Walk from Aracena to Linares de la Sierra

What it is

An old path between Aracena, the capital of the sierra, and Linares de la Sierra, one of its prettiest villages. The Junta notes that the Sierra de Aracena has the most extensive system of villages and hamlets in the Sierra Morena, linked by a network of paths that is largely preserved. It gives it 4.6 km each way, 1 h 45 and moderate difficulty, with 201 m of maximum height difference between 478 and 679 m of altitude. It needs no authorisation.

The route

Leave Aracena in the direction of Alájar: after the fairground, take the street on the left, the one for the municipal swimming pool. It is the old Alájar road, which leads to the last houses, where the path begins; there is a car park there of about 50 spaces. The first stretch runs near the HU-8105 road and leaves behind the village kitchen gardens to go into the dehesa.

On the other side of the road you can see the cerro de San Ginés, at 869 m. Before the kilometre and a half you will leave on your left a wide track to a farmstead; a hundred metres later the path turns left, separates from the road and goes down about 400 metres. After a short climb, of less than 200 metres, you are already in the municipality of Linares, and a long, gentle descent begins down a shady slope, with Portuguese oaks, cork oaks, a few Pyrenean oaks and a dense understorey of ivy, sarsaparilla, heather and myrtle. After a kilometre and a half of descent you reach the Plamencia stream, with oleanders and willows; you cross it by a bridge, pass a drinking trough and enter Linares by a cobbled path.

What to look at

The springs and drinking troughs along the way: the Junta explains that water was the reason for these villages' existence and that springs and washhouses are still meeting places. Jays, thrushes and great spotted woodpeckers nest among the trees, and you may see eagle owls or black vultures.

How to organise it

It is a one-way route: either you return by the same path, or you continue to Alájar by the Caracol and come back by taxi or bus; Casal (954 99 92 90) and Damas (959 25 69 00) operate in the area. Take water and check that the springs are drinkable before drinking. Shoes with soles for the stones. For the state of the path, ask at the Cabildo Viejo visitor centre, on plaza Alta in Aracena (959 12 95 53).