Water channels

This morning as we walked north on the GR 243, we stumbled upon what we originally speculated was a very large acequia carrying water to be used in irrigating the terraced orchards covering the steep hillsides rising from the Río Grande. But on checking in the GR 243 topoguide after we got home, we saw that it was actually an old channel that carried water to the now-abandoned San Augusto power station. (A reminder that we should read the topoguide BEFORE we walk rather than after! The topoguide also warned that the small path to the gauging station “is not recommended for sufferers of vertigo or those uncomfortable on unsteady terrain.” Luckily we didn’t even see that trail.)

In 2018, we spent a lot of time admiring the incredible engineering of the long-distance acequias in the Sierra Nevada mountains in Granada province. Those date from the time when Muslims settled in Andalucia between 800 and 1400. They developed a system where acequias de careo led snowmelt to permeable ground where the water could seep into fissures and re-emerge in village fuentes during the dry summer months. It was then led through acequias de riego to irrigate crops. Those acequias were all beautiful stone-lined channels of great antiquity. I imagine the same would have been true here a hundred years ago, but the ones we are seeing now have all been remodeled with concrete channels - not anywhere near as pretty, but easier to maintain.

www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/tolox-gr-243-nort…Read more