The Four Lijar walks
Lijar 1 Starts at Area Recreativo Nacieminto on the West end of Lijar. 4.2 km.
Lijar 2 Starts by the paragliders road. 3.75km.
Lijar 3 Starts in the village of Algodonales. 5.3km.
Lijar 4 Is a track walk along a rough road which runs around the top of Lijar. 5km.
All the Lijar walks can be combined as a walk up one side and down the other, if you have two cars.
If not, you must walk up one path and return the same way.
There were originally six walks over Lijar. One is now in such a bad state of repair that it is unusable. Two years ago I walked it with a friend and we ended up sliding down a so-called footpath on our backsides. Steps washed away, loose gravel, dry stream beds in place of paths. We have had a bad winter since then so it will be worse now.
The sixth walk I can see from my roof terrace and it's and enigma! I can't find either end of the footpath, but there it is in plain sight, zigzagging up the side of Lijar.
Lijar Walk 1
If you are driving from Olvera the Area Recreativo Nacieminto is on the right of the A382 about two km. before the tunnel to Algodonales. It will be signed as Pistas, which means the take off areas. It is only a track and is easily missed. If you pass the Venta Castillo you have missed it! Drive along the track and you will see a gateway with the name of the picnic area on one pillar of the entrance.
(Nacieminto means the birth, or the beginning, because the tiny stream that comes down from Lijar joins others and becomes a brook that joins the Rio Guadalporcún) Go up to the gate at the back off the Nacieminto picnic area and follow the path up the arroyo (ravine), You will zigzag a little, but eventually end up in a dried up stream bed, which in spring, is full of garlic plants. Their blue flowers very similar to our Bluebells. (Spanish Bluebells are much smaller than ours in England, but just as pretty. Crocuses in Spain have two seasons: Spring and Autumn. I think they must like the sunshine too, but not the hot summers.)
A hundred meters up this dried up stream bed you will come to a signpost.
The path straight on is the disused path. Trust me; Its impassable. The path to the right is the one you follow. Walk up the RH hand side of the arroyo and you will climb up to a flat stone circle on a promontory, which I first assumed was a view point or picnic area that was not finished. After asking the locals I was told that the circles were called Eras and a small trolley with barbed wheels called a Trillo would be pulled around the circle by two or three horses or mules. The barbed wheels were for crushing and separating the chaff from the wheat.
When I first saw the Era I was perplexed! Why were the circles so high above the fields. It would. have been so easy to thresh the wheat at a lower altitude and not bring it all the way up here. I had this explained to me too. If you put the Era on a hillside you have the wind to blow away the chaff. Down in the valley, especially in the wind shadow of Lijar, there would be little or no breeze. To aid in this process a second worker would use his pitchfork (Horzquilla.) to throw the mix into the air where the wind would carry away the chaff and the heavier seeds would fall to the ground to be gathered up and be bagged.
The path continues higher up the north flank of Lijar and the views over the valley below are beautiful. I did this walk with a friend in the early morning to avoid the heat of the day. We had a dog each that day and half way up the track both dogs froze with their ears up and breathing suspended. My friend and I halted our conversation and did the same as the dogs.
There was a commotion in the dense undergrowth and a male deer and his mate, with their two bucks, made a break away from the side of the path, where they had been sleeping. To their great credit, (Or shame.) both dogs stayed at our sides whilst the deer made their escape.
At a point around here, just before you climb up to the ridge above you will come to a fork in the path. There is a sign showing the RH path going down to La Muela. This is where the second walk from La Muela joins the first walk from Naciamento.
The path continues higher until you are looking over the valley 660m (2000 feet) below. In the photo is the small pueblo of La Muela (The back tooth.) La Muela is a strange name for a village, until you understand the Andalucian way of thinking. The mill wheels that grind the wheat into flour are called muelas. (Grinding teeth: Molars!) At the side of the road that passes through La Muela is an old grindstone from the mill that used to be there for making flour. Hence La Muela.
The muelas or grinding wheels
Lijar Walk 2
Coming from Olvera you take the La Muela road off of the A 382. The turnoff is about three km. along the 382 going towards Algodonales.
Follow this road and just before La Muela there will be a sign for the Pistas and the La Muela recreation area on the left. Take this road and follow it until you come to the recreation area on a bend. Go on a further 2km form here and you will come to a sign and a little covered eating area. It´s on a hairpin bend in the paragliders road. Boots are a must and you must be reasonably fit. It is a scramble in places.
This is the start point for the La Muela to Naciamento walk.The path climbs beneath the cliffs the rock climbers use. It is wooded and to my mind gives the best views from Lijar. This is the side of Lijar that gave it its name. Lijar literally means rough. The path crosses several rockslides and is very uneven in places. There is another track which joins this track from above and goes off to the right as you are looking up a Lijar. This leads to the paragliders road on the top of Lijar, but it is overgrown and may not be usable. If anybody wants to try it you would be able to rerturn to the car using the paragliders road.
You start to descend after a couple of kilometres and you will have the feeling that you are going down again., but you must carry on because the junction with the track going up to the top of Lijar is just after a big rocky outcrop on the Right.
I did this walk in mid October and the Madroño berries were out in force. This side of Lijar is covered in these trees. The berries are edible and quite sweet. They are bright red at first then over a week or so turn yellow. The berries conain a natural alcohol and if you eat enough you will become tipsy. I ate a handfull on the walk, but did not feel any different.
Lijar Walk 3
The third walk is from Algodonales to the paragliders road. The best way to start this walk is from the plaza in the centre of Algodonales. If you stand facing the church and look to your left there is a road leading uphill to the rear of the village. Go up this road. About half way up it changes levels and there is a space to park cars. If you can park here then you are on the right side of the pueblo when you come back down. Carry on up this street and eventually you will leave the pueblo and see a signpost for the walk up Lijar.
At the top you will come out on the pragliders road . Walk to the right and you will come to the south takeoff area. Go left and you will go to the west or poniente take off area. (Poniente is the name for the winds. An east wind is Levante.) If you have climbed all the way up Lijar and they are flying then it would be a shame not to go have a look.
Lijar 4
This is a track walk along a rough road which runs right around the top of Lijar. All the other 3 walks from the base of Lijar join to this track. It is a walk which can be added onto any of the other three.
If you come up the Algodonales route you can go right at the top to the South take off area where there is a gate and track going off the East. (facing across the valley East is to the left.) this leads to a small farm where the disused path leads back down to Naciamento. Keep going along the track and bear left and you will be going towards the point where the La Muela walk and the Nacimento walk join this road. They are off on a short spur track to the North.
On the Google Earth picture this designated as is the central point. If you keep straight on you will come to a gate which lets you back to the paraglider’s road where if you turn right it will lead you to the walk back down to Algodonales.
Two the three walks that lead up to the top of Lijar start in Area recreativeos. All the picnic areas have stone built barbecues. The fuel, chopped olive branches, known as leña, is sometimes available, sometimes not.
If you arrive on a weekend, expect a crowd, but don´t be shy of the people.
This is their weekend entertainment. Join in, but don´t be too pushy and you will be welcome.
If you are like me, a romantic, take leña with you in the car. Do one of the walks then come back down the same route, arrange your walk so you arrive early evening at the picnic area. Light the barbeque, throw on some steaks and listen to your favourite music on the car radio whilst looking at the stars through the trees.
Or you could drive around to the South side of Lijar and go to the Chip Shop. as the English call the Venta Castillo on the A382. It’s called the Chip Shop because the owner does not buy frozen chips. He cuts chips from potatoes and fries them. For an ex-pat real chips are a treat. His food is all Spanish and very good.
Lijar 1 Starts at Area Recreativo Nacieminto on the West end of Lijar. 4.2 km.
Lijar 2 Starts by the paragliders road. 3.75km.
Lijar 3 Starts in the village of Algodonales. 5.3km.
Lijar 4 Is a track walk along a rough road which runs around the top of Lijar. 5km.
All the Lijar walks can be combined as a walk up one side and down the other, if you have two cars.
If not, you must walk up one path and return the same way.
There were originally six walks over Lijar. One is now in such a bad state of repair that it is unusable. Two years ago I walked it with a friend and we ended up sliding down a so-called footpath on our backsides. Steps washed away, loose gravel, dry stream beds in place of paths. We have had a bad winter since then so it will be worse now.
The sixth walk I can see from my roof terrace and it's and enigma! I can't find either end of the footpath, but there it is in plain sight, zigzagging up the side of Lijar.
Lijar Walk 1
If you are driving from Olvera the Area Recreativo Nacieminto is on the right of the A382 about two km. before the tunnel to Algodonales. It will be signed as Pistas, which means the take off areas. It is only a track and is easily missed. If you pass the Venta Castillo you have missed it! Drive along the track and you will see a gateway with the name of the picnic area on one pillar of the entrance.
(Nacieminto means the birth, or the beginning, because the tiny stream that comes down from Lijar joins others and becomes a brook that joins the Rio Guadalporcún) Go up to the gate at the back off the Nacieminto picnic area and follow the path up the arroyo (ravine), You will zigzag a little, but eventually end up in a dried up stream bed, which in spring, is full of garlic plants. Their blue flowers very similar to our Bluebells. (Spanish Bluebells are much smaller than ours in England, but just as pretty. Crocuses in Spain have two seasons: Spring and Autumn. I think they must like the sunshine too, but not the hot summers.)
The path straight on is the disused path. Trust me; Its impassable. The path to the right is the one you follow. Walk up the RH hand side of the arroyo and you will climb up to a flat stone circle on a promontory, which I first assumed was a view point or picnic area that was not finished. After asking the locals I was told that the circles were called Eras and a small trolley with barbed wheels called a Trillo would be pulled around the circle by two or three horses or mules. The barbed wheels were for crushing and separating the chaff from the wheat.
When I first saw the Era I was perplexed! Why were the circles so high above the fields. It would. have been so easy to thresh the wheat at a lower altitude and not bring it all the way up here. I had this explained to me too. If you put the Era on a hillside you have the wind to blow away the chaff. Down in the valley, especially in the wind shadow of Lijar, there would be little or no breeze. To aid in this process a second worker would use his pitchfork (Horzquilla.) to throw the mix into the air where the wind would carry away the chaff and the heavier seeds would fall to the ground to be gathered up and be bagged.
The path continues higher up the north flank of Lijar and the views over the valley below are beautiful. I did this walk with a friend in the early morning to avoid the heat of the day. We had a dog each that day and half way up the track both dogs froze with their ears up and breathing suspended. My friend and I halted our conversation and did the same as the dogs.
There was a commotion in the dense undergrowth and a male deer and his mate, with their two bucks, made a break away from the side of the path, where they had been sleeping. To their great credit, (Or shame.) both dogs stayed at our sides whilst the deer made their escape.
At a point around here, just before you climb up to the ridge above you will come to a fork in the path. There is a sign showing the RH path going down to La Muela. This is where the second walk from La Muela joins the first walk from Naciamento.
The path continues higher until you are looking over the valley 660m (2000 feet) below. In the photo is the small pueblo of La Muela (The back tooth.) La Muela is a strange name for a village, until you understand the Andalucian way of thinking. The mill wheels that grind the wheat into flour are called muelas. (Grinding teeth: Molars!) At the side of the road that passes through La Muela is an old grindstone from the mill that used to be there for making flour. Hence La Muela.
Lijar Walk 2
Coming from Olvera you take the La Muela road off of the A 382. The turnoff is about three km. along the 382 going towards Algodonales.
Follow this road and just before La Muela there will be a sign for the Pistas and the La Muela recreation area on the left. Take this road and follow it until you come to the recreation area on a bend. Go on a further 2km form here and you will come to a sign and a little covered eating area. It´s on a hairpin bend in the paragliders road. Boots are a must and you must be reasonably fit. It is a scramble in places.
You start to descend after a couple of kilometres and you will have the feeling that you are going down again., but you must carry on because the junction with the track going up to the top of Lijar is just after a big rocky outcrop on the Right.
Lijar Walk 3
The third walk is from Algodonales to the paragliders road. The best way to start this walk is from the plaza in the centre of Algodonales. If you stand facing the church and look to your left there is a road leading uphill to the rear of the village. Go up this road. About half way up it changes levels and there is a space to park cars. If you can park here then you are on the right side of the pueblo when you come back down. Carry on up this street and eventually you will leave the pueblo and see a signpost for the walk up Lijar.
At the top you will come out on the pragliders road . Walk to the right and you will come to the south takeoff area. Go left and you will go to the west or poniente take off area. (Poniente is the name for the winds. An east wind is Levante.) If you have climbed all the way up Lijar and they are flying then it would be a shame not to go have a look.
Lijar 4
This is a track walk along a rough road which runs right around the top of Lijar. All the other 3 walks from the base of Lijar join to this track. It is a walk which can be added onto any of the other three.
If you come up the Algodonales route you can go right at the top to the South take off area where there is a gate and track going off the East. (facing across the valley East is to the left.) this leads to a small farm where the disused path leads back down to Naciamento. Keep going along the track and bear left and you will be going towards the point where the La Muela walk and the Nacimento walk join this road. They are off on a short spur track to the North.
On the Google Earth picture this designated as is the central point. If you keep straight on you will come to a gate which lets you back to the paraglider’s road where if you turn right it will lead you to the walk back down to Algodonales.
Two the three walks that lead up to the top of Lijar start in Area recreativeos. All the picnic areas have stone built barbecues. The fuel, chopped olive branches, known as leña, is sometimes available, sometimes not.
If you arrive on a weekend, expect a crowd, but don´t be shy of the people.
This is their weekend entertainment. Join in, but don´t be too pushy and you will be welcome.
If you are like me, a romantic, take leña with you in the car. Do one of the walks then come back down the same route, arrange your walk so you arrive early evening at the picnic area. Light the barbeque, throw on some steaks and listen to your favourite music on the car radio whilst looking at the stars through the trees.
Or you could drive around to the South side of Lijar and go to the Chip Shop. as the English call the Venta Castillo on the A382. It’s called the Chip Shop because the owner does not buy frozen chips. He cuts chips from potatoes and fries them. For an ex-pat real chips are a treat. His food is all Spanish and very good.
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