Sierra de Grazalema 2

I had been incredibly impressed by my 2011 trip to the Sierra de Grazalema and had always planned to make a second visit in early summer when the wildlife should be at its best. But, amazingly, what with one thing and another, it took me until 2019 to bring my plans to fruition. This time I decided to start walking in Ubrique and follow the GR7 to Villaluenga del Rosario. Then I would walk over the mountains to Grazalema village itself – a tough day – and spend two nights there, before walking on to Montejaque along a beautiful route I had used in 2011. Finally, again as in 2011, I would walk to Ronda for a bus back to Malaga and my flight home.

Costs. Flight £97. Malaga hotel €43. Villaluenga del Rosario hotel (B&B) €40. Grazalema hotel (B&B) €53 per night. Montejaque apartment €60. Malaga–Ubrique bus €15.66. Ronda–Malaga bus €10.79. Typical evening meal with drinks €15–€22. Total cost of trip £470.

Places I stayed and was happy with. Hotel Goartin, Malaga (Day 1, Read my review); Hotel La Posada, Villaluenga del Rosario (Day 2, Read my review); Hotel Villa de Grazalema, Grazalema (Days 3 and 4, Read my review); Apartamentos Sierra del Hacho, Montejaque (Day 5, 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 still have not found a good map for the Sierra de Grazalema, despite it being a wonderful walking region. The walk on Day 2 was from Walking the GR7 in Andalucía and the walk on Day 4 was from Walking in Andalucía. The walk on Day 3 was researched on OpenStreetMap and Wikiloc, while those on Days 5 and 6 were based on my 2011 experience (and fairly simple to follow with a bit of commonsense).

See also. Sierra de Grazalema; Ronda and Benaojan; Rio Guadiaro.

Day 1: Travel to Malaga. Left home at 3.35 pm. Reached airport at 4.50 pm. Boarded flight about 6.00 pm. Took off about 6.35 pm. Landed at 10.45 pm (local time) and caught the 11.24 pm cercanias into Malaga. Found my usual excellent hotel (pre-booked).

Day 2: Travel to Ubrique; walk to Villaluenga del Rosario. Left hotel at 9.15 am and boarded 10 am Damas bus to Ronda and Ubrique. Arrived in Ronda at 11.50 am and wandered around the town until 1.00 pm and my onward bus to Ubrique. Arrived in Ubrique at 2.30 pm (30 min late). Started walking up the utterly magnificent (but hot and steep) calzada romana at 2.35 pm, reaching Benaocaz at 3.55 pm. Refreshment! Left at 4.20 pm and continued along the GR7, which was less attractive now, to Villaluenga del Rosario, arriving at my charming hotel (pre-booked) at 5.45 pm (so 3 h 10 min walking minus 25 min in bar). Went for walk at 6.45 pm, round village and down to the large sima (pothole). Back at hotel at 7.45 pm but restaurant did not open till 8.30 pm. Had wine and olives and was taken to my table at 8.45 pm. A much needed dinner (soup + meatballs + creme caramel) was then served quickly and efficiently.

Day 3: Walk to Grazalema. Breakfast with churros at 8.20 am. Left hotel at 9.30 am. I knew in advance that this was going to be the most difficult walk of the trip; I just did not know how difficult! Walked north-east from the bullring along the heavily restored medieval road for about 1 km looking for some concrete steps on my left. I missed them the first time (they are just before a bench seat under a tree) and carried on down the main vehicular road for maybe 500 m before returning. Then the path was great for a time – until it vanished. I finally reached a gate in a wall that was clearly well used and thought all my troubles were over... except that is where things went really wrong. Stupidly, I had been navigating by the sun as is my recent habit in Scotland (when the sun shines) but the midday sun is very high in Spain in June and the time is GMT+2, despite Grazalema being a long way west of Greenwich. So do not navigate by the sun in Southern Spain! Anyway, from the gate I set off in completely the wrong direction and got myself very lost (and tired) for a good couple of hours before I got my compass out from my rucksack. I then had to backtrack a long way and eventually headed north over a col and picked up a well marked (by the standard of the day) northbound path. To my surprise I found I was heading up the western flank of El Simancón after it was too late to double back. But at least I knew where I was at last as I was now on the route of “Walk 9: Grazalema Southern Circuit” in Walking in Andalucía, which I had done in 2011. Reached the Grazalema campsite and road at 3.25 pm and my very good hotel (pre-booked) at 3.45 pm (so 6 h 15 min walking, half of it completely lost). Went down for dinner in the hotel at about 8.30 pm.

Day 4: Circular walk around Grazalema. Breakfast at about 8.45 am. Left hotel at 10.20 am and walked “Walk 11: Grazalema Northern Circuit” from Walking in Andalucía. Saw some fabulous dragonflies, including some Large Pincertails. Got back to my hotel at 2.50 pm (so 4 h 30 min walking). Went out for dinner in the village at about 7.10 pm.

Day 5: Walk to Montejaque. Breakfast at 9.15 am. Started walking at 10.50 am and reached Los Alamillos bar at the road junction near the big Fuerte Grazalema hotel (where I had stayed in 2011) at 11.40 am. Refreshments. Started walking again at 12 noon and reached very quiet Montejaque at 4 pm (so 5 h 10 min minus 20 min in bar). The walk along the Campobuches river and through the cork oak forest was superb but the last half along the track into Montejaque was a bit hot and exposed, as in 2011. Found my very pleasant apartment (pre-booked) at 5 pm and had a surprisingly efficient and warm welcome. Went out for dinner at about 8 pm, using the good restaurant WiFi.

Day 6: Walk to Ronda; travel home. Left the apartment at 7 am and reached Ronda bus station at 9 am (so 2 h brisk walking). Caught the 10 am Damas bus to Malaga, arriving 11.30 am. Did some iPadding and bought a drink and a snack. Got the cercanias out to the airport. Boarded flight about 2.40 pm. Pushed back at 3.15 pm. Landed in Glasgow at 5.20 pm local time. Caught bus from airport. Home at 6.45 pm.

Wildlife seen. Stonechat, Griffon Vulture, Owly Sulphur, Carpenter Bee, Large Pincertail, Orange-winged Dropwing, Western Clubtail, Broad Scarlet, Broad-bodied Chaser, Emperor, Orange White-legged Damselfly, Willow Emerald Damselfly, Goblet-marked Damselfly, Scarce Swallowtail, Purple-shot Copper, Sage Skipper, Iberian Marbled White, Clouded Yellow, Painted Lady, Small Copper, Cleopatra.

Other useful links. Damas buses

Ronda bus timetables

Bus services from Malaga

Reflections. Why did I wait 8 years to return this lovely walking area in the early summer? It is such a fabulous area with some marvellous animals and plants. Note that the walking is tough, however; even my walks on Days 2 and 4 had more than 500 m of ascent and the weather was quite warm. My walk on Day 3 should have been better planned and executed; I should have had a map or GPS for such a relatively wild and unmarked terrain. Overall, as in 2011, there was a good feeling of covering some ground by walking over several days back to Ronda, starting at Ubrique in the present case.

© 2019 The Untravelled World