Ronda and Benaojan

I was interested in seeing what a December walking trip to Andalusia would be like. I had been to the beautiful Sierra de Grazalema before but this time I decided to base myself around Benaojan in the east of the Natural Park, with the aim of doing three walks in Guy Hunter-Watts’ Walking in Andalucía and of being within easy reach of lovely Ronda (using the train) in case of bad weather.

Costs. Flight £60. Car parking £18.99. Ronda hotel (B&B) €24 per night. Benaojan hotel (B&B) €50 per night. Malaga–Ronda bus €10.00 each way. Ronda–Cortes train €4.70. Jimera–Ronda train €3.45. Typical evening meal with drinks in Ronda €20–€25; in Benaojan €10. Travel insurance £5. Total cost of trip £315.

Places I stayed and was happy with. Hotel Colón, Ronda (Days 1 and 4, Read my review); Hotel Rural Los Pintores, Benaojan (Days 2 and 3, Read my review).

Books. The Rough Guide to Andalucía (Rough Guides, 9th edition); Walking in Andalucía by Guy Hunter-Watts (Cicerone, 1st edition).

Maps. Page maps in Walking in Andalucía (see above). Also 1064-II Cortes de la Frontera and 1050-IV Benaojan, 1:25,000, Instituto Geografico Nacional de Espana (but rather dated).

See also. Sierra de Grazalema; Sierra de Grazalema 2; Rio Guadiaro.

Day 1: Travel to Ronda. Left home at 7.30 am. Arrived Prestwick 8.30 am. Flight left 9.50 am and landed 1.35 pm local time. Caught train into city and then 4 pm bus to Ronda, arriving 5.30 pm. Found excellent budget hotel (pre-booked), walked around town and had dinner.

Day 2: Walk from Cortes de la Frontera to Benaojan. Caught 9.16 am train from Ronda to the estacion of Cortes de la Frontera, arriving 10 am. Walked up road for 5 km/1 h to the main village and had coffee. Left village at 11.30 am and followed “The Walk of the Bandoleros” (in reverse) from my old (Santana Books, 6th edition) copy of Walking in Andalucía (see Books). The first bit of the walk was stiff uphill along a dirt road and then an ancient donkey track. Reached pass (about 1100 m above sea level) and then made descent into Los Llanos de Libar – a flat green valley hidden up in the hills at 950 m altitude, with farmhouses and grazing cattle. Descended into Benaojan on, first, a spectacular Moorish donkey track and, then, a modern track, arriving in the village at 6.05 pm (so 7 h 35 min walking). Found hotel (pre-booked) and had dinner.

Day 3: Walks around Benaojan. Oh dear – a day of heavy, incessant rain. Donned waterproofs and walked down road to Benaojan Estacion and then along Rio Guadiaro to Cueva del Gato, but could not reach cave as the footbridge over the swollen river was underwater. Returned to Benaojan Estacion and had coffee. Decided to catch 1.10 pm train into Ronda for the afternoon but it arrived on opposite platform to the one indicated on the station monitor and I missed it! Walked along pleasant track to Cueva de la Pileta, with the weather improving a bit. But cave was shut for afternoon and so walked back to Benaojan in about 1.5 h. Consoled myself with beer and tapas and then had dinner in my hotel.

Day 4: Walk from Benaojan to Jimera de Líbar; walk around Ronda. Checked out of hotel and walked down road to Benaojan Estacion and then along lovely Rio Guadiaro to Jimera de Líbar (2 h 30 min walking), following the route of “Walk 7: Estacion de Benaojan to Estacion de Jimera de Libar” in Walking in Andalucía (see Books). The day was dry and the sun slowly emerged as I walked. Had coffee and then caught train (from the opposite platform indicated... of course) back to Ronda. Checked into excellent hotel from Day 1 (pre-booked) and then explored Ronda before dinner.

Day 5: Travel home. Caught 9 am bus to Malaga and then train to airport. (The weather was now stunning.) Flight left at 2.30 pm, landed 4.50 pm local time, and I was home about 6 pm.

Wildlife seen. Brown Argus.

Other useful links. Ronda bus timetables

Bus services from Malaga

Renfe trains

Ronda tourist information

Reflections. December walking was a success – apart from when it poured with rain. There was no wildlife but the countryside was fresh and green and there were enough flowers and berries around to provide colour. Day 3 was a washout – I had planned to do a long circular walk around Montejaque. Mud was a problem the whole trip: I did not take gaiters and had no second pair of long trousers for the evenings – Andalusian soils are much more clingy than the Scottish peat I am used to.

© 2014 The Untravelled World