Excursions

THE GUADALHORCE RESERVOIRS

Itinerary nº 1. Access from Alora

This is the most appropriate itinerary for visitors coming from the city of Malaga and the major part of the coast.

To reach Alora one can come via the old C-337 road which joins Malaga with Antequera through the Abdalajís valley or via the new road through the Guadalhorce valley which terminates at the entrance of the municipality of Ardales. If you want to arrive soon, the latter is recommended as the first road presents difficulties and can have much traffic at certain times of the day.

Once you reach Alora you have to take the exit via the small road to the district of El Chorro. One has to take care on this road as, apart from it being narrow and windy, it also crosses country towns. Nevertheless, it is a very recommended route as while the valley narrows, the scenery gains a spectacular nature until you reach the Chorro reservoir, where we begin our course through the area.

The dam of the counter-reservoir La Encantada is located in between the Cerro de La Encantada and the town of El Chorro. Here there is a railway, accommodation and places to eat.

El Chorro was founded as a village to accommodate the workers who built the Conde del Guadalhorce reservoir and who had access to it through the Caminito del Rey, an iron passageway hanging from the Sierra de Huma cliffs over the Desfiladero de los Gaitanes. This passageway is not recommended due to its deterioration. The Junta de Andalucia together with the collaboration of the electrical company (Compañia Sevillana de la Electricidad), has started a project for the restoration of the Caminito del Rey (which means the Kings Path) while the town council of Alora and the Junta de Andalucia are building a small tourist complex near El Chorro.

To reach the major reservoirs you have to take the pathway to the left of the counter-reservoir, towards the sierra until you reach the most emblematic spot in the area: the Desfiladero de los Gaitanes. Here the Gaudalhorce river has cut the vertical layers of the Sierra de Huma into a sheer drop of more than 100 metres, making it into one of the most spectacular landscapes one can contemplate. Sometimes you can see eagles and vultures over the cliffs drops, which adds the majesty of their flight to the beauty of the scenery.

We have only just begun. After contemplating this marvel of nature, we continue the pathway to the left and accompanied by the dense vegetation of the Granadillo brook, we reach the chapel of Nuestra Señora de Villaverde. Apart from the chapel, there are the tombs of a Roman necropolis and troglodyte constructions in the shelter of the Sierra de la Pizarra (some of them occupied by cattlepens).

Continuing our trail by the Granadillo brook, at the foot of the impressive clefts of the Buitre and La Encantada we can see some unique sand formations called "taffonis" , which consist of sandy rounded headlands in which the erosion has dug a cave or shelter. Some of these formations are frequent and some invite you to take up your camera.

Some 700m beyond the chapel of Our Lady of Villaverde, there is a road to the left which takes us to the deposit-reservoir situated on the top of Las Mesas de Villaverde. At about 2,700 kilometres from the crossing, to the left of the road (going up) begins the track which will take us to the ruins of a Mozarabic church in Bobastro. One has to be careful not to get lost as the beginning and the trail are badly signed. To start, you ascend some stone steps and continue until you reach a stream bed where the trail divides in two directions: the right comes out over the ruins where you can take some good photographs but then it is hard to descend to the monument. It is advisable, especially if accompanied by children or old people, to take the left path which descends the stream bed. After about 500m you arrive at a sandy headland behind which you will find the Mozarabic church. Apart from this church there are other archaeological remains of great interest in order to understand the importance of the Bobastro city.

Once you have visited this spot you have to continue ascending the road which took us here until you reach the top of the mountain. There, the deposit-reservoir, built over the principal nucleus of the city of Bobastro offers a singular scenery with the impressive cliffs of the Sierra de Huma in the background.

Returning to the road which we left behind in order to visit Bobastro, we continue our course between "taffonis" and pines until the Puerto de las Atalayas (Watchtower or Lookout Port), where this road exits to the one coming from Ardales and leading to the reservoirs. Very close to this crossing, at about 100 metres towards the dams, there is a pathway to the left which ends in a headland where there is an excellent view of the Conde de Guadalhorce reservoir. Continuing on this road, we come closer to the reservoirs, which appear and disappear between small pine coves until you reach the Parque Ardales camping. This camping which was installed by the town-council, is equipped with good services and occupies a privileged site to spend a few days amidst authentically exceptional scenery. It also has a municipal museum which, together with the archaeological findings in the area, one can see photographs of the time when the Conde de Guadalhorce reservoir was built and other objects and information related with the geography and history of Ardales.

Thus we arrive at the dam of the Conde de Guadalhorce reservoir, a real feat of civil engineering from the beginning of the century, whose construction credited the engineer Benjumea with the title of (count) Conde de Guadalhorce. Very close to the reservoir is the stone chair which was used by the king Alfonso XIII on the inauguration day.

At this point of the journey, it would be time to gain strength with a good lunch, and for this, the area depends on excellent restaurants where even the most demanding will satisfy their palates. After eating, you can visit the dams where the Guadalteba and Guadalhorce reservoirs are formed, which are higher up from where we left off. It is easy to get there. There is an excellent panorama from these dams, not only of the reservoirs but of all the mountainous surroundings and an important amount of vegetation.

Recently, a road has been built which connects the two banks through the bridge situated in the area where the two reservoirs meet, giving easy access to the municipalities of Teba, Campillos and Antequera. The course of this road through the hill which separates the two reserves allows the contemplation of extraordinary panoramas. To return to Malaga, you can go through Campillos or Ardales in order to take the new road of the Valle del Guadalhorce, which is the fastest route.