Leaving Almoraima, I was still battling a cold. The climb up to the castle outside of Castellar de la Frontera was a nice start and the castle was excellent, however the winds were still blowing hard in the hills, and I really wanted to start heading down.

The rest of the day to Jimena de la Frontera left a bit to be desired. The way down from the castle had been damaged by water runoff, making it rough with loose rocks. Once down into the valley, the route followed an often muddy farm frontage road next to the train tracks. On two occasions the frontage road dead-ended at some trees, so I was forced to follow the train tracks for a period of time.

However, Jimena itself was an amazing town. No wonder that quite a few UK expats live there. Built into the hillside with a castle overhead, standing guard.

I took a rest day in Jimena because I was still not 100% from my cold, and my feet were quite painful. After the rest day, I had a choice. Either try to do the 36.5km stretch through the national park to Ubrique in one day, or go heavy on water and camp. I chose to camp. For my feet that was a good decision, but it was cold and very windy at night, so I didn’t get much sleep. In the morning, I did the last 9km or so to Ubrique, and am taking a quick break before I continue on today. Ubrique is not touristy at all, but is bustling. Seems that everyone in town is in the pedestrian zone doing something.

While the national park areas are beautiful, for this walk I prefer having some population around and go from town to town.

Plan to make it Ronda by the end of the day tomorrow.

Total distance walked: 130.1km