Olvera to Peñon de Pruna round walk.

Olvera to Peñon de Pruna round walk. This is a10 km. walk on 4x4 roads and farm tracks. Boots are recommended, especially if it is wet.

The Pruna walk begins at the roundabout in the centre of Olvera. Take the road to the Via Verde and go straight on across it and down into the valley below crossing the river Salado (Salty water.) in the bottom. You will descend 170m. (530ft.) to the river. Take the right turning at the T junction and follow the track up the hill until it joins the main road just below the Peñon de Pruna.

If you are feeling up to it you could add in the climb up the Peñon it' s a 139m. climb (400ft.) and the castle is newly restored. The views are spectacular.

There is a spring at the foot of the footpath to the Peñon de Pruna, which gives excellent if slightly salty water. For the last ten thousand years people have been drinking this water. Bronze age farmers, Romans, Berbers and lately Spaniards, have all used this fuente.

Depending on how you feel you could walk the kilometre and half into Pruna and have a tapas and beer then return to the turnoff point and continue with the walk.   

If you don't want to climb the peñon, then cross over the main road to Pruna and walk up the RH side of the road on a dirt track until you see a turn off to the right. You are still a hundred metres from the petrol station when you turn into the valley below. You will have climbed 145m (450ft.) from first crossing the river

You will cross the river Salado for the second time in the bottom then start to climb up the hillside through the farms on the long climb to the top. About half way up you will cross the track for the old railway. This was the continuation of the Via Verde, but was never commercialised as a tourist attraction. The tunnels are still there and the LH tunnel is still used from time to time by the farmers who use it to move their goats from one pasture to another rather than climb the hill between. The RH tunnel is filled in at the far end and is impassable.

Carry on up to the top of the hill passing farms and a huge variety of watchdogs and eventually you will come to the main road (A382) near to the Hotel Meson......and eventually back to Olvera.