Las Alpujarras - South from Cuesta Viñas

Cuesta Viñas is a small collection of houses, a hamlet, between Yegen (3km west) and Válor (2 km east). It has a natural water source with sparkling water which you will pass at the start. This trail, a pun on the book 'South from Granada' by Gerald Brenan, who lived in Yegen in the 1930's, is a small and easy loop-trail, running south of Cuesta Viñas. You will see the typical 'Alpujarras' mountains often resembling Arizona-like canyons.
The 'Alpujarras' is a lower mountain range between the Sierra Nevada and the Mediterranean Sea. See the red and silver mountains glimmering. The latter contain magnesium-rich clay from which 'Launa' is made to fill for example the roofs of 'Cortijos', the small white, cubic farmhouses in moorish style.

Most of the trail is easy to follow: dirt road tracks, not suitable for regular cars but for 4x4 and tractors. Only after about 2.1 km you need to pay attention. The track you are on goes sharp to the left, but you'll see a sign saying like: 'private property' and a triangle shield that even warns for guarding dogs, 'perros'. There you should take a shortcut path to the right. This sort-of path lingers through terraces of orchards, but should be publicly accessible, until you get back on a generic dirt track, leading you to the general red-white marked GR-7 between Válor and Yegen.From there it is easy-going until you reach the tarmac road leading back to Cuesta Vińas.


There is no shortage of water in these valleys. If you have a dog with you (like me), there is ample water for your best friend to drink and even bathe in (including red-clay mud bathes). Best is to walk counter-clockwise, as the views will build up to become more magnificent after every corner, plus the last stretch is over the regular, but very quiet tarmac road.