NERJA WALKS, EASY LEVEL, Nerja caves to Nerja town.

Walk, EASY, Nerja caves to Nerja town.

This is an easy walk, which can be done in trainers. It takes about 2 hours. We go from Nerja Caves to the approach of Nerja Town Centre. A number of my friends take the first part of the route, and walk back to the caves, when they walk their dogs. The second part is not suitable for dogs.

First thing is get to the Nerja Caves. You may want to take a bus or taxi as you will finish the walk some distance away. In any event, just before the caves, at the side as you drive/bus in, there is a rough piece of land that people use as a car park.

Walk into the car park and take the left hand path, there is a large sign there depicting the local IBEX mountain goat, with Sierras de Tejeda, Almijara Y Alhama, written thereon, and an open barrier. Walk along this path.

For reassurance purposes you will walk past several wooden poles with a red and white stripe on them. This is part of the GR 249 route.

After about 2.5 Kms you come to a fork in the road. Follow the path to the left. You will see one of the smaller signs depicting Frigiliana 11Km.

Leaving the junction, after about 200 metres you will see a very small path to your left, almost coming back on yourself. The entrance is marked with a few boulders, and there is a GR 249 post with the red and white in a cross. Take this very small path and go downhill. For reassurance that you are on the correct path, there are a number of red paint splashes as you walk along. This path takes you down into the disused river bed. You are now heading towards the sea. Follow this river bed.

After an additional 2 Kms you will find a large pile of stones to your left. (This cairn acts as a guide back onto the path you took at the start of the walk. This is the route to take if walking the dog or you have parked your car at the caves.)

If you are staying on the walk then go for another 100 metres and you will see a path leading you out of the river bed. There is no other way so you cant get lost!

Again the red splashes of paint are there as a reassurance. As you climb you will see some broken, worn down, glass. This is from the past when the locals drove their lorries to the area and dumped bottles into the canyon below. In fact there are 2 concrete ramps where the dumping took place.

After about 1km, you will come out of the vegetation and see the motorway in front of you. This area is very open and on a hot day you need to take a lot of water. Upon reaching the tarmac junction, turn left and go through the tunnel under the motorway.

On leaving the tunnel turn right in the direction of Nerja. The path takes you through another tunnel, again turn right when you leave the second tunnel. Again heading in the direction of Nerja. (As you leave the tunnel you will see the disused Sugar cane factory. This is a nice spot for lunch or just a look around.).

Having left the 2nd tunnel and turned right, after another 200 metres you come across a split in the path. Take the left path, which is an old Roman road, and walk down.

At the bottom of the old road you come into an olive tree orchard. You go down a dip and up the other side where the path swings to the left. The dip looks very sandy.

After about 5 minutes you will see houses to your right, keep walking to the junction. You will see the sewage works to your left. There are long term building works taking place at the time of writing this walk (April 16). Ideally you need to take the residential road, 300 metres further on, Calle Via Romana, is at '11 O'clock' from where you are standing. It is a bit awkward showing the road, it is the one shown below to the right of the power pylon.

Calle Via Romana, Nerja

Once in Calle Via Romana take the 1st left, Calle Europa and follow the road for approximately 5 minutes. This will bring you out into the main road into Nerja.

Las Fuentas, Nerja.

Time for a beer across the road at the Las Fuentas!

If you take the wrong turning at the 'Building works' don't worry too much, just walk through the estate and head for the sea. You cant get lost here!

This and all my walks are simple, solitary walks, but if you want something a bit more sociable interaction, informative about local areas, history and and in depth to varying degrees you cant do better than go walking with John Keo walking tours. John, and his brother Graham, operate out of Nerja and Frigiliana. The link is http://www.hikingwalkingspain.com/ . Well worth the day out with these 2. Give them a try. I did, it was one of the best things I did (I don't work for John, he is just very good).