Sol Walking
By Phil Ramsbottom
In 1984 my sister and her husband bought an apartment on the Costa del Sol, I wasn't particularly interested but went along for a Christmas visit in the interest of family relations - only to be pleasantly surprised.
Since then Linda and I have been regular visitors to the area and have seen so many changes that it is now difficult to look back and take them all in. During that time Spain has entered the EEC resulting in vast changes brought about by the injection of vast sums of European money.
An example springs to mind: in 1985 I visited one of the many white villages which are such an attractive feature of the area, I have a picture taken on the edge of the village showing a man using two oxen to plough a field. Although the centre of that village is as pretty as ever, the village is now four times the size it was, being surrounded by holiday apartments and modern villas.
The field is now covered in concrete.
The recent history of the area is to say the least quite interesting, at the end of the civil war some of the locals were persecuted for collaborating with the losing side and rather than face years in prison or forced labour they took to the hills. Here they were joined by a mixed bunch of thieves and outlaws and supported by communist fighters. Hiding in the hills and moving mostly by night they continued to defy Francos forces. As recently as 1952 the last rebel leader was shot, his body was carried on the back of a donkey through a village and left in full view of the villagers all afternoon. There are still locals alive who can remember these times although not many will talk about them.
A short distance from the coast the Axarquia mountains rise up giving a very attractive backdrop to many views looking North. It was these views which aroused my interest all those years ago. I acquired a set of what maps were available at the time and started to plan walks up the more obvious peaks. It did not take long to realise that although the maps look very attractive they bear very little relation to what the very complex terrain actually looks like.
(In the last few years a new guidebook and map have been published which I have so far found reliable and accurate).
The hills are criss-crossed with a multitude of tracks and paths, many of which started life as simple donkey trading routes between the coast and cities like Granada, some of the tracks have been “improved” to allow vehicle access to remote cortijos, quarries and houses but a lot of the narrow paths remain as evidence of how well the old travellers used to know their hills.
For the last few years I have been lucky to have been able to spend the early part of the year in the area. This winter I have enjoyed some excellent walking up some of the main peaks in the area. Our reward for five days in the car was to arrive on a cold, dull, rainy day. The next couple of days continued dull, then the sun came out and stayed with us for a month.
I decided that even though Christmas was bearing down on us the hills were also calling.
Pico Lucero (1775M) is the one mountain which will catch the eye of any mountaineer visiting the area, from almost any angle it is a beautiful pyramid shape nicely set apart from all the neighbouring peaks.
The ascent can be surprisingly easy – as long as you are prepared to drive about 12 miles along a dusty stony track. In a hire car - yes, in my own car which still has to get us back to the UK – definitely no. So my approach adds an extra two hours walking. When the two routes join a simple climb up to a pass finally brings the peak into view, a steep pyramid of rock, the face of which is crossed by a zigzag path which was originally used to give access to an old Guardia Civil lookout building right on the summit. I once almost turned back here, the path crosses the North side of a subsidiary peak, on that day it was holding a steep bank of snow which had frozen rock hard, no amount of kicking would give any purchase whatsoever. The only reason I carried on was that I had passed two Spanish walkers on the way up and I decided that if I did fall they would see me.
These are not mountains to have an accident in, rescue facilities are not to be relied on and most days in the hills are spent entirely alone. Just to enhance matters phone and GPS coverage can be very patchy.
This year I had the mountain to myself, I sat on the summit enjoying views across to the Sierra Nevada – on that day it was holding very little snow for the skiers. Looking South the Med was glistening in the sun, on that day the African coast was obscured by cloud but on a clear day it can be seen from here.
After such a promising start Christmas came along and we spent a lot of time catching up with family and friends.
Early in January I enjoyed a day walking a circuit of the Chillar valley which runs north from the coastal town of Nerja. The valley is carved by a lovely river which gives a very entertaining scramble in and out of rock pools and up waterfalls. I returned along a path known as the Liman Trail which is a perfect example of the route finding abilities of the early travellers. On a warm and sunny Sunday I walked for seven and a half hours and saw four people.
Five days later I was ready for some of the big stuff, the weather was still very settled so I decided to attempt La Maroma (2066M). Maromas character is different from most of the other peaks, it is shaped more like Ben Nevis but with a very steep South face, a slightly more gentle North face and a very extensive summit plateau. I had already climbed the mountain from the North but for some reason that I cannot explain I wanted to climb it from the South. Last year I made an attempt but had to give in after I ran out of time – much of which was spent in trying to find my way out of a labyrinth of narrow streets in the village that I decided to start from. This year I was better prepared and I made a pre-dawn start to be sure.
The sunrise turned the whole mountain red as I followed a winding jeep track for a couple of hours, this gave access to a very well graded path, which found a way on to the plateau.
From there a gradually rising path led to the fine trig point which must be five metres high and is equipped with via ferrata type staples to allow people to say that they are without doubt the highest person in Andalucia.
For the one and only time in the holiday I shared a summit with other people, the cloud was bubbling up to the West but the sun continued to shine for the rest of the day as I made my way happily down.
By this time in the holiday I was starting to feel that this was my year, I had been considering a couple of more ambitious walks which looked to be possibilities in the continuing good weather. But first I needed to check a couple of paths which I was unfamiliar with.
The view from the “Balcon de Europa” in Nerja is dominated by El Cielo (1510M) which is really the end of a long ridge and almost a disappointment when you actually reach the summit as it is the final point on a broad ridge leading away into the distance. I had already climbed it several times but I had heard of a very quick descent which drops 1000 metres in 2 kilometres, this would form part of a later plan. I made the ascent on yet another warm sunny day in mid January, starting in the dark and reaching the top 4 hours later. I found my way down - eventually, certainly not by the best line but it was a very useful exercise as I knew what mistakes I had made and how to avoid them. For once I did not have the mountain to myself, despite my early start. When I was still 40 minutes from the summit I met someone coming down.
After the El Cielo walk the settled sunny weather came to an end to be replaced by a cooler spell which was dominated by a strong North West wind bringing snow to the high summits and making the views inland from the coast even more attractive.
To avoid walking in what appeared (from the coast) to be deep snow I decided to follow a section of one of the old muleteers trading routes which was used to carry goods from the coast to Granada. This took a route through the village of Acebuchal which today has about 20 houses but around 1948 was probably even smaller, the villagers had been supporting the rebels who were living in the hills so they were ordered out of their houses which were then burnt to the ground. The village lay derelict until 1998 when one man decided to rebuild it, at the time there was not even a supply of electricity or drinking water. Now it is a lovely spot tucked away in a steep sided valley where you can buy a decent meal and rent a secluded holiday home.
I followed the trail to a pass known as the Puerta Frigliana for 8 hours without seeing a soul.
On the way back I had a look at the start of the path up Cerro Cisne (1483M), this was one ascent that I now had in mind. From the coast the mountain appears totally unimpressive, just a rounded green shape with two small bumps, but from across the Higueron valley it reveals a totally different side with a steep rocky buttress rising up to a rocky ridge. The hill has the reputation of being the toughest ascent in the area which I put down to its remoteness and the fact that most of the ascent is done in one long slog up a rough gulley. From the bottom I couldn't make any firm assessment so I decided to come back.
For the next six days the weather improved and the snow on the tops seemed to be thinning so I decided to give it a go. For once I decided on a Sunday, that being the day when any local walkers were likely to be around, something that I decided could be useful if anything went wrong.
I left the car on a very cold, dark morning with the sun just touching the tops across the valley. I was to spend the next four hours in the shade so I tried to maintain a brisk pace. The bigger peaks farther to the North were hidden by heavy cloud but my path climbed steadily to the Collado Blanquilla pass from where a cloud free Cisne came into view, I then had to drop down into the valley and climb out on the far side to start the ascent.
After two hours I was finally at the bottom of the hill. The climb up was much easier than I was expecting, it was steep and rough but clearly marked with green paint and so within an hour and a half I was at a pass on the ridge which I expected to lead to the top. This was where the surprises started, the path dropped down the far side of the ridge and traversed into a gulley between a subsidiary top and the summit. The subsidiary top is a very fine piece of rock in its own right, possibly around 400-500 feet high and composed of what appeared to be very solid rock, I spotted a few promising looking lines but not a trace of any climbing activity. The 3 hour approach and lack of water would probably deter most climbers (not to mention the fact that the huge expanse of rock at El Chorro can be reached in less than two hours).
In the gulley the paint marks suddenly disappeared, the gulley dropped steeply away with the bottom completely out of sight and the way up involving some tricky scrambling on verglas coated rock. I still hadn't seen anybody all day and suddenly became aware that in a few minutes things had become much more serious. Nevertheless I continued - albeit much more cautiously. The gulley ended on a grassy col with the summit rocks rising up on the left, these gave a very pleasant scramble to the metal post marking the top – there was no room for a cairn. I was planning a nice long rest at the top but with cloud still hanging around the surrounding summits and the thought of reversing the scramble down the gulley nagging away at me I had a brief rest and set off down.
The descent went surprisingly smoothly and I was soon enjoying my lunch within easy reach of the valley track where I met four Spanish walkers on their way up, the only people I was to meet all day.
After success on Cerro Cisne I had one ambition remaining. Leading North from El Cielo is a long ridge rising up to Navachica (1832M), both mountains are decent days out in their own right, but to climb one and follow the ridge for around four miles to the other would be a very fine day which I had been considering for a few years. In order to take advantage of the strong North West wind I decided that I would climb Navachica first and descend from El Cielo using the fast descent I had already reccied. The weather was fairly settled but the cold wind was bringing overnight snow, not very much but enough to make me cautious.
I decided to start from a track which leads North from the Cuevas de Nerja, driving up this would take me four miles into the hills and cut the day down to a more acceptable proposition.
Leaving the car at 8 it was just about light enough to see the path as it followed a dry riverbed through a steep sided gorge, very rough going over all the big rounded boulders. The path follows this gorge for an hour and a half, climbing out of it a couple of times to avoid rockfalls which have blocked the direct way through. Eventually the gorge divides and the red paint marks lead off to the left for a few metres before turning right into yet another gorge, this involves a series of short scrambly steps, I was a little concerned that these may be covered in snow but they were all clear and I was soon climbing steeply out of the gorge and into the open. The temperature was cool but it was remarkably still and I started to plan my first stop on the summit, half an hour later I was still plodding on and the summit was still a way off, the temperature was dropping noticeably so I decided to stop and add a few layers of clothing.
Once I was moving again the wind was starting to make its presence felt, and it was getting colder with each step I climbed. When I eventually crested the ridge the full force of an icy North West blast hit me and disappointment started to rise as I realised that the clothes I was wearing were not up to the intense cold – I made the mistake of taking off my gloves and instantly lost all feeing in my fingers.
I reached the ice covered trig column where I managed to persuade my stiff fingers to take a couple of hasty pictures before turning downhill. Once I had the wind behind me I started to warm up and paused to look at the ridge leading over several minor tops towards El Cielo, perhaps I should just do the first couple of tops and then take stock.
So I carried on, the first two tops were uneventful and I could use them to shelter me from the wind, this warmed me and I decided that as long as I could keep moving I could justify the probability that I was the only person for 3 miles in any direction. On and on the ridge continued, it was certainly varied – some of the little bumps were rounded, some were short rocky outcrops but all were completely pathless.
After a couple of hours I climbed yet another rise and at last the big cross on the summit of El Cielo appeared in the far distance, it was still not easy to get there, the minor tops in between did not line up so it was necessary to weave this way and that to find the best line.
Finally at two thirty I was there, the sun was now shining brightly and the temperature was more typical of Southern Spain, I found a sheltered spot and had a very welcome rest, enjoying fine views East to the Sierra Nevada and South to the Mediteranean.
All that I needed to complete a fantastic day was to find my way straight down to my car. This time I got the line completely right and just over an hour later I was taking off my boots for the last time for this holiday.
I hope I have painted an accurate picture of the hills in this area, for a winter visit I would seriously recommend it, perhaps not in preference to a promising Scottish weather forecast but next time you are scratching your head wondering where you may find some decent winter weather check the Malaga flights and give it a thought.
