Alcala la Real to Antequera

Fortress of Alcala

Alcala's claim to fame is its huge old fortress. Beautifully restored and with great views down onto the city. Arabs and Christians changed ownership of this hilltop city and fortress so many times that I could not keep track. Alcala was a border town between the Arab kingdom in Spain and the Christian kingdom. When the Christians finally conquered it for good (by poisoning the fortress's water supply) they built a huge church on top of the hill. But in the 18th century everything fell into disrepair. It is now hard to imagine from the ruins that this was once a bustling town. Still, the whole huge complex is definitely worth visiting.

Fountain in Alcala

I was staying in the Hospederia Zacatin where I was even charged less for a room than the official price list: 27 €. But I was not happy with their restaurant. Because they had not expected guests there was no menu del dia. After I complained they cooked up something for me but it was downright bad. The worst of all was that I had so much been looking forward to my beloved tinto de verano - and for the first time in Spain I was only given a glass of it with the menu. I decided not to visit this restaurant again but Alcala was strangely devoid of eateries despite its size. But I was lucky: By pure coincidence I found a Chinese restaurant - totally devoid of guests. It still offered an AYCE buffet. I ventured in and was assured that the AYCE buffet would appear within 10 minutes. To my great surprise it actually did: They cooked up several dishes to choose from only for me. And although definitely not haute cuisine it was quite good - and very filling. So if in Alcala la Real try the Chinese restaurant Hongkong.

The 5 day stretch from Alcala to Antequera was definitely not a highlight of this trip. First of all the weather was bad. It rained every day! This is a lot for Andalucia where it does not rain for months on end. I have the feeling that almost all the year's rain fall had come down since Christmas. Beside getting wet the biggest problem with the rain was that it converted the "trail" into one big mud slide. To make things worse the mud here is incredibly sticky. Hiking became very exhausting because I was constantly carrying around 1 kg of mud sticking on each shoe and another pound on each trekking pole. Sounds funny but I assure you it is not. I looked like a pig. My trousers were a mess. My backpack looked even worse than usual and I don't even want to talk about my tent.

Which brings me to the next problem: Camping in this weather on this ground. I was more or less constantlyhiking through olive tree plantations. The good news is that this usually guarantees flat camp sites. But with all this rain the ground had turned into one big squishy mud pool. As it was  harvesting time the ground had been destroyed by tractors creating huge mud puddles. I was dreading rain over night because the ground was so saturated that it could not absorb more water - and I was fearing to wake up in a little lake.

Another Spanish specialty was disturbing my night peace. Spanish farmers tend to have "outposts" in the middle of nowhere: a little shack or house in a fenced in compound. In order to guard this property they keep dogs on it. Not one, not two - usually half a dozen. These dogs are left alone the whole time except for feeding times. Apparantly they get so bored that they keep barking - all night long! And sound travels far in this landscape. I returned to using ear plugs. Luckily (for me) the dogs are chained and/or fenced in and not hunting clandestine campers. One night I camped so late that it was already dark when I chose my camp site. And I did not realize that I was very close to one of those compounds. I only noticed when the owner turned up for dog feeding - and all hell broke loose. The dogs took the whole night to calm down.

But the main problem of this stretch is that it is quite boring. Olive trees and more olive trees - and then some more. Nothing else but olive trees. If I see another olive tree I'll scream. I don't even like olives. So day after day I was hiking (or sliding) up and down hillsides with olive trees. Not exactly the most exciting hiking. There was one stretch approaching Rute when the trail leaves the olive trees and meanders between olives and national park. I was skeptical: My map did not show any trail. I had lost the gpx track for that section - and I knew from experience that the trail marking in Andalucia is scarce to non-existant. I actually found where the trail took off from the usual dirt road. I climbed up higher and even found trail markers. There was not really a trail and it looked like no one had hiked here in years. I had to camp in yet another olive tree plantation and when I woke up it was so foggy that visibility was less than 50 m. The trail markers led into one big scrub with no sign of any trail. I was so fed up that I just descended on dirt roads and ended up road walking.

This used to be a brigde

And this is my main frustration with the GR 7 in Andalucia. It has great potential but it is so neglected that I cannot really recommend hiking here. At least there was no mud on the road.... There were some other bad surprises: A washed out bridge (no problem to cross the little stream though) and a completely washed out trail coming into Cuevas San Marcos. The trail was supposed to be on an old abandoned road. There were even some red and white markers! The road signs that "Road closed" but I had assumed it is still passable for hikers. No such luck: The road had completely crumbled into the river and of course it started to rain when I realised my situation. I climbed up some olive tree plantations and walked around it - sometimes sinking ankle deep into mud. At least the weather was so bad that there were no farmers around wondering what I was doing on their property.

The towns were not much of a highlight either - except Priego de Cordoba. This would have been a great town for a rest day. Unfortunately I got there on a Monday when almost everything is closed. A real shame because Priego boasts several splendid Baroque churches. Only one was open and gave me a taste of what I was missing. The guy in the tourist office was really enthusiastic as well: He had even hiked 20 km of the GR 7 and printed out trail descriptions for me - but I still got lost. Best of all he gave me a little free sample of olive oil and I learnt that fresh bread and olive oil actually make quite a nice lunch.

But eventually I made it to Antequera - and just in time as another storm front is moving in. I swear I'll stay put until it has stopped raining... But only 250 km to go now! Hopefully my shoes will last that long.

Quesada to Alcala la Real

I am now hiking through hardcore olive country. Olive trees everywhere - millions of them. And now is harvest time. I had to learn that hiking in olive country during harvest time is a noisy business... This is how olives are harvested: A plastic net is placed underneath the tree and then the branches are shaken - either by beating them with wooden sticks or with a stick-like motor-device which leads to a constant humming in olive plantations. The content of the nets is then collected and transported to the olive mills. Early morning and late evening basically everyone on the roads here is driving a 4WD (to get up the steep slopes), towing a covered trailer full of olives and carrying the tools of the trade (plastic nets and wooden sticks). Afterwards the olive trees are pruned which adds chain saw noises to the concert. The cut off branches are burnt next to the fields and therefore smoke is often in the air.

Hiking here can be a bit boring - all you see is olive trees. Harvesting time also makes stealth camping interesting because you don't know if you are going to be woken up by farmers... On the other hand you'll always find a flat clear spot in these olive plantations for camping. But as there is no undergrowth and the trees are usually far apart it is difficult to hide. I set up camp very late and try to be away before sunrise and the arrival of the harvesters.

Nothing but olive trees

Hiking in winter I can observe very well what great influence the location of the camp site has on night conditions in the tent. On my first night out of Quesada there was nothing but olive trees to camp. I got a bit scared when some of the plantations were suddenly fenced in. Do the owners think someone will steal their olives? Luckily, this fencing is the exception. Still, there was a lot of harvesting activities in the area and I tried to get away a bit. After the recent rains the ground is incredibly muddy and I went down a flooded dirt road that seemed unaccessible by car in this state. Unfortunately this also brought me close to a river and the plantation ground was so soft that I had to camp in a patch of grass in the open without tree cover. The result: First the tent got soaking wet from condensation which then froze over completely in the morning. When I broke camp I heard workers nearby and tried to pack up quickly. I nearly froze my hands when rolling up the frozen tent...

Although it can be freezing cold at night the days are warm, almost hot. I did a quick shopping in Jodar and was then off to Torres. The GR 7 climbs up a mountain and then descends steeply into the next valley. The climb up was easy on a dirt road and the views from the pass down into the valley great. But how would I get down this steep slope? Someone had driven up an old car and then pushed it down the slope. The car wreck seemed an awful reminder of what can happen to you if you slip... But the descent was not as bad as it looked and I was soon down in olive country again. The climbing had taken its toll and I did not make it as far as expected that night. I ended up on the the steep ascent up to Torres when the sun set. One of the terraces rescued me by providing a flat spot for camping. And despite the altitude of 1.200 m and no tree cover I did not have frost in the tent.

Sierra Magina

Next day was a real highlight as I was crossing another small National Park, Sierra Magina. From Torres I steadily climbed up to 1,600 m on forest roads. Once up on the pass I was greeted with spectacular views of the snow covered Sierra Nevada. I sat on top of the pass and had lunch. It is January and I was sitting there in the sun enjoying the fantastic views - and felt incredibly happy.

Unfortunately this happiness quickly disappeared when I realised a couple of hours later that my gpx track had been cut off. Although I had downloaded the whole track for this Northern variant only half of it was on my GPS. My only explanation is that the track must have had more than 10.000 track points and had therefore been cut off when sending it from my computer onto the GPS. That meant no tracks for over a week!  And here the GR is badly or not marked at all. Luckily I have paper maps with the trail marked on them but a GPS track would be much better...

Along the River Cambil

The first trial without gpx track was soon to come. After Cambil the GR 7 follows the valley of the river Cambil. Sounds easy to navigate but there was no trail and I didn't know which side of the river to be on. It did not help that a recent flooding had washed out the bridges and I didn't know if they had been rebuilt. So I decided to camp first - and so close to the river this was condensation hell of course. Next morning the navigation turned out to be quite easy as the bridges had all been rebuilt and "bushwhacking" through olive trees is easy. After crossing underneath the motorway and a bit of roadwalking to Carchelejos I came across another highlight of this section. After climbing up to a pass the GR 7 descends into a dramatic river gorge on an old foot path. The views down into the gorge were fabulous and I had another "Life is good" moment. I even found a nice pine tree campsite in the evening in a terrace. Life has been very good on this stretch: Nice sunny weather during the day and some fabulous scenery amidst the endless olive trees.

Only the last day into Alcala la Real dragged a bit. I had chafed my feet on the downhills and I was hurting a bit. Plus Alcala does not come into sight until you are literally standing in front of it. I had a reservation and just limped right to my hotel where I spend the evening trying to heal my feet.

Cazorla and Quesada

Cazorla

In Cazorla I stayed two nights in the Hotel Limas where 25 € got me the usual en suite room. The staff there was exceptionally friendly and through the attentive waitress I discovered a new culinary delight: tinto de verano (summer red wine) or vino casera. I first thought that she had offered me "vino casero" (house wine), but vino casera is red wine mixed with lemonade and ice. Sounds horrible but tastes delicious! My new favourite drink.  And best of all: it is usually included in the price of the daily menu. Spanish cuisine is not very refined but I still like it - especially since eating out in Spain relatively cheap. To give you an example: the menu del dia in the Hotel Limas was 9 € and includes two dishes, bread, desert, a full bottle of wine and a full bottle of lemonade. In Germany 9 € wouldn't even buy you a bottle of wine. And because Cazorla is in the mountains there is a wide choice of game dishes. I had wild pig sausage for a starter and venison stew as a main dish. After a good meal and vino casera I just love Spain!

Cazorla NP, Castillo de Cinco Esqinas

Cazorla seems to live on two things: olives and the National Park. The little town is full of tour agencies offering 4WD tours into the park. I would just walk... Beside that Cazorla's claim to fame is the only church in the world with a river underneath it. But the same river brought bad luck: Rock falls dammed the river that then flooded so badly that it destroyed the church and half the village. Bottom line is that the church was never finished but with a guided tour you can visit the ruins and the very impressive subterranean river channel.

Cazorla NP

The friendly lady in the tourist information then made me change my plans. I had intended to hike through to Alcala la Real but she told me so much about Spanish Christmas traditions that I decided to just hike half a day and spend Jan 5 in Quesada. The short hike passed through Cazorla National Park and I now discovered what beauty I had missed in the last three days because of rain and fog - I just had not been able to see the spectacular limestone cliffs. There is only one hotel in Quesada and I had to pay more than usual for a room: 33 €.

Quesada by Zabaleta

I indulged in a hot bath before setting out to see Quesada's main attraction: the Zabaleta museum. Zabaleta is a 20th painter born in Quesada and I freely admit that I had never heard of him before - although he is considered one of the most important modern Spanish painters. The museum is huge considering the size of the village and plenty of paintings of Quesada itself were exhibited. I was the only visitor and the friendly receptionist told me more about this evening's events. In Spain it is not Santa Claus who brings the presents on Dec 24 but the Three Wise Men bring them on Jan 6. And this is celebrated by a street parade on the evening of Jan 5 in all Spanish cities and villages - my reason to stay in Quesada. The parade features the three kings, their servants and other Christmas participants throwing sweets at the spectators. The kids write letters with their Christmas wishes and hand them to the kings after the parade who then presumably bring them the next day.

Balthasar and I

The parade started at 7.30 pm and the participants were getting ready in the underground parking lot of the museum. And as a curious foreigner I was allowed to have a good look at them before the parade started. I even had a private meeting with one of the kings! Each year the parade was organised by a different village group, this year by the mediaeval motorcyclists. These is a bunch of motorcyclists who dress up in mediaeval clothes for whatever reason and like this they were also participating in the parade. The kings of course had a car and dozens of servants each. The local kids came prepared with plastic bags for all the hard candy that was thrown. It was fierce competition and I only managed to get two sweets - despite having been a good girl all year. The village band was playing Christmas songs that drove me away soon. I celebrated on my own with a menu del dia and vino casera in my hotel.

But now it is four days of straight hiking to Alcala la Real with a good weather forecast.

Cazorla National Park

Dirt road

Puebla de Don Fadrique is just a small town with not much to do and see so that I left after only one night. I would have a longer rest in Cazorla which is only 5 days away and much bigger. The walk out of Puebla looked horrible: A 32 km road walk! I have hardly had any long road walks so far in Spain and was not looking forward to that one. But as far as road walks are concerned this one was not bad at all. First of all I split it into two days. Secondly there was hardly any traffic on the narrow road and the scenery was nice. Day one was only half a day of hiking and took me up to 1,700 m. At the end of the day I detoured onto a dirt road that looped back to the highway. Same mileage, but dirt instead of pavement and higher. That meant that I ended up at 1,700 m and plenty of snow for camping... Still my sleep system handled the cold pretty well and it was nice to be off pavement for a while.

Snow above 1,500 m

Next day I was back on the highway for the second half of roadwalking. Snow line is around 1,500 m right now and I was dropping below that now to get into Santiago de la Espada. The route leaves the highway (no trail marker though) and passes through a river gorge with an old cave settlement. The houses were built directly into the rock high above the river but mostly abandoned. Still I saw some kids playing and a lot of trash which was sightly eerie. As there were no trail markers I got slightly lost and had to walk through the houses when I finally spotted an adult. The only people still (or again) living there is a group of friendly young greenies who set me back on track.

Abandonded cave dwelling

There are several supermarkets in Santiago de la Espada none of which I had found when researching this trip - uselessly carrying 4 days worth of food from Puebla. This was New Year's Eve and I wanted to find a nice and quiet campsite. So onward to Pontones and sheep country were I was spotted by a lonely sheep dog. The dog followed me forever but I did not want a camping companion. He probably preferred sheep anyways. With perfect timing I found a stand of pine trees on flat ground and this is were I spent the last hours of 2013. No fireworks disturbed my sleep.

Cazorla NP

When I peered out of my tent next morning I thought I was in Scotland instead of Andalucia. Sheep pastures in fog and a slight drizzle were awaiting me. I was amazed that there were still sheep kept outside. Even at 1,700 m and snow I had still seen sheep looking for grass under the snow. The weather could not be helped and therefore I put on my raingear and set off for Pontones where things improved dramatically. First the sun came out and then the GR 7 (no trail markers) coincided with the brand new GR 247 (perfect Waymarking and signposts everywhere). The GR 247 "Bosques del Sur" is just a couple of months old and definitely worth hiking. Unlike the GR 7 it usually passes free refugios something I would be missing the next two days because it started to rain. It had not rained in this region for 4 months - probably just waiting for me to come through...

Cazorla NP

To make things (and the weather) worse I was now going up to high elevation. After passing the source of the river Segura the trail climbs up into Cazorla National Park. I would hike for 2,5 half days through this beautiful park but unfortunately I did not see much of it because of constant fog and drizzle. The route does not stay up all the time. You drop down into the valley of the Guadalquivir river twice following the river and its spectacular side streams for a while. On day two the rain really got to me. Although it was not raining hard everything gets wet after a while. I had to cook under an umbrella sitting on a wet rock under dripping trees - no fun! You are hiking mostly on forest roads but even they had turned into one huge mud puddle - not to mention the countless rock falls that let me worry about a safe campsite. Of course no one was out there hiking except me. At least it was relatively warm despite the high altitude. After putting on wet rain gear and a wet backpack two mornings in a row I was definitely ready for a warm and dry hotel room.

Guadalquivir

But the trail was winding through every nook and cranny and took forever. This was supposed to be one of the most beautiful places of my entire hike but I did not really enjoy it with a visibility of less than 50 m and a wet butt. (Another reason to come back and hike the GR 247 in sunshine...)

Finally Cazorla came into view with an abrupt change of scenery. I had hiked through pine forest for 5 days but the view down from Cazorla was nothing but olive trees - one huge sea of olive trees. (28 million olive trees in Jaen I was told - I guess I'll see more olive trees in the next days). But at least I got the timing right: more rain is forecasted for tomorrow when I will have a full rest day in Cazorla.

Murcia

The stretch between Elda and Pinoso, the last town in Valencia on the GR 7 had been described as boring and treeless by other hikers. I therefore set out without great expectations and wondering where I would camp. In the outskirts of Elda I passed the huge municipal cemetery and a very active little chapel where people had left little papers with their prayers on. It was warm and I was soon hiking in a shirt only instead of several layers. Although not exactly exciting the trail was not as bad as expected - but I definitely would not want to hike here in summer. There were even some little stretches with trees and that lured me into the wrong decision to make some miles and hike through Pinoso to camp after it.

View from my campsite

When I left Pinoso with the last daylight I realised what a huge mistake I had made. All I could see in front of me was an endless brown and flat landscape. Nowhere to hide behind - a stealth campers nightmare. To make things worse I was walking on a paved road with occasional traffic and I was extremely conspicuous. I had no other chance but to press on to where I had to turn off onto a dirt road and thank God there were olive trees and terraces there. Not great but better than the great wide open. Then I spotted half a dozen lonely pine trees on the top of the terraces and as I had hoped this spot turned out to be a great camp site. Nice pine duff, some shelter from the tree and great views over the lights of Pinoso.

Vineyard

Next day was more of the great wide open. I had now passed from Valencia into Murcia. There was even a border marker. Empty fields, some olive and almond trees and sun scorched, hard baked ground. No shadow whatever. Hiking here in summer must be hell. After passing under another motorway with hardly any traffic I came across the huge fruit plantations. All fenced in, some with netting above to keep the birds out and endless rows of fruit trees. There were few people working there mostly pruning trees. Some nearby houses looked more like a slum than a settlement. I asked for water at one house and learned that it was rain water. The houses were off grid... but all had dozens of dogs which led to a loud barking concert when I passed. The nearby gas station could easily be the setting for a Spanish version of "Deliverance". At last I know now where the fruit in German supermarkets comes from: these plantations in Murcia.

Luckily the trail climbed out of plantation valley and I could again camp under pine trees - where I was woken up at 10 pm by some late mountain bikers passing by. Next day was Dec 24 and time for my Christmas shopping in Cieza. Hiking into town along 5 km of busy highway was the worst hiking so far in Spain. I passed endless industrial estates and illegal garbage dumps, but I can't really complain as I had hardly had to hike on roads before in this trip in Spain.

The weather forecast was pretty miserable. After weeks with no rain the skies had decided to dump water on Spain just on Christmas day. Depending on the region this ranged from a biblical deluge to a simple downpour. In the region I was hiking in now the forecast was 15 mm of rain whereas Ronda where I would be in three weeks expected 80 mm of rain and gusts up to 90 km/h. I would have happily stayed in a hotel especially since it was Christmas but Cieza had very little accommodation options and all were over 50 € per night. Instead of shelling out 55 € for a hotel I bought an umbrella for 5,95 € and decided to hike on.

Cieza from above

But after doing my Christmas shopping I still needed water and could not find a water fountain. When I was desperately looking around a plaza a lady in a bathrobe came out of her house to ask me what I was looking for. She must have felt very Christmassy because she not only gave me water but would not let me go before kissing me and trying to give me fruit and sweets. I climbed up to a hilltop overlooking Cieza and decided to hike till sunset. I was rewarded with an incredible sunset colouring the landscape almost surreal.

Forest burn in the rain

I found a brilliant pine tree camp site and enjoyed my Christmas dinner: fresh mushroom stuffed ravioli and cheese cake for desert. I then rewarded myself with reading an Ian Rankin novel. Now I could only wait for the rain which arrived on cue early next morning. It basically rained the whole day. Not too bad (and my new umbrella helped) but I can think of better things to do on Christmas than trudge through an incessant drizzle. At 3 pm I was ready to throw in the towel - and had to hike through a burn area with no trees or bushes whatsoever. Grudgingly I hiked on and after an hour I was back in trees. It took a while to find a campsite but that didn't matter: it doesn't make much sense to call it a day early on a winter hike. There is not much you can do in a tent in winter - it is just too cold. Even reading is not much of an option as your hands will freeze quickly. The only thing you can do comfortably is sleeping and I am already sleeping 10 hours per day...

Calasparra

I woke up to a beautiful morning and blue sky and had a great views of Calasparra, the next town en route. As Dec 26 is not a holiday in Spain I could even do some unexpected shopping. Then onward to Moratalla which marked the end of low land hiking. The low altitude had provided relatively high temperatures. I had been back to hiking in a shirt only and sleeping with less than all layers on. But now I was approaching the Sierra Nevada and was gradually climbing up to 1,500 m, the highest point of the GR 7 in Murcia. In the recent precipitations snow line had been 1,200 m in Southern Spain and I was a bit afraid of snow problems.

The GR 7 now follows the River Alharabe and its gorge made for stunning views again. The river actually had some water. After a climb up through lovely pine forest you arrive in top of the altiplano - where it looks almost as flat and desolate as lower down. It is only a lot colder... I was desperate to find some trees now for camping. Instead I ran into an old lady who asked me if I had seen her run away goat. I could not help her. (Actually I could hardly understand her. Maybe she was looking for her husband...) Again with the last rays of daylight I found some trees and spent a relatively warm night despite an altitude of 1,200 m.

Hunting dogs

 Dec 28 seemed to be hunting day. I saw several signs announcing "Danger! Wild Pig hunt in progress!" Despite my neon orange cap I was slightly worried. After an entire week with no washing or shower I might resemble more like a wild pig than a hiker... Dozens of cars with trailers for the hunting dogs passed me. There must have been a lot more dogs than wild pigs in the forests this day. I felt pity for the pigs. I now approached the 1,500 m point in Murcia and to my great relief there was no snow. There were plenty of snow covered mountains around me but so far no snow on the trail. If there is no major snow fall in the next two weeks I will hopefully be able to make it through the Sierra Nevada without any major problem.

Again I decided to push it until sunset before camping and encountered a rare but feared problem. It was nearly dark when I passed a seemingly  abandoned farm. Totally out of the blue (or dark in this case) a weird looking guy stepped onto the dirt road and stopped me. He didn't even say hello but just asked where I was going. Of course I didn't tell him that I was looking for a campsite but said I wanted to reach the highway. He seemed to be a farmhand and was probably harmless but I felt threatened by his neglected outfit and toothless unshaven face. He then asked me for a cigarette which struck me even weirder. I left quickly before he could ask for more. I turned around several times to make sure he was not following me and took extra care to find a well hidden far off the trail campsite. I am probably doing him wrong but this was one of the very view occasions in my hiking career when I felt uncomfortable as a single female.

It was freezing cold in the morning when I passed from Murcia into Andalusia, again celebrated by a "border" marker. Strangely enough my GPS track indicated a long road walk whereas the sign posts wanted me to stay in dirt roads. Because I had read in John Hayes' blog that he had to climb another set of deer fences on this route I opted for the road walk which was not too bad because there was little traffic on a Sunday and a little shoulder. And after over a week camping I now wanted to get to my hotel quickly and without any surprises.

Murcia has not been the most scenic hiking but was still pleasant, especially the warm temperatures. I had progressed much faster here than expected because the terrain is mostly flat and you are hiking on dirt roads instead of overgrown trail. The only thing that slowed me down was that the dirt roads became mud tracks after the Christmas rain. Navigation would have been a problem without my GPS track because there is nowhere to place a blaze or marker in the great wide open.

I am now in Puebla de Don Fadrique in the cheapest hotel so far. 20 € gets you a nice ensuite room with wifi. I am just resting as I will already leave tomorrow. I want to spend the New Year gumbo deep in the Cazorla National Park in my tent and not be disturbed by fireworks and drunken people. The GR 7 splits soon into a Northern and Southern variant. I will hike the Northern variant because it is lower and hopefully snow free. A happy new year to you all!

Bocairent to Elda

Burnt ridge

Bocairent did not look very enticing at first. I walked down a burnt ridge and saw ugly industrial estates. That should be the national heritage Bocairent? But as soon as I entered the old mediaeval part I was fascinated. Bocairent has a very well preserved old centre with narrow streets and century-old houses - one of which was my hostal! It had been difficult at first to find accommodation in Bocairent. There are several hotels but all very expensive. No hostal that are usually much cheaper. Luckily I found Casa Baretta on the internet that not only rents holiday apartments but also rooms. 30 € bought me a fantastic room including fake chandelier in an old nobility house right in the centre of town. Even the heating was ok. The owners were incredibly friendly especially after I had identified myself as a hiker. The landlord even volunteered to bring me a new gas canister from his next shopping trip into town.

Cuevas de Moros

When I arrived I was dead tired and frozen. I first thought to stay an entire day in bed but on the tourist map I discovered some caves to visit. They were close to town and for 1,50 € you can't go very wrong. Little did I know what was expecting me. The first cave was called Cueva de Moros and I was told to wait at the entrance for the guide. Then came a sightseeing trip that was more of an athletic exercise. The caves had been hewn into the rock by the Arabs and were intended to be storage rooms for food. But they never finished their work which meant that the connections between the chambers were mere holes. Sometimes you had to climb up ladders, pull yourself up ropes, squeeze through tiny holes and crawl through tunnels. Afterwards I was hot and dirty. I honestly wonder how many accidents have already occured there.... The next cave was an old snow cave back in the times without refrigerators. People brought in snow from the Sierras to store it here and transform it into ice. I was just wondering about the snow in the Sierra because I was going there and the idea of snow did not appeal to me...

After two nights in my stately room I was off the Alcoy and another hostal. The walk between the two towns looked rather uninteresting, especially since I decided to skip the climb up Montcabrer, but I ended up on a fantastic trail down a gorge into Alcoy. I did not need another hotel stay but Alcoy was the biggest town in the near future and I had to do some shopping. Mainly I wanted to go to Decathlon and buy long johns and socks for cold weather. According to the tourist office there was a bus going there but I would have to walk a bit. There was a bus but it stopped only 2 km after Decathlon and the walk was along a major highway with no sidewalk - in the dark. I did not want to kill myself and luckily found another sports shop in a nearby shopping complex. Now winter can come - I am equipped with long johns now.

Fiesta costume

Like almost every town I stayed in along the GR 7 Alcoy also had its little gem. It is the fiesta town and even has a fiesta museum. Next fiesta on the town agenda was Los Tres Reyes and there even is a Christmas museum. In Alcoy it is not Santa Claus who brings the presents, but a page of the three kings who climbs up a ladder and hands over the presents. Therefore you see black puppets climbing up balconies all over town. My Hostal Savoy was the most expensive so far for 33 € and although it had fabulous heating wifi did not work. Four hostal stays in a row seemed a bit extravagent, too and so I decided to leave town midday despite the bad weather forecast. This turned out to be the first of two bad decisions.

Font Roja NP

It started to rain badly as soon as I started hiking. After a long road walk to get back on trail it was a long and steep way uphill. I was soon wet from outside and inside. I passed a very nice cave which was even big enough for my tent but I made bad decision number two and passed it. I had still one hour of daylight left and was also worried that the cave might flood. My goal was to reach the nature centre of the National Park Font Roja where I hoped to find some shelter in the various picnic areas. But when I got there shortly before sunset I was disappointed. The visitor centre was huge and still several cars parked there. There was even a restaurant close by - so no way I would be able to hide there. Grudgingly I walked on and could not find a decent camp site. I finally ended up in the bushes on a slope which had the bad effect that I could not set up my tent properly and had to fight the rain dripping in. In the middle of the night one tent stake came off from the wind and I had to get out - of course getting very wet in the process. Condensation was horrible and even my quilt got soaking wet just from my breathing. I was thoroughly pissed with myself for leaving the comfy hostal. But things improved in the morning when the rain stopped and I enjoyed the National Park and its views - unfortunately in a glacially cold wind.

"Cleaned" forest

Luckily the next night was under pine trees and much more comfortably. Although I wondered why the whole pine forest was "cleaned". All under growth and several trees were cut and the ground almost bulldozed over. I later learned from a ranger that this was the Spanish way of reducing fire danger. The cut down trees were not even sold because their quality was so low. I was now coming into Elda, the last big town in Valencia before entering Murcia. Christmas is coming and I have to coordinate my hiking carefully now with supermarket opening times and hotel availibility. So here I am at another Hostal Garrizo which for 25 € has ok heating and fast wifi. This is my last bed for a week. I want to avoid Christmas and will hike through all the holidays. Unfortunately the weather forecast is bad for Christmas day which I will probably spend in a deluge... I therefore fortified myself with shopping at Lidl.

Elda also has its little gem - in this case a shoe museum. As you will have guessed shoe production is the traditional industry in Elda. I was the only visitor in the huge museum which boasts lots of tools and machines but also thousands of shoes. Historic shoes, designer shoes, celibrity shoes, sports shoes, miniature shoes, shoe paintings, shoe statues - everything about shoes. I loved the shoe exhibition although I would never want to wear these uncomfortable things. Tomorrow I am off again for a week long hike throught the province of Murcia. Next rest stop will already be in Andalucia, Puebla de Don Fadrique. A merry Christmas to all of you!

El Rebollar to Bocairent

Next important stop was Cortes de Pallas where I had to resupply. In order to get there it was twice up a sierra, down into a valley and up a sierra again. I made good progress mainly because I could not find a decent campsite when it was getting dark and had to walk into the night with my headlamp. I admit I am a bit choosy when it comes to campsites but condensation that freezes over overnight is a big problem right now. So whenever possible I look for tree cover, preferably pine trees that provide soft duff. Another great help are the man made terraces (mostly abandoned now) that provide flat areas.

When I camped on top of the plateau before Cortes de Pallas under a lone pine tree I thought I had an easy walk into town next day - I just had to descend from the plateau into the valley with its huge reservoir. But you never know what you get on the GR 7. First there was no trail any more where it should have been according to my GPS track. I searched around and finally discovered some red and white blazes nearby that disappeared on a rock precipice. I searched around to find a trail down - but nothing. As going down the precipice and then follow a creek bed was the most natural way down from the plateau I finally threw down my poles and backpack and climbed down. And for sure soon the waymarking picked up again but ended in a bushwhack from hell. Although well marked the trail had not been maintained for decades and was almost completely overgrown. I had just recently discovered a nasty Spanish specialty: One species of shrub has needless that not only scratch you, but the tip of the needle breaks of and gets stuck in your skin. I had been wondering why the scratches take so long to heal. The reason is that the scratch festers in order to get the little to out. Once I discovered that I squeezed it out and the scratches heal quickly.

Cortes de Pallas Reservoir

The trail down the plateau offers fantastic views and it is a shame that it is not maintained better. Once in the valley it is quite a long road walk into town and I arrived just before the little shop was closing. As was to be expected the resupply choices were limited. In fact it was so bad that I had to buy chocolate of such bad quality that I could not bring myself to eat it later. Due to the reservoir there are plenty of energy companies and their workers in the area and therefore there are several bars and rooms to let in town, quite surprising for such a small village.

Full moon hiking

But I hiked on dreading another bushwhack from hell as the trail was routed where my map showed nothing. But surprise, surprise: the trail had recently been maintained and offered superb walking with an impressive mesa on one side and the reservoir on the other. I passed several great camping areas and entered agricultural land with olive trees everywhere. Now when I needed a good campsite the ground was rocky and hard. But there was a full moon and I just hiked on until I found a lone pine tree. The morning was so cold that the water from a nearby spring seemed to be lukewarm. 

But although very cold most mornings here are incredibly beautiful in an almost surreal way because of the clear sky, intense light and morning mist. Today's goal was the Mt Caroche which was easily reached via wide forest roads. Here I met a game warden of this public hunting reserve whom I quizzed for almost half an hour. From him I learnt about the private hunting reserve close to Chera and about trail maintenance. You have to do trail maintenance only every 5 years and it now seems to be even more of a shame how neglected some trail portions are.

The area up to Caroche was all scrub with no trees and I started to worry about camping that night. Luckily the descent was more wooded and I was looking forward to a nice soft campsite under a pine tree when I saw a sign about forest work. Forest workers had cut down all the lower branches of the pine trees and left them where they had fallen creating a huge mess on the ground. No way I could find a camp site here. Luckily I was on a good forest road and I decided to hike on until the end of the forest work where I immediately found a nice sheltered site under a pine tree.

On the way up to Caroche

Next day brought rain (only a slight drizzle) and the Rio Grande which was completely dry. Again up a sierra and into a bushwhack from hell. I had to descend into a passing through sheep pastures where I encountered a sheep with a broken leg. It was dying and I wished I could do something to help. After a steep descent I came to a dirt road and was already awaited by a woman with a dog. "This is private property" I was told but she mellowed a lot when I told my story in broken Spanish. She and her partner had only moved here recently and had not known about the GR 7. I told her about the sheep that belonged to her and then she relented even into accompanying me through her property - but sent me onto the wrong track. It took another bushwhack to find the real track once I was past their finca and out of the reach of her dogs. I hope these people will not block the trail in the future...

Next day it was down into the valley of Vallada. After passing under the motorway and railway line I entered orange country. Orange plantations everywhere and although it was a Sunday plenty of people were harvesting. I was showered with delicious oranges and kaki (persimmon). People were incredibly friendly and could not believe that this strange German woman was hiking all alone through Spain. I was offered so much fruit that I definitely won't suffer from vitamine deficiencies....

This was my last night camping out before Bocairent and a bed. I had been hiking and camping over a week without stop which is almost too long in these cold conditions. I was longing for a bed and central heating. This last night was also the hardest as the Sierra was high and shrub only. It was difficult to find a campsite and it was completely in the open. So first I had heavy condensation and then it froze completely over. It is hard to get up and hike at sunrise under these conditions. After shaking and rolling up the tent I could shake off a big pile of snow: frozen over condensation.... The morning was cold but again incredibly beautiful with views down into the valley. 20 km left to Bocairent which I passed through another hunting area with plenty of "Enter at own risk" signs.. And finally on a cold and overcast day I arrived in long awaited Bocairent, bought some food in the supermarket and collapsed in my room.