Walking in Cabrera

Walking in Cabrera is never easy unless you enjoy negotiating steep slopes, whether up or down. The slight increase in rain in recent years has not helped as many of the tracks dug out of the mountainside in recent years have now become so overgrown that they are practically impossible to follow. Many walkers seem to have an aversion to walking on asphalted roads. I am not one of them. Provided traffic is light, I find they offer advantages: you can usually travel at the speed of your choice on a surface you know is secure, the views are just as good and you need not worry about what might be lurking in the undergrowth.

Although there are other walks in the area, the one I am going to mention this time is relatively easy to follow and involves both asphalted and dirt surfaces. It commences at the arch and should take an hour to an hour and half to complete.

Set off downhill from the arch keeping the Hibiscus properties on the right. Where the main road bears right by Casa Astede take the alternative route to the left. You should now be walking downhill facing, slightly to the right, the impressive sides of the mountain known as Loma del Colorado. Some local legends say it contains a vast underground lake and, although I have never heard anything further to substantiate the tale; there is certainly at least one centuries-old, manmade, irrigation tunnel emerging from the mountainside. It is situated on the opposite end of the hill, in the dramatic ravine that conducts water, during heavy rainfall, in the direction of Cortijo Grande.

Continue admiring the wonderful views as you descend the road, bearing right by Casa EI Paraiso, to eventually arrive at a lower junction with the road you left earlier. You are now obliged to follow the main road downhill, but only for a short distance until you reach the junction with the road on your right which leads to Rancho Cabrera. Following that road, proceed in the direction of the ranch, over the bridge at the bottom, lined to the right by a tall group of eucalyptus trees. After passing a small storehouse, leave the road as it descends towards the ranch and take the road on the right. In a short time, you will pass a small water pumping station, Pozo Los Perdices, on the right which supplies drinking water from the sierra to Turre. Stay on this road; walking past and taking in the spectacular slopes at the rear of the hill, whose southern side overlooks Los Pastores. It is known as La Pilica and should not be confused with the small development of the same name, on an adjoining hill, which we will approach shortly.

The road climbs gradually and, as views of the coastal plain begin to appear, we leave the asphalted road as it swings round to the right and follow the dirt road that descends to the dried-up river bed descending from the wide valley on the right which our journey is going to eventually take us through. By this time, you should have noticed a tennis court ahead and to the right. Walk past the court and continue towards a few houses dotted about the hill in front. You've guessed it -La Pilica (the development). As you approach the hill, the road forks, one branch leading to a T junction from where you will notice a track leading off` to the right that continues through the valley mentioned previously and heading in the general direction of Cabrera. Take it and gaze in awe at the spectacular cliffs on your right tumbling down from the summit of La Pilica.

The track eventually arrives at another T Junction from where a relatively new dirt road curves round to the right running below and following the direction of the asphalted road leading from Turre to Cabrera. Take this road as it slowly winds upwards in the direction of the abandoned fruit trees below the Cabrera tennis courts. This new road apparently follows in the general direction of the path that led from Cabrera to Turre, many years ago. It allows the walker to get far closer to the dramatic rocky outcrops bursting out of La Pilica than was ever possible before, when one had to return by the main road. To my mind, it has added an extra dimension to a very pleasant amble around some of Cabrera's most outstanding scenery. One cannot help but wonder how the area looked over five hundred years ago when the Moorish occupation was at its height. If only the stones of the old water store (aljibe) to the right of the summit of La Pilica could speak of their past. What a fascinating tale that would be!

Once you have stopped taking in the scenery, follow the track until it joins the main road for the short walk back to the starting point.

Geoff Meeks

Thank you, Geoff, for this first route of what we hope will be many published here for the benefit of residents and visitors to Cabrera. We will be pleased to receive further routes, either easy ones or something a bit more challenging.