Alcaucín and El Robledal

The plan was to trek up the Río Chillar and head to Frigiliana but the storms put paid to that idea. Instead we thought we would try a walk near Alcaucín. This is another of the "Pueblos Blancos" in the Sierra Tejada region. It seems that the town is expanding at a rapid rate judging by all the building work.

Alcaucín town hall.

We parked the car at the beginning of the town and had a little wander around. It’s a typical Spanish pueblo with narrow streets built way before the invention of the car. Many of the houses had religious displays of saints above the door or in special display cases. Above one of the town’s fountains was the figure of San Sebastian who must be the local saint. Walking up to the end of town where our proposed walk started we came across an old tree that looked like it was from "Lord of the Rings". I swear it had a nose!

Visiting from Farngorn Forest?

Typical of our luck, the weather was a bit dodgy. When we left Nerja it was a fine sunny day. In Alcaucín, the rain clouds covered the hill tops. We decided to have a coffee in the main square to see if the clouds lifted. They didn’t appear to be moving. So we decided to abandon the walk and try our luck at El Robledal.

El Robledal is an oak forest set behind La Maroma. I say behind as I normally view this mountain from the other side when on the golf course. La Maroma is the highest peak in the Sierras Tejada and Almijara standing at 2065 Metres. It has a table top peak and is usually snow covered in winter. The walk we were going to do was a gentle stroll around the forest, not going up the mountain.

La Maroma from the golf course.

Getting to the start point was a bit tricky. The guide book told us to look out for the "Hotel Los Caños de la Alcaiceria" between Kms 85 & 84 of the A335. Trouble is they have renamed the road, and the way-markers. Luckily, "Tom Tom" was out of date to and still classed the road as the A335. We just set a location somewhere roughly at the point of the hotel on the A335. It turns out that using "Tom Tom" would give us a laugh later in the week, at my family’s expense!

On the Acequia path.

The start of the walk is at the "Área Recreativa" some 5km down a dirt track from the hotel. Here, we parked the car an headed off past a small white cortijo, heading to a water point. It appears that the area is used by campers, complete with BBQ areas and shower blocks. We followed an old Acequia path through the valley and headed to the "turismo rural" bungalows. These were built in 1994 for hikers exploring La Maroma but they appear to have never been used. One of the doors had been kicked in so we went in for a peek. It’s a shame they have never been used at it seems an idyllic place.

Inside a bungalow.

Behind the bungalows is one of the treks to the summit. However, we double backed slightly to a gate on the right to cross the stream. Here we zig-zagged up the hill to a rocky peak with beautiful views of the area. Then it we had to find another path to the summit that was to be marked "La Maroma". It was supposed to be 300 metres away. What seemed more like a kilometre we stumbled across a path, but no signpost. It turned out to be the right path but we were slightly nervous for about 30 minutes. The longer we went without a signpost, the more we felt we were lost. Anyway, we soon came to a T junction which was marked in the guidebook and 20 minutes later was back at the car. A nice, easy stroll. Next time we will go for the summit!

View from the hill.