Category Archives: My GR-7

Mountains are rising

2015-07-20 admin Leave a comment

This was to become another beautiful day with many astounding views from high up the mountain side. I saw a huge water reservoir with emerald-green water in the south and spectacular cliff formations in the north as I moved on towards an area between Málaga and Almuñecar called La Axarquía.

La Axarquía contains three astoundingly beautiful mountain ranges: Tejeda, Almijara and Alhama and the whole area is a nature reserve. There are peaks as high as 2000 meters, La Maroma, and several peaks just below 2000 meters, Navachica and Cielo for instance. In the winter there is a lot of snow in these mountains that stays for quite a period of time.

Before reaching Maroma I walked into Ventas de Zafarraya where I left the Málaga province and walked into the Granada province following an old railroad through a tunnel.

I found a guest house just inside the village limits and later on had a great dinner in the company of villagers having drinks in the bar.

GR-7 11 Ventas de Zafarraya-Jayena via Alhama de Granada and Arenas del Rey

A stroll in a vegetable garden

2015-07-21 admin Leave a comment

The Zafarraya plain is situated in the Granada province just north of the border to Málaga. It is a large flat surface enclosed by mountains. The climate is a bit cooler than just a few miles in any direction from there and that is an excellent prerequisite for large-scale vegetable growing. The plain is one big garden dotted with farms and warehouses.

Coming up over the edge of the bowl surrounding the plain the views begins to be breathtaking. The dramatic mountain and valley formations of the Alpujarras in the south are coming into sight in the distance as does the mighty massifs of the Sierra Nevada in the north with several peaks reaching over 3000 meters, the highest, Mulhacén, is 3480 meters above sea level. In late May there still was a lot of snow left at those altitudes.

I walked into Arenas del Rey late in the afternoon after more than eleven hours on foot and realized that there was no accommodation to be found. There was a camping site some ten kilometers away but that was no option so instead I inquired at a supermarket and was told that there was a hotel in the next village,Jayena, and that there also was a taxi service available in Arenas del Rey.

The shopkeeper gave me the number to the taxi service, I called, and soon I was on my way to Jayena where a bed, a shower, and dinner were waiting for me.

GR-7 12 Jayena-Albuñuelas

Magnificent views of the Sierra Nevada

2015-07-21 admin Leave a comment

The day started out with a bit of a drizzle but as always the temperature was ideal for walking. As I was moving silently through pine forest country I had many panoramic views of the Sierra Nevada coming into sight every now and then.

Moving down to Albuñuelas through a beautiful ravine speckled with orange groves.

The guide-book suggested La Casa Azul, a B&B in the center of the village, but there was no answer when I knocked at the door so I went on and followed a sign to El Cortijo del Pino that is a small casa rural. The owners, an English couple in their seventies, had just arrived from having been to England for a while. I was given a charming room with a beautiful view overlooking the village.

The only thing remaining that day, after having had a shower and having made preparations for the next day, was to wait – wait until eight thirty before I could get a hot meal. I am not much for eating during the day while walking so you can probably imagine that I am starved at the end of the day and that the late dinner customs that the Spaniards have sometimes make me frustrated.

GR-7 13 Albuñuelas-Lanjarón via Restábal and Nigüelas

High as a kite…

2015-07-21 admin Leave a comment

This was another brilliant day, hot but not humid, and like the days before it offered many panoramic views – views overlooking the Sierra Nevada in the north but also fabulous views overlooking the Mediterranean Sea in the south. It is said that when the air is really clear you can see Africa from the edge of the mountain.

But that day also contained exciting passages up and down the edges of a wide valley and I ended up for the night in the village of Lanjarón.

Lanjarón is situated in the western extreme of an area called the Alpujarras. This area is famous for its beautiful and dramatic nature with high mountains, mighty pine forests, and deep valleys, speckled with white villages.

Lanjarón is a bit different from a normal Andalusian village in that it has a relatively open village plan with wider streets in average than other villages I have visited. Another impressive thing is that Lanjarón must have at least ten hotels and with a population of 4000 that tells me that it must attract many tourists. One explanation is probably that it is a spa town and another that its surroundings offer excellent hiking, mountain biking, and climbing. Lanjarón is also famous for its bottled spring water that can be bought all over Spain.

GR-7 14 Lanjarón-Pitres via Cáñar, Soportújar, Pampaneira, and Bubión

A tough day

2015-07-21 admin Leave a comment

This was to become a tough day that went a bit wrong almost from the beginning. I lost the track and when I realized that I had to retrace for quite a bit, losing time and energy in the steep slopes. The terrain was really very difficult and almost involved climbing at times but as always in the Alpujarras the astounding views were there all day long and rapidly made me forget my difficulties and put a big smile on my face.

When I stepped over the village limit and into Pitres it was after six in the evening. At the village square I was met by a strange sight: a horse and a big dog chasing one another, running back and forth all over the place. I asked a couple of ladies that I went past where to find Hotel San Roque and immediately I was offered to stay at their house! You never know what could happen if you let yourself be seduced by sweet talk from pretty women so I lied and told them that I already had made a reservation with the hotel 🙂

Even if it had been a long day I wouldn’t set aside my daily run of things, so when I had got access to my room at the hotel I went out again to make some shopping for the next day. Even in a small place likePitres there is a Covíran supermarket and even if it doesn’t look much from the outside it really has an excellent selection. It even has a manual meat counter. After coming back to the hotel I had a shower and made my laundry as I did every second or third day.

Then it was well past supper time and I had a large entrecote and a large salad accompanied with a glass of Rioja and later on followed by a bowl of vanilla ice cream and a glass of sweet Málaga wine. I certainly don’t back down when serious and hard work is required of me, but on the other hand, whenever there is an opportunity I try to make myself as comfortable as my circumstances will allow.

GR-7 15 Pitres-Cádiar via Trevélez

¡Arriba, arriba!

2015-07-22 admin Leave a comment

All the villages in the Alpujarras are located in the valley and that makes two things certain: one is that every day walking starts with a steep climb and the second is that every day also ends with a steep descent, and in between, all day, the path moves continuously up and down. Walking there for ten hours a day is really hard work but it is worth every drop of sweat as the scenery is absolutely fabulous in whatever direction you look.

Below is the astoundingly beautiful valley and to the north the mighty Sierra Nevada where the glaciers is coming closer and closer for every step.

At noon I walked into Trevélez that was a busy little place with quite a lot of tourists moving around. A popular item to bring home from Spain is a leg of cured ham, jamón curado, and in many places in the country they argue that the original and best ham comes from their village, and Trevélez is no exception, big signs explain that it this is the home of ham 🙂

Later on in the afternoon I got a bit lost when the GPS track disappeared into nothing and the guide-book led me into a very dangerous, eroded area with steep slopes covered in loose, sliding dirt. I managed to find a relatively safe path but I had to crawl to keep myself from sliding back down.

Just half an hour before sunset I reached Cádiar and the Cádi bar which was full of happy people. The cup finals featuring Real Madrid and Átletico Madrid was on. The bar had rooms to let and a pizza oven so I ordered pizza that showed itself to be big enough for a small family. I couldn’t eat all that but the waiter swiftly put the leftovers in a pizza carton and gave it to me for future needs.

GR-7 16 Cádiar-Laroles via Yegen

An interesting day

2015-07-22 admin Leave a comment

In these parts the track was not well signposted and it became really hard to follow as did the instructions from the guide-book. The only thing left was to rely completely on the GPS but I must say that I sometimes thought that the issuer of the track data never actually had walked there himself, or if he had, it must have been many years ago. I had a very hard time making my way in rough terrain, passing creeks and barbed wire fences, and an odd gate that closed off an entire dirt road.

I think that I approached Laroles on an unnecessary difficult path, but that’s life on the road, sometimes things don’t work out as planned and you have to find alternatives that work equally well. But it was a bit worrying that for two days in a row now I had nearly run out of daylight.

In the end I made it to upper Laroles and there was a camp site that also had cabins to let. After having made myself comfortable in a spacious fully equipped cabin I had dinner at the camp-site restaurant. There was a panorama window twenty meters wide facing a valley where the rocks and the farmland were glowing red in the light from the setting sun. Awesome as the Americans say.

The television showed some kind of opera festival. I had a very tasty evening meal and felt really good after a hard day’s work.

GR-7 17 Laroles-La-Calahorra via Puerto de la Ragua

A touch of heaven

2015-07-22 admin Leave a comment

The time had come to turn straight north and pass right over the Sierra Nevada. At Puerto de la Ragua 2000 meters above sea level I had a very good vegetable soup before I started the descent on the northern face of the mountain range.

In the afternoon I was moving through more densely populated areas once more and went through the picturesque village of Ferreira.

Not long after that I saw the characteristic shape of the fortress of La Calahorra, painted in red.

I made myself comfortable in a hotel in the village and prepared myself for the big leap to Narváez the next day.

GR-7 18 La Calahorra-Baza via Narváez

Finally: The big leap

2015-07-22 admin Leave a comment

Leaving Sierra Nevada behind made me a little sad. We had had company for a long time and it was constantly visible to me. Early in the morning I found myself on a huge, red, dusty plain where several square kilometers were covered by huge solar panels that made spooky sounds as they moved with the sun.

Today´s stage was to be over 50 kilometers and went mainly through a natural park. It is not as great as it sounds as the major part of the day was spent on dirt roads lined with densely growing pine trees. So it really was a struggle with few rewards in terms of nice views and other interesting things to see, and there wasn’t a single village in my way.

After some 50 kilometers I reached the recreational facility of Narváez. In the high-season accommodation and food is available there but not when I passed by, but there were some people. They had held a course that day and were preparing to leave. They asked if I wanted a ride to Baza and I happily accepted. We were five grown men that packed ourselves into a very small car and I besides that carried a 20 kilo backpack, but we managed to find the space and had a pleasant chat on our way to the city.

The guys dropped me off near Baza center and wouldn’t hear of charging me for the ride. I made my way to a hotel by asking the locals and called it a day. The big leap that had worried me for some time was over and done with and I had proven to myself that walking 50 kilometers in one day carrying a (to me) heavy backpack was quite feasible after all.

GR-7 19 Baza-Cúllar via Zújar and Benamaurel

The valley of death

2015-07-23 admin Leave a comment

The 28 of May turned out to be another long day covering three of the stages from the guide-book. The signposting was very fragmented and it really was a must to have a GPS-device in order not to get completely lost.

Between Benamaurel and Cúllar you walk for a long distance through a very strange landscape. The dirt road winds through a valley lined by high sand dunes starred with patches of grass and in between there are corn fields. At first sight it is a wow feeling because that kind of landscape leads the thoughts to the coasts of Ireland or Scotland but after having walked in that landscape for mile after mile constantly with the same picture in front of your eyes you begin to feel a little insane and start talking to yourself.

But at last I got out of there and at the outskirts of Cúllar I found Hostal Monte Carlo. As many times before I was immediately handed my room key without any formalities. Passport registration could always wait until the guest had a chance to freshen up and wind down for a bit.

Later that evening I had one of the best meals I’ve ever had in Spain so far: charcoal grilled shoulder of mutton with a superb ratatouille. The service was fast and accurate despite the fact that the restaurant was packed with people. It seems to me that some people have a natural talent for doing the job they do. In this place one woman took care of the orders from all the guests in the restaurant and at the same time managed the busy take-away pizza service.

Manifesto

Category Archives: My GR-7

Mountains are rising

A stroll in a vegetable garden

Magnificent views of the Sierra Nevada

High as a kite…

A tough day

¡Arriba, arriba!

An interesting day

A touch of heaven

Finally: The big leap

The valley of death

Inside the head of a hispanophile