Lanjarón: the other side of the tajo

Every day we look out our window at the sheer red-and black rock face of the Tajo Colorao across the Río Lanjarón. Today we walked around to the other side of it. It was so different, so green and smooth and verdant, that at first we thought we were looking in the wrong place. After thinking about it for a while, we are guessing that the sheer north face was cut down by the powerful river over thousands of years, leaving the south face to the gentler erosion of wind and rain.

It was an easy walk today - much appreciated after yesterday! We got an early start to avoid the hottest part of the day. The area we walked through lies between the Río Lanjarón and the Río Guadalfeo. It held two interesting surprises for us, both described in the ADR fichas. First was the Casa de los Peones Camineros del Visillo. Built in the early 1900s, this was a house in which two families of road maintenance workers lived. They were in charge of this section of the road that connects the Alpujarra with Granada.
Beside the house, a small mine excavated in the hillside served as a refuge for the inhabitants of the house during the Civil War.

The house was very utilitarian and identical to others built throughout the Alpujarra. In fact, there was a whole network of accommodations for these road maintenance workers throughout the country. For those of you who are walking here, there is a website with photos and maps for all of Spain at https://www.casillasdepeonescamineros.es/

Our second find was the Cortijo de La Campana. It was the most important cortijo in Lanjarón during the 1900s, both in terms of size and the agricultural activity that took place there. We walked down its lane to get a closer look, but the gates were locked. Although the building is in ruins, the land around it is clearly being used. There were several cars parked inside the gates, and workers were visible in the fields near the building. As we walked on, we got a better view of the olive groves. There are 16 clearly defined layers of bancales, all meticulously maintained.

Quite a nice day!Read more