Sunday, April 26, 2015

Caminito Del Rey - The Kings Walk, El Chorro, Ardales...

 Fantastic! Amazing... and there the opening to the beginning of the walk! After searching for years to gain access to the narrow old walkway, as it became closed to the public by other means...  We began the walk from the lakes at Ardales, by the restaurant El Kiosk, take the tunnel there and follow the new signs... it was about a fifty minute walk, taken at leisure, through beautiful scenery as yet unseen by us after about fifteen minutes.  We had walked previously through some of the forest there, we had taken the lower walk, the medium walk, but never this walk!

The mountain above, incredible beauty I must have taken about ten pictures of it!

We came to the sign in office and at 10:15am showed our bar coded printed tickets and walked through into a small area, with our hard hats and hair nets in place, we were given strict direction as to not to interfere with either flora nor fauna, to leave nothing and take nothing... but pictures!

To respect the area and its beauty and power....
That we could take our time, and to walk to the end and get either the bus back or a lift!
I wanted to get a better view of the area below... not easy to see what I saw when actually there!


Perspective is hard to get in a photo... the one on the left is just looking down... but how far? Its a long long drop down!  I luckily, don't get vertigo much, had an inner ear thing... Labyrinthitis, a few years ago, and oddly had a bit of it the day before this!!  But a friend of mine in Spain gave me an answer to it, which a doctor did not, and I can get it fixed myself now!  Thankfully!

We were looking forward to seeing the bridge we walked over years ago too... and we were not disappointed!

You can no longer walk over it, and 'they' have fixed a metal support beneath, a wire runs next to one side as a hand rail maybe for workers?
But to think we crossed this!  Tony was with us that day, he and Franco walked along the old Kings Walk over the broken concrete... ugh!!! While I stood and took photos!! LOL, I did walk along the walk, in the other, safer direction!

 Here to the right you can the new walk passing up and over the one one, we are glad they left some of it, to ooooh and arhhhh at and remember how it was... Near the bridge beneath.... there is a plaque marking respect for some of those who have died walking the walk over the years...
Walkers would have walked over the waterway there, now we cross on a new suspension bridge, no more than ten at a time, and it bounces! lots!! Metal you can see through and a guard stands there to make sure no one uses it as a swing or trampoline no doubt!!









"We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep."
William Shakespeare, The Tempest

TTFN
Marian

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Well done, you two are so brave xxx

Unknown said...

Well done, you two are so brave xxx