A couple of years ago, our friend Ian Usher showed me a youtube video of some crazy people walking the El Caminito del Rey trail. This trail is basically a crumbling walkway along the steep sidewalls of the El Chorro Gorge in the Andalucia region of Southern Spain, about an hour north of Malaga. The walkway was built in 1901 as a means for workers to transport materials and maintain the channel for the hydro electric plant that generated power for the Andalucian region (the pathway has also been referred to as "the King's Walk" as King Alfonso XIII of Spain crossed the walkway in 1921 to christen the inauguration of the dam). The walkway is a very narrow pathway constructed of brick and concrete, supported by steel cantilever supports set into the canyon walls. Over the years the walkway has crumbled and fallen into serious disrepair. It is "technically" off limits and not accessible to the public, but there are several recent youtube videos that suggest otherwise so I took on the challenge.
It wasn't really that difficult physically but was definitely not for the faint of heart or for anyone with acrophobia! On Wednesday April 11, I met up with a local climbing guide and joined a group of five hikers from Sweden to tackle the route. The Swedes had traveled to Spain just to do the hike, a quick trip and then back home.
The six of us and our guide started off by trekking through a long, abandoned tunnel and entered the gorge from the back side to avoid potential conflict with park officials since the path was technically off limits. The beginning of the path had crumbled away so we had to climb a short distance and rappel down the side of the gorge to gain access to the path. Within a few meters, we were high above the bottom of the gorge and tied off onto the side of he canyon wall in many places in order to cross areas where the path had entirely collapsed. In some areas we walked across parts of the pathway that probably will collapse in the near future but held up to our weight on that day. Oddly enough, one of the guys in our group was afraid of heights. He moved pretty slowly at first but became more confident as the day wore on. We went through two canyons and eventually ended our trek with a down climb from the pathway to the railroad grade. We hiked along the railway for about 2-3 miles back to where we parked our cars.
After a celebratory beer with the group, I headed back to the villa. It's satisfying to accomplish something you've dreamed of doing - what a memory!
It wasn't really that difficult physically but was definitely not for the faint of heart or for anyone with acrophobia! On Wednesday April 11, I met up with a local climbing guide and joined a group of five hikers from Sweden to tackle the route. The Swedes had traveled to Spain just to do the hike, a quick trip and then back home.
The six of us and our guide started off by trekking through a long, abandoned tunnel and entered the gorge from the back side to avoid potential conflict with park officials since the path was technically off limits. The beginning of the path had crumbled away so we had to climb a short distance and rappel down the side of the gorge to gain access to the path. Within a few meters, we were high above the bottom of the gorge and tied off onto the side of he canyon wall in many places in order to cross areas where the path had entirely collapsed. In some areas we walked across parts of the pathway that probably will collapse in the near future but held up to our weight on that day. Oddly enough, one of the guys in our group was afraid of heights. He moved pretty slowly at first but became more confident as the day wore on. We went through two canyons and eventually ended our trek with a down climb from the pathway to the railroad grade. We hiked along the railway for about 2-3 miles back to where we parked our cars.
After a celebratory beer with the group, I headed back to the villa. It's satisfying to accomplish something you've dreamed of doing - what a memory!
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