|
MY WALKING WORLD David Preston |
|
A couple
of walks in the Mountains near Nerja in Spain - June 2008 |
|
|
| |
|
|
On our holiday to Nerja in
Spain we stayed at the resort of Torrox Costa near Nerja, I
went for a few walks while I was there and they are described
below. The mountains of the Sierra Nevada are quite close and
a 90 cent bus ride to Nerja brings you to the start of some
wonderful walking country. The Tourist Office in Nerja has a
guidebook with a few walks in and I used this as a start to
explore the mountains which are a short distance away |
|
From Nerja the first walk
runs along the river bed of the Chillar River and eventually
arrives at La Presa (The Dam) I set off with high hopes but
never actually reached the dam although I must have been
fairly close. I started at 11.15hrs and walked and waded
through the river for 2½ hours, After my lunch I decided to
return the way I had come as it was quite tiring and I wanted
to get the 16.10 bus back from Nerja to Torrox Costa. It was
an exciting walk, most of the time was spent walking along the
river bed ankle deep in water, scrambling up water falls and
with occasional sections in very narrow gorges barely 6
feet wide, definitely not the place to be in bad weather as I
could see the evidence of the flash floods that must roar
through the narrow gorges. The distance from the road to the
dam is around 8kms (5 miles) and when I turned round I think I
could have been only a few hundred metres to go, progress was
very slow and I made the correct decision to leave the dam for
another day. It was another 2½ hours of river walking
before I got back to Nerja. A very exciting walk but remote.
|
| |
|
|
On the outskirts of Nerja and
looking down towards the River Chillar. Its dried up in this area at
this time of the year |
 |
| |
|
|
Down on the track running alongside the river and heading for the
mountains, the river is a mere trickle here and disappears
occasionally |
 |
| |
|
| The start of the
gorge with the trickle of a river |
 |
| |
|
|
Superb scenery as
you get further up the gorge with many birds, butterflies and
dragonflies |
 |
| |
|
|
There are many
long stretches where you just have to wade through the water, its was
ankle deep in most parts with occasional places that were knee deep |
 |
| |
|
|
Very narrow in
this section and you could touch both walls at the same time.
Dams had been built in parts which had the effect of creating pools
that were knee deep. |
 |
| |
|
|
This
debris was about 8 feet high and the water was over my knees here. As
you can see it would be dangerous to walk through here if it had been
raining or if there was any chance of bad weather.
Flash floods would be a serious
problem here |
 |
| |
|
| Ankle deep in
water and loving every minute of it |
 |
| |
|
|
Further up, the gorge widens out and there are many waterfalls
that you have to scramble up |
 |
| |
|
This is as far as I went in 2½
hours of walking and wading. After a lunch break I set off back down
the river
I wanted to go further as I am
sure the dam was very close but you have to decide when to stop. That
is saved for another day |
 |
| |
|
|
This walk today was another from
the guidebook and runs from near the Caves of Nerja to the Esparto
Fountain, from there a path runs along the hillside and then drops
down into the Gorge on the Chillar River, My plan was to link the two
walks together and it turned out to be an excellent walk |
| |
|
| Near
the start of the walk not far from the Caves at Nerja |
 |
| |
|
| The track to the
Esparto Fountain takes you along the hillside on the right and at the
end of the valley its curves round onto the hillside in the
distance |
 |
| |
|
| The is a picnic
area a few miles up the track which is accessible by car as long
as you travel slowly |
 |
| |
|
| This way
to the Fuente del Esparto ( The Esparto Fountain) |
 |
| |
|
|
The
Esparto Fountain - The guidebook says this water is drinkable and I
wanted to top my water bottle up but there was a lot of bees buzzing
around the water spout on the wall and I thought its better to be
thirsty than stung |
 |
| |
|
|
Looking back
from near the Fountain to the track I had just walked up |
 |
| |
|
|
Looking
back you can see the track I had walked up on the right and then it
curves round and heads up past the Esparto Fountain. There are some
impressive mountains here that will be worth a visit in the future |
 |
| |
|
| Looking down into
the next valley from the hilltop. The River Chillar and the
gorge are far below down in the valley |
 |
| |
|
| Having
a breather before setting off down to the river |
 |
| |
|
|
This is the path junction where
you leave the main track and descend down to the River Chillar |
 |
| |
|
|
Looking down the path into the
gorge |
 |
| |
|
| The path is marked
in places with blue paint on some of the rocks |
 |
| |
|
|
Looking down into the gorge |
 |
| |
|
| The
well marked path junction on the river bank in the gorge |
 |
| |
|
| Looking back up the hillside
that I had just come down |
 |
| |
|
|
The temperature in
the gorge was just right and the water was lovely and cool |
 |
| |
|
|
The debris from the flash floods
was piled up high and was a useful reminder that you should not be
here in bad weather |
 |
| |
|
|
One of the waterfalls I had just
scrambled down |
 |
| |
|
|
Looking down one of the falls. It
was about 10ft down with an easy scramble on the left hand side |
 |
| |
|
|
More debris from
the flash floods - It must have 10ft down to the river - I think this
had come from a side channel that came steeply down the mountainside
to join the main river |
 |
| |
|
| Narrow
in places |
 |
| |
|
| Nearly at the
end of the walk before emerging out from the narrow valley. The river
is now a mere trickle |
 |
| |
|
|
Return
to Home page |
|
|
Return to Walking Log |
|
| |
|
| |
|
