of Walks 5 and 6 and this is indicated in the route descriptions.
Walking in Andalucía
The path into the Rio Verde valley (Walk 17)
The Andalucían Parque Nacional has set up and now maintains designated walking trails, and many of the walks in this book follow such trails. The paths are often old mining routes or former mule tracks through the mountains. All of these maintained paths are waymarked. They have a sign at the start of the walk (in Spanish) with notes on what you are about to encounter, a little history, the distance and time it will take and the relative difficulty. It is important to note that the time given on these signs is always for a one-way trip and does not include your return to the start.
The waymarks indicate the direction; where other paths link there are waymarks with crosses to show that they are not to be followed. All waymarked paths have relatively moderate gradients. For the experienced walker this can be a little frustrating because the route is extended to maintain the gentle gradient and becomes laboriously long. In this book shortcuts have been adopted for the most excessive cases.
Many of the walks are not on waymarked trails, which tend to be more challenging. Over time paths can be subject to change: from earthworks, landslides, river flooding and vegetation encroachment and so on, so that you need to keep your wits about you.
The most important thing is to find the start of the path and be sure that it is the correct path. Once you are on a path all you need to do is follow it. Wandering off the path is generally not an option because of the surrounding vegetation.
Almost all the land in this area is in public ownership and is part of the national park. The exceptions are areas immediately north of Frigiliana, part of the Rio Verde Valley, the eastern walk of Ventas de Zafarraya, and land north of Maroma. There are signs indicating when land is private and none of the routes in this book require you to trespass on private land where it is so indicated (although Walk 20 does follow a public right of way that passes through private land).
Spanish dialect in Andalucía
The Andalucíans have many peculiarities in their speech that differ from the Castellaño that is spoken in Madrid. The language sounds much smoother here, not as harsh as that of their northern neighbours and more akin to the Spanish of South America.
For example, the word ‘Andalucía’ is pronounced as it would be in English, whereas in Madrid it would be ‘Andaluthia’. The English pronunciation of the name ‘Nerja’ is ‘Nerka’, but to be more correct it is ‘Nerha’, with the ‘h’ pronounced gutterally.
The river that flows through the town is the Rio Chillar, which is pronounced Chiyar, because two ‘l’s are pronounced as a ‘y’ in Spanish.
In Andalucía there is a tendency to drop all ‘s’s in the middle and endings of words. So to buy two beers (dos cervecas) the request would be ‘dos thervethas’ in Madrid. In Nerja, ‘doe cervaytha’ will be heard, or for three it will be ‘tray’. To ask how a person is one would say ‘como estas’ in Madrid, but in Nerja it would be ‘como ayta’, both of the ‘s’s having been dropped.
The Spanish pronounce all of their vowels individually (not as dipthongs, as native English-speakers do). So the unit of currency is an ‘ayuro’ and the mountain of El Fuerte is pronounced ‘El Fuuertay’.
Recurring place names
There is a degree of repetition in the names of geographical features. There is a Puerto Blanquillo and a Puerta Blanquilla; there are at least two Salto de Caballos, two El Fuerte mountains and a couple of Cerro Verdes; one set of peaks is known as Los Dos Hermanos (the two brothers), a col on Cisne is known as Collado de los Dos Hermanos, while another peak is called Las Dos Hermanas (the two sisters). To the north of the region there is the town of Arenas del Rey, while nearer the coast there is the village of Arenas. But as long as you know where you are, there should be no cause for confusion!
Red deer
Maps and GPS coordinates
Topografica publish the official National Geographic Institute of Spain (IGN) 1:50,000 and 1:25,000 maps of the area laid out to the 1950 European UTM grid. These maps are relatively inexpensive to buy but are not widely available. The quality of paper is poor and all paths are not shown on them. For some of the walks more than one map will be required. They can be purchased direct at a shop in Malaga, or they can be purchased online (see Appendix E, ‘Maps of the region’). See Appendix C for a glossary of useful words for map reading.
The Axarquía Tour and Trail 1:40,000 published by Discovery Walking Guides is quite a clear map, but the October 2010 version has many little mistakes (for instance, Frigiliana and Canillas de Aceituno are misspelled, and there are a number of features that are out of place). Unfortunately the 2010 version is to an imperial grid.
A GPS is not essential for most of the walks. There is often not a great deal of point in giving waypoint coordinates. The key thing is to find the start of the walk and stick to the path. However, for walkers who prefer to carry a GPS device of some sort, some waypoints have been identified in the route descriptions at particularly critical navigational points. The GPS coordinates set out in the guide relate to the European Grid and are in metric. The coordinates given, for example 215:420760:4087650, are made up of height in metres: easting in metres and northing in metres.
Using this guide
The approach to Collado de Dos Hermanos on Cisne (Walk 24). The mark on the rock shows that there is only 100m of climbing left, but it is the most difficult 100 metres
Some summary information is provided at the start of each route description to help you select the right walk for you and your party. This includes the total distance, the total height gain, a rough estimate of the time a walk might take (allowing for reasonable rests and refreshment breaks), a difficulty rating and directions for getting to the start of the walk from the nearest town or village. Other options for your day in that particular area are also suggested in some cases. There is also a summary table in Appendix A to help you compare the different routes.
Route maps
The routes are marked onto 1:25,000 IGN base maps, except for detailed navigation through villages where street maps, with scales indicated, are provided. The main route line is marked in orange and variants are marked in blue. There are some inaccuracies in the base maps and so in some cases key features have been marked over the top in heavier black type with an arrow to pinpoint the correct location.
GPX files for all the routes described here are available for anyone who has bought this guide to download free from the Cicerone website. Just go to www.cicerone.co.uk/754/GPX. All the official Spanish mapping is also now available to buy, by map tile, province or region, for use within the ViewRanger navigation app on tablets, phones and other devices.
Difficulty
The difficulty rating given for each route is on a scale of one to ten with the higher numbers reserved for long and strenuous walks. A route with a difficulty rating of 1 would be suitable for children and grandparents and where ordinary sports shoes would be appropriate, while one rated 10 should be reserved only for those who are very fit, in good walking boots and with all
