We start, and finish, in the Plaza del Ingenio opposite the Guardia Civil post in Frigiliana. From here, take the road which runs down past the bus stop and ice cream stall to the new bypass skirting below the town, and turn right along the bypass following the signs towards Torrox. It’s a pleasant stroll along the balustraded, palm shaded esplanade; the frenzy of building to the right seems at last to be dying down, while to the left there are panoramic views across the rich fertile valley below the village, and on towards the coast.

At the far end, after just over a kilometre, we head straight on at the road junction on the outskirts of the village and carry on for a couple of hundred metres along the Torrox road, passing the bar Santo Cristo, and the Ermita from which it takes its name perched on the hillside above it.

At the first bend beyond the village, where the road bends sharply to the right (1.11km) we head straight on along a well-defined footpath, marked by blue paint spots, which leads under a large carob tree and past a ruined house. In spring, this rocky slope is a delight of wild flowers; cistus, broom, rosemary, esparto and century plants are scattered across the hillside with a host of bright coloured smaller flowers crowding beneath them.

We now climb steeply up the spur, shaded in places by scattered pines. In the hot sun, the mingling fragrances of pine, rosemary, lavender, thyme, and in one place a large patch of pungent, curry scented helichrysum make it easy to imagine ourselves wandering through an arab suq. The path climbs about 150m before levelling out on the shoulder of the spur, from where we get splendid views across Frigiliana to Cruz de Pinto and Nerja beyond.

Cortijo de la Lastra

Soon the path joins a graded track and the Cortijo de la Lastra comes into view ahead. To explore the cortijo, turn left on the track and fork right at the first junction, which leads through an olive grove to the abandoned cottage, flanked by two caleras. Beside it, a small cluster of pine trees offers a shady picnic spot with views across the mountainside towards el Fuerte (1.87km). The old cortijo is quite well preserved and the caleras have been recently used but I’ve never been able to discover when the building itself was abandoned, anything of its history, or how it got its name. I should be very interested to hear what any Soltalk reader may know of it.

Retracing our steps to the point where the footpath joins the main track, we now continue to follow this track gently downhill through the olive groves which are carpeted with a wonderful variety of wild flowers, including several large clumps of Spanish snapdragons, and alive with butterflies dancing and feeding beside the track. After a couple of hundred metres, a sign beside the track warns us of beehives ahead - a warning I’ve learned from painful experience not to ignore! Shortly afterwards, about 50m short of the hives, the track ends, leaving just a footpath which leads on towards the hives. A smaller footpath, which we now follow, drops down to the right of the track offering a safe and convenient bypass below the bees’ flight line (2.4km). It’s bit of a scramble but it’s best not to linger, and once we’re across the small valley the path swings right, away from the hives, and slants gently down through the pine trees on the far slope. Rounding the tip of the spur, we swing back to cross another small valley where the footpath forks. The path here is a bit indistinct but we follow the right-hand lower fork which involves scrambling under a low tree.

Snapdragon

Again we swing to the right as we climb up through the trees on the far side of the valley to come out on the tip of the next spur, from where we look down on the Frigiliana road and the Ermita de Santo Cristo (2.69km).

Our path now crosses another, larger valley. At one point this involves a rather awkward scramble down a shoulder high rock face but with this behind us the path improves as we climb up the far side hand. Scrambling up another rock we emerge from the valley to find ourselves on another spectacular vantage point overlooking Frigiliana (2.9km).

Lizar

Five hundred metres ahead we can now see the flat topped hill of the Castillo de Lizar, for which we are heading, while immediately in front of us the path leads across a grassy, flower strewn hillside to a large ruined building. Picking our way through these ruins we next skirt along the left-hand side of an avocado orchard until we come to a piped acequia. This leads us to a cluster of buildings beside the Lazar reservoir. Immediately before the buildings a narrow footpath leads off to the right and following this brings us out onto a track which runs alongside the reservoir wall (3.25km). Halfway along this wall, another footpath drops steeply down to the right, offering a short cut back down into Frigiliana. However, we follow the main track for another hundred metres or so and then take the footpath which slants up the hill to the left, to explore the Castillo.

There are no obvious remains of the castle, but it’s a wonderful site with superb views both down to the coast and back into the stunningly beautiful mountains of the Sierra de Almijara.

	It’s also a splendid site for butterfly spotting. For some reason they always seem to congregate in large numbers on hilltops like this and we usually spot several striking species like swallowtails, festoons and pashas as well as many less spectacular ones.
Swallowtail		Southern Festoon	Two tailed Pasha

You’ll probably also meet two particularly friendly donkeys who graze the hilltop and are always game for a picnic.

To complete the circuit we can either drop back down the way we came to take the footpath opposite the alberca which I mentioned earlier, or carry on along the footpath which brought us up to the Castillo. This zigzags steeply down the rocky slope on the far side of the hill before winding through a delightful area of landscaped gardens to emerge beside the Garden Bar in Frigiliana.

Whichever route you choose back through Frigiliana to the start point, there’s no shortage of places to choose to pick up a refreshing beer after your exertions. And back at the start, if you can nurse your thirst long enough as I like to, you’re handily placed for the Bar Virtudes.

Walk Data: Distance - 3.3km. Time  1.5hrs. Difficulty - moderate, with two or three scrambles.