SPRING WALKS 4

Our fourth walk starts at the entrance to Guajar Alto where you turn left up the concrete lane off the main road. Following this track will lead you up through the avocado and olive orchards, the ruins of Cortijo de la Viña del Monte and the pine forests.

After about 2 hours and 15 minutes, you will reach a T junction at an altitude of about 1,000 metres. The left track will take you down to the village of Lentegi. We turned right along the track which follows the ridge of the Sierra de Entresierras. For a while, there are spectacular views of the coast and the resort of Almuñecar, while to the right you can see the snow clad peaks of the Sierra Nevada.

The track then moves away from the coast and continues through a forest of large flowered, white cistus bushes, and through an avenue of pines. Eventually, it passes the flat summit of Cerro del Fuerte, the craggy mountain that dominates Guajar Alto. The views from here are superb and a camera is essential. Towering, fantastic rock formations loom above the track and below are precipitous drops. Eagles circle overhead and mountain goats perch on the ridges, ready to flee.

Gradually, the path descends until it joins the road that runs alongside the Rio Toba, about 7km upstream from Guajar Alto. A right turn here takes you back to the village.

This walk, which we did this morning, is about 20km and should take between 6 and 7 hours.

SPRING WALKS 3

This morning, a perfect Spring day, we set off on the third of our walks from Guájar Alto. We began by following the same route as our first walk: through the village, heady with the scent of jasmine and orange blossom, down to the river Toba, and turning right past the swimming place. This track winds through Juncales and up to the pine forests. This time, when we reached the T junction, we turned left.

This lane meanders through the pine forests for about 10km. Looking back, there are spectacular views of the mountains stretching down to the coast in a haze of blue. Ahead, the clarity of the light enhances the deep blue of the sky. As we climbed higher, we saw a lone eagle soaring above us. The pine forests echoed with the singing of innumerable small birds. Eventually the lane bears left and passes through groves of almonds before meeting the gravel road from Guájar Alto to Albuñuelas. This is a good place to stop for refreshment or a picnic.

From here we turned left to make our way back down to Guájar Alto. On the right, you can see an old, stone kiln which was once used for the extraction of juniper essence. Further down, on the other side of the river, is the Cascada de la Toba, Guájar Alto’s most dramatic geological feature. The road follows the Rio Toba through its valley below the towering mountain, El Fuerte. Gorse and broom blazed brilliant yellow and in damp, shady places we saw maidenhair fern and the fluffy white flowers of white snakeroot. We arrived at the village a little over 2 hours later. The walk took six and a half hours, including stops for refreshment and to take photos. We estimate that it must have been a little over 20km.

SPRING WALKS 2

Today we did another of the circular mountain walks from Guajar Alto. This one took us up to the Sierra de Entresierras, was about 20km and took 6 hours.

For this walk, which passes through some of the most magnificent mountain scenery in the area, you start from Guajar Alto, take the turning on the left at the entrance of the village and follow this lane upwards for about 1.5 km until you reach a crossroads. Here, you take take the left lane. This path meanders up through pine forests and there are some lovely views looking back down to Guajar Alto. As you climb higher, the snow-clad peaks of the Sierra Nevada come into view and the landscape becomes more barren. When you get closer to the coast, in the direction of the town of Molvizar, you experience a sudden change in temperature. The warm, moisture-laden air provides the ideal climate for the growing of vines without the need for irrigation. You pass through vineyards before taking the right hand fork which follows the contours of the Sierra de Entresierras just below its ridge.

You follow this path for some time until it breaks through to the other side of the range and from there you can see a panorama which takes in the Mediterranean, the resort of Almuñecar and the village of Otivar below. It’s a good place to stop for refreshment during this particular walk. At this crossing of roads, if you take the left hand fork, you would descend to the village of Lentegi. The right hand lane takes you back down to Guajar Alto. It took us two and a half hours to descend the winding, gravelly track past the ruins of Cortijo Viña del Monte, and back to the village.

We began our walk to the accompaniment of nightingales, and as we climbed higher, we heard woodpeckers, the mewing of eagles and the chattering and trilling of numerous small birds. The wild flowers were profuse and varied, depending on the habitat. There were butterfly orchids with glowing, deep magenta petals; striking digitalis with rusty orange bells; great banks of lavender. The deep blue sky, the dazzling white of the snowy peaks of the Sierra Nevada and the brilliant yellow of the gorse and broom made a stunning picture.

SPRING WALKS 1

Some of the best walks in the province of Granada can be enjoyed around Guájar Alto, and this time of year is perfect for rambling: the weather is not too hot and the countryside, with the glorious flowering of spring, is looking at its best.

This week we tried one of the circular routes, a leisurely 15km which took us about 4 hours. It was a lovely day and we set off in brilliant, April sunshine, from the centre of the village and up the track that runs alonside the Rio Toba. Shortly after passing the spot where the river is dammed in the summer to create a swimming lake, we turned right and followed the lane that climbs up through the fincas of Juncales. This is a lush, sheltered location planted with oranges, lemons, avocados, olives, vines and nisperos. As you climb, the views are dominated by the peak of El Fuerte across the other side of the river. The track eventually reaches the pine forests and a T junction where we turned right. This is the mountain route to Pinos del Valle.

Through gaps in the pines you have glimpses of spectacular views looking across to the mountains and down to the village. As you leave the forest, the ruins of Guájar La Vieja come into sight and it was here that we took a right turn along a track that winds behind the Loma del Espejo, the escarpment which towers above Guajar Alto. ‘Espejo’ is Spanish for ‘mirror’, and the mountain is so named because, at night, it reflects the lights from the village houses.

Here, the country is arid, stony and uncultivated, and the vegetation sparse. We were surprised when we came upon big clumps of candytuft, an annual flower more often associated with sunny, English borders, growing out of bare gravel, in shady and inhospitable hollows.

Before very long, the scenery changes dramatically and we wound our way, descending, through sheltered and fertile fincas and ruined cortijos. The largest of these, in its setting of palms, is the splendid Cortijo de Chiron (see photo), now uninhabited. The primary reds, blues and yellows of the wild flowers dazzled our eyes. It has been a good season for butterflies, and we were fascinated by the dozens of painted ladies clustered around the tall, spreading clumps of alkanet growing alongside the track.

After a steep and winding descent, this track brought us out on the main road between Guájar Faragüit and Guájar Alto. Just a few metres down the road there is a popular picnic spot where we stopped for a drink and bocadillo before walking up the road back to Guájar Alto.

Next week we are going to be more ambitous and attempt the 20km walk through the mountains on the other side of the village.