The second half of the story

We think today’s walk provided the second half of the story to the question that has been in our minds since our walk from Tolox where we stumbled upon the gauging station and the large canal whose destination at that time was unknown to us. Today’s walk supplied the answer: it appears the canal fed a very long penstock that delivered water from the Aguilera stream to the San Augusto hydroelectric station (no longer functioning) on the Río Grande de Tolox. What a tremendous undertaking that must have been. The date on the building is 1932, so its construction preceded the Spanish Civil War by four years. There were evidently three hydroelectric stations that were part of the same system: the one just below Yunquera that we almost got to, but not quite; the San Augusto station that we saw today; and one in between those two points that we haven’t walked anywhere near, San Pascual.

Our route took us south from Alozaina, and gave us wonderful views of the surrounding mountains as well as Alozaina and Tolox as we walked downhill to Arroyo de Los Valles. There were five stream crossings which had us wondering ahead of time, but all turned out to be easy to cross. For the return leg, we walked up the valley of the Río Grande de Tolox, past the power station, along a section of single track, and then onto wider dirt and concrete tracks before joining the A366 back to Alozaina.

Note re the video: We met the shepherd and his dogs shortly after, and he confirmed there were more than 200 sheep in his flock.

www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/alozaina-central-…Læs mere