A Hike from Gaucin to El Colmenar

After seeing a couple of route signs and doing some research we discovered that a portion of one leg of the Gran Senda de la Serranía de Ronda (Great Track of the mountains of the Ronda region) connects Gaucin to the village of El Colmenar.   The Gran Senda de la Serranía de Ronda is 6 day hike out of Ronda, returning to Ronda. Each leg is between 18 and 25 kilometres.

Today we hiked he trail from Gaucine to Colmenar. The sign post says that it is 8.5K.  The single track trail is generally well marked, although we managed to loose the trail for a while as we approached Colmenar.  Since Gaucin is located quite high in the hills and Colmenar is located in the next valley bottom, most of the trail, in this direction, is down hill.  There is a 200 metre climb leaving Gaucin, part way up the northern slope of El Hacho but once you reach the ridge line it is clear sailing. The track is well worn at the Gaucin end but less so at the El Colmenar end.  From the time we left the house until we arrived in El Colmenar we had covered 10K exactly.

Looking back at Gaucin from the ridge line.

The path passes through a few farms.

These are cork trees after a harvest.

Our destination El Colmenar

Another photo of our destination

 Once we reached El Colmenar we found our way to the centre of town. There is a railway station  in town. Across from the railway station there is a bar / restaurant. Here we stopped for a beer and a bite to eat.  We had not made any plans for our return trip to Gaucin. We hoped that we could find a cab but after talking to bar owner and a few of the clients, we discovered that finding a cab was not an option. They told us to relax have another beer, somebody will come by that is going to Gaucin. You can catch a ride with them.

So we had a couple of beer and enjoyed some tapas...  some really good "berenjenas fritas", eggplant fries with a balsamic reduction sauce.   One fellow, an Englishman who worked in Gibralter offered to drive up to the top of the hill, if we couldn't find a ride with anyone else. As the afternoon wore on, the beer flowed and the clientele at the bar became progressively louder. The fellow who had offered us a ride was sitting with others and we noticed that they were finishing off their 4th bottle of wine.   Linda and I started to get a little worried, but it all worked out OK.  It all worked out in the end. Three people on a road trip to Ronda had taken the wrong road and ended up in El Colmenar. They stopped at the restaurant for refreshments.  Linda spoke to them and they gave us a ride back up to the edge of Gaucin.

By the time we got back to the house we had walked 13.2K  23,587 steps and climbed the equivalent of 54 flights of stairs. (according to my iPhone)

We passed this field of Llamas on the way back into Gaucin.