A few months back, while beginning to plan this trip, we toyed for a while about completing the multi-day long distance hiking route along the south coast of Spain. For various reasons, we decided against doing the whole journey, but still fancied sampling a section or two. As it turned out, the timings and weather coincided for a splendid Christmas Eve walk along the GR141 - the section of the route, to Ronda. As we were already staying in Ronda, we started the day by catching the train out of town, to the little request stop at Benaojan. Here, the train pulled away leaving us to fend for ourselves to make it back home on foot...
The platform and station building were deserted and looked like they might have been for some time. Once we'd got our bearings, we found encouragement in this tiny sign, on a telegraph pole. We were on the right track!
A small track lead above the station to where a big pool and waterfall were being fed from the mouth of a cave.
It didn't take long to get up into the main village square. The houses are all painted white, with terracotta roof tiles, and as with most villages here, there was a town square, by the church, adorned with a few blokes with leathery skin, sitting on benches in the shade.
We could easily have stopped at the small bakery or joined the flat capped patrons of the local bar, but as we'd only just started walking, we thought it better to press on for a while, so continued out of town and into the empty green valley.
Following a zig-zagging track, we gained height to a small col, were we decided we'd earned a break for a drink and some view appreciation.
While we were sat on the wall, a friendly farmer came by, herding a small flock of sheep. He was keen for a chat but we were all lacking the skills of a common language. We all smiled and laughed as he went on his way.
Further down the other side of the pass, we came across some huge Cactus.
And after a brief excursion to see if we could access the ridge line, we dropped down to the railway in the valley bottom, where another shepherd was tending to his flock. The attempt to gain the ridge would have meant that we would be level with the massive Griffin Vultures that were gliding along the crest. Seeing them fly by at eye level would have been incredible, but we came across some steep rock slabs turned us back as we didn't have our climbing kit with us.
A few hundred metres later, we crossed the tracks. There are only three trains a day her, so although it goes against everything you're taught in school, it seemed safe enough.
By now, even though it was Christmas Eve, the temperatures were warm enough to want to cool our feet off in the river.
Having followed the river and railway for a while, another short climb took us up over the rise and to within sight of the cliffs of Ronda.
It's easy to see where there's been a town on the cliffs for so long. It's quite a commanding position.
The cliffs were glowing in the evening sunlight as we traversed underneath them. Before climbing the steps up to the Old Town, we got another view of the famous bridge that connects the old and new.
It was a bit of a sting in the tale at the end of a day's hike, but the last of the steps were finally behind us and we were up on the bridge.
In contrast to the other day, the town was now jam packed with impeccably dressed revellers, with the crowds spilling out from the bars onto the streets. As the skies turned pink, we made it back to our private roof top bar to celebrate Christmas Eve....
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