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Montes de Malaga Natural Park - Walks

By Jo Williams

Walks
There are five signposted walks in the park.

Sendero El Cerrado is a 4km circular walk starting from El Cerrado picnic area. To get here, enter the park at the Fuente de la Reina on the C345, some 15km north of Malaga.

The walk begins at the Hotel Humaina and passes through pine forest. Much of the subsequent route goes through an area largely destroyed in a forest fire in 1989. One of the most interesting aspects of this walk is seeing how the forest has already been regenerated 15 years after the fire.

Before the fire, the woodland was made up of pine trees around 50 years old, with a substantial undergrowth of Mediterranean scrubland and interspersed with holm and cork oaks and olive trees. Today, the area has undergone reforestation projects, but you can also see how the burnt trees started to grow again.

The highlight of the walk is the Mirador del Cochino, where there are superb views over the park and down towards Malaga. The viewpoint is named after the sculpture of the boar (cochino), made of recycled scrap metal, which has been erected here.

Sendero de Torrijos is a linear 2½km walk, which is an interesting route for seeing some of the typical houses that were built around the 19th century in the area. To get to the start of the walk, take the C345 from Malaga and 1km after the Fuente de la Reina at Km 544, turn left and head for the Ecomuseo Lagar de Torrijos.

The sendero starts at the Ecomuseo Lagar, a house that has been converted into a museum. The house's inhabitants used to make wine, bake bread and produce their own olive oil. You can visit the house and see the bread oven, wine cellar and wine and olive presses.

The path goes to the Arroyo Chapares, which is crossed via a small stone bridge. The path follows the water course, which is bordered by willows, ash trees and poplars, and passes a ruined house further on, the Lagar de Pacheco. When you get to a small dam, take the forest track, which goes through pine forest and eventaully leads to another ruined house, the Lagar de Santillana.

Sendero de Picapedreros is a 7km linear uphill walk, featuring an impressive waterfall, the Salto de Picapedreros. It starts at the Molinos de San Telmo in the far southwest of the park, which can be reached by taking the A45 north of Malaga and turning right at Km166, the exit signposted Jardín Botánico de la Concepción. At the end of the surfaced road to the Molinos de San Telmo is the signpost marking the beginning of the path.

The Molinos de San Telmo is an area peppered with mills (molinos) that were used for grinding wheat into flour and some mills still make bread today. The San Telmo aquaduct is also here, an engineering feat built in the 18th century to transport Malaga's drinking water down the mountain to the city.

The path goes up the side of a stream, bordered by eucalyptus, with pine forest to the left. One kilometre later, next to the ruined Lagar de Picapedreros, is the 30m-high Picapedreros waterfall. Around 3km from the start there are some great views of the coast to the south and of the park to the north.

Two more paths, the Sendero de Contadores (3km) and the Sendero de Pocopán (5km), begin at the Aula de Naturaleza Las Contadores in the centre of the park. To get here, enter the park at the Fuente de la Reina on the C345.

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