Rio Durcal

This walk is one of many contrsts from desert like dry river valley, mountain scrub through to oak woodland and mountain valley. All this in the space of five hours walking.

One of the dificulties of many of these walks is getting to the start , this walk is no differetn however from the Durcal bypass follow signs from the via servicio northward to ''Durcal Central'', a small hydro electric station which lies at the foot of the Barranco de la Rambla. This is a dry river bed which runs N.E. into the mountains and as you follow it make sure you take in all the rock sceneryas you pass through a ''wild west '' landscape. After about 45 minutes you come to the will see the second of two low dams , keep an eye out for a cairn on the right and then follow a more defined path on the S. side of the valley. The path brings you to a fuente , however do not expect this to be running, beyond the path zig zags steeply for about 20 minutes to finally reach a track running S - N.

You are now in the heart of the mountains and the views around are fantastic. To the west, close at hand is Butreras and to the north you can easily see the ridge line of the Alayas de Dilar and Travenque beyond. Our route heads N along the track for 15minutes where it crosses a barranco you then follow a vague but waymarked path right up to an acequia line which runs all the way to the head of the valley at La Toma where the water is taken to feed much of the valley below you.

The acequia line is simple to follw and needs little discription. As you follow its very gentle traversing line you pass from dry scrub , through almond groves to finally reach oak woodland as you pass in to the Parque Nacional. Beyond you cross a frighteningly narrow steel bridge. From here the trail becomes less defined however as long as you keep the acequia line in sight you will soon reach the head of the valley and the Rio Durcal.

Unfortunaetly this is a linear walk however the retun is easy and the final walk down the dry river bed is easy on the feet.

Total distance 18km
Time 7-8 hours
Medium with little navigation problem.
No spring water enroute, however you cross a number of streams.