Walking the GR7 in Andalucia

Scenery from cool forests to arid plains, historic towns, castles and white Berber villages all add to the enjoyment of walking the GR7 long-distance route through some of the less well-known parts of Andalucía. Complete route description and accommodation details to aid with route planning.

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Cambil – Torres

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Distance    26km
Time    6h45
Height gain    1000m
Height loss    880m
Highest point    1650m

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A beautiful stretch in the heart of the Parque Natural de la Sierra Mágina, passing the ruined castle of Mata Bejid, and enjoying excellent views of the mountains including Jaén’s highest peak, Pico Mágina, and El Almadén (recognisable by the communications tower on its top). There are options to climb both these peaks on routes that leave from the GR7.

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Leave Cambil on the main Jaén to Huelma road. Take a small road heading off to the north signposted to Vuelta al Almadén, Bornos and Bercho Nacimiento. This leaves the village on Calle Camino de la Loma and climbs uphill. After 1.5km (around 25min) take a right fork in the road, signposted for Bornos and Almadén.

Climb more gently through olive groves staying on the main track until you reach a Sierra Mágina signpost, another 1.5km on. Here take a right turn to N324 Almáden, again staying on the main track through olive groves. The mountains of the Sierra Mágina dominate the horizon to your left and north. Carry on straight heading east (ignoring a small track off to the left) until you reach an intersection of a few tracks, where you take the one forward to the right (oddly signposted to Cambil N323). When you meet another track turn left to come down to the road (5km, 1h10).

Turn left along the road and stay on it for just under 1.5km before turning left again up a signposted gravel track just before the old settlement of Mata Bejid. Continue on this track heading uphill into wilder countryside. The countryside changes here as a result of the much more humid climate in the valley – lots of streams from hillsides descend to fill the Río de Cambil. The vegetation becomes oaks and gall oaks with green slopes used to pasture sheep and goats.

After 2.5km you come to the ruins of the Castillo de Mata Bejid on your left. Stay on the right-hand track, passing two smaller ones off to the left. It continues uphill and you can enjoy beautiful views back over the mountains through which the route has already passed – feeling satisfied at how far you have come. The path then climbs to an area called Cortijo de los Prados where a signpost points you off the path to the left to a nearby fountain, 3.5km after the ruins (although it does not always have water).

Half a kilometre further on, ignore a right fork, which is a route up Pico Mágina, and stay on the main track which heads ever upwards towards the crags, passing ancient, thick-trunked oaks, and then, finally, reaching the top of the pass, Puerto de la Mata, at 1650m. Here there are amazing views as far as the Sierra Nevada to the southeast and over the rest of Jaén province to the north.

Sierra Mágina Natural Park (199km²)

The Parque Natural de la Sierra Mágina is a huge mountain massif rising out of a sea of olive groves. Although small, it has some of the highest mountains of the province. The mountains act as a barrier to the Atlantic winds and as a result produce strong climatic contrasts and varied landscapes. In the westernmost part, where the clouds break, the vegetation is lush woodland with pines and oaks. In contrast, the eastern part, which suffers from a lack of rain, has a landscape of dry white clay. This semi-desert area extends from the right bank of the Río Jandulilla to the valley of the Guadiana Menor.

During the winter months, snow covers the highest peaks of the Sierra Mágina, including Pico Mágina, which is the highest in Jaén at 2164m. The limestone rocks which make up the mountains of the Sierra Mágina act as porous sponges absorbing the water from snow melt and rain through plentiful caves and potholes. Most of the sub-soil is full of subterranean aquifers which come to the surface as springs. The water from all these springs turns into streams and rivers which run into the Jandulilla and Guadalbullón valleys and feed the Río Guadalquivir.
The area has been populated since prehistoric times and has been of great strategic importance through the ages as a route for transport and communication to the interior of the country.

Wildlife
The park has a great botanical diversity with over 1290 known plant species, some of them endemic, spread across a range of altitudes, including 300 species of wild mushrooms and 20 species of orchid.

It is also home to 240 known species of vertebrates, the majority of them protected by regional, national, or European environmental legislation and some of them, like the Iberian lynx, in danger of extinction. Only about 100 live in the wild, all of them in Andalucía. Other mammals found in the park include ibex, wildcats, foxes and wild boar. The hocicuda viper is the rarest of the snakes in the park.

There are 185 species of bird which either live permanently in the park or migrate there for a period of the year, including large raptors such as the peregrine falcon and two types of eagle.

Further information
Park visitor centre: in the castle in Jódar, Tel. 953 787 656, and open Thurs–Fri 10am–2pm, weekends and public holidays 4–6pm (October to March) and 6–8pm (April to September), www.magina.org

The track descends through pines and you can see Torres down in the distance. Don’t take the right turn at the bend 2km from the top, but take the next right just over a kilometre further down when you meet another track. Now 19km from the start, you zigzag down the hillside. Ignore a track down to the left just after passing another fountain, then take the one to the right marked with a wooden post.

When you come to the small Camping Hondacabra (only open in high season) and another fountain, take the track to the right which takes you to the road into Torres. Continue down the road to enter Torres, or, if you want to continue on to Albánchez (1h20), take the signed track off to the right at the edge of the village.