Sunny Walkers 40224: Fuente de la Arquita, Puerto de las Viñas and Cerro de las Chapas from Casares 4

Clear blue skies a cooling breeze and not too hot so perfect weather. I’ve also done this in the wet which can be a little tricky on the steep descent from the refuge Sierra Crestellina.

The Sierra Crestellina Natural Park belongs to the Malaga municipality of Casares. Declared a Protected Natural Area in 1989, it owes its name to the ridges and peaks that form it. Located in the Cordillera Penibética, with a surface area of ​​478 hectares, it constitutes a steep rock of Jurassic limestone that rises above the Triassic sandstones of the Genal Valley. Together with the Sierra de la Utrera massif, it constitutes the only limestone enclaves in the entire area.

Sierra Crestellina has two peaks, one called Cerro de las Chapas (Hill of the Plates), with the peak at 943 m., And the other called Sierra de Casares at 906 m., Each located at one end of the mountain range.

Our route runs through the entire crestería joining the two peaks starting from its northern slope where the maximum elevation is located in Cerro de las Chapas.
The route offers stunning summit views down the Guadiaro valley across to Gibraltar, and up the Genal valley

A Moderate hike via dirt and gravel tracks on the approach and descent but a scrabbly slope to the summit and some light scrambling at the summit.
Rather than return via the same route to the summit as the variation we followed the ridge route for a while although a little tricky in places but no more so than the slipping sections on the ascent.

Views down over Casares – a classic pueblo blanco divided by a deep ravine and with the remains of a dramatic cliff-top castillo.

The accompaniment of vultures on the way up to the peak is assured.

Stunning summit views down the Rio Guadiaro valley and across to Gibraltar (and, on a clear day, to Africa); and northwards up the Rio Genal valley to the mountains south of Ronda.

History of Casares
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In Roman times the spa of la Hedionda, located on the road to Manilva, was already well known, and this is where Julius Caesar supposedly was cured of a liver complaint, thanks to the sulfuric waters that still pour out of the local spring. For this reason, during the Roman Empire, Casares was allowed by emperors to mint its own coins.

The 12th-century castle, around which grew the present town center, was founded by the occupying Moors. In 1361, Peter I of Castile and the dethroned Muhammed V signed the Pact of Casares, by which the Moorish King recuperated his throne, leaving Casares as part of the Nasrid dynasty. The town surrendered to the Catholic forces after the fall of Ronda in 1485 and was handed over to Rodrigo Ponce de León, Duke of Cádiz. Later during the Rebellion of the Moriscos, Rodrigo's descendant, the Duke of Arcos, accepted the surrender of the rebel Moriscos, the Moors who had "converted" to Christianity. Casares had taken an active part in the Morisco rebellion, put down by Don John of Austria. The town separated from Manilva in 1795, being granted the title of Villa. At a later period, Casares was the only town, apart from Cádiz, that the Napoleonic troops had not been able to take.

More recent history indicates the old village as the birthplace of the father of Andalusian nationalism, Blas Infante Pérez de Vargas, labor lawyer, politician and writer, who is considered to be the largest historic figure in Andalusia. He was born in 1885 and died during the civil struggle in 1936.

Since 1978 the historical and artistic heritage of the village has been officially protected.