Yunquera

Ever since 2009 when we came over the pass at Lifa station on our mountain bikes and saw the trail marker pointing one way to El Burgo (where we were headed) and the other way to Yunquera, we have wanted to see this spot. Who could resist a village with such a magical name, not to mention that arrow pointing temptingly deeper into the mountains! Now, exactly 16 years and five days later, here we finally are. And it is indeed magical. When we stand at our front door, we are directly at the foot of Cerro de la Blanquilla. It is only 6 km by trail from here to the top of the mountain! (Of course, there’s also the little matter of 776 meters /2545 ft of elevation gain on an unmarked expanse of bare rock…but maybe a bit of it is doable by me.)

We have a very traditional Spanish apartment right at the edge of town. Francisco, the friendly owner, has been corresponding with me for a couple of weeks, giving me ideas and helping me with logistics. His mother and father ran the restaurant below the apartment for 46 years; his dad was the manager and his mom the cook. Now that they have retired, the restaurant is closed, and I think Francisco is converting the building into apartments. We are very grateful for his enthusiasm and help, and also for the empanadas his mom made us as a gift for lunch.

Our walk today was around town, but I forgot to turn on Wikiloc. The GR 243 connects Tolox and Yunquera, but we came by taxi for the usual reasons. The middle of the route beyond the point where we walked yesterday is totally along a river that is deep and wide. We have no information about its current status.Read more