Todays hike was in the hills behind Guaro and in an area famous for its plantations of Almond Trees, indeed the local Town Hall organises walks when the trees are in blossom in the early part of the year, something that I plan to do next year.
I had advertised the route as a grade of 4.5 (out of 5) and in fact the U3A Hill Walking Group have this graded as a Medium to Heavy and it lived up to the billing. The route starts at the top end of the village and immediately starts its steep decline towards the valley of the Arroyo Seco, and immediately giving us magnificent views over the valley and to the Sierra de las Nieves in the distance. This stretch is the first test on the knees as we descend, eventually reaching the relief of a reasonably flat walk alongside the Arroyo which despite its name of the ‘Dry Stream’ has in fact a good flow of water.
The other feature of the valley is that it is lined with Oleanders currently in bloom. After we cross the stream via the bridge the rout takes a turn to the right and we start the relentless climb to the top, which is in effect a ridge between to valleys. As we climb the view become even wider and eventually we are even able to see the port at Malaga some 40 kms distant.
Throughout the climb we Almond groves on both sides which are now in fruit but when in blossom the whole area is covered in pink. We eventually reach the top of the ridge, if not the top of the climb and are now rewarded with views of about 270 degs. Not only do we have the views, but we are treated to carpets of wild flowers on the adjacent verges and in the fields.
During this part of the walk we have been on a marked track of two routes, ours being circular and the Guaro to Tolox route and we now come to the parting of the two, with our route taking a left and the start of our descent back into the valley. Also so far the tracks had been reasonably surfaced and generally in good condition, this being vehicular access to the Almond Trees.
This is where we leave the tracks and take to the path, and back in February when I did this walk for the first time this section had been badly eroded by the rains and the path was quite narrow and deeply gouged.
However in the past few days the path had been treated to the attention of a digger and the ruts filled and the surface smoothed. The descent is as arduous as the climbs because different muscles come into play and the knees take a lot of pressure, but again, as with the start we are rewarded with the relief of the level valley floor. Unfortunately this is short lived and the start of the climb back to the cars is soon upon us, and it is a very tough slog up this steep concrete track to the top. There was one unfortunate incident where one of our group was taken a little unwell due to the exertion, heat and lack of fluids but fortunately our plan worked and our tail man called and we got a vehicle to the scene very quickly. The good news was that a quick recovery was made and no harm was done, so we were all able to take to the nearest bar for well earned refreshment.
With regards to exertion this route probably rates alongside the hike to La Bola, and in fact in parts is steeper.
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