from Alcaicería
Walk 16 Navachica
Walk 17 The Petrified Waterfall
Walk 18 Lopera
Walk 19 Ventas de Zafarraya
Walk 20 Malascamas
Walk 21 The Gorge of Alhama de Granada
Walk 22 La Resinera
Walk 23 Jayena to Haza de la Encina
Walk 24 Cisne from Acebuchal
Appendix A Route summary table
Appendix B List of peaks by altitude
Appendix C Useful Spanish words for map reading
Appendix D Further reading
Appendix E Maps of the region
INTRODUCTION
The little seaside town of Nerja nestles under a range of mighty mountains that stretch to the north, away from the coast. Hillwalkers internationally have recently begun to realise what treasures lie in this region. Although these mountains are well-known locally in Spain, the neighbouring mountains of the Alpujarras and the Sierra Nevada to the east have up until now been the better recognised attractions for the outdoor fraternity of northern Europe.
However, by 2011, the ever-increasing numbers of visitors coming to the Sierras Tejeda, Almijara and Alhama led the government of Andalucía to build a state-of-the-art interpretive centre at Sedella in the south and expand the interpretive centre near Fornes in the north, and their 2011 guide to the area (in Spanish) is now widely distributed. Today, walkers with their boots, rucksacks and walking sticks are a common sight in the town of Nerja and the neighbouring villages of Cómpeta, Frigiliana and Canillas de Albaida.
Here there are over fifty mountains over 3000ft (914m) (equivalent to the Scottish Munros), in an area about the size of The Isle of Skye. The highest of these mountains is over 2000m, and a significant number are taller than Ben Nevis. Many of the mountains have maintained and waymarked paths.
To climb the mountains of Scotland and Ireland hillwalkers need to consider that the summit will be in cloud 70 to 80 per cent of the time; by contrast, in Andalucía the figure is more like ten per cent. Spain is also one of the most affordable countries in Europe to visit and there is a universal welcome for the visitor.
The aim of this guide is to provide accurate information and route directions for independent walkers, with lots of background information to make their explorations of this stunning area even more rewarding.
Geographical context
Nerja is a small coastal town 60km east of Malaga, presided over to the north by the Almijaras. The Almijaras are orientated on an east-west axis and they join the Sierra Tejeda to the west and the smaller Sierra Alhama further to the northwest. There are three other minor sierras on the periphery of the region. The foothills of the Sierra Nevada, the Alpujarras, are some 80km to the northeast.
The wider region in which the routes described in this book sit is referred to in Spanish as the Axarquía, which comes from Moorish and means the ‘lands to the east’. The principle towns of the Axarquía are Vélez-Málaga and Nerja but Nerja is the one chosen as the focus of this guide because it is closest to the centre of the mountains and many of the walks included begin there. The official name for the area, promoted by the Andalucían Tourist Board, is Sierras Tejeda, Almijara Y Alhama, which is also the name of the national park. However, most people, Spanish included, may find this title rather challenging.
The gorge of Alhama (Walk 21)
On the path to Lucero (Walk 8)
The town of Nerja
Nerja has a population of 22,000, which grows in the summer to several times this number with the influx of tourists. Many of the properties in the town are unoccupied outside the tourist season. The town is well-known throughout Spain because Verano Azul, a popular soap opera on Spanish television some years ago, was based here. Today 20 per cent of the permanent residents of Nerja are foreigners who have relocated mainly from northern Europe, typically England, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland and Belgium.
The town is a maze of narrow streets that all seem to lead towards the Balcón de Europa, a public square on a promontory above the Mediterranean.
There is no beach of any size in the centre of town, but on the outskirts of the town, to the east and west, there are fine beaches. Nerja boasts many quality medium-priced hotels, hostels and apartments to rent, and there are numerous excellent restaurants, bars and nightclubs. Most of the hotels cater for group bookings and there are discounts in the off-peak seasons.
One of the principle tourist attractions is the Cave of Nerja. Situated immediately northeast of the town, this limestone cave has five kilometres of chambers, many of magnificent proportions, which were inhabited as far back as 25,000 years ago.
The white mountain villages
Frigiliana, Cómpeta, Canillas de Albaida, Canillas de Aceituno and Salares are just some of the quaint, white-painted villages a short distance from Nerja. Several others are visited on the walks. These villages have a history that spans the occupations by the Romans and the Moors and they still pursue old customs and a pace of life that reflects the traditions of rural Spain.
Geology and topography
The mountains of Nerja are largely limestone, but they span 500 million years of geological time. The youngest rocks are the conglomerates that can be seen below the Balcón de Europa, which are only 10,000 years old. The walk to Haza de la Encina, south of Jayena (Walk 23), crosses Pliocene conglomerates that are five million years old. The cliffs of Alhama de Granada (Walk 21) are from the Miocene and so are about 15 million years old. Then we jump back in time to the Jurassic rocks, 180 million years old, for the climb at Ventas de Zafarraya (Walk 19). But the oldest rocks are those that form the main body of the mountains of Nerja and these are 280 to 500 million years in age, spanning geological periods from the Permian back through the Carboniferous and into the Cambrian.
Typical street in Frigiliana
The older rocks were lifted and the mountains formed 30 million years ago during the tectonic collision of a Mediterranean breakaway plate with the land masses of Africa and Europe. This collision caused the formation of the Betic Cordillera of which Sierra Nevada, the Alpujarras and the mountains of Nerja are a part.
The Almijaras mountains above the town of Nerja (L: Western; R: Eastern)
Earthquakes