CR Adventures: 040323: Benahavis, Guadalmina Reservoir, Puerto Vélate, Castillo de Monte Major v2
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 10.32 mi
- Elevation gain
- 2,018 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Moderate
- Elevation loss
- 2,018 ft
- Max elevation
- 1,960 ft
- TrailRank
-
58
4.3
- Min elevation
- 462 ft
- Trail type
- Loop
- Moving time
- 4 hours 11 minutes
- Time
- 5 hours 40 minutes
- Coordinates
- 2949
- Uploaded
- March 4, 2023
- Recorded
- March 2023
near Benahavís, Andalucía (España)
Viewed 151 times, downloaded 3 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
A beautiful hike from the town of Benahavís mainly on dirt and gravel track with some elevation gain to overcome.
The first part takes us via the Guadalmina Reservoir which has a very low water level.
We continue along the trail towards Puerto Velate bypassing a derelict house with beautiful views.
Continuing along the trails looking out towards Sierra Bermeja and beyond we witness the devastation caused by the forest fires in recent times.
It’s just amazing how nature recovers from such incidents.
I came across this cork oak tree standing by itself clearly with extensive fire damage but the amazing thing was that it survived producing new growth.
The vegetation that dominates this terrain is the low and shrubby scrub, highlighting rockroses, palm hearts, gorse, matagallos, esparto grass, mastic, broom, heather, lavender, rosemary and thyme. As for the grove, the carob trees, isolated cork oaks, wild olive trees, Andalusian oaks and Aleppo pines stand out.
The pinnacle of this hike takes us to Monte Mayor and the Castle.
A bit of a climb though as we enter via the back door.
The Castle has stunning views in all directions.
From the Costa del Sol to Gibraltar, North Africa, as well as the nearby Sierra Bermeja to the west, Sierra Palmitera and Sierra Blanca to the east.
The castle of Montemayor functioned as a defensive and surveillance element of this entire area of Andalusian rural settlement from the 8th-15th centuries, until its surrender to the Castilians, which occurred in 1485 after the fall of the city of Ronda and since then, it was definitively depopulated, although it was used as a defensive refuge by the Moors from the Sierra Bermeja area who revolted in 1568. In the 19th century, during the War of Independence against Napoleonic troops, it once again gained military value.
The first part takes us via the Guadalmina Reservoir which has a very low water level.
We continue along the trail towards Puerto Velate bypassing a derelict house with beautiful views.
Continuing along the trails looking out towards Sierra Bermeja and beyond we witness the devastation caused by the forest fires in recent times.
It’s just amazing how nature recovers from such incidents.
I came across this cork oak tree standing by itself clearly with extensive fire damage but the amazing thing was that it survived producing new growth.
The vegetation that dominates this terrain is the low and shrubby scrub, highlighting rockroses, palm hearts, gorse, matagallos, esparto grass, mastic, broom, heather, lavender, rosemary and thyme. As for the grove, the carob trees, isolated cork oaks, wild olive trees, Andalusian oaks and Aleppo pines stand out.
The pinnacle of this hike takes us to Monte Mayor and the Castle.
A bit of a climb though as we enter via the back door.
The Castle has stunning views in all directions.
From the Costa del Sol to Gibraltar, North Africa, as well as the nearby Sierra Bermeja to the west, Sierra Palmitera and Sierra Blanca to the east.
The castle of Montemayor functioned as a defensive and surveillance element of this entire area of Andalusian rural settlement from the 8th-15th centuries, until its surrender to the Castilians, which occurred in 1485 after the fall of the city of Ronda and since then, it was definitively depopulated, although it was used as a defensive refuge by the Moors from the Sierra Bermeja area who revolted in 1568. In the 19th century, during the War of Independence against Napoleonic troops, it once again gained military value.
Waypoints
Photo
469 ft
Waypoint
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