Cala barranco de maro

Our Sunday walk was in Maro and Alex was brave enough to join us. This was another walk from the "Walk the Axarquia" book and from past experience it normally ended up with us having plenty of scratches and bruises.


Cala barranco de maro.


The start of the walk is pleasant. You walk takes you down to the barranco with splendid views of the "Puente de Aguila" aqueduct that can be seen from the N340 heading towards Maro. The track heads south and soon you enter the back breaking part.


"Puente de aguila" aqueduct.




The hard part is when you hit the bamboo jungle. The book describes it as "burrowing through the bamboo" and its not a joke. In parts you are bent double as you pass through the thick undergrowth. Not good for my dodgy back, especially when burdened with the supplies.


The bamboo jungle.



Soon enough you see the first sign for the "Playa". Basically there are two little coves which are off the beaten track and offer spectacular views of the sea and coastline. Here we were confronted with a trio of sun bathers in their birthday suits. Not a care in the world. We swiftly took residence in the other cove and had the beach to ourselves.


La playa desnudo.


Our camp.



We made a quick camp and the girls settled down to relax. I wasn't in the mood for sun bathing so I went to explore the rocks. Before I knew it I had climbed the sharp ascent and had wonderful views of Nerja and Maro. I carried on with the exploration and would worry about getting back to camp later.



The place was deserted but there were clear signs of life around. There were a couple of huts made out of bamboo that appeared deserted. Signs of the youth enjoying the "bottelon". There were also a few caves that had empty beer cans strewn around and cardboard on the floor for sleeping on.



It wasn't long before I got myself lost. I tried to come back an alternate way only for the path to disintegrate and leave me in the middle of thorny bushes. I managed to scramble my way through without losing too much blood.


View of Nerja.

On finally arriving at the summit it was time to tackle the decent. It was much easier climbing up than going down. I ended up loosing my footing and was in severe danger of falling off the edge of the cliff. A could feel myself sliding ever so slowly down. There was about 20 metres of a steep loose descent before you took a 100 Mt dive off the cliff. I was about a foot away from a ravine to my right. It seemed miles away. I dare not move towards it as every movement I made increased the speed I was slipping down. In the end I made a jump for it and managed to get a good foothold. Lets just say I won't be going that way again any time soon.

I managed to climb down the rest of the way with little trouble and was soon back at camp. I was full of dirt, scratches and had a few cuts to my hand but nothing major. We decided to carry on with the walk. Much to my dismay, we soon ended up at the top of the summit that nearly finished me off. If only I had carried on another 200 Meters I would have found the walk way back to camp. The rest of the walk was trouble free. Time to head for the beach.


Playa de la caleta in Maro.