We had a few days free and decided to go on an excursion, where? To the Sierra de Cazorla, how? On a horseback route. We started from the well-known Arroyovil olive farm, which has one of the most characteristic and impressive views of the Spanish olive grove (unknown until then to me).
Horse fans are surprised by the extraordinary stables of thoroughbred products, facilities now empty since the business did not give the expected results. From this place we set out with our horses to cross the Sierra Mágina, an immense mass of limestone that we covered for a day.
The sparse vegetation, the cliffs and the green depths of the olive groves surprise us almost as much as the vertigo we suffer when traveling along a bridle path where, if the horses stumbled, only God knows where we would end up. There is little game in this area, some hares but only in the olive groves on the slopes, some vultures fly over us on this hot April day.
The following days passed in the heart of the Cazorla mountain range. We arrive with the horses at the town of Cazorla, which hangs majestically from the mountain. We found a guide who helped us keep our horses for three nights and who took us into the mountains. The resting place was located near the so-called Puente de la Herrería, an old passage where Queen Isabel la Católica - also on a ride on horseback - he crossed these mountains with his hosts on the march towards the conquest of the kingdom of Granada.
We climb to Poyo de Mesa, whose summit and cliff offer one of the most impressive panoramic views of these mountains. During our ascent - very hard for the horses - we saw several male fallow deer, some quite good. As on occasion we saw them on smooth ground, we galloped the horses after them. Running them was just an illusion since the rednecks, when following them, quickly entered the mountains.
Another day we took the horses to the source of the Tornillo stream, whose rocks form an impressive canyon of great beauty. We cannot forget on our walk the endemic species of Cazorla, among which the Violeta surprised us, as well as immense forest masses of black pine, associated with juniper and juniper trees. We cannot also omit the birth of the Guadalquivir River, a place more visited than the previous ones, but we cannot because of less beauty.
After five days of excursion the horses are returned by truck to our places of origin (Montes de Toledo, Ávila and Ciudad Real). active tourism surprises me more and more.
