The Twin Towers
From my roof terrace I have a clear view of the twin peaks of Lagárin and LaVeriosilla. They tower over the lake at Zahara like the two sentinels of Argonath in Tolkien´s The Lord of the Rings. They are an escarpment of Jurassic dolomite, which formed a part of a fold that should have curved high in the air to join the ridge, whose highest point now is El Torreón, dominating the horizon behind the lake. It never did curve high in the air, because as it was pushed upwards from below over millions of years, it was eroded from above by wind and rain. The picture below shows the skyline from Olvera. The twin towers are just left of centre.
The lake at Zahara is a man made lake which flooded a wide valley that the Romans knew as Manantieles salinas de ventas nuevas. (Salt springs) The Romans collected the salt to sell and it is perhaps from this that the low point of the valley where the dam wall is now was called the Peurto de los yesos (Yeso is Gypsum, another product of seawater evaporation and the main ingredient in plaster.)
There are salt springs because when the rocks were laid down 100 million years ago Earth had only one landmass, the same size as all the present day continents put together. This continent straddled the Equator. It was a hot desolate place, which, from time to time over eons, was inundated by the sea as the land sank, then baked dry at other times. When the sea did invade the land it was as a shallow ocean. When saltwater evaporates the salt crystallizes and remains as a flat sediment. Sand may have been blown across the salt and trapped it for the next 100 million years. In the present day the salt has been lifted, and is now near the surface As water percolates through the rock around Zahara it dissolves the salt and brings it into the rivers. Yeso is here too, and if you know where to look it can be found as crystalline formations of amazing beauty.
The walk starts on the road at the back of El Gastor where there is a picnic area under the pines. If you are coming from the Olvera side you will have to drive right through the village and find the Ronda road out of El Gastor. You should come to a point where there is a fork in the village with a road going downhill and a road going uphill into the Ayuntamento Plaza. The road going up is the one you want. You should then leave the vilage turning left and going uphill on the Ronda road. You will know you are on this road when you see the smallest filing station in the world. The road you need doubles back on a hairpin bend which leaves the Ronda road and climbs up into the pine forest above El Gastor whee there is a picnic area on the left hand side of the road.
Once at the picnic area you will be on a road which runs downhill. Don’t walk up the concrete drive on the right past the water reservoir where the signpost tells you to. This path disappears half way up the climb.
Instead, drive along the road till you come to a house on the left hand side and a sign for the dolmen up a concrete road to the right. Park here at the side of the road.
The Poplars and the old farmhouse.
The concrete road only lasts a hundred metres or so before becoming a track as in the photo above, but if you follow this it will lead you to a large gate with some tall isolated Lombardy Poplars on the left. There is a spring close to here and the ground is often boggy. On the right a little way off the track is an old farm house and the route up to the peaks leads off fron the RH side of the farm house.
The dolmen is straight ahead along a well marked track boardered with lines of stones. These bronze age dolmens are scattered all over the landscape around this area. They were constructed around four and a half thousand years ago during the Chalcolithic period between neolithic and bronze ages.The El Gastor dolmen is worth a look, but it is no more than the burial place of a leader of renown erected by his family or tribe. It is not the stuff of legends, though some idiot published a story about it being the tomb of a race of giants, more to sensationalize themselves than the bronze age chief. The most famous dolmen is at Antequerea and is worth the trip to see it.
The picture above shows the route to the top of La Veriosilla with the yellow short spur to the dolmen.
The white line which parallels the route to the top is a Malaga/Cádiz province bounery line and not a path or track.
Back to the walk.
The track starts to climb up to the saddle from the RH side of the farmhouse. This is a steep climb on a rough track, but it leads to the saddle
LaVeriosilla is on your left with it's flat top. LaVeriosilla is an easy climb and you can walk right up to the precipice and look over the lake 600m below.
On your right is Lagárin which is a more difficult climb, but worth the effort. The last hundred metres is a scramble over rocks to reach the summit and it's spectacular views.
The triangulation point on the summit of Lagárin.
View of the lake and Grazelema National Park
View of Lijar
The view across the saddle from La Veriocilla looking north with Olvera in the distance.
Finally, here is a painting of mine showing La Veriocilla in moonlight.
From my roof terrace I have a clear view of the twin peaks of Lagárin and LaVeriosilla. They tower over the lake at Zahara like the two sentinels of Argonath in Tolkien´s The Lord of the Rings. They are an escarpment of Jurassic dolomite, which formed a part of a fold that should have curved high in the air to join the ridge, whose highest point now is El Torreón, dominating the horizon behind the lake. It never did curve high in the air, because as it was pushed upwards from below over millions of years, it was eroded from above by wind and rain. The picture below shows the skyline from Olvera. The twin towers are just left of centre.
The walk starts on the road at the back of El Gastor where there is a picnic area under the pines. If you are coming from the Olvera side you will have to drive right through the village and find the Ronda road out of El Gastor. You should come to a point where there is a fork in the village with a road going downhill and a road going uphill into the Ayuntamento Plaza. The road going up is the one you want. You should then leave the vilage turning left and going uphill on the Ronda road. You will know you are on this road when you see the smallest filing station in the world. The road you need doubles back on a hairpin bend which leaves the Ronda road and climbs up into the pine forest above El Gastor whee there is a picnic area on the left hand side of the road.
Once at the picnic area you will be on a road which runs downhill. Don’t walk up the concrete drive on the right past the water reservoir where the signpost tells you to. This path disappears half way up the climb.
Instead, drive along the road till you come to a house on the left hand side and a sign for the dolmen up a concrete road to the right. Park here at the side of the road.
The concrete road only lasts a hundred metres or so before becoming a track as in the photo above, but if you follow this it will lead you to a large gate with some tall isolated Lombardy Poplars on the left. There is a spring close to here and the ground is often boggy. On the right a little way off the track is an old farm house and the route up to the peaks leads off fron the RH side of the farm house.
The dolmen is straight ahead along a well marked track boardered with lines of stones. These bronze age dolmens are scattered all over the landscape around this area. They were constructed around four and a half thousand years ago during the Chalcolithic period between neolithic and bronze ages.The El Gastor dolmen is worth a look, but it is no more than the burial place of a leader of renown erected by his family or tribe. It is not the stuff of legends, though some idiot published a story about it being the tomb of a race of giants, more to sensationalize themselves than the bronze age chief. The most famous dolmen is at Antequerea and is worth the trip to see it.
The picture above shows the route to the top of La Veriosilla with the yellow short spur to the dolmen.
The white line which parallels the route to the top is a Malaga/Cádiz province bounery line and not a path or track.
The track starts to climb up to the saddle from the RH side of the farmhouse. This is a steep climb on a rough track, but it leads to the saddle
LaVeriosilla is on your left with it's flat top. LaVeriosilla is an easy climb and you can walk right up to the precipice and look over the lake 600m below.
On your right is Lagárin which is a more difficult climb, but worth the effort. The last hundred metres is a scramble over rocks to reach the summit and it's spectacular views.
Finally, here is a painting of mine showing La Veriocilla in moonlight.
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