The Untravelled World: Walking in the Sierra de Grazalema

Sierra de Grazalema

I was thinking of a trip to La Alpujarra but, having bought Guy Hunter-Watts’ Walking in Andalucía (see Books), I became interested in the Sierra de Grazalema (a Natural Park that I had never heard of before) as it was very accessible from Malaga and would allow me the chance to take a first look at Ronda. Which of the many possible walks to do was then the main thing to decide and, after a few changes of plan, I settled upon a route that I think turned out to be pretty optimal for a first visit.

Costs. Flight £65. Car parking £18.99. Malaga hotel €39. Grazalema hotel 1 €38. Grazalema hotel 2 €36. Montejaque room (B&B) €50. Malaga–Benaocaz bus €13.07. Ronda–Malaga bus €9.44. Typical evening meal with drinks €10–€25. Travel insurance £6. Total cost of trip £350.

Places I stayed and was happy with. Hotel Goartin, Malaga (Day 1, Read my review); Hotel Peñón Grande, Grazalema (Day 2, Read my review); Hotel Fuerte, Grazalema (Day 3, Read my review); Posada Del Fresno, Montejaque (Day 4, Read my review).

Books. The Rough Guide to Andalucía (Rough Guides, 9th edition); Walking in Andalucía by Guy Hunter-Watts (Cicerone 1st edition); Walking the GR7 in Andalucía by Kirstie Shirra and Michelle Lowe (Cicerone, 2nd revised edition); Collins Butterfly Guide by Tom Tolman and Richard Lewington (Harper-Collins, Paperback edition); Field Guide to the Dragonflies of Britain and Europe by Klaas-Douwe Dijkstra and Richard Lewington (Bloomsbury Wildlife, 1st edition).

Maps. I printed off various maps that I found on the web to take with me and also used the ones in the above guides.

Day 1: Travel to Malaga. Left work at 2.45 pm, and caught 5 pm flight from Prestwick, arriving 8.45 pm local time. Got train into Malaga and found very good hotel (pre-booked) near bus station. Went out and had beer and tapas for dinner.

Day 2: Travel to Benaocaz; walk to Grazalema. Caught 10 am bus from Malaga to Benaocaz, arriving in Ronda at 11.45 am where, unexpectedly, there was a 45-min break and I had a quick first look around the town. Then it was back on the bus at 12.30 pm, arriving in Benaocaz at 1.40 pm. After a quick look around, I started walking towards Grazalema along the route of “Walk 10: Grazaleme to Benaocaz” (in reverse) from Walking in Andalucía (see Books). This was a beautiful walk and I saw some stunning reptiles, butterflies and birds. I arrived in Grazalema at 6.55 pm (so 5 h 15 min walking), found my hotel (pre-booked) and had dinner.

Day 3: Circular walk around Grazalema. Left my hotel at 8.50 am and started on “Walk 9: Grazalem Southern Circuit” from Walking in Andalucía (see Books). After about 45 min I went wrong, however, missing the direct path towards the twin peaks of El Simancón and Reloj and instead carrying on up the south-west valley, eventually reaching the Pozo de las Nieves. Realising my mistake and after much deliberation, I scrambled south-east up a rocky slope and across some very pitted, rough limestone scenery – tough going! – to rejoin the correct path to the north-west of El Simancón. From there I passed over the two summits, both with glorious views, and completed the return to Grazalema, arriving at 4.10 pm (so 7 h 20 min walking). I had a beer in the centre of the village and then walked for a further hour (so 8 h 20 min walking in total) to my luxurious hotel (pre-booked) on the road outside Grazalema. Arrived at 6 pm and had dinner.

Day 4: Walk to Montejaque. My plan was to walk to Montejaque and I had read on the web that it was someone’s “favourite walk”. But where was the path? On my crude maps, the best bet appeared to be to follow the Rio Campobuches eastwards and eventually pick up a dirt track into Montejaque. I left the hotel at 10.20 am and headed off down a track to the south-east. At 11.05 am I was back at the hotel, having reached a locked gate. The correct path was, in fact, signposted and is next to the bar on the main road. This brought me down to the river where, to my relief, I found another signpost saying “Montejaque” explicitly. After that the path was obvious all the way. The route was first along the river, then through a glorious cork oak forest alive with wildlife, and finally along the track following the valley of the failed Embalse del Hundidero. I reached Montejaque at 3.15 pm (so 4 h 55 min walking), found my room (pre-booked), had a glass of Rioja in bar full of ex-pat Brits, and then had dinner.

Day 5: Walk to Ronda; travel home. Left my B&B at 9.50 am and walked along the road to take a look at the failed dam. (Maybe building a dam in the middle of limestone country was not such a good idea?) Then I headed back to Montejaque and picked up the GR7 path towards Ronda. It had rained heavily overnight and I soon had great balls of mud attached to my boots. I reached Ronda at 1.05 pm (so 3 h 15 min walking), had a look round the town, and then caught the 3 pm bus back to Malaga, arriving 4.30 pm. I had dinner, caught the train out to the airport and then the 9.40 pm flight back to Prestwick, arriving 11.45 pm, and was home at 1.05 am.

Wildlife seen. European Bee-eater, Thekla Lark, Stonechat, Red-billed Chough, Viperine Water Snake, Ocellated Lizard, Large Psammodromus, Mediterranean Scorpion, Mediterranean Tiger Centipede, Red-striped Oil Beetle, Owly Sulphur, Bee-fly, Carpenter Bee, Southern Hawker, Western Clubtail, Common Darter, Orange White-legged Damselfly, Willow Emerald Damselfly, Goblet-marked Damselfly, Large Tortoiseshell, Swallowtail, Scarce Swallowtail, Purple-shot Copper, Marsh Fritillary, Provençal Fritillary, Sage Skipper, False Ilex Hairstreak, Spanish Gatekeeper, Spanish Marbled White, Black-veined White, Clouded Yellow, Painted Lady, Small Copper, Cleopatra.