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A Walk for
All Seasons
Cerro de Masmullar is delightful any
time of year, writes Tony Allen
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Another
short and easy walk this month, to get back into our stride for the
better walking weather ahead.
It’s a delightful walk
at any time of year: now, in autumn, the olives and almonds are heavy
on the trees and you may meet a farmer leading a mule with heavily
laden panniers down the steep terraces.
By January, clouds of
almond blossom will float across slopes, followed by a rich pageant of
spring flowers building to a crescendo in May.
Even in the height of
summer it offers spectacular views and the chance to explore an
intriguing group of mysterious Moorish ruins. |
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All this awaits us on
Cerro de Masmullar, a couple of kilometres west of the spectacular
hilltop village of Comares. There’s a version of this walk shown on
the route map displayed in Comares but the map is a little confusing,
as are the signs on the ground. I prefer to start at the car parking
space (map reference 866783) opposite the bar in the village of Los
Venturos, 2 kilometres
west of Comares on MA165.
From the car park retrace
your steps to the eastern end of the village where you’ll see a brown
sign marked "Masmullar 2 km" pointing up a concrete track.
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Masmuller from the east |
We follow this track up the
hill past a large rectangular water tank and out onto a grassy slope. Last
spring this was ablaze with purple bugloss, blue scabious, white daisies
and a froth of yellow sinapis, and countless Morocco Orange Tip and
Clouded Yellow butterflies danced across the hillside.
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Soon we
breast a small spur and come to a track junction where we turn left
and at the next bend, by a magnificent carob tree, we bear right,
continuing on the main track to slant diagonally across the hillside
with olive groves carpeted with wildflowers to our left and broken
scrubland and scattered almonds and olives below us to the right.
Shortly afterwards
another side track leads off to the left at a junction marked by a
decapitated sign. It should point straight on! (0.6
km). |
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We stay on the main track for
another 100 metres
until it doubles back sharply up the hill to the left. Here a sign directs
us straight on into the olive grove along a lesser track, which narrows
after about 50 metres
into a footpath. This climbs gently across a rock-strewn slope between
scattered cistus, broom and retama.
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On the
escarpment |
A
little further on, on the brow of another small spur, the path doubles
back sharply to the left uphill (you need to look carefully to spot
the sign on the left of the track). This is a good point to stop and
enjoy the views back towards Comares and northwards across a broad
valley to the Sierras de Enmedio and Alhama, towering above Perriana
(0.77 km).
The path now winds steeply up
the slope between a series of rocky outcrops and, after about 50m
passes into a small oak wood, with a scattering of carobs, clinging
precariously to the rock. It continues through a series of these small
woods interspersed with olive terraces for the next 400m. A glorious
selection of wild flowers and dwarf oaks flourish in the dappled shade
of the trees. Just before the second of the small woods we come to a
4km marker. |
However, don’t get too excited as
this is measured from a different start point, and we’ve only walked about
a kilometre! A hundred metres further on the path levels out and we come
to a fork with a sign reading "salida" pointing back the way we came (1.2
km). We fork left here at the top of a terrace and emerge onto a
broad, gently sloping plateau which stretches across the whole of the
mountaintop.
| This is
well worth half an hour’s exploration. To our left, the south-western
edge of the plateau is marked by a thin line of scrub and trees
running along the crest of a steep escarpment. The views from here are
magnificent but take care when approaching the edge to stick to well
trodden paths as there are hidden pitfalls. At almost the highest
point are the first signs of the Moorish occupation: a group of what
look like storage chambers a few metres from the edge of the
escarpment.
Behind the escarpment, the plateau, planted with olives and almonds,
slopes gently away to the north-west. Scattered among the trees are
huge piles of rock, presumably also of Moorish origin. However, I
haven’t been able to find out anything much about Massmullar’s history
and should be very interested if any readers can enlighten me. |
Was it a
dungeon? |
A long terrace stretches across the
whole of the lower, north-western side of the plateau. At its western end
is the most striking evidence of the Moors: a large underground chamber,
protected by a metal grid, beneath which several well preserved arches
lead into subterranean rooms - they could even be dungeons! A nearby sign
points to a splendid vista panoramica a few metres away.
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Having
explored the summit for some time, I failed to find the path shown on
the map which appears to lead down the north-western face of the
mountain so instead I picked my way back through the olive terraces on
the south-western slope. If you don’t wish to do this the simplest
solution is to return to Los Venturos on the original route.
However, to follow my
alternative route, head back from the buried chambers towards the
crest of the escarpment keeping to the right-hand/western side of the
plateau. About halfway to the escarpment, a gap in the line of scrub
marking the edge of the plateau leads down onto another terraced olive
field. Here, last spring, I found one of the most stunning displays of
wild flowers I’ve ever seen (1.7 km). |
From here it’s quite easy to pick
your way down through the olive terraces, heading in a generally south or
south-westerly direction. If you avoid the steeper, scrub covered areas
and cast back and forward along the terraces, you’ll find that although
there’s no single path there’s always an easy way down, with every twist
and turn offering fresh delights; a new view, a bird or butterfly glimpsed
in the trees or an association of flowers a garden designer would die for.
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Brimstone
butterfly |
About 500 metres down the slope, the olives are more scattered and we
come into an area of uncultivated garrigue, eventually hitting an
unmarked track running through an area of fairly dense scrub. Turn
right here, heading downhill (2.69 km).
The path now swings left around
the hillside and shortly afterwards turns to a gravelled track and
doubles back sharply to the right, turning more steeply downhill. Soon
it’s barred by an easily by-passed chain intended to stop cars and 50m
beyond we hit a T-junction (map reference 857781), where we turn left
(3.19 km). |
Clouded Yellow
butterfly |
This track, flanked at first by
scattered evergreen oaks and uncultivated garrigue and then by more olive
groves, now contours along the side of the valley. It gradually converges
with the road back to Los Venturos which runs along the valley bottom
below with the village of Masmullar itself on the slope beyond.
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After a few hundred metres we join the road to Los Venturos and turn
left, climbing steadily back up the valley to the car park where we
started (4 km).
The cool interior of the bar
opposite the car park is a quite clearly a popular local spot for a
drink or lunch.
Alternatively, if you haven’t
been to Comares before there are several good bars and restaurants
there, with the possibility of an after-lunch stroll round this
picturesque village as an optional extra to work off a few more
calories.
Walk data: Time, 1 ½ -2
½ hrs, distance, 4 kilometres. |
Bringing
in the harvest |
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