Ronda and El Torcal 🇪🇸 - Bridge, Karst and Storm Damage
Sven Walther
Ronda
Today we head for one of Andalusia’s best known highlights: the town of Ronda with its “New Bridge”. Hardly any subject from this region turns up more often.
The Puente Nuevo
We walk right across the town twice. As well as visiting the bridge, we work our way down the path to the abandoned building below.
From below the bridge is even more impressive
As a reward there were excellent cookies on the way back - from a shop that genuinely sells nothing else.
Ronda
Not forgetting the journey there, with two stops along the way, one of them in complete seclusion.
El Torcal de Antequera
The next destination on our trip across Spain is the El Torcal de Antequera nature reserve.
The approach to the visitor centre car park was closed at times, though. So we drive on a few hundred metres further and find a small pull-in right beside a spring.
Walking boots on and upwards
From there it is walking boots on and up the mountain. We meet only a handful of people along the way - but at the big car park at the top it is suddenly busy again.
El Torcal de Antequera
Up there we find two circular routes, one easy and one moderate. The rock formations here really are extraordinary - you do not see this sort of thing often.
Layer upon layer
Sierra de Huétor
More driving days again. Because of work we only get a little further each day - but that is exactly why we keep discovering new places.
The first stop takes us into the Sierra de Huétor nature park: a remote pitch in the middle of the forest. At this time of year we have it almost entirely to ourselves.
Almost alone in the forest
Even on the way in you notice how fiercely the recent storms raged here. Fallen trees lie across the forest everywhere.
The storms did a thorough job
A large part of the car park is closed off as a result - but there is still a suitable spot for us.
There is always a spot