View along the coast

Tony Allen takes a 15 kilometre circuit
and encounters some obstacles along the way
 

The Rio de la Miel has a turbulent history belying its charming name and the peaceful orchards and olive groves tucked away in the twists and turns of its valley.

Isolated and inaccessible, it was for centuries a favoured route for smugglers and a haven for bandits.
 

Our walk this month is a 15 km circuit around the head of the stream, a kaleidoscope of avocado orchards, almond and olive groves and open garrigue, with magnificent views of the coast and mountains. It includes an ascent of over 500 metres but it’s almost entirely on good tracks.

To get there, follow the coast road east from Maro for about 2-½ km and then turn left under the Autovia on the newly tarmacked MA 6102. Exactly 4 km further on is a prominent fork. Here, the new road swings left uphill, marked by a rash of large construction signs lauding the generosity of the EU. Does Europe’s much vaunted environmental policy not extend to visual pollution?

Sawfly orchid

Butterfly orchid

Soon, still climbing, we come to the first of a scattered group of recently modernised houses (0.9 km). On the far side of the valley to our right we can now pick out our route ahead - a track scarring the hillside in a series of zig-zag bends which lead to the ridge some three hundred metres above us.

Beyond the last of the houses, we drop down to cross the dry river bed (1.28 km), swinging to the right on the far bank to begin the long pull up to the ridge. The second bend is just above a steep, narrow side valley which has clearly been recently scoured by very heavy rain, probably last September, and looking back down to where we crossed the river bed we can see evidence of the damage it must have caused to a cottage sitting squarely in its path just below our crossing point.

We double back across the hillside, then drop down into another side valley and come to a fork (1.6km). The right hand fork crosses the valley bottom but we swing left to climb on up the hill and, after a couple of hundred metres or so, come to a “T” junction. Here, ignoring the chain and “Privado” sign, we continue on uphill to the right.

A few hundred metres further on, our route again appears to be barred when the track disappears into the newly concreted drive of a house (2.34 km). However, this, rather than the earth track forking off to the left of the house, is the route to follow and passing to the right of the house we find that our track resumes on the far side of the concrete apron and the piles of soil beyond.

One more obstacle bars our path. Fifty metres or so below the crest of the ridge, we find a 2 metre high wire fence and a securely padlocked gate blocking the track (2.9 km).

There’s another track leading off to the left but this quickly peters out among the olive groves. However, I find it easy enough to wriggle through to the left of the fence and carry on up the main track, keeping a wary eye out for any dogs which may emerge from the splendidly balustraded house protected by the fence. However, beyond the house another gate blocks the track and this time there’s no way around.

Angry now at this cavalier attempt to bar what appears to be a perfectly legitimate track, I’m not prepared to turn back and, scouting around, find a convenient pile of pallets from which I build a somewhat precarious platform and triumphantly scale the fence. My companions, meanwhile, have chosen a less extreme solution and simply drop back

Cistus ladanifer

French lavender

I recommend following their route, but mine gave me far more satisfaction!

Just beyond the pylon, cresting the ridge, we meet a major track and turn left (3.15 km). We’re already 300 metres above our start point, and have another couple of hundred to climb, but it’s easier walking now - a long steady ascent on a good track which winds back and forth along the spine of a large ridge. Each time we cross the crest, magnificent panoramas open up all around us. To our left is the valley of the Rio de la Miel, here about 3 km across, with the mountains of the Sierra Tejada beyond.

Ahead is the massive, sheer sided crag of the Penon, while to the right an incredible jumble of mountains tumbles from the snow capped Sierra Nevada all the way down to the sea.

The ridge itself is sheer delight. Here, a grove of ancient olives, there, pink flowered almonds, a tumbledown finca or a goatherd’s hut. And everywhere wildflowers. The mingled fragrance of lavender, rosemary and thyme. The first cautious flowering of the pink cistus which, by the time I write, will explode into colour. Dainty white and golden helianthemums, pink Jerusalem sage and bold purple heads of French lavender.

Our picnic spot

Looking down on Nacimiento

Just beyond our picnic spot we come to another fork marked by road signs (5.4km). The right fork leads straight on to the Penon de Castillejos, but we’ll save that for another day, and go left, following the now metalled road around its base. Rounding a spur we wind steeply down to the hamlet of Nacimiento, named for its position at the source of the Rio de la Miel (7.5 km).

Once clear of the houses and orchards of the little village we wind on down the western slope of the main valley, dipping in and out of a series of small side valleys and open headlands clothed in shrubs and herbs. Even on this final stretch new delights appear: saucers of white and gold cistus loamier; orchids and graceful wild gladioli, gleaming jewels beneath the rosemary and sage.

One short uphill pull takes us by surprise, but then it really is downhill all the way back to our start point - and then to slake our thirst at the bar in the terraced square beside the church in Maro.
 

Walk data: Distance: 14.75 km. Time: 4-5 hrs. Difficulty: moderate.