During the day seven I will leave the natural park, get finally into Ubrique. Next, climb out of it and again and go up a hill to Benaocaz and the then traverse to pitoresque Villaluenga del Rosario. Will be a more civilized 25 km and 750 meteres of elevation gain even utilizing some ancient Roman road to get out of Ubrique. Link to map

I am up before eight today, feeling I do not want to leave the sleeping bag. So I have a breakfast in bed, then read for a while, and only then cautiously caterpillar out into the world.

The morning air is quite chilly. So I put all the layers on and do twenty squats. Life enthusiaism slowly comes back as I take in the views. The descent is non eventful, good 4wd road snaking down. The change in vegetation comes quite fast, olive trees start to take over the corck oak trees and before I know it I reach the asphalt road junction leading to Ubrique with a nice roadside restaurant.

I make a long stop there, get rid of the layers, have a second breakfast of toast with olive oil and tomatoes. The slice of bread is huge, its irregular shape and broken crust reminds me of the logged cork oaks trunks.

From here Ubrique is clearly visible; it is gently tucked in lap of green pastures between grey mountains. Getting down is fast and fun, pastures mixed with olive groves, soft grass or soil under feet, birds chirping. Once down in the settlements, getting to the center and through Ubrique is the opposite. No shade, dusty gravel road along river and the city center under construction. They are some great places though like Plaza de Verdura, cute little square overflowing with flowers. I really need to reset now, good fillet steak with fries and some stars from Galicia cheer me up to start climbing the roman road to Benaocaz.

As I understand it, Romans mans liked it straight up the hill and did not bother selecting well fitting stones. Its quite a sweaty effort and I am really glad when I reach the next village. Benaocaz is much calmer and pleasant then Ubrique, all is pure white-washed and the christmas decorations a re being arranged on the square in front of thw townhall. The square above it hosts a huge female sculpture, really interesting, wondner how it looks when/if it gets overgrown by the flowers. I refill my bottles on my way out of the village at an impressive fuente. Then, the GR7 follows the road to Villaluenega Rosario. Its not as bad as it looks on the map. The walking path leads below or above the road most of the time. Suddenly it leaps up into a little saddle and a narrow vablley between to crags opens. The valley floor is full of the violet flowers and even the most spiky bush has nice yellow flowers. The GR7 takes it through the green pasture in the middle, road climbs on the side. Then it is one more turn, the valley opens further and Villaluenga comes into view. Sun has already started to touch the ridges surrorunding the valley, so I try to go quickly through. However I cannot slip a mirador at the center of the village, need to sit there for a while, admire the neat valley on both sides, and look accross to the ridge where I want to go next. Then I cross the road and start on the road in direction of Ronda. I would like to cross the saddle to get out of the vi llage sights and then will start searching for a place to sleep.
After reaching the saddle, there is still some time left, so I descent until the road turn and joins the next valley from which I can feel strong wind. To find a nice wind protected spot I backtrack a little, find my place and let the thinly sliced moon take central role on the stage of the night again.