Santiago-Puebla de Don Fadrique

Dear friends,
The information on the route from Santiago de la Espada to La Puebla de Don
Fadrique is sparse. The illustrious Juan Holgado has nothing to say, and
the Federacion Andaluza de Montanismo confines itself to a brief sentence
'from Santiago the route continues to Puebla de Don Fadrique'. Lies, damned
lies. The route stops an hour outside Santiago. Nobody will tell you this -
they all weasel and prevaricate and dissimulate - but it is so. The path
stops outside Santiago near some houses made out of caves. From there on
it's 30km on the road, or find your own way cross-country and hope an
over-enthusiastic farmer doesn't gun you down. We chose life, and the road,
with a brief diversion across country. During the diversion we came across
a set of wooden cabins of unprepossesing aspect, all strung out on a bare
hillside. It turned out to be a tourist complex, with a restaurant and bar
- we stopped for light refreshments and a rest. Then 16 more km of road. I
had expected to be going down steeply from Santiago, but not so. The whole
of this corner of Andalucia is an altiplano between mountain ranges. For
the first part of the day we climbed up from 1200 metres to 1700, then back
down to 1050. The scenery in this part, which is outside the natural park
through which we've been travelling for the past week, is much more like
Murcia - bare rock and sparse scrub. We were both worn to a ravelling when
we finally arrived in Puebla. My walking companion for the last seven days
is leaving me here, and his family from Murcia came to pick him up. I will
have a rest day, and then press on to the final three days.
Distance today (yesterday as I fell asleep before posting this) 36 tedious
km.
The picture is of the cave valley outside Santiago. It's on the border
between Jaen, Granada, and Albacete. I forgot to say that I am now in the
province of Granada.

A wayfarer in Spain