El Chorro and the GR7

I booked a cheap flight to Malaga and was looking for somewhere to walk in Andalusia in February. Ideally, it would be close to Malaga and not too far to the west of the city, where the winter climate rapidly becomes much wetter. In the past, I had walked in the Axarquía in 2012 and 2014 but this time I settled on doing a stretch of the GR7 long-distance footpath to the north of Malaga, between Ardales and Antequera, as described in Walking the GR7 in Andalucía. This plan suited me because both towns were very easily accessible by bus from Malaga, I had long wanted to look around the interesting historic town of Antequera, and I would also be able to visit the unusual ruins at Bobastro, near Ardales. Having settled on this plan, I realised that I would be passing through El Chorro and would be perfectly placed to walk the restored Caminito del Rey, if only I could get hold of a precious ticket, which I was able to do. I have described my walk that day and some of the practicalities involved with it on a separate page.

Costs. Flight £51. Car parking £34. Malaga hotel €38. El Chorro room €29. Valle de Abdalajis hostal €25. Antequera hotel (B&B) €27.40. Malaga–Ardales bus €5.67. Caminito bus €1.55. Antequera–Malaga bus €5.74. Caminito “guided tour” €8. Alcazaba entrance €4. Typical evening meal with drinks €7–€22. Total cost of trip £270.

Places I stayed and was happy with. Hotel Goartin, Malaga (Day 1, Read my review); Finca la Campana, El Chorro (Day 2, Read my review); Hostal Vista a la Sierra, Valle de Abdalajis (Day 3, Read my review); Hotel Toril, Antequera (Day 4, Read my review).

Books. The Rough Guide to Andalucía (Rough Guides, 9th edition); Walking the GR7 in Andalucía by Kirstie Shirra and Michelle Lowe (Cicerone, 2nd revised edition).

Maps. I used the sketch maps printed in Walking the GR7 in Andalucía, which were fine for the purpose. My walk was extremely well signposted from Ardales to just short of Valle de Abdalajis as the GR7 shares that part of its route with the new GR249 (Gran Senda de Málaga). After that, much of my route was along wide farm tracks or tarmac roads and was easy to follow.

See also. El Caminito del Rey.

Day 1: Travel to Malaga. Left home at 2.40 pm and drove to Prestwick. My flight departed 4.50 pm and arrived in Malaga at 8.45 pm (local time). Caught the cercanías (commuter train) into the city and walked to my favourite hotel in Malaga (pre-booked), arriving at 9.45 pm. Later, I went out for some food.

Day 2: Bus to Ardales; walk to El Chorro. I left the hotel in Malaga at 9 am and caught the 9.30 am Los Amarillos bus to Ardales, arriving 10.30 am. I started walking along the well marked GR7, pausing for maybe 45 min to tour the scenic and interesting but scant ruins at Bobastro. After this small diversion, the route emerged at the top of the El Chorro gorge and I had my first sight of the Caminito. There was then a steep descent down a rugged path into the small village of El Chorro itself, where I arrived at 3.30 pm (so 5 h walking). After a couple of small beers at the railway station, I walked a further 20 min to my accommodation (pre-booked) just outside the village. In the evening, I walked back into the village for dinner (my head torch was very useful).

Day 3: Walk El Caminito del Rey; walk to Valle de Abdalajis. I left the Finca at 8.10 am and walked back into El Chorro village, intending to catch the 8.45 am bus to the Caminito entrance. However, I waited for it by the train station, which is the wrong place, and so missed it. This did not matter; I had a nice coffee and then strolled 200 m down the road to the obvious bus stop (!), where I caught the 9.30 am bus, which brought me to the start of the Caminito at 9.50 am. As I have explained above, I have described the Caminito del Rey and some of the practicalities involved in walking it on a separate page. I reached El Chorro village again at 1.05 pm (so 3 h 15 min walking) and rested for a while. At 1.30 pm, I continued my walk along the GR7 and followed it up the hill and down into Valle de Abdalajis where, after some searching and quizzing the locals, I found my very nice hostal (pre-booked) at about 4.45 pm (so another 3 h 15 min walking, or 6 h 30 min for the day). Later, I had a very inexpensive three-course dinner in the adjoining restaurant.

Day 4: Walk to Antequera. Left the hostal at 10.15 am, went and had a coffee in the village, and bought some cakes to eat on my walk. Started walking along the GR7 again at 10.50 am. There were very few markers on this section of the walk but I found it easy enough to follow, especially as, rather disappointingly, much of it is along tarmac road, including a busy 3 km section in the middle. More pleasingly, about halfway along the route there was a roadside bar and I was able to quench my thirst with a beer. I arrived at my excellent budget hotel (pre-booked) in the old centre of Antequera at 4.40 pm (so 5 h 50 min walking). Later, I went out for some dinner and wine.

Day 5: Explore Antequera; travel home. Had breakfast in the hotel at 9.45 am and then went and looked at the highly decorated church of Nuestra Señora del Carmen, the recently excavated Roman baths, and the Moorish castle (Alcazaba), which fell to Ferdinand I of Aragon in 1410 (yes, I listened to the audio guide!). I then walked to the outskirts of the town and visited the two famous prehistoric dolmens, Menga and Viera (didn’t they play in central midfield for Arsenal?). I had intended to walk a further 2 km to the third dolmen, the Tholos de El Romeral, but the road was extremely busy with traffic and I found I did not relish the prospect. So I returned to Antequera, had a coffee, and caught the 5.15 pm Alsa bus to Malaga, arriving 6.15 pm. After a fast-food dinner in the train station, I took the cercanías out to the airport and caught my 9.45 pm flight back to Prestwick, landing 11.50 pm (local time). I was home at 1.15 am.

Wildlife seen. Ocellated Lizard, Wall Brown, Painted Lady, Pine Processionary Caterpillar, Griffon Vulture.

Other useful links. Bus services from Malaga

Alsa buses

GR7 guide (in Spanish)

El Caminito del Rey (official site)

Reflections. This walk is mainly along dirt tracks and passes through hilly agricultural land – olives, almonds and goats – rather than truly wild terrain. As mentioned above, it was a pity that there was so much walking on tarmac on Day 4. The weather was somewhat overcast, although there were sunny spells and the temperature was fine for walking. Unfortunately, however, there was an irritating cold wind; this was at the time when Storm Imogen was battering south-west Britain. I was delighted to get the opportunity to see Bobastro, the Caminito, and Antequera and its famous dolmens, and all without using a car. The places I stayed in were off the normal tourist trail and so hotel, restaurant and bar prices were very modest.

© 2016 The Untravelled World