Yesterday we had a nice day in Olvera. The old town turned out not to be rather small, but from the square near the church you have a wonderful view of the surroundings. The medieval castle next to the church is definitely worth a visit, and the old streets in the hillside have beautiful houses and nice shops. Lovely to spend a day wandering through such a picturesque town.
Today we head back to tha trail again. With sunrise, we walk to the edge of the built-up area, where we descend steeply into the greenery. The sun just rises over the mountains and shines brilliantly through the morning mist hanging over the olive groves in the large valley. A few houses in the valley have their stoves on, creating long wisps of smoke. There is a bit of cloud cover, but it looks like another beautiful morning. Arriving at the bottom, we turn left and enter a cycle route. Today we walk along another piece of the region's history. Not an old Roman road this time, but a former railway line, that's now converted into a cycle route: the Via Verde de la Sierra. The railway line has never been used by a train. After hard construction in the 1920s and 1930s to provide the entire Sierra de Cadíz with a 130-kilometer-long railway, the project stopped even before it was completely finished. The large arched bridges and many tunnels remained.
In this century, this stretch of track between Olvera and Puerto Serrano has been restored and turned into a nice flat road for cyclists, walkers and horse riders. We are heading to Coripe, so for us this route means a long flat road through beautiful nature and with little traffic. However, there are many cyclists, especially on Sundays, but fortunately the path is wide enough. The road descends slightly, almost to the end of the stage, so it's easy walking. The route follows the river valleys of the Guadalporcún and Arroyo del Salado rivers, passing through beautiful mountainous stretches of nature. In the valleys below us, especially at the beginning, we see some fields with cows and goats. Around us mostly olive trees and the beautiful cork oaks. Later on, the landscape becomes more forested. The hills are covered with the soft shades of green of sprouting deciduous trees. Here and there large leafy oak trees with dark green leaves from last year are to be seen. The rivers meander quite a bit and the railway line leads through quite a few tunnels. In total we walk through 20 of them, the shortest a few dozen meters, the longest almost a kilometer. In total, we walk quite a few kilometers through the tunnels today. It's lovely cool and there is something special about walking under a high mountain. We walk across the viaducto de Zaframagón, an arched bridge over a small river that comes out of a gorge a bit further, carved into a high rock face. It's a magnificent old bridge, 22 meters high and spanning 135 meters, quite a length. What a work it must have been, building this railway!
Above us, we see large, dark birds circling. We count about 50 of them and they turn out to be griffon vultures. Here in the Peñón de Zaframagón Natural Park through which we are now walking, there are said to be about 200 breeding pairs.
We keep walking along this route for up to 22 kilometers, with one stretch of ascending ahead of us. We cross the river and walk along a road towards the village of Coripe. But not before at the end of the climb do we can see it, as the town is on the other side of the hill. Walking uphill, we have a magnificent view of the valley, with another beautiful bridge and the railway line we followed all day, winding between the hills. The high cliffs, the forests, the beautiful landscapes where man and nature have found a way to live together for centuries, make this stage a wonderful ride. And that it's easy to walk, is a bonus. Tonight will be a calm evening. Although Semana Santa, a big week of festivities here in Spain, starts tonight, village is rather sleepy and everything is closed on Sundays. So we take it easy, reminisce about today and look forward to tomorrow's new stage!
