El Burgo, May 08+09

The plan was to stay in El Burgo an extra day in order to do a River Walk, then hike to Ronda tomorrow.  But I decided not to walk to Ronda because the elevation and descent look like this:

 

and because of the other usual reasons that go into "difficult."  Guy has it as a seven hour +  stage, but the bulletin board in town claims it takes eight hours and twenty minutes, and the cardiac demand is 4/5.  I decided to walk the route until it got to the steep uphill part, and come back.  In other words, an out-and-back.  This first section is not terribly interesting, but it is along a broad track, not too demanding, and, with an extra stretch added on, the hike was about twelve miles.  

Although I never listened to podcasts or books while I walk "walks"  as opposed to, say, training, when one is on track that requires no attention, and is somewhat boring, the desire for diversion manifests itself, so I went to the audiobook  Don't Sleep, There are Snakes, which I was excited to begin only to get a message that there had been something amiss with the purchase.  Bummer.  Podcasts were not an option because there was no cell reception, so I listened to more of Typee until I could stand not one more minute of it. 

There were pretty flowers along the sides of the track:

There are two bar-restaurants in El Burgo.  I ate at the more popular one yesterday; I think I did not order "the right thing," which must be something other than dry, tasteless morsels of chicken, which advertised themselves as kebabs, only they were not. Today I went to the classier establishment.  Salmon, a definite improvement, but salt and pepper, the addition of which would have improved the dish considerably, seem not to be a staple of Spanish Cuisine and never appear on the table.  Later on, a Magnum purchased from the local Gasolinera and an agua con gas (seltzer), acquired from yet another bar, made a dessert that hit the spot!

The River Walk, more accurately, Up-in-the-Hills-above-the River, was to be today's sport before taxi-ing off to Ronda with Rojita.  So off I set at sun up only to—guess what—not find the path.  This was VERY annoying, partly my fault, partly Guy's terrible instructions, and partly the limitation of navigational devices. In reverse order:  navigational devices don't help that much if you are on a track parallel to the track you should be on, especially if they are close. I won't even go into the stupid instructions, OK, just one part: they never said to cross the river near the start of the walk, and my error was not realizing that I should have been on the other side of the river.  After fuming, I decided to take the path I was on—on the don't-cross-the- river-side because it was pretty, and indeed, the walk ended up being one of the most gorgeous I have done so far; the photos do not do it justice because they do not take in the views:

Field

Stream:

The only unfortunate part was that I had to turn back before I desired in order to make sure I was back in time for the taxi.  Also, I wanted to see if I had thought through the error I had made at the beginning. I had, and found where I should have gone.  But for sure the intended walk would not have been lovelier than the unplanned excursion. 

Carratracas to El Burgo, May 07

 Carratracas to El Burgo was supposed to be the itinerary, but, alas, it was not.  The stage is about seven hours, with some, as Guy puts it, "tricky navigation" and lots of elevation.  And remember, no markers of any kind because we are no longer with the GR 249. But I was game!  Left at 7:00, a bit concerned because it was already warm out.  Got going, and, in about forty minutes, at a three-way intersection, discovered that the route on GPsY and on OutdoorActive were not the same.  How this could be, I have no idea since they are  downloaded from the same source.  I decided to go with GyPS's route, which, of course, was not the correct move, literally, because after a while, the track ended, just like that.

Who says that yellow and red don't go together?

A tree, all by itself, growing!

I returned to the three-way intersection, and this time took the route that O.A had displayed, but because of the time spent error-izing, it was too late to try to accomplish the intended itinerary, so an out-and- back would have to suffice.  I did nor feel bad about this decision except.....at the point I turned around, before a major ascent, the route was becoming more and more beautiful.  I ended walking about five and a half hours anyway, and it was not easy!  But my watch was praising me for my efforts.

Of course, again, this involved a change in Rojita's schedule and because the fare was high—about $65.00—I preferred not to pay it twice.  I called La Casa Fonda Pepa, and thank God, that a) there was a signal and b) the guy understood me because I could not understand him!  Taxi successfully cancelled. At about 12:30, when I stumbled back into the restaurant-with-rooms, Rojita was still there, but now the taxista had other plans for the day and would not pick us up.  Dori, the organizer of all things, did not know another taxi driver.  But she called a relative who was willing to take me.  I offered to pay what the taxista charged.  A deal was struck.  

A little while later, a lovely car rolled up:  there was Miriam, the driver, her cousin (she did call him primo) and a woman who I think was Miriam's mother.  And of course, me!  Off we went.  Turns out that the mother is a physician from Buenos Aires, who moved here to start an infertility practice.  The daughter helps her, and the very nice cousin seems to help everyone.  It took a good hour to drive to El Burgo, and a very twisty-turney drive it was, too.  There was a stop for gas, my treat.  I won't even tell you what a tank of gas costs in these parts.  By the time we arrived, I had made some friends!  Things really did turn out for the best.

The hotel room here in El Burgo is about the dreariest I have ever stayed in.  Could the two light bulbs in a room be any dimmer?  I think not!  At least there is hot water, and one can sit outside, which is marginally better.  These circumstances encouraged me to get out of the hotel and get the lay of the town, which I did, and I am all set for tomorrow and the local walks I am going to do.

A super misterio del día:

There is at least one person who may know what those are!  (I wouldn't have if I had not seen the sign!)

El Chorro to Carratracas May 06

 I cannot imagine doing today's walk, 11 miles, almost all of it demanding, in the same day as the first section.  It was a gorgeous stretch with just a few directional issues near the end.  

Stunning!

Not rare, I know, but oh so pretty:

Shots of scenery do not capture the context.  It is one thing to look at them there hills and quite another to BE in them:

DOG looks ferocious, but did not bark, just wagged his tail like crazy, and followed along for a few minutes:

The hillage, of which there was much, was relieved for a bit by a track through some pine trees:

The place I am staying is adorable:  €25.00 for the room, but €60 to transport Rojita to El Burgo (not to be confused with Burgos in the North.)  The room is bare bones, as you might expect, but there are charming terraces full of plants and chirping birds where one can sit. They happen to be the only spaces where you can get wi-fi!

And the people who run the place, which is famous for its restaurant, are just so nice!  No, I did not eat at the restaurant because you do not order, they just bring food, and I feared—feared—heck, there definitely would be pork or shellfish in the dishes.  So it was tuna and salad again.

Coco should move here; he'd have plenty of company. There are so many barking dogs!  Arf arf arf!  Woof woof woof! In the day, in the night, all the time! 

Abdalajís to El Chorro, May 04+5

 Stepped out the door at 7:10 and rain!  Retreated to vestibule to don appropriate gear.  Today's route is classified as difficult, but I am breaking it into two parts, the shorter segment being today's because, on the way to Carratraca, the end point of this stage, there is the Caminito del Rey to walk!

Despite the weather, it was a beautiful walk:

Watch out for falling rocks:

The rain was on and off, so I was wondering about the Caminito excursion.  

Here is how it works:  hordes of people board a bus—it runs every half hour—we are talking major big bus on skinny, serpentine road—in El Chorro, pay €1,55 (about $2.00) and roll along to the start of the walk.  This does not include the hoards of people who arrive at the access point by car.  It turns out, though, that many of them must be going to the restaurant up there, not walking the walk, because only two tour groups were there when I arrived at the check-in.  This is a one-way only walk:  You start north and you go south.  In ends near the hotel, very convenient.

What struck me, aside form the obvious magnificence, were the remnants of the old Caminito.  Now, that was terrifying!

Anyway, so spectacular is this experience that I am going to do the walk again tomorrow.

I suggest you read about it here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caminito_del_Rey

For photos—I am not even going to bother with mine—go here:  

https://www.google.com/search?q=el+caminito+del+rey&sxsrf=ALiCzsbU4MQ4Oom_g-qWSCJySlO8OFFY_Q:1651685843260&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwizqN6fscb3AhXLm6QKHaRVADYQ_AUoAXoECAIQAw&biw=988&bih=637&dpr=2.5

There is a supermarket in El Chorro.  A lady sits behind a desk in a room less than half the size of my kitchen; there is a chain beside her so that you cannot go to the refrigerator in which there was a bit of random produce such as one head of lettuce, a wilted leek and a few other things, like ham.  I bought an apple (not bad), chocolate (not good), and one tomato, (ehhh).  

May 05: Since the apple was good, I went back today to purchase another, but Mirabel did not open her market for the good people of El Chorro or its visitors.

I had bought a ticket way in advance for today's walk, the first of the morning at 9:00.  Caught the bus at 7:50, which was supposed to leave at 8:00, but wait until the appointed hour, the driver did not. There was only one other person on said bus, who, it turned out, was an employee of the restaurant at the access point.  "Wow," I thought, "I am going to have this walk all to myself!"  But, no.

When I got to the starting point, after a very pleasant 2.7 Km. walk through woods, tons of people who did not have reservations were lined up to buy entradas.  No one tells you which line to get in, so I got in the wrong one.  After waiting some time, I figured I had better check, and a guy told me that my "ticket" was not sufficient proof of purchase, nor were the various confirmational e-mails, so, like a naughty delinquent, I was sent to the back of the line of non-ticket holders.  When I finally made it to the booth, it took the woman much time to retrieve my information.  After forty-five minutes of bureaucratic disorganization, I was on the Caminito again.  

A fun job.....for some people:

Today was a rest day; my watch is disappointed in my move goal.  Guess what?  I don't care!  

Villanueva de la Concepción to Valle de Abdalajís, May 03

 Being worried mightily about the weather, I had a great deal of difficulty falling asleep last night. It was blowing and rainy and the report for today was not good!  Concerning for a day with an estimate of six walking hours. (This is not East Rock Park.)

It was cold and misty when I left.  In a little while, the sky looked like this:

It kept clearing in my direction, but as soon as I started feeling, umm, smug, the route turned north towards the dark, ominous sky!  It stared to sprinkle.  Out came the rain gear.  Luckily, the rain did not last long, and the cool, almost cold, weather was good for walking.

What a gorgeous stage this was.  Mountains:

and valleys:

And a misterio del día:

OK, so a wildflower, but what wildflower smells strongly of cilantro?

It's fun to take pictures of snails because they don't run away:

El Camino de Santiago?!  No!!!

(white and red bands: Gr 249, green: GR 7, Sun: Camino de Santiago)

When I arrived in Abdalajís, the sky looked like this:

About an hour later there was a short, rumbly thunderstorm.  Just before the downpour I managed to run to the supermarket where I was able to snag the very last loaf of bread!

Villanueva de Cauche to Villanueva de la Concepción, May 02

Noted:  a couple of previous posts out of order, but too much trouble to fix.

Anyway, today's walk was just lovely!  Of course, it started with a stiff uphill for about 45 minutes but most of the surface was farm track, very nice!

This much green I have never seen in Spain ever!!

In fact, I almost thought I was in Scotland!

The hills are dressed in yellow:

I passed several farms:

And while passing by one of them, there was the tinkle of myriad bells as goats trotted by.  Just beautiful! (No photo; they were herded into a barn before I could get to them.)

It seems one still needs the key to enter paradise: 

 

Frankly, I prefer those cherubs with the flaming swords and all! (

Mysterio del día:

                            

BTW, this is how the hormigitas (little ants) get gussied up to hike:

2.5 Km. is quite a distance for a little fellow!

Two navigational challenges, both at the end—would a day be complete without them?  One involved an invisible path that eventually did become a path and the other was finding the B and B.  The dueña kept WhatsApping: "Go to the end of the street."  But where was Calle S-o-r-o-ll-a?  According to Google Maps, it is in Marbella or Gibraltar, not in Villanueva de la Concepción!  For THIS street, G.Maps uses the spelling S-o-r-o-y-a. Who would know?  It took about 1/2 hour and the asking of many locals before a man kindly directed me.  

This establishment provided a little kitchen so I bought some marinated chicken wings and a potato and cooked up a feast!  A lovely salad—this must be the avocado capital of the world—and a bottle of agua con gas (sparkling water) added to a wonderful meal.  Followed by chocolate.

Riogordo to Villanueva de Cauche, May 01

A few minutes after I got up, shortly before 6:00 a.m., there was a blackout!  I mean pitch dark.  Luckily, I was near the bed, so determined where the pillows were, then reached for the nightstand, felt for my phone, and turned on the flashlight!  Phew!  The power did come back on about ten minutes later.  

There was little in the way of navigation issues today, but the route was very boring.  Mostly uphill as in about four hours of uphill, most of that on asphalt or cement, and for a finale, a several kilometer stretch along a major highway...no shoulder!

This is not El Mysterio del Día:

People do not clean up after their dogs!

This is:

There was some deep mud:

And a stream:

But I ask you: What good is the bridge doing THERE?  Fortunately, the water was not deep, so not the problem of yesterday.

Hotel is on the highway.  There is nothing and I mean nothing around here.  But my room is large, bright, and airy, and there is heat.  Believe it or not, the rooms have been chilly.  It is nice not to be bundled up.

This is the view from my window if you look up:

If you do not lookup, you see a large parking lot.

The hotel has a restaurant, so I decided to have lunch there.  Wish I could say it was great, but the fish was hard to choke down.  Not cooked enough, I think.  It was, however, a nice change from canned tuna, and very civilizing to sit at a nicely-set table with a waiter and all!

Alcaucín to Ventas de Zafarraya, April 29

 A first!  Got going the correct way out of town!  In fact, barely made any wrong turns the whole way.  There was a real path today.  It makes all the difference.  The morning was gorgeous:

There was a lot of uphill, which may suggest why the ibex is a symbol in more than one art form:

Actually, I don't think it was the ascent of that inspired the ibex painting, which really is there to advertise the sculpture, because while steady uphill, it was not all that steep. But the area in general is mountainous with many sharp peaks.

Also, there was a horse:

who, after posing,  resumed his lunch:

Misterio del día:

As I approached Ventas de Zafarraya, where there are some nice stairs:

Close to noon, I decided to check the tracker.  Rojita had not even left Alcaucín.  On arrival in Ventas de Zafarraya, I called el taxista who informed me that she was on her way to Malaga....he had to take someone there this morning, so Rojita went along for the ride!  At about 2:00, she showed up, a mere three hours late.  Not the worst thing in the world, but annoying.  Incidents such as this are, at least, good for Spanish-speaking improvement.  Oh, the dueño of this bar/hotel, thought I was from Seville!!  I think he was just being nice.  

Ventas de Zafaraya to Riogordo, April 30

A long day, about 15 miles, with two major technical difficulties.  but we will get to that.  First, one starts out by going through a tunnel:

And emerging:

Another beautiful morning, crisp and cool; the mist had not yet risen from the mountains:

Along the way, were some impressive-looking fowl:

                

And a baby burro:

And, of course, the Mysterio del Día:

  

First big problem was at a large group of boulders.  On one, painted in large, red letters, PRIVADO accompanied by one of those do-not-go-this-way signs.  So where then?  I tried going up a suspicious looking and very rocky rise.  That could not be right.  Tried again and again.  But, behold, the climbing was not for naught because from the height I could see the path going right beside the mega-rocks, partly hidden by them.  So much for PRIVADO!  That cost about 20 minutes.

Then there was a stream to cross on stepping stones only there were none.  Maybe in August but not now.  Lots of long, stringy, mossy growths under the water meant very slippery.  There was only one thing to do:  take off boots and socks and wade across.  So with boots around neck and socks in waist pack, I plunged in like our intrepid ancestor Nachshon crossing the Sea of Reeds,  but unlike him, I had a slip and fall.  A pole started to drift away.  Catch it!  Then I thought oh, no, my devices, are they ruined?  They were not!  Somehow, picked myself up, made it to the other side, and up a skinny, steep embankment.  A voice: "In 150 feet turn right."  At least I was in the right place.  Using the fabric case of my sunglasses, I dried off my feet, got shod, and continued on only to have some significant pain in a toe.  It is swollen and foot is bruised....we'll see.

There was not a huge amount of uphill today, but most of what there was came near the end, just when you really wish it wouldn't because by then it is hot!  Finally reached Riogordo where I switched to Google Maps to find hotel, but could not. Asked several people, no one could help.  Finally, I saw a man coming out of a house, asked him, and he asked me, "Las Belgas?"  Huh?  "Las Belgas?"  Finally, I realized if he was asking if the people who owned the hotel were Belgian and I remembered from the reservation-making process that they were!  Sí, sí!  And you know what?  He drove me!  It was not that far away, but set back about 2/10 of a mile from the road, I never would have found it. (Google Maps is not infallible.) The place, El Molino de Tablas, is gorgeous.  It is like staying in an exquisite park with lush plantings, a maze of terraces, and walkways.  I had no desire to go into town!  Well, only to determine where tomorrow's route starts and luckily, it is close by.

The drama continues, however, because I got an e-mail from Jesús, the proprietor of last night's pension, informing me that I had left without paying!  I thought booking.com had already charged me, since that is their custom, but they had not.  How to get Jesús his €20?  I figured that out with Peggy, the Belga!!  Disaster averted!

 

Competa to Alcaucín, April 28

I had been quite anxious about today's walk.  Guy designates it "difficult;" my limit, "medium-difficult."  There were descriptives like: it is hard to find your way, the path is overgrown in places, the clouds can descend very quickly over Mt Maroma; there were 1060 meters of ascent, 860 of descent, quite concentrated: 

  (not impossible, but a lot in 17.5 km.) and the time estimate was almost seven hours, which for me, with such difficulties, would mean at least eight.  "You know what," I mused, "I am going to take the road."  I can deal with three and a half hours on a highway.  

It turned out to be a rather nice walk.  The road was not a highway at all, more like a serpentine country road, one lane, but a car coming in the other direction could pass if everyone had their wits about them—and the views were lovely.

I met Doggums who wanted to come with me:

And, oh-ho, what is this!  (Here on in, Misterio del Día.)

Max identified the last print as that of old-man Moses.  Is this his, too, or are we in a different era?  Very suspicious!

When I arrived at the hotel I told the proprietress about my unwillingness to do the mountain route.  She then told me that a couple of years ago a woman got lost on that route; no, she did not die.  When friends realized that she had not shown up by dinner time, they notified the Guardia Civil, who searched for her by helicopter and found her two days later.  Scary story! I asked, "Is tomorrow's route the same?"  She said, "No!"  

Went to tiny grocery store where the clerk was decked out así (like this):

"Where did you get that sweatshirt?" I asked.  She just shrugged; she had no idea what she was advertising!  

My Spanish has improved over the past couple of years; I have even talked on the phone—definitely not my favorite thing to do!  But very gratifying all the same.