Bélmez de la Moraleda – Cabra de Santo Cristo -Solera (C6)
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.
It is the route that links the Loma de Ubeda and the Guadalquivir River with the core of Sierra Magina.
The railway station of Jódar, is adjacent to the municipal term of Ubeda. In this station, in disuse, millions of tons of wood that came floating through the Guadalquivir from the Serras of Cazorla and Segura were embarked at another time. Similarly the spatter production of Jódar and Cabra of Saint Christ also used these railway docks to begin their long journey.
50 minutes (excluding stops).
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.
This route by car involves a visit to different areas of Sierra Magina. Although it is recommended for any time of year, autumn, but especially spring are the best time to make this visit.
The route begins in Pegalajar, town of the Guadalbullón River, with different points of interest, such as its traditional medieval garden system or rural accommodation in cave houses
Distance: 55 km.
Time approx.: 1 and a half hours (not including stops).
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.
This route crosses the Sierra Magina massif by immediate areas to the high mountain. The tour begins and ends at the limits of the Natural Park, from south to north, through it completely.