We are on a beautiful Aire in Benarrabá (N36.54935
W5.27901). There are spaces for 5
motorhomes and each space has its own fresh water tap, chemical toilet and grey waste disposal, plus electric. Last year it was all free when
we stayed here but now it is €10 a night, €15 for 2 and €20 for 3, or free if
you don’t want any facilities. These Aires are built and paid for by the town
and rely on motorhomers spending money in their village but I’m guessing over
the years this hasn’t happened and now they are having to charge.
We opted for 3 nights at €20, good value we
thought– and just for the wonderful views alone!
The village sits on the slopes of Mount Poron,
522m high. Like most villages in these
parts of southern Spain, it's of Berber origin, and its name comes from the
old meaning Banu Rabbah (Son of Rabbah), having been founded by the Berber
tribe of that name. The town is a maze
of streets but it’s not big and you can’t get lost!
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| Casa del Cabildo - 18th century house that was home to a religious order. |
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| The only little shop in the village that sells nearly everything! |
Benarrabá made its
money (and still seems to) from cork, stripping the lower sections of the trees
every 9 to 10 years. Clever what they can make with it!
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| Cork planters |
There are lots of painted ceramics in the town
and information boards that are in English as well as Spanish.
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| Birds that can be seen in the area |
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| Olive oil making information and the old mill that was used |
There are plenty of walking routes from the town as well, and are clearly marked.
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| Walking routes from the town |
We set out early morning to do the 13km figure of
eight route from Benarrabá to Genalguacíl.
At the edge of the town a little dog insisted on walking the
route with us, no matter how hard we tried to shake him off. He had a collar on but no tag, so we weren’t
sure if he belonged to someone in the village or he was a stray. He was a lovely little dog and we named him
Mutley for the day and gave up trying to send him back to the town!
The route took us along steep narrow paths,
through ancient forests of cork oak and chestnut trees, and wonderful views along the Genal valley
Unfortunately, when we got to the floor of the
valley to cross the river, the low bridge was under water and was flowing far
too quickly for us to attempt to cross it. Although Mutley had other ideas, and had a few attempts to cross it and nearly got swept away.
There was no other way to cross the river to get up to
Genalguacíl, so we picked up another trail back to Benarrabá, all uphill!
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| We came across a citrus grove, where Mel decided to try out the fruit |
We were disappointed that we didn’t get to see
Genalguacíl, but we had visited it last year and if you want to see pictures of the lovely town then they can be viewed at the end of this blog I posted last year:
The sun was shining when we got back to the Aire,
so it was time for a bit of bird watching!
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| A Hoopoe |
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| The Rock Bunting |
Undeterred by the looming wet weather we decided
to chance another walk the next day - the 7.9 km circular route of Sendero Llanos
del Rey
Through more of those cork oak forests, where the cork is
harvested in rotation every 9-10 years. Loved seeing how they had been cut and evidence of the cork growing back again.
At the end of the walk we were wet through, so it was time for a beer and some tapas in the local pub!
Sally x
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