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The trail of Los Realillos begins a few meters from the Geodesic Base Point of Pico Los Reales under the antenna mast and with a spectacular panoramic view.
The beginning of ths route coincides with the the boudaries of the towns that share this Nature reserve: Genalguacil, Estepona and Casares.
The path passes through an extensive pine and pinsapos forest and ends at the Plazoleta de Genalguacil.
Just where this path ends, it joins the Paseo de Los Pinsapos and I have used part of this route to return to the road and from there to the starting point.
You can park your car at a place just before the Venta el Refugio or a little further on at the Parking Area Recreativa. To see exactly where this is on Google Maps click here
From the starting point a signpost directs you along a track to the Pico de los Reales where you will find the Geodesic base point. The views from there are magnificent. On a clear day you can see the Sierra de Grazalema, with the Torreón, the highest point in the province of Cádiz; Sierra de las Nieves; El Torrecilla (highest point of the province of Malaga); Sierra Palmitera; La Concha with Marbella at its feet; the Rock of Gibraltar and the mountains of northern Morocco.
The path descends through a pine forest, where you can see many small-sized pinsapos.
The pinsapo is a tree from 10 million years ago and there is an excellent article about it in English on http://www.estepona-natural.es/portfolio-items/pinsapo/ (there is a language selection tool at the top left of the page).
The path continues to the pass between Los Reales and Los Realillos, from where it descends across the peridotite slopes. The Sierra Bermeja is of volcanic origin. Peroditite is a type of igneous rock and Sierra Bermeja is one of the most important outcrops of peridotite in the world.
The path descends quickly, entering a pine forest that soon gives way to pinsapos. The path enters the Plazoleta de Genalguacil where ther are several fine pinsapos and where we can see a wall of stone in which there is inscribed in ceramic a poem that Federico García Lorca dedicated in 1919 to the pinsapos.
From here you follow the Paseo de los Pinsapos towards the east crossing a small bridge over the Garganta del Algarrobo.
The sound of water in the nearby streams is a delight and you may see overhead a variety of birds, such as the black dove or the buzzard hawk, since this is a route for migratory birds, on their way to Africa in the months of August and September. You might also see a chameleon or lizard or spot some mountain goats.
The path leads back to the road where you turn right and follow it to your starting point.
There are a couple of good videos of this route on YouTube which you can find here and here
After the walk you can follow the road a little further and then you will find the Mirador de Salvador Guerrero, a wonderful viewpoint as you can see from the photos on https://www.malaga.es/en/turismo/naturaleza/lis_cd-5693/
© 2020 Graham G Hawker
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