GR 48 - Sendero de Sierra Morena

When Juan Holgado suggested we go for a walk along the GR 48 I jumped at the opportunity. Although it's been a mild winter in the UK it felt like a long time since I had done any serious walking.  I was ready for sun and some long days on the trail with Juan felt like ideal preparation for my six week trip to Nepal which starts in March.  Better still Juan was doing all the hard work, putting together the itinerary and booking the accommodation, all I had to do was turn up and keep up.

The only downside of letting Juan do the planning was that he determined how long the days were.  Juan is a serious dawn to dusk walker and the schedule he put together involved walking 160 kilometres in four days.  Despite all my best intentions I had not kept up anything like the level of fitness I had acquired on the E4 last year and keeping up with Juan, who runs/walks 20 kilometres every day he is not on the trail, was always going to be a challenge.

Still the GR 48 was a great choice.  It's easy walking, generally between 300 and 800 metres, along excellent trails through really interesting countryside.  It's a relatively new trail, going, west to east through a series of natural parks, from just inside the Portugese border for 550 kilometres through the Sierra Morena in the north of Andalucia. Clearly part of an initiative to promote walking it is supported by one of the best web-sites I have seen with guides and GPS trails available for download.  The guides on the web-site are in Spanish but English language versions were forwarded to me by a very friendly help desk, via their Facebook page.

Day 4 GR 48 - Almaden de la Plata to Cazalla de la Sierra

There is nowhere to stop between Almaden de la Plata and Cazalla de la Sierra and Juan's original plan involved walking for 40 kilometres and then getting a taxi for the last 10 or so in time to catch the bus or train to Seville.   In the end we walked 30, got to the town early, and had a splendid late lunch - good decision and the perfect way to end a such a lovely walk.

Leaving Almaden de la Plata

After brilliant walking along ancient caminos for the first three days, today's trail was just a bit boring following an un-metalled open road all the way.  Not unpleasant, just a bit monotonous.

Day 3 GR 48 - Cala to Almaden de la Plata

Really interesting walk today, three very distinct sections with pretty historic towns at the end of each.

Early morning leaving Cala

Cow Heaven

Day 2 GR48 - Hinojales to Cala

Day 1 was a brilliant walk but if anything Day 2 was even better. The landscape the route takes you through was similar to the first day, with the same wonderful trees and brilliant paths, but if anything opens up a bit with the views just a bit bigger.

The day started particularly well with the bill for the accommodation - 32 euros all in, fantastic value - and Juan confessing that his legs ached a bit after yesterday's 44 kilometres. I told him mine were fine which was not quite true but made me feel better.

Leaving Hinojales as the sun comes up

We were also out in time to see the sun come up through a red sky, excellent start to the day. The sun seemed to trigger of a Hooper bird whose distinct clacking song is, Juan tells me, a harbinger for spring in Spain.

Day 1 - GR 48, Encinasola to Hinolajes

Huge walk today, 44 kilometres, knackered but feeling good, very close to getting blisters on the my first day but after a soak in cold water my feet have stopped cooking and now feel fine.

So where am I and what's the walking like?

Well I'm in Huelva which is the most westerly province in Andalucia, on the border with Portugal, and I'm walking, with Juan Holgado, directly east through the Sierra Morena. It's fairly gentle walking, hilly (we're at an average altitude of around 500 metres) and although the route takes you through a series of small villages, the countryside feels empty.

We are walking through the Sierra de Arecena y Picos de Aroche Natural Park and the landscape is lovely. Most of countryside is used for low intensity animal grazing with the animals sheltering under trees. We have seen the whole range of farm animals: sheep; the famous black Iberian pigs (this is an area famous for the quality of its ham); cattle (supposed to an area where fighting bulls are bred); and even a few goats.

Iberian Pigs

Andalucia along the Southern Variant of the GR7

If you decide to walk the E4 and you want to start in Spain, an early choice you have to make is whether to take the northern or southern variant of the GR7 through Andalucia.  With no great application of science I chose the northern option.  Checking if this was the best option was just the excuse I needed to return to Spain and in October, five weeks after finishing my E4 trek in Budapest, I was on my way back there with Christine.

I only had 9 days which isn’t long enough to do the whole variant.   The GR7 splits into two at Villanueva del Cauche in Malaga and doesn’t join up again for 450 kilometres (at Puebla de Don Fadrique).  I figured I would need at least 15 days to do the whole stretch.

To help me decide which bit to do I turned to Juan Holgado.  I had met Juan in March on my second day out of Tarifa on the E4 walk.   This was an amazing coincidence and a real stroke of luck.  Juan had helped Michele Lowe and Kirstie Shirra write their guide “Walking the GR7 in Andalucia” and is the expert on the GR7 and all things walking in Spain. He has his own web site (www.jaholgado.com).  Although we only spoke for a few minutes we struck up a friendship and Juan, through comments on my blog, advised and encouraged me all the way across Europe.

Leaving Ventas de Zafarraya and arriving at Alhama de Granada

Stage 1 - Tarifa to Villanueva del Rosario

I published a whole series of stage plans before I started the E4 and these attracted some really helpful comments.  What I'm now tediously doing is rewriting all of those blogs informed by the actual trip.  Will try to be as candid as possible - there are parts of the E4 which are not so nice.

The logic behind "Stage 1" is that it takes you to the point where the GR7 splits into a northern and southern option.  As it happens the split takes place at Villanueva del Cauche but to make my itinerary work for me I went slightly beyond that point.

The month leading up to starting the walk, by the way, was terrible. I was committed to the walk but had massive reservations. Wasn't sleeping and had an almost overwhelming feeling that I was about to fall flat on my face and make a complete fool of myself. Getting to Spain and starting the walk was just a wonderful release, the doubts disappeared and for the first few weeks I was powered by euphoria.

Tarifa is the perfect place to start the walk, it feels like and is  the edge of Europe. It is also very windy (apparently the wind is virtually non-stop) and the views across narrow Straits of Gibraltar to the Africa are sharp and clear. Would have been nice to have stopped for the night in Tarifa but instead I trudged along the beach and shortened what would otherwise have been a 41.5 next day walk to Los Barrios. I stayed at the Hotel Artevida which was fine but expensive compared to most of my accommodation in Spain.

Cork Oak Grove

The first full day's walking through the Los Alcornocales Natural Park with its cork oak forests was nice rather than amazing.  Lots of wind turbines along the route as well as a large reservoir but the views back to Tarifa and across the narrow straights to Africa were wonderful.  Horrible and painful walk along a road to finish the day in Los Barrios.  Stayed at the Hotel Real in which was cheap, simple and good fun.

The 34 kilometre walk to Castillo de Castellar is a poor one - long walk past a huge rubbish dump, a walk down a quite road, and then a walk along a cycle path alongside a busy road before you finally get off road just before the finish. A shame because Castillo de Castellar, a wonderful hill top town, is a great place to finish the day. Stayed in an absolutely amazing hotel, part of the castle itself.

After two big days the third day was a short 15 kilometres walk to Jimena de la Frontera, through pleasant if not particularly exciting countryside. You spend quite a bit of time walking alongside a famous (apparently) wide gauge railway line. I really liked Jimena de la Frontera and you can see why a lot of ex-UK residents have decided to live there. I managed to stay in another really lovely hotel, the Casa Henrietta, brightly decorated with real Andalucian style.

After Jimena de la Frontera the countryside really starts to match the towns for interest. After an initial climb up to about 800 metres your into fairly open moorland with great views all the way back to Gibraltar. It's a tough 40 kilometre walk and you stay high all the way until the final descent into Ubrique, another recently interesting and ancient town rammed up against huge cliffs. Didn't stay in a hotel in Ubrique, was the guest of the local tourist board, but there are hotels in the town or nearby. The Hotel Ocurris is one which seems to attract recommendations.

On the next day I walked all the way to Ronda but this is fabulous countryside and anyone sensible would have stopped along the way. Stopping options with accommodation include Villaluenga del Rosario (bit close to Ubrique) or Montejaque (bit close to Ronda). Either way this is a wonderful stretch. Highlights included the march up the Roman road (everything still there) to Benacoaz; the walk through the valley to the pretty village of Villaluenga del Rosario (nestling under the Navazo Alto) or the walk through the limestone scenery of Sierra de Grazalema Natural Park. If you do decide to walk all the way to Ronda, like I did, you'll find the walk after Montejaque painfully long.

The Stunning Sierra de Grazelema

I only stayed one night at Ronda, which is probably a capital offence for people who love Spain. It is a lovely town, an important tourist destination and has lots of places to stay.

The next day's walk was another poor one, difficult to find the route between Ronda and Arriate and a lot of road walking between Arriate and Cuevas del Becerro.  Cuevas del Becerro is slightly away from the route but there is no accommodation at Serrato which would otherwise have been a good place to stop.  Had a nice afternoon in Cuevas del Becerro, there was a fiesta, but not much of a draw otherwise.

The following walk to El Chorro is much nicer although a bit tougher than I had anticipated.  Lovely open arable countryside with long views.  Ardales, half way along, is another interesting looking town (the walk takes you over a Roman bridge) with accommodation if you want to really short day.  The second half of the walk is a lot tougher, a nice ridge walk and then a climb up to the spectacular reservoir above El Chorro and a really steep climb down.  I stayed in a camp site with huts but there is other accommodation available.

El Chorro

The walk to Antequera via the small town of Valle de Abdalajis is a pleasant one but with a nasty bit of road walking in the middle.  Valle de Abdalajis has accommodation and if you wanted to break the walk up with a day off than there is enough to see in Antequera famous for its ancient bronze age tombs.  Lots of accommodation but I stayed in the Hotel Colon which was OK.

The last day of this stage was a really wet one for me which was a shame because it meant I missed the views of the El Torcal peak in the natural park to the south of the route which has the same name.  Not a bad walk but you do have to work you way underneath the motorway and there is a bit of associated road walking before you eventually get to Villanueva del Rosario.  Stayed in the Hotel Venta Las Delicias which was cheap, cheerful and good fun.

Most people would sensibly walk section of the GR7 at a slower pace and there are enough accommodation options to do things differently to the way I did it.  Perhaps the key issue is whether or not to stay at Ronda.  If you have been there before than it would make sense to stay at Montejaque, then Arriate, then Ardales, Valle de Adbalajis and then Antequera.  Another day to the itinerary but perhaps more sensible.

If your interested in what it felt like at the time please have a look at the daily diary entries.

Tarifa to Los Barrios
Los Barrios to Castillo de Castellar
Castillo de Castellar to Jimena de la Frontera
Jimena de la Frontera to Ubrique
Ubrique to Ronda
Ronda to Cuevas del Becerro
Cuevas del Becerro to El Chorro
El Chorro to Antequera
Antequera to Villanueva del Rosario