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Spain Monda

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  • TravelerSpain 2025 - Malaga province
    2
    11
    Day 45

    The second half of the story

    April 15 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 54 °F

    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-…    Read more

  • TravelerSpain 2025 - Malaga province
    15
    Day 28

    GR 243 Guaro to Monda

    March 29 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 63 °F

    It’s amazing what a few days of brilliant sunshine with highs in the mid 70s will do for drying up tracks and paths. We were able to walk from Guaro to Monda on the GR today without any problems at all. All of the fords we were worried about were dry. We were passed by two mountain bikers on the trail, but otherwise we didn’t see anyone else even though it’s a Saturday and you would expect lots of people to be out. The route has a remote feeling of being out in the mountains with high peaks close by.

    Back in Guaro, it was obvious that something special was going on. In front of the ayuntamiento, just below our house, musicians were setting up amplifiers and children were gathering around floats. It must be something like the village’s Saint day. From our rooftop, we have a front row seat for the festivities.

    www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/gr-243-guaro-mond…    Read more

  • TravelerSpain 2025 - Malaga province
    1
    Day 36

    Water channels

    April 6 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 59 °F

    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

  • TravelerSpain 2025 - Malaga province
    211
    Day 35

    Thanks to Wikiloc…

    April 5 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 54 °F

    We were lucky with conversations this morning. A man who was out early cleaning the streets saw our hiking gear and chatted with us for several minutes about the state of the trails, how much water there was in the rivers, how many days a week he worked, and all the other questions we could think of to ask him. Next we noticed a gathering just outside the village with women cooking refreshments and setting up tables. One of them turned and called out to us. We were surprised that anybody would notice us, and then all of a sudden, we realized it was the friendly woman from the museum yesterday who had given us so much background about the village. She told us they were getting ready for a celebration that included a 20 km horseback ride with all the horses decked out in their best finery.

    They certainly had a great day for the fiesta. A few clouds in the sky gave welcome shade, but yesterday‘s rain was gone. We made our way up the GR 243 between Tolox and Guaro following the plentiful GR markings. When we were up high enough to see both Yunquera and Alozaina, we stopped for a snack break and then took a rough dirt track back to Tolox.

    Every day that we have a successful walk like this, we marvel that we can come to a village that we knew nothing about a year ago, and thanks to the Wikiloc app, we can find interesting tracks to walk in a different direction every day. By using the filters in Wikiloc’s search function, we can find local tracks of a certain length or a certain elevation gain, and we can even sort tracks by how recently they were uploaded They all have copious notes from local walkers, pointing out things to see and spots that might be tricky. It really is amazing to be able to find such obscure trails and follow them so easily.

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

  • TravelerSpain 2025 - Malaga province
    123
    Day 34

    Rest day in Tolox

    April 4 in Spain ⋅ 🌧 57 °F

    It would be more accurate to call it a business day because we had some paperwork we needed to complete for my wrist accident. Ned found a helpful papelería where we could print up the necessary forms.

    We had enough time left over to visit the local museum. It has a personalized collection of items donated by local families. The trillo (thresher) was particularly interesting because, unlike the one that formed our table base in Marbella, it did not use embedded sharp stones for the cutting edges. Instead, it had iron bars that were notched into the toboggan-like wooden sled. Old photos show local farmers sitting on these while a mule pulled the sled around and around on a stone threshing floor (an era) to separate the wheat from the chaff.

    The lady in charge of the museum explained everything, particularly emphasizing how hard life was all through the 1900s in villages like this. All the water used in a house had to be hauled up from the river in jugs that were stored in specially designed holders, los cantareras, in the kitchen.

    She pointed out a photo of the central plaza taken in 1900 (125 years ago!) showing a water channel that ran through town. It was opened from time to time and in the summertime, children delighted in splashing in it.    Read more

  • TravelerSpain 2025 - Malaga province
    131341
    Day 32

    An unexpected discovery

    April 2 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 54 °F

    When I was planning this trip at home last winter, I ran across an article online saying that the Diputación de Malaga was establishing two new trails in Tolox, one highlighting the rocks of the area and the other the plants. The news article didn’t tell where the trails started, and there weren’t any helpful tracks on Wikiloc yet, so one of my main goals this morning was to get back by 2 PM from whatever walk we took in order to get to the information center before it closed and ask them about the trailhead locations.

    We started out by exploring the area around the spa, marveling at the old buildings and the tall eucalyptus trees. As we worked our way up Cerro de Hijar, we came around a corner and there right in front of us was a big sign announcing Sendero Geológico. Even better, Sendero Botánico was right across the lane!

    The Sendero Geológico was quite informative. It turns out that the Río Horcajos area in Tolox is the site of an eruption of peridotitic rocks of colossal size, the largest of this class of rocks known in the world . The outdoor display has boulder-size chunks of 14 different types of rocks prevalent in this area plus an explanatory timeline and map. We came away feeling like we could at least identify the peridotitic rocks with their greenish shadings.

    The Sendero Botánico identifies 28 plants, some of them endemic to this area, in its kilometer-long loop. Parts of the trail are rocky and steep, meaning I was concentrating more on where I was putting my feet than on the plant names. I did learn that the bees love matagallo.

    www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/tolox-balneario-s…    Read more

  • TravelerSpain 2025 - Malaga province
    2
    421112
    Day 31

    Tolox

    April 1 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 70 °F

    The big quandary of this part of the trip has been the condition of the long distance trails. The GR 249, the Gran Senda de Malaga, has its own website with trail updates on it. Several stages nearby are closed right now because of trail damages.

    The GR 243, the Gran Senda de la Sierra de las Nieves, the GR we are on now, does not have any up-to-date information online. Reports from people who have walked Wikiloc tracks in this area within the last two weeks are available though, and they are mixed. One for the area between Guaro and Tolox reports that two large trees have fallen across a sheer section of the trail and made it impassable. These sorts of damages don’t matter so much for our daywalks, because if we come to a part that is blocked, we can just turn around and go back; but when we are changing our location from village A to village B, if the trail is blocked shortly before the final destination, it would be too late in the day to turn around and try to get to village B by some other means. So when the caretaker of our house in Guaro offered to drive us to Tolox, we decided that was the prudent thing to do. I’m sad about missing the continuity of walking from village to village, but we just had two solid weeks of being able to walk every day, so there really isn’t anything to complain about.

    Tolox has a magnificent setting. It is hidden from almost every direction, but then you come around a corner and there it is, tucked into a valley between the mountains and the river. School was just letting out when we arrived so we sat on a bench for a while and watched all the happy reunions of mothers and fathers and children. Our house is at the top of the village, quite a climb up from the river. Luckily, there are brightly colored benches all the way up offering a chance to catch your breath.

    We had time this morning to do another of the national park village walks before we left Guaro:
    www.wikiloc.com/walking-trails/guaro-around-the…    Read more

  • TravelerSpain 2025 - Malaga province
    2
    111
    Day 30

    Last day in Guaro

    March 31 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 66 °F

    In the middle of Guaro, there is a fountain that was established by the village in the 1950s because the existing fountain wasn’t sufficient to serve the large number of mule teams working in the fields around here. Each evening the drinking troughs on both sides served tired and thirsty livestock. This fountain was specifically reserved for use by animals; no washing clothes or filling jugs for household water here.

    Today our wandering track through orchards and huertas (gardens) made us think about the changes in farm vehicles that have come to this area. We didn’t see any working animals, but we saw plenty of chugging carts carrying workers and supplies to and from jobs in the countryside.

    This track down to the river (a different river than yesterday, but with the same name - very confusing) is gentle and even has several level stretches, making today’s walk much easier than the others we have done from Guaro. The icing on the cake was a distant view of snow- capped Mulhacén, the highest peak in mainland Spain. It brought back happy memories of climbing almost to the top in 2018.

    Tomorrow we’ll be moving on to Tolox, the next village north on the GR 243.

    www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/guaro-south-to-ri…    Read more

  • TravelerSpain 2025 - Malaga province
    2
    111311
    Day 29

    Two river crossings

    March 30 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 59 °F

    Today’s walk in 10 words: way down; way up; way down; way up; all beautiful!

    Our loop trail started out by dropping steeply down to the Rio Seco, so we could see from quite high up that the river wasn’t going to live up to its name. It was definitely not “seco” (dry). We hoped the ford would be dry like yesterday‘s, but as we approached it, we could clearly hear and then see that there was a lot of water running over it. After some back-and-forth about whether the current was too strong, Ned took my poles for a trial run near the top of the ford. He thought it would be safe for me to cross as long as I kept my feet pointed into the current to minimize drag, We crossed together, so I could hang onto him!

    On the other side, we climbed up to a remote area with clear views of Torrecilla. Another steep downhill brought us to our second river crossing. A great sense of relief washed over me when I saw that there was a nice sturdy bridge high above the river.

    All along the route today we saw signs of the damage caused by the month-long rains. At the first river crossing, which was about 10 feet wide, the sand carried up by the high water indicated that the crossing would have been underwater for a width of about 30 feet two weeks ago. After the second bridge, the track itself had been undercut and had gaping holes at the edge. There were many spots where rocks had come cascading down as the cliffsides broke away under the torrents of rain. We’re guessing it will take a long time to repair everything.

    www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/guaro-arroyo-seco…    Read more

  • TravelerSpain 2025 - Malaga province
    111
    Day 27

    Almond Blossom Circuit

    March 28 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 59 °F

    We didn’t see any almond blossoms on the Almond Blossom Circuit today (they bloom in January-February), but we did get a 360° view of the mountains that surround Guaro, and we got to hear the debut performance of the Opera of the Dogs (see video😁).

    We haven’t seen other walkers out on the trail so far this trip, but today we met two women from Yunquera, a village north of here that we will be staying in two weeks from now, They were enthusiastic about trading photos, and were able to give us the names of the villages we were looking at from the magnificent high point of this route.

    There are plenty of trails around Guaro, enough to keep us busy for the four days we are spending here. The route we took today is the medium blue one on the Gaia master map in today’s photos.

    www.wikiloc.com/walking-trails/guaro-almond-blo…    Read more

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