From Torres, and through the Pila Pellenda parquet, a mountain road is started towards Albanchez de Magina. A few four kilometres away we find a right turn, which gives access to the youth camp area Hondacabras. These sites were cattle's rest on the freckles that passed through these mountains. In this place begins a forest track between pine trees that gradually ascends for 4 Km, something beyond the Nita Fountain. When we get to the crossing we will change direction to make the promotion to the Port of the Mata. The floor of the track is firm, but we will find some outstanding ramps that the less experienced can invite them to take off their bikes. In 3.5 km the port is reached, a step between mountains - some above 2,000 meters. The landscape is a gift for the view: all the southern side of the Natural Park, mountains more than 2,000 meters of altitude (Almadén, 2.036 m., Ponce, 2.006 m and Cerro Cárceles, 2.061 m.), and dehesas in height of complaints, flocks of sheep..., and on the horizon the province of Granada. The rest of the way is down. Five and a half kilometres from the port we arrived at the Castlejo de Mata Bejid, a beautiful place that housed a garrison, which watched this passage on the Middle Ages border, and that until the first half of the 20th century it housed several families of settlers who cultivated the dehesas along the way. This castle was donated to the city of Jaén by the Catholic Kings in 1494, in reward for the services provided in the conquest of Cambil and Alhabar. Two kilometers of olive trees take us to the Cambil-Huelma road. At this point it is worth looking at the corrijada of Mata Bejid, where the spirit of the belle époque with rural dyes is still revived. It is a private property that has an interesting chapel, gardens, house of the gentlemen and even a garage of regionalist style. From here we can choose to go down to the town of Cambil, by the course of the Oviedo River (5 Km.), or better to get close to the new Visitors Center of the Natural Park just three km away. In addition to information from all over the Park, the centre has a shop, meringers, children's games, fountain, services and a walk area for people with reduced mobility.

The tour begins in Mancha Real and ends in the neighboring town of Torres; therefore a route that makes it easier to leave a car in each village to organize the return after the route. If you are going to complete the tour you will need water, some food to replenish strength and a coat for the high mountain area. In Mancha Real you will only have to ask about the rise to the Almadén peak or the TV repeater - the summit is located a set of telephone and telecommunications antennas. Any neighbor will know you have to go south of the village, next to the Pila Fountain and the municipal pool. There, and on permanent rise by repopulation pineers, the lane rises from the repeater by which you will pedal for 10 km of climb next to the Sierra de la Peña del Eagle. The ascent will take you from the 850 m from Mancha Real to the plains of Bercho and Peña Blanca at 1,400 m. on the Jiennense countryside, where the landscape of mountain plains is appreciated, an area that was described in the Middle Ages, in the Chronicle of the Constable and the Book of the Alphony X Mountain, as... "an important place of major hunting, rich in boars, wolves, deer, bears and a closed vegetation." Two kilometers of plain and we are on the detour for the big climb, the step towards the high mountain: the Almadén summit pedaling by track. It's six and a half miles of ramps and sweat, but the effort is worth it. The summit, if the day is clear, is a privileged viewpoint in Andalusia. To the north is the entire great depression of Guadalquivir, closed by the horizon of Sierra Morena. The east shows you the other peaks of more than 2,000 meters from the Sierra Magina massif. To the south you will see the Sierra Nevada Natural Park horizon in Granada. The drop of the same 6.5 Km. (watch out for curves and speed!) leads us back to the previous crossing. From here a new stretch of 4 Km. by cherry plantations accompanies us to Navaparís, one of the most cuddly sources in the area. 2.5 kilometers more and you are on the local road - asphalt - that will take you in permanent descent (another 2.5 km more) between orchards, cherry fields and small cords to the Torres River, and the town of the same name.

If you prefer to save your promotion to Cabra, you can start your pedal in this town, but the beginning and end of the route will be very disconnected.

From here there are almost 20 km of solitary plains (including the detour and the visit to the Cabra Station), along the secondary road of the altiplano. The tour is very quiet because of the few slopes - except some ramps - and because of the near absence of road traffic. The road has a sufficiently cyclable floor, passing through repopulation pines, olive groves and high cerealist fields. The area consists of a succession of rural areas, with large panoramic to the south, with the permanent image of the summits of the Sierra Nevada Natural Park (province of Granada). To the north the summits of the Natural Park of Sierra Magina rise.

The last stretch is a continuous descent from the pedanean town of Solera to the valley of the Jandulilla River. Solera is a small town with a tiny old town set up around the ruins of a rocky castle that was watching the medieval border. This 15 km stretch ends in Huelma, where you can eat in one of its restaurants, and visit the Vandelvirian Church and its castle, both monuments of the Andalusian Renaissance.

Where to sleep. -There are not many places nearby to camp. We must seek life in the nearby villages or live.

Where to drink. -There are three sources of drinking water.

Notes and warnings. -In summer you can climb from dawn to 12.30 p.m.; in the afternoon from 18 a.m.; and in winter during the hours of the sun.

How to get there. -The school is located a few kilometers from Jaén, leaving in the direction of Mancha Real. Once there you have to go to Torres by the JV-3242. No parking problem. The area is in the same village, by the road.

For water, food and accommodation.- Water should be brought, as the nearest water is in Bedmar or Jodar. The accommodation and restaurants of the immediate villages are ideal for finding supply.

How to get there.- The area is 60 kilometres from Jaén capital. From this city you have to go to Bedmar (C-328). After that municipality we turn right through the crossing with the C-325. We arrived shortly after the area. The walls have no loss. They get up in the middle of the hill. There's enough space to park on both sides of the road.

The Andalusian Legate keeps two routes open in this province. The Nazaris and the Caliphate represent unique opportunities to decipher the keys of our past. Both itineraries run in twenty-three Jiennese municipalities. The route of the Caliphate - smaller - crosses the south of the province of Jaén, kissing three cities full of art, culture and history: Alcaudete, Castillo de Locubín and Alcalá la Real. The route of the Nazaris - the most extensive - cuts the province in two, from Sierra Morena to Sierra Mágina, passing through the districts of La Campiña and La Loma. The route crosses twenty municipalities, including the capital of the province. Up to four hundred castles, fortresses, torreons, strong houses and watchmen spatter the way. The monumental heritage, landscapes, popular customs, handicrafts and gastronomy that Jaén today possesses are largely due to that refined civilization that made al-Ándalus a paradise in the middle of the Middle Ages.

Source: Council of Culture and Heritage. Junta de Andalusia.

In the first section we go through three points of interest: the corrijada of Mata Bejid, set of regional-style constructions, the Centre of Visitors of the Natural Park and the bosquet with meringeros area of the Sanctuary of the Fuensanta. In addition in this first part of the route we will find conveniently marked the beginning of the most interesting trails of the massif: Torres Ports and Ascension to the Magic Pico. To the Ctra. A-324 will circulate for 17 km to Huelma. We advise to stop at the Mata Bejid Visitors Center, which in addition to an interesting presentation on the environmental and cultural values of the Natural Park and an audiovisual, has a small shop and meringero area adapted for people with reduced mobility. The Visitors' Centre is open from Thursday to Sunday (check time per season).

You will continue to Huelma, where you can visit two Renaissance monuments that perfectly explain the grandiosity of this population, of these mountains in the 16th century: the Church of the Immaculate Conception, the work of Andrés de Vandelvira, and the castle that watches the people from above.

The second section of the route runs on horseback in the provinces of Granada and Jaén. From Huelma we'll take the Ctra. JA-4204 for four kms. We'll continue for 4 km. More for the Ctra. GR-3100. These are the landscapes of the mountain cereal, increasingly reduced in extension due to its low profitability, but that in times not so far away were the sustenance of the families of the area. The feeling that is perceived in the contemplation of these moors is of remoteness, of isolation, a rural world that is extinguishing.

Attention because you have to turn right on the Ctra. JA-3205, by which you will go down a steep slope towards Arbuniel. To this point you take 35 kms. since you left Cambil. Arbuniel is known for its water spring that feeds the irrigations of the area, through a system of waterfalls that remains active, and that passes through this small population belonging to the municipality of Cambil. The spring is surrounded by a little park, a magnificent place to rest.

From Arbuniel, and in only 8 km. from a road that passes through olive landscapes, we will reach Cambil by the Ctra. JA-3204. Cambil has sufficient restoration services. Do not stop walking through its urban town and be surprised with some Baroque facades, such as the Hospital (18th century).

The starting point of this route is located in the Navas de Tolosa, where the decisive departure that made it possible to open Andalusia to Christianity was won. The route is built through vigorous landscapes in the town of La Carolina and in ancient fortified villas like Baños de la Encina, with its califal-era castle, in historic crossroads of roads like Bailén or Mengibar and in large cities like Andújar, surrounded by the nature of its natural park.

The itinerary is held in the municipalities of the western countryside of Jaén: Arjona, Porcilla, Torredonjimeno, Martos, Torredelcampo, synonyms of border squares, monumental enclosures and industrial villas with oil as protagonist. Then the route goes back to the course of the high Guadalquivir, approaching Linares, to follow the region of La Loma. Here are two unique jewels: Baeza and Ubeda. Two Renaissance sets, unparalleled tops of the history and art of Andalusia.

From here on, the Sierra Magina road through Jódar and its fortress, Jimena and Mancha Real, until entering Jaén, head of Holy Kingdom, crowned by the castle of Santa Catalina and the Cathedral. This route then runs through La Guardia de Jaén, through mountains and ports in the direction of Cambil and Huelma, before entering the province of Granada by Guadahortuna, Píñar and Iznalloz. Only the mountains of Sierra Nevada separate us from the one that was cut from the Nazari sultans. In the meantime, the houses of Deifontes, Albolote, Maracena, as predecessors of the destination of the route, stand out: Granada, which is covered by living traditions in which the indelible heritage of the Andalusian civilization is reflected.

+ INFO

The explanations offered here are very brief, and do not go from being a presentation of this great itinerary, with the aim of locating its different stages as it passes through our province. The most important localities and reference steps are mentioned, but the explanation does not stop to inform about each and every detail of the road, actually formed by different types of roads, landscapes and conditions.
The entire route in the province of Jaén will take a week to ten days of long walks, with the most recommended support of one or two vehicles for the transport of material. Its passage through villages makes its division possible and allows it to make stages of less journey, depending on the interest of the group of hiking people. The GR-7 was marked and beheaded by the Andalusian Mountain Federation and the Tourism, Trade and Sport Council. Years later, some of the milestones have been lost, but by using traditional roads, their realization remains possible.
The path crosses the provincial border Cordoba-Jaén in Pilas de Fuente Soto, reaches Alcalá la Real and continues, in the direction of the village of Santa Ana, coinciding with a Royal Canyon adorned with stone crosses that crosses a moor with the Castle of La Mota on the horizon. It passes through Santa Ana, takes us to Fries and then to Los Rosales, from where it follows a paved road and then to rural roads.
It traverses several ports among which is that of Los Alamillos, goes down to the river Valdearazo and comes up again by seeping the Stone of the Palo, between Camillo de Arenas and Carchelejo, giving view to the Embalse of Quiebrajano. The road continues to ascend to a few plains before the town of Carchelejo, which is accessed by a steep road, by the upper part of the town, by the deposits.
The road leaves the Sierra Sur and leaves Carchelejo following a path that descends in search of the old road N-323, passing through a rock needle to which they refer by "The Old Tooth." In the N-323 it continues to the highway, the cross below and goes back the river line between orchards and choperas to access Cambil next to the debugger of the population. From here we go in the direction of the Corrijada of Matabejid, in the direction of Huelma, to enter the Natural Park of Sierra Magina, with the highest summits of the province of Jaén. We pass through Matabejid and follow a track towards the Port of La Mata, passing through the area of the Castillejo, a magnificent landscape characterized by the ruins of a castle of the ancient medieval border. This mountain of oaks and complaints is kept by one of the most emblematic mountains of the province, La Peña de Jaén. This landscape has the particularity of being the dehesa of complaints on a limestone mountain, higher in Spain. Crossing the Port the road runs between pine trees in the direction of Torres, where we can refresh with the water of the Fuenmayor, and already in the village in the Pila Pellenda, at the entrance to the village, before continuing to Albánchez de Magina by means of pecuaria roads, used as pedestrian roads between populations, accompanied by almonds and cherry trees characteristic of this area, which offers an image of whitened valley during its flowering.
Once again, we pass through Fuente de la Fresneda and through the recreational area of Cuadros until we reach Bedmar, from where we will suddenly go up to El Portillo by one of the most pronounced ramps of the GR to go down to Jódar through the Serrezuela. We left Jódar for the Jódara-Quesada railway station, we crossed the Minor Guadiana looking for Peal Furnaces, then Toya, and continued on the Vega to Quesada.
We are already in the Natural Park of the Serras de Cazorla, Segura and the Villas. As we leave Quesada we will pass under the site known as El Chorro, in search of the Monastery of Monte Zion, and from here to the hermitage of San Isicio, near Cazorla. We will leave Cazorla on one of the most beautiful roads of the whole route, we will see the hermitage of the Virgin of the Cabeza, on a road between pine trees we will pass by the Fountain of the Bear in search of the village of Vadillo Castril, then the village of Loma de Mª Ángeles, later on, through the Natural Park of the Sierra de Cazorla, Segura and Las Villas, Catorrios, and through the avenue of the Guadalquivir, passing near the Aguamulas River, we will go to the Fountain to Segura to reach Pontones. From Pontones we continue to Poyotello, we go down next to the channel of the young Rio Zumeta to the village of the Ruices, Santiago de la Espada, and finally we cross the provincial limit towards the Puebla de D. Fadrique, in Granada.

The path from the Veredón to Mojón Blanco runs along the Pecuaria route Colada Fuente de la Teja, in Pegalajar. It allows us to climb to the peak in which the municipal terms of Pegalajar, Mancha Real and Torres are joined, and from which are seen spectacular views of the Bercho umbria, one of the most steep and wild areas of the municipal term Pegalajar. We can also enjoy amazing views of the Sierra de Jaén.

It is a relatively short path that we can complete with a visit to the beautiful village of Pegalajar and its famous pond, which in the years of abundant rains appears as a huge pond within the urban centre.

This path can be linked to those who come from the Royal Mancha, as well as other pecuary ways, or even, to the Pico Almadén.