The largest hiking route in Spain's largest natural space. The Southern Forest trail offers 478 kilometres marked, along 21 main stages and 11 derivations. In addition, it has 3 variants, composed of two sections each, that help subdivide the layout, and make a version adapted to our interests and time available. Its journey leads to the births of the rivers Guadalquivir and Segura, entering us by the mosaic of landscapes of this mountain: high mountain peaks, castles, forests, rivers and waterfalls, traditional roads, altiplanicies, villages and villages still inhabited, historical sets, olive groves, gardens. A great way to discover the flight of the broken bones, the cleanest waters, the conversation with the transhuman pastors, the way to live in the mountain villages..., a collection of experiences and the authenticity of the most extensive saws of Andalusia. Most of the stages begin and end in places close to basic services: sources, villages or villages, campsites and other accommodation, camping areas or near roads. Other sections have only emergency shelters without services, built to provide these areas of the GR. Some stages go through very remote places, without telephone coverage, often subject to high mountain conditions that can leave us isolated (snow, wind, and low-zero temperatures in winter, or lack of water and permanent insolation in summer), so we should be informed about the conditions before we start the route; in addition to having enough to awaken. We will never leave the route, we will always follow the rules of use of the GR and the shelters, as well as the instructions of the natural park staff. It respects all the rules of protected space as you walk the path and use its equipment.

About 6 km away is Jódar, the largest town in Sierra Mágina. We'll be on the A-401 road. Jódar stands out for the offer of services, and for the castle that hosts one of the two Visitors' Centers of the natural park of Sierra Magina.

Our tour runs along the eastern side of Sierra Magina. Little by little and for 18 km the landscape of olive trees on a subdesert mountain.

To the right we will find the detour to Bélmez de la Moraleda. The waters of the Garganton River assigns to the green landscape and the presence of gardens. The main attraction of the town is the famous faces of Belgium, a curious phenomenon that attracts its own and strangers to this small town.

On the A-401, our walk will continue for 12 km towards Huelma. Almost at the end of the tour we find the pedany of Cabritas, a scattered rural habitat that hides dozens of ancient mills and gardens that for centuries, and from the Middle Ages made this place a vergel of fruit and vegetables.

Attention to the detour in the A-324, which in only three km leads us to the centre of Huelma, a town that offers us restoration services, and two jewels of the Andalusian Renaissance, the Church of the Immaculate Conception, the work of Andrés de Vandelvira, and the castle that watches the village from above.

Just after leaving Pegalajar, you can reach a small mountain port, a portillo known as Seven Pillas, between the Serrezuela de Pegalajar and the massif of Sierra Magina. In this place, favored by winds is the paragliding area of the same name.

The few 7 km that link Paste with Manchar Real (Ctra. JA-3203) are those of a small road that hangs from the skirts of Sierra Magina, and are a magnificent lookout towards the countryside and the city of Jaén. Mancha Real runs through the center of its urban centre. This industrial and olive-growing town has a beautiful Renaissance church, the Church of the Holy Cross, which well deserves a stop.

The stretch between Mancha Real and Torres (Ctra. JA-3106) shows a good view of Sierra Magina. The arrival in Torres offers one of the best landscapes of the Natural Park. A high mountain horizon, which in its skirts collects the orchards and cherry plantations that reach the urban town of Torres hanging from Mount Aznaitín. The Marquis de Camarasa palace, the climbing in the Cimbras, some of its restaurants are sufficient reasons to devote a while to this town. It is highly recommended to walk to the clock that crowns the population and that in an unknown viewpoint teaches the best of these mountains.

But the best thing is to come. The mountain road between Torres and Albanchez de Mágina (JA-1107) is so small that these two villages separated by only 10 km do not enjoy a bus line... because there is no commercial-sized bus that can travel some points on this road. The main attraction is the landscape, which leads from the moist north side to the driest east, always accompanied by cherry and olive plantations.

Albanchez de Magina, has a rocky castle of must visit, as well as the need to try the almonds, cupcakes and bread, for many the best in the province of Jaén.

7 kilometers (Ctra. JA-3105) more and you will reach Jimena and the A-320 road. In Jimena you can ask about the wheat potage, and you have to visit the Cueva de la Graja, with interesting neolithic rock paintings (access is by a steep path that begins in the municipal pool). The city hall will provide you with the instructions and key to visit the cave. If your pass through Jimena is at the beginning of the summer, look for the best brews in Andalusia that are collected here by the local cooperative.

In the direction of Jaén@-@ Mancha Real, for the Ctra. A-320, just two kilometers away you will find the right turn that will take you to the village of Garciez, always on a road (A-6104) that immerses you in the olive grove for five km.

Garciez and his Renaissance palace of the Marquis de Viana are a surprise. The palace is not visitable, but only the outside walk gives an idea of importance of the place in the 16th century.

Seven more miles and you'll be in Bedmar. This town has restaurants and bars for food, as well as a ruined castle hanging over the village. In this town is the seat of the Regulatory Council of the Denomination of Origin of Extra Virgin Oil Sierra Magina, which orders the production of one of the best oils in Jaén.

We left Andujar in the direction of the Peñallana vineyards through the Ctra. J-501. In the km. About 14,400, after passing the Los Pinos Restaurant, we take a road that comes out to the right; we go into it we will get to Los Escoriales, leave to our left a dish of bulls or tentadero and, at about 100 m., we will get a track to the right that we will take; here we can observe an interesting darkness occupied preferably by alcornocals, at some points as a mature or climate community on a sediment-type substrate. When we begin to descend, we will leave to our right the Cerro del Moro, an elevation that maintains a well-developed shroud, we will pass through the house of the Gorgojil and the Nava de Andújar, dehesa ganadera and place of transit that allows to observe the typical topographic relief of Sierra Morena and the crops of the geological domain of Guadalquivir, coming to the reservoir of the Rumblar, a sheet of water perfectly attached to the steep relief and, from here, to Baños de la Encina, one of the four municipalities that make up the Natural Park of Sierra de Andújar, the whole of the city of the town of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the town of the city of the city of the city of the town of the city of the city of the town of the city of the city of the town of the city of the city of the city of the city of the town of the town of the town of the town of the town of the town of the town of the town of the town of the town of the town of the town of the town of the town of the town of

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.

A hundred meters past the restaurant we take a lane to the left that after passing by a house leads us to the lordory Casería del Portichuelo, located just at the foot of the hill that make up the two rocks that form the picturesque rocky set. We go up through the olive grove to the hill (840 meters) from which we see the other side of the rocks towards the payment of Pedro Coes and the valley that forms the Jaén River.

If we want to try to ascend to the pointed major summit of the Peñas, we will look on the hill for a sidewalk that we will take to the left towards the north rock. The sidewalk passes over the pine tree that falls between the two rocks and borders the rocky wall. In this area there are a lot of climbing pathways and in a fracture on the wall a cave (Secret Cave) in which there are anthropomorphic rock paintings (some up to 65 cm). After crossing an area of mountain and crossing a wire of cattle, it flows into a small, straight meadow surrounded by pine and olive trees. To the right of that meadow, semi-hidden between the weeds, it begins to climb towards the ridge. From here the ascension begins that becomes quite difficult, as the line of crest is very pending and we will find ourselves with complicated swamps. We will have to be careful with the rocky abyss that are forming on our right: in about twenty minutes we will be at the top of this unique mountain. There are remains of an Arab turret in it. Here we will enjoy one of the best panoramic views of the region of Jaén, as we are right in the geographical center of it, in a pettic atalaya 945 meters high and without any obstacle to the view.

From the hill we have another less risky option: to go down to the other side by reference to the ruins of a medieval turret, a little further down to the cortijo of Pedro el Cruel. After a mile we will be in the cortijo, behind which a path that leads us in twenty minutes to Mount Canjorro, the final foothold of the Peñas de Castro. It is an interesting climbing area, with abundant caves, from which you can see the setting of the river from above and the valley of Los Villares.

After crossing this new neighborhood, before reaching the Arroyo Riocococrotico, a kilometer beyond the urbanization (by the old road, in what was the direction towards Jaén) a track (very steep in its first meters) appears to the left of the road that we will have to take to start the ascent to Mount Jabalcuz. A little more than a mile from its beginning we will find a barrier that prevents the passage of motor vehicles. From there the road ascends with a soft slope on the north side of the mountain between small trees of young pine trees. At half a mountain slope the track is headed towards its western end, towards the Air Port (1331 m) between Jabalcuz and the Devil's Crest, a sharp limestone that contrasts with the rounding of the mountain we are going to climb. The track up to the port continues to the opposite side towards Torredelfield. We will take the left turn to the summit.

From the Port of Air the pines are finished, a bioclimatic floor with high mountain plant cover is reached. We will continue our march towards the top, from which we are still separated three and a half kilometres. The road ends 100 meters from the summit (1614 m) where there is a fire guard house. From this privileged viewpoint, the village of Los Villares, the Betic Cordilleras with Sierra Nevada are seen to the south and to the North Jaén and the Guadalquivir Valley, full of villages, as a backdrop of Sierra Morena. The descent we will do on the same path we have brought. Arriving at the Air Port, you could choose to descend to the Torredelfield side, to a track of similar characteristics, also with restricted motor traffic. This option is more long, unless a vehicle was previously approached to the access barrier. In the event of choosing this route, the connection with the Green Way of Oil is recommended, either by all-terrain bike or on foot.

One of these routes starts right above the Almond Quarter, at the junction of the Circumvalation Road with the rise to the Castillo-Parador de Turismo. Towards the south side of the hill of the Castle of Santa Catalina, next to the road of ascending to the Castilla-Hospital El Neveral, a narrow path rises between almonds under the vertical walls that serve as foundations to the walls of the castle. The itinerary presented here has the possibility of being extended with other surrounding areas.

We will pass to a water tank and then we will enter the pine until we leave to a crossing of the road right next to the Caño Quebrado fountain. From the back of the forest house in this Source continues a path parallel to the road. We followed her until we crossed the track next to the El Neveral Recreative Zone. We continue on the path that goes up between the pine and the olive grove, overlooking the Hospital of El Neveral, and pass by another water tank, until we reach a clear area of trees from where we will see a closed curve a crossing and continue to glide and leave the crossing to the right and another to the left. We will connect with a track that, after, a small climb that places us at more than 1000 meters of height, just below the Cerro de los Morteros, descends to the previous recreational area, culminating the circular stretch of this path and then continuing on the road already travelled to the fountain of Caño Quebrado, at the crossing with access to the Castle.

Right next to this crossing, in front of the Fountain is taken a descending lane to the north side and to the city of Jaén, which immediately becomes a path from which we will enjoy beautiful views of the city through the pines. We had a small olive tree and crossed the wall of Almohad origin (11th century). In this area, in the direction of the decks of the Cross of the Castle, through the wall through the door there, there are some scarves that have traditionally been the school of the Jiennese climbers. By a final stretch of the downhill track we will go to the Circumvalation Road, already in the Magdalena district, again in the city of Jaén.