Scaling the ramparts

After years of gazing at it Tony Allen finally conquers el Penon de los Castillejos
 

Spring sun on the Sierra Nevada seen from El Penon

For years we've gazed in wonder at the formidable mass of el Penon de los Castillejos towering above Cortijos del Nacimiento, the hamlet at the head of the Rio de la Miel.

This apparently impregnable natural fortress is thought to have been occupied successively by native Hispanic people fleeing from the invading Visigoths in the twilight of the Roman era and then by their Hispano-Visigoth successors during a Christian rebellion against the Moorish occupation in the late ninth and early tenth centuries.

It’s a daunting prospect; its western face is a vertical wall of rock hanging menacingly more than a thousand feet above the houses which cling to the slopes below, and the other three sides are scarcely less severe. It appears more a venture for a rock climber than for an aging pair of sierra strollers but we’d been led to believe that there was a viable route up - quite where wasn’t clear, but we were determined to try. 

Exactly 4 km further on is a prominent fork. Here, the new road swings left uphill, marked by a rash of large construction signs extolling the EU’s generosity with other people’s money.

Fork left here (this has no political significance) and carry on up the new tarmac road through El Nacimiento, across the course of the Rio de la Miel, and on up the far side of the valley to the saddle where the metalled road ends at a junction marked by an information post and a clutch of traffic signs.

This is our start point and there’s plenty of room to park.

Beginning of the footpath

The first cistern

We begin to climb again and pass a series of water cisterns and another track leading down through an olive grove to the right.

About 400 metres further on, as we breast the rise, we reach another track, this time doubling back sharply to the left above an olive grove (0.9km). The entrance is barred by a rusty chain but skipping lightly over this we follow this track as it climbs along the perimeter of the olive grove, the Penon de los Castillejos now looming above us and to the right, with no sign of any breach in its defences.

A hundred metres or so up the hill, the track passes a large plastic water reservoir, then swings sharply to the right, with a large pile of building stone and rusting metal blocking the bend. Casting around, we spot an indistinct footpath heading off from the point of the bend, and passing just to the left of a white metal post.

We’re by no means convinced at first but this proves to be our path.

Initially it contours around the southern slope of El Penon, at times seeming to peter out, but a quick search soon picks it up again the other side of a rock or bush. After 60 or 80m, it swings sharply right to climb up a shallow gulley, with a small dry stone terraced wall at its head.

Beyond the wall, the path heads straight on across the hillside for a short distance, then swings left again to climb up onto an open plateau, with three huge needles of rock sticking up from the plateau and the main mass of the Penon rising up on the far side.

Our path leads across this plateau, first heading towards the two left hand needles, then swinging right to climb a steep, rocky slope between the two right hand needles. At the head of this slope is

El Penon from the south-east

Looking down from the summit
towards el Nacimiento

Common swallowtail

Spanish Dianthus

The Autumn Squill are just shooting up their stately spikes, and the feathery pink Spanish Dianthus peek from among the rocks and a small bright green, possibly a Daphne, is covered in tiny sparkling white stars of flower.

Two tailed pasha