atrekinthesun: Failed caminito del Rey

Took a steady drive in the motorhome to Camping Parque Ardales ready to walk the Caminito del Rey with our Spanish friend Javier and his brother Francisco. When we were settled in at the campsite we walked to el kiosko where we were going to meet with Javier and start the walk from, only to find that the walkway was closed due to high winds. We were all very disappointed we had a cup of coffee and then walked the for about an hour and a half to the start of the walkway and back. We then went back to the campsite and went for a swim in the lake.

Walked from the campsite along the road to Restaurant El Mirador Ardales where we took the track that leads you to the start of the Caminito del Rey but before we reached the check in point we took a track off to the right. We followed this uphill for a while until the track stopped. There was a small footpath which continued steeply uphill which we followed, this eventually turned left down towards El Chorro where we did not want to go so we carried on going uphill some more until we got to the top of the ridge where a firebreak went right. We followed this for quite a way and were heading in the right direction as wanted to make a cicular route back to the campsite. Eventually we got to the end of the ridge from were we had great views down to the lake and our campsite which was quite a way down. The path deteriorated from here but there were cairns marking the zigzag path down the hill towards the campsite eventually finishing up on the road opposite the entrance to the campsite after about 3 hours of walking. It was getting quite hot by then so we had another swim in the lake.

La Vuelta a Espana had started on Saturday and today the stage came past the campsite but unfortunately it would have been too late as we as we were meeting with friends that evening. We decided to leave the campsite early and drive to Pizarra which was on the Vuelta stage today and we could do a walk before the race went past. We had a book with us that did a walk from the railway station up El Hacho de Pizarra. From the station we entered the Raja Ancha recreational area and followed the signposted route up to 'El Santo' which took about one hour forty five minutes. From the top we had great views of the surrounding area and we could see Alora, Coin and some beautiful scenery before returning back down into Pizarra for coffee and tostada. Drove the motorhome onto the outskirts of the town and parked up to watch the Vuelta stage 2, we only had to wait about 10 minutes before a breakaway group of half a dozen riders came by followed by the main peloton after a couple of minutes with Movistar & Sky teams at the front. Afterwards we made our way to meet our friends for a meal.

El Santo

Movistar lead the peloton

Followed by Sky