ronda by rail.......

[jules 2]

Hi everybody, posting my first question today!

I would like to take some friends to Ronda when I bring them out for their first visit to mainland Spain in a few weeks time. However, I have a very real fear of heights & have spent most of the journey in the footwell of the car on previous visits! (much to my husbands disgust). My latest solution to this problem is the train, which we could pick up at Jimena de la Frontera.
Am I being realistic? ie: Will I be able to look out of the window and enjoy the scenery!

Any comments/experiences would be most appreciated.

[safeashouses]

I've taken the train from San Roque to Ronda it was a lovely journey and a much more relaxing way to do the trip up through the mountains than by car.

It's mind over matter Jules I knew a lady who lived on the Isle of Wight and she had never been off the island but wanted to attend the funeral of a friend on the mainland. She spent the journey with a blanket over her head however that same person later became a London taxi driver.

Think positive and try to enjoy it and you will.

[jules 2]

Being a london cab driver wouldn't bother me at all! It's those sheer drops without any crash barriers. Maybe I'm being idealistic but I suppose I'm thinking that the train will travel through at a more gradual pace, climbing slowly through tunnels carved out of the mountains almost like a funicular (think there's a bit of wishful thinking going on here as well) but there you go................. just can't escape that feeling of wanting to throw myself over the edge.
Apart from this phobia I am a very well adjusted person by the way.

[andalucia]

http://www.andalucia.com/accounts/ronda.htm

[lis48]

I think you'll enjoy the train ride. It used to be called the Smuggler's Train because it went so slowly that money and goods could exchange hands through the windows on its route from Gib. I've walked along the path parallel to it some of the way down from Benaojan and then caught the train back and as you say, lots of tunnels and a gentle gradient. Am planning to ride from Algeciras to Granada through Ronda on it next month, only 17 euros and much nicer than driving! Times and prices are all on the Renfe site.

[redsoxbrit]

Jules 2

Please report back on your experience if you do decide to take the train. I am the same as you - I can't even drive down to Fuengirola without the urge to do a Thelma and Louise!

[lis48]

BTW does anyone know if Los Barrios station opens to sell tickets just before the train arrives? I plan to catch the train from there rather than Algeciras but though it shows as a stop on the timetable, the station looks pretty abandoned to me! Other stops on the route are just manned for half an hour before (Jimena might be different) and you can only buy tickets then. Is that the case with Los Barrios or is it not even manned at all?

[jules 2]

Thanks everybody! I'm feeling better already
Will hopefully be reporting back in a few weeks time.

[asiwalkedout]

The train journey from Algeciras to Ronda is quite lovely and is worth doing even if heights don't bother you! It takes about 2hrs and you meander through some of the most spectacular scenary in Andalucia, especially the closer you get to Ronda. I don't think the Los Barrios station is operational but I could be completely wrong about this! To be on the safe side you should probably catch it at San Roque.

I used to do this journey many times as a child. There's quite a bit of information on a.com re its history. It was indeed used for smuggling and my grandmother pretty much brought up 4 daughters on her own through the tough years that followed the civil war by smuggling and selling goods along the route of the train and I was enthralled by her stories of that time.