One of our walking group, Mr Alan Kenah, had arranged with
the U3A Hill Walking Group to showcase one of the walks that he and I did a few
weeks back. Namely the Quarry and Roman Silver mine in the Jarapalo area of the
Sierra de Mijas near to Alhaurin de la Torre.
The weather was indeed kind to us today with clear blue
skies and plenty of sunshine, but a very strong and fresh wind.
Our walk started from the usual place just past the entrance
to the shooting range and we had taken the precaution of starting earlier as we
were expecting the parking to be limited given that it was Bank Holiday. This
proved to be sensible as when we left, cars were parked on the road side and
the last one was almost a kilometre from the actual start of the walk.
The route that we had planned was in fact two normal length
routes, but we thought that we would combine them for the purpose of showing
the U3A participants options if they wanted to recommend a route to their
members.
We start on reasonably surfaced tracks as this route has
been used by works vehicle whilst the building of the new Visitors Centre has
been taking place and a number of other improvements.
The route to the top of the quarry is a continuous 8 km
incline, and although it’s not particularly steep it is unrelenting. Once we
leave the enclosed forest area we have open views right across the valley of
the Rio Guadlehorce to the snow covered Sierra Navada’s beyond, and to Malaga
and its bay. As we climb higher the small villages high up in the Monte Malaga
become visible.
After the 8 km climb we reach the very narrow, steep and rocky
path that takes us up to the mirador above the Quarry. From this point you
overlook the Higeron area of Fuengirola and on a really clear day the coast of
North Africa would be visible. We decided that this was the place to take our
snacks but spent most of the time trying to find a spot out of the howling gale
that was blowing.
The start of our route back takes us a little higher and
meets the main track that would eventually take hikers to La Bola, but we retrace
our route until we reach the Fuente,
We leave this and continue our decline which takes us past
the helicopter landing area and the water reservoir for the forest fire
fighters, and after a somewhat steep decline we reach the bottom track. Another
detour here to the Roman Silver Mines, which on our previous visits we have not
actually found the mine entrance but to our good fortune there was a Spanish
family, who wanted to practice their English and were proud to show us the way
into the mines.
 |
| There be Silver in them there hills! |
From here we start our trek back to the parking area, and
whilst we are now much lower than earlier the views are no less amazing. This
track needs some care as there are a lot of loose stones and is not of the same
standard as earlier. We pass the isolated house and continue through the Pine
forest back to the start. Once again I am glad that I left a rather upset BarneyWoo
behind, because we saw some very long processions’ of caterpillars, they are
still very prevalent and the damage done to the trees is now very apparent.
After a 20km and 5 hour hike the sit down with a cup of
coffee at the Mirador Hotel (where some of the cars had been left) was very
welcome.
I personally felt a great sense of achievement, because I
have organised a 20km sponsored walk at the end of April, and this gave me a
good idea of the timing and proved that I can do it.
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