €5.99 rather than €11.55! Fortuitously that was 30 prawns so that’s 3 meals then! What a salad it was. It was a lovely town, views, lunch, baby goats bleating, kittens by the cemetery, a free carpark which we thought we were going to have to ourselves last night, until the hoards arrived....
The final section above the railway
Today we have moved to Benarabba, another Pueblo Blanco. Described in the Aires book as over engineered, every one of the five spots has its own, fill, and black and grey dump. According to the book it is free, but there’s a sign on the back of the welcome sign saying €10 for one night, €15 for two and €20 for three, ring this number. With limited cell coverage we went to the town hall hoping to be able to pay there. No, but she rang the man, as we ran back up the hill. It turned out he had been working opposite when we arrived and had paid no attention, but he’s come, unlocked the box and we have water and electricity, €7.50 a night for two nights. It would seem we have paid unnecessarily though as no one else has, and it would appear to be fine to just park up for nothing and not use the services, but hey, the water heater is on, the lovely lady in the town hall printed out about 8 full colour maps and directions for various walks and we’ve done 5km walking round the town..... (Aire location: 36°32'57.4"N 5°16'44.4"W) (Aire amenities with photos: click here then item 60 in list) Here's our Strava plot of the Caminito del Rey walk. Click on it, it's interactive
This was the map drawn for us by the man in reception for our walk over the mountain above Caminito del Rey. Fortunately we found a route on the Wikiloc app
On our way up the mountain
There's Big Ted way down there
Getting near to the top and looking back down at the reservoir. That rectangular patch top left is the car park for the new Caminito del Rey visitor centre, not open yet. It's all quite new as the Caminito was only reopened in 2015 so things are still getting organised here
We're now on the top and you can see the path ahead. The gorge is off to the right and we walked up onto that summit ahead for great views then up to that rise to the right where we could peer over to the hundreds of metre drop to the Caminito del Rey gorge below
Looking down into the gorge from the edge, but of course it never looks as bad (or good) in a photo as it does when you actually do it
Another view from the same spot and thats the bridge right at the end as the walk ends and it opens out into El Chorro. You can just see the suspended walkway to the right snaking round the cliffs into the final gorge
Here's our Strava plot of the walk:
The parking area in Grazalema with splendid views over mountains and the Pueblo Blanco
Ancient water fountains in Grazalema
Looking back from the Mirador in the town to where we parked. Big Ted is in the car park dead centre of the photo
One of the walks we did was up to that dam and then around the reservoir above
Walking round the little reservoir at the top of the dam
And on our way back down the steps on the dam
Little scramble opportunity? Don't mind if we do....
Nice view back down to Grazalema from the top too.
Mummy and baby goats and one of the little ginger kittens just running away
Second walk in Grazalema, up to the SantaCruz statue in the hills above the town
And another, but different view of the town from above
The local shepherd bought his sheep up to the parking area to nibble the grass round Big Ted
Jackie feeds the outer lettuce leaves to a pig in the field opposite the parking area
Our DB dinner for the night
The Aire in Benarraba when we arrived. By now (6:00pm) it's full and there's a further van parked where I took this photo. Glad we arrived early, there's only 5 spots (officially), but now 6!
We have this view through our windscreen
Benarraba town, a lovely Pueblo Blanco town
A typical street in Benarraba
One of the Miradors (viewpoints) in Benarraba. The white patches in the distance are other Pueblo Blancas. Several ofthe walks go to those, but we'll probably do a slightly shorter one tomorrow.
I shall miss the bells of Alhama de Granada, the way that at 21.30 instead of one bong for the half hour there were 14, 10 at 22.00 and nothing till 07.00 and no I’d not been drinking (well yes, I had) but I definitely counted 14 on three consecutive nights! After an inauspicious start with the marketing we both liked Alhama, so were sad to leave, but it was time, so off to Antequera, a biggish place, with a funny Aire, by the sports centre, and the road, vying for space with locals cars even though marked only for autocaravanas. (Aire location: 37°01'16.7"N 4°34'18.5"W) (Aire amenities with photos: click here then on item 56 in list).
Antequera with its church and castle
It was Monday, so we expected most things to be shut, and weren’t sure about the tourist information, so dashed off, only to find it open all day, and then had to dash back to Ted for lunch. At a more sensible pace we went to look at the churches that were open and have a look round the old town. It was a nice enough place, but not as great as the English lady we met seemed to think, but it was her first journey inland, so perhaps we have been spoiled.
Antequeras castle
Back to Ted to find a very old, very small, very battered caravan, with a similar car parked next door. The family of four, including very small baby soon reappeared. We waved, they waved, then started up a very noisy generator! We uhhmed and aahhed about moving, our initial feelings of sympathy wearing thin quite quickly. Then they went out, so we did, just two vans away, enough to muffle the noise but not completely remove it!
The Giants Gate, Antequera
Lobo (wolf) Park, near Antequera
Up on Tuesday to have a look at a, now open, church, which was amazing, before heading just down the road to Lobopark where wolves are bred and studied. Now bear in mind that as a child I didn’t have monsters under the bed, I had wolves, this was quite a big deal. The centre was amazing, and Martina our guide a very knowledgeable, very enthusiastic young lady. The wolves were beautiful and we learned lots, mostly that they are not the sinister beings portrayed in fairytales, but are really quite like us in their social structure and the way they interact.
I took many photos of wolves, but this one was about the best. Eye to eye!
More wolves at Lobo Park
Having asked very nicely, Lobopark said we could stay over in their carpark, despite the no picnic, no camping sign, it is lovely to be so remote, but legit. It isn’t just us but the other Brit van is the other side of the tree, so we can pretend we are all alone. Enjoying the solitude we haven’t closed our blinds or roof lights which to me is a joy, I have Orion’s Belt above me and the Plough over my left shoulder. As these are the only two constellations I can recognise I’m doing pretty well. I commented I wanted to see a shooting star, that wasn’t to be, but I am 98% sure, having been on the NASA website that I did see the ISS, the International Space Station, passing overhead, so I’m pretty happy. Just a shame the wind noise is louder then the howling that I have heard in the distance.... what a fab night. (Lobo park location: 36°59'12.2"N 4°37'19.7"W)
There were other animals at Lobo Park, this small goat was only two days old and it's mum (behind) was having trouble feeding it so they were hand feeding it with mum's milk
Our night at Lobo Park
We woke to howling at 07.15, an amazing noise, one starts and they all join in. We felt under no obligation to be up and out as Wednesday is their closed day, so we weren’t blocking the carpark. We’d found a climbing area nearby on the Internet, with some grades we should actually be able to do, but it was still cold so we decided to head into El Torcal natural park as had been our original plan. So pleased we did, although it was a steep climb for Ted, the rock formations were amazing. The two hour walk only took us 1hr 40 and we almost avoided the big groups of school children. (El Torcal location: 36°57'11.0"N 4°32'39.9"W)
The strange landscape at El Torcal National Park
Deer at El Torcal National Park
We’d booked the Caminito del Rey for Thursday in El Chorro, a climbing Mecca, but all too hard for us. We could either go along the motorway, or back past the wolves and the other climbing area, in about the same time, so we decided to look at the climbing, or rather the parking in the town. Who knows where Doris was trying to take us, up a very steep hill that apparently we only just had traction on before a turning there was no way we were going to make. We’ll give it up as a bad idea then, but the roads continued to get smaller. A sharp downhill left, and the man behind is hooting going “nooooooo”
More strange landscape at El Torcal
After ascertaining we wanted El Chorro, where else would stupid tourists in a big van want on this neck of the woods? He said follow me (well he didn’t as he had no English, but I got the message). We got to a signpost that did say El Chorro, which he said was the 10km mountain route, rather than the 40km normal route, just keep going, and going, he said. I said what about the 3.5 tonne weight limit? He said, don’t worry, I drive trucks, and anyway there aren’t any policemen..... Not knowing how to get back to the main road without going down a vertical slope, and not wanting to seem rude to a really helpful man we set off. Doris wasn’t happy, she kept trying to turn us round, the road kept getting worse, but the farmer said, si, Es bien..... We were very pleased when we suddenly got to the railway station at the end of the Caminito del Rey, though even then, not onto ‘normal’ roads. We’d got no internet reception, so we couldn’t find where the free parking mentioned on park4night was so we just headed to the campsite. We passed a thin twisty road that I suspect led to the free parking, which said in the comments, not recommended if windy, but we were both frazzled. The campsite won, but only just, she’d only got one big space left, thank goodness we only need one! (Parque Ardales campsite location: 36°55'13.9"N 4°48'11.4"W) (Campsite amenities with photos: click here then on item 58 in list) Here's a short Youtube containing all the photos we took in El Torcal N.P.:
Ardales near the Caminito del Rey walk
So today’s excitement was meant to the the Caminito del Rey, a walkway built in the 1920’s as part of a hydroelectric scheme. It was one of the wonders of Spain till it fell into disrepair, when only climbers could do it. It reopened in 2015 however after much effort and money, helicopters were used to position some of the structure, and is now a big tourist attraction, but at only €11.55 including the bus back to the start (or in our case, ask nicely and the gate of the campsite) it’s a must.
Here's what we're hoping to do tomorrow, the Caminito del Rey
We set off, for our allotted time slot only to be met by gloomy people saying it had been shut, due to high winds (glad we were not at the free parking then). So instead, today’s excitement was trying to rebook our tickets for tomorrow, had to be done on the Internet, not at the gate where they turned us away. This shouldn’t have been difficult, but it was, even with the assistance of the lady on reception. We think we’ve done it though, one ticket for two has become two tickets for one, and the carefully regulated time slots have gone completely out of the window. So we’ll be going early, to try to beat the queues, and to try to beat the wind which is generally worse in the afternoon.....
