The first day of the hike will take me from Ronda to Alpendeire. Some 20 kilometers through forests, valley and then over another valley to Alpandeire, one of the pueblos blancos, which are lining the valley of rio Genal.
link to map
Slow morning, but at 11AM I am finally leaving the gates of Ronda behind.
The GR141 is not well marked in the city, but once the houses stop, it improves and never fails me.
Starts with a nice concrete, then 4WD track through olive groves on the flat portion, then descents fast.
Since here its only a path, but easy to follow.
Suddenly after a bend, orange and black cliffs appear and the path leads into the gorge, tracing and crossing the riverbed.
The crags are better quality than the ones Ronda stands on; even couple of good looking climbing sectors as it goes upstream.
Later the path leaves the riverbed and hugged tightly by flowering rosemary and moss enveloped trees steadily climbs out of the valley.
Its a drag, but finally it emerges on the higher grounds and joins the road leading to Atajate.
Its so much more open and vast, mountain ridges running as far as I can see.
For a while the path goes paralell to the road. It could be more pleasant, but views are great.
Then the path goes directly down.
First yhrough pastures, then it joins a barranco.
Steep walls of mud and rock, waterfalls, shrubs, birds. Very lively place with an opportunity to cool tired feet or whole body in one of the casacading pools.
When the valley bottom is reached, the path turns right, hugs the hill and starts to climb.
After a while new vistas open; on the other side of the valley I can see a path going up.
That is the one I will follow, but first I need to go down, which is fast.
The way up is not so fast, but eventually I cross the ridge, and follow the level path, which should go to Alpandeire.
One by one, white walled villages start appearing on the opposite side of the valley.The first is Atajate, where I go tomorrow, then five more appear. All at the same level on the side of a long mountain ridge.
It has become tiring since some time, but finally Alpandeire appears after one of the bends.
The Restaurante is closed, but Mis Pueblos Bar is open and serves Cruzcampo and a toast of bread, butter, and two cloves of garlic on the side.
I have one more cafe con leche before heading outside of the village for the first night under the stars.