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The official description, in Spanish, of this route is so poetic that I have put here the literal translation produced by Google Translate so as not to lose the effect. The original Spanish version can be found on this link
Although it may seem an optical effect, all that is seen is a very palpable reality. The landscape that can be seen from this route constitutes the natural and agricultural antechamber in perfect harmony at the heart of the Sierra de las Nieves Natural Park, a privileged environment with unique and unaltered ecosystems, preserved from human action.
Landscape molded by the incredible hand of nature and man, capable of creating the most rugged ridge of the Torrecilla and the softer bend of the dry stream; This force has a wide intensity and a path that leaves space unchanged in our eyes but is constantly changing over time.
It is an area with conditions conducive to livestock and grazing, since it is a lowland formation, especially juniper, dotted with spots with pines, holm oaks, cork oaks, chestnut trees…. and among which small cultivation plots with almond, olive, fig trees ... are also interspersed.
In the small valleys generated by the canyons and streams, the typical riverside vegetation grows with poplars, poplars, reeds, tarages, altabacas… in addition to the small orange, lemon and other fruit orchards essential for daily life. When walking, a path with a certain hardness is opened before the hiker for which one must be prepared and carry what is necessary in the backpack.
The first image that is perceived is that of a road that falls with a gentle but constant slope until reaching the gorge of Arroyo Hondo, with its work step and its artisan well on the right, it will become very short, continuously turning the head to right and left. This step, in winter, is difficult to wade due to the amount of water that flows through this ravine and that produces a murmur that mixed with the rest of sensations experienced on its shore, it is difficult to forget.
There will always be some smell that remembers this moment. From the beginning and just a kilometer we find on the right, on a ravine, a centenary carob tree that, after years supporting the passage of vehicles under its branches, is molded to the shape of the track. As we advance and cross the gorge of Arroyo Hondo, we begin to see low hills with cork oaks, pine trees, holm oaks ... on the side and side of the road, and always as an unaltered background, the silhouette of the Sierra de las Nieves.
With a rest in the shade of some rain, and before starting to ascend again, next to the dry stream channel, in the area of ??umbria, ferns and other vegetation of humid environments are observed. Each step is closer to the natural park, where the pines are the main element to stand out, and that because of the terrain's orography, they constitute an irreplaceable element.
Once we reach the Port of Chiribenitez just at the entrance of the park, we begin the return that will be done through an old path of muleteers, among gullies, taramas ... where obviously, vehicles cannot circulate, and walking until they find the first crossroads to continue on the way back.
Important: There are no public drinking water supply sites, so the hiker must be equipped with everything necessary.
© 2019 Graham G Hawker
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