Last Seasons Blog

Last Seasons Blog is still available to view via this link.
I do ask for a €2 donation from each walker, but only once per week. Half goes to S.O.S Animals, Spain and the other half going to ARCH Horse charity, AID Animal Charity and CUDECA.

Tuesday, 31 January 2017

Saturday 28th January 2017 – Trees and Golf, Alhaurin el Grande.

The route chosen for today had been tried by the Thursday group some weeks ago but in the opposite direction and at least the weather was now improving for the daytime and the walk was completed in sunshine. From the start we headed upwards in to the forest and when we reached the prehistoric fiver bed with its strange shapes and holes I persuaded John Milborrow, our own amateur geologist, to give a brief explanation of how the area was formed.

We continued along the route until we reached the next feature of interest which was the Pee Mine, so named by John Campbell because I discovered it when I needed a pee. Most of the group entered the mine where John M was able to explain why it was there and what was once mined.
Back onto the track and a little further we reach the area used for Skeet Shooting, and which has magnificent views of the Valle de Guadalhorce, then from here it’s back onto the track.
Eventually we reach the edge of the forest and head out into open countryside and after a scramble up a steep bank and over the fence we are into the Olive plantations and the views across the valley. We continue on this terrain and have to climb another fence and exit onto tarmaced roads which take us back to the start.


This walk had a new record attendance with a total of 40 walkers.

Thursday 26th January 2017 – Puerto Alto, Guaro

This was a more difficult route and unfortunately one that I am no longer able to take however I have done this route twice before.


Please read the original post from last year from this LINK, the only real difference was those who did the route and the bad state of the path at the start of the return descent.


Saturday 21st January 2017 – Cartama Estacion to El Sexmo

This was another route that had not yet been tried and tested and it was somewhat worrying for me when the email replies kept coming in and we ended up with a group equalling the highest attendance to date, 36. Just as well that I had checked the first part of the route the day before because it was a dry river bed, but fortunately it was still dry.
We met and started from the edge of Cartama Estacion and straight away walked into the river bed which was in fact very dry, and continued to head for our exit point which was a concrete crossing. However this crossing showed considerable destruction indicating that the river had been flowing quite strongly during the recent deluges.
We walked along a track on the edge of the urbanization until we came to a fence blocking the planned route, but likely there was an alternative and this was through the village. The route took us back out into the campo with splendid views al around. As we turned off the main road we passed with view of the ‘Schloss’ which I am told was built some years ago by a German Lottery winner.

The route now headed down into the valley of the Arroyo del Torres, which is again a dry river. Here we took a break for the obligatory group photo which in fact was taken by a friendly passing local, so for one the whole group is in shot.


This dry Arroyo was then followed back to the outskirts of the town and back to the starting point after a surprisingly pleasant route and a good attendance.



Thursday 12th January 2017 – Voltacado

Originally the Thursday walks where designed for a small group to explore new routes that could or could not be undertaken by the Saturday group. However the Thursday routes are now sometimes as popular as the main Saturday walks and this was one of those times. I have walked in this area many times before, but several years ago, with my beautiful dog Lily, now unfortunately and sadly passed on after sniffing the deadly Procession Caterpillar, but never this particular route.

The walk was something of a disaster, after we had parked up at the start of the track that leads eventually to Mijas Golf and started the walk, it immediately became clear that I would be struggling on the way back with the steepness of it. We walked down the track with stunning views to the coast, and on a clearer day Gibraltar and the Atlas Mountains are visible, and indeed the views were stunning all around.
The track descended around hairpin bends and kept descending and I then remembered that in the past I had always taken the car down to this point before letting Lily free, which is why I had never noticed how steep the track was. Eventually we found that the route I had planned and left the main track was in fact now almost disappeared and was blocked by a fence, our resident explorer, John Milborrow, investigated and found that in fact a section of the fence was able to be opened, so we passed through.
What had some time ago been the track was now mainly washed away so the going was not easy at times and quite steep. At the bottom of the valley the way had been blocked and it soon became visible as to why. The recent storms had caused some landslips and the tracks were no longer passable to vehicles, however on foot was still passable so we continued, taking a well earned break on dry ford. The GPX then indicated that we took the overgrown track up towards the water tank at which point we found locked gates across the route and that even if we managed to continue it was onto someone’s private drive.

We turned around and retraced our steps back up to the main track that we had left and took this heading back for the cars. After a while we hit the really steep parts of the way back and it was at this points I was ordered to sit and stay and someone would return to take me up to the start by car, luckily a couple of the ladies in the group were also struggling and they stayed with me.
I have to apologise for the walk turning out not exactly as planned, but as always the banter was great and of course I was the butt of most of it. We had 19 on this walk and thankfully not more!


Sunday, 8 January 2017

Rio Grande - Saturday 7th January 2017

This walk started by walking between the administration area of the Forest Firefighters Base and Airfield and the heap of gravel that have been extracted from the bed of the Rio Grande and then onto the banks of the river. In the past I have walked along the track that is used extensively bu vehicles visiting the stables which is located a few hundred metres ahead or the many families that use this area for a picnic at the weekends. This is no longer possible as the recent monsoon like rains caused the river to swell to such proportions that the track has been washed away. Our route was along the top of the now somewhat reduced banks close to the adjoining fields. Amazingly the amount of water that is now flowing in the river is little more than one would normally see in early summer.

We reach the Bridge that carries the drovers track over the river, which thankfully appears to have been unaffected, and head off into the countryside. In the past I have walked this route in an anticlockwise direction but today, for a change, to do it clockwise. We leave the Drovers track after only a few metres and head along a track that runs parallel with the river and is access to the fincas and fields that are scattered along this route. It is obvious that the recent rains had done a huge amount of damage to the track as it had recently been repaired and regarded which is something that had not happened for the previous 5 years that i have been using the track.

We reach a T junction and normally I would take the track to the left and head down to the riverside, but this track was still very wet and muddy and it was obvious that the track alongside the river was impassable. Fortunately the alternative route to the right is virtually only an S bend on the current track. Again the evidence of the water damage is obvious with hastily built new walls and the banks of dried mud on the edges of the track.

At the end of this track we come to another T junction and turn right and head further out into the countryside and leave the fincas and weekend properties behind as we head through the arable fields on an agricultural track. From this track we are offered views of the Sierra de las Nieves but unfortunately the atmosphere was very misty and the views very restricted.  We reach the top of this section and drop down and join the Drovers track some one and a half kilometres from the bridge that we crossed earlier. I know the distance very well as this was a route that I rode often on my bicycle and timed myself up the measured incline. The views are now in the nearer distance and across the valley to Pizzarra and Alora and further to Alhaurin de la Torre and the Sierra de Mijas.

I have ridden and walked this particular stretch many time over the past few years and know the environment quite well, but I was amazed at what the deluge of a few weeks previous had dome. Apart from the damage to the track itself, which is a well used route for access to the many agricultural enterprises, there was evidence of totally new water courses that had formed. It was then a n easy walk down this track and back to the bridge and then retracing our route along the river banks and back to the start.


Although the weather was dull it kept dry, if a little chilly. We had a very good turnout of 31 walkers, and several dogs, including the organiser of the U3A Country Walks Mr Vernon Bailey whom I hope enjoyed the route as the U3A are doing this same route on the following Monday. This was bad planning on my part when I changed the schedule recently.



Thursday, 5 January 2017

The Guard Tower and German Valley

Today was the first walk of the New Year, and normally the Thursday walks are to discover and test new routes, which in fact this was, but the walk was attended by 22 people. It really was a good job that the route planned out OK otherwise it could have been very embarrassing.



We parked on the side of the main track that leads to Barranco Blanco or White Revine and headed off through the Pine woods and onto the now derelict infrastructure of yet another failed urbanisation project. We the left this and took to the original way into the valley and past the Bavarian style building that was the Guard Tower for the valley when it was used by the Nazi’s during WW2.




The walk then takes us down into the valley and offers us some spectacular views across the countryside and to the sea, but the damage done by the recent monsoon type rainfalls was clearly visible. Eventually we reach the bottom and take a break alongside the skeletal remains of yet another failed development. We then start to pass the large villas that surround the lake and start out trek out of the valley and up the tarmaced entrance road.


The weather was ideal for walking being sunny with clear blue skies but not too warm.