Scaredy cat thrill seekers

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September 28th 2022

Published: September 28th 2022

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Two Vines

Entrance Tunnel

We are in El Chorro. People generally only come here to do one of three insane things…to rock climb, to ride horses or to go hiking. All three are scarey propositions in our book but for some strange reason we are here to do the latter.

So, this morning we (I!) have tickets booked to walk the ‘El Caminito del Rey’ (The King's Little Path). Once labelled ‘the most dangerous walk in the world’, and a magnet for thrill seekers, this path has now been revamped and deemed semi-safe to walk. Numbers are restricted, hence the need to reserve tickets months in advance.

The walkway, which is 1m wide and set along the face of a steep sided mountain with a gorge 100m below, was built for construction workers at the nearby hydro electric plants at Chorro Falls and Gaitaneo Falls. The path allowed ease of access and transport of materials between the two locations. King Alfonso XIII walked it for the inauguration of the Conde del Guadalhorce Dam in 1921, hence its name.

Built between 1901-1905, the pathway was made of concrete laid on steel girders set 45 degrees into the mountainside. Over time the concrete crumbled

At the hydraulic dam

leaving huge gaps underfoot and the side was completely open with no guard rails.

Several people fell to their deaths on the walkway and post 2000, the government closed both entrances and declared it illegal to walk the path. This only served to attract more interest and a further five people lost their lives in the years following. If you want a flavour of the experience, there are several YouTube videos you can watch that will send your legs to jelly!

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OK, well obviously (?) we’re not going to be doing that! But why on earth would we be stupid enough to think we’d walk this path? Well, in 2011, the Andalusian government decided on a plan to make the walkway safe. The solution was to build a new path directly above the old one (thus making the old path impossible to access) and the path is strictly monitored with numbers limited and strong side guards in place. The protect was completed in 2015 at a cost of €9 million. The new walkway has wooden planks with gaps so people can still see the original path below. I hope we will be OK!

Start of boardwalk

The walk is 8km in length, of which almost 3km is along the edge of the gorge. Footwear is checked for suitability, no stopping for picnics on the gorge face is allowed and no young kids under the age of 8. Hard hats are issued and must be worn at all times. Oh and it’s one direction only, so once you begin there is no going back! In the FAQ someone asks, is the new walkway 100% safe? Of course not, is the reply! So they are still covering their backsides on liability, I guess.

Our tickets are booked for 10am but we need to catch a bus to the entrance and then it’s a few km walk to get to the ticket check and hard hat issue place, so we decide to go early to be on the safe side. We will take our breakfast with us and we can eat it while waiting for the bus (whose times seem to be a little haphazard) or whilst waiting for our entrance time.

We leave our guest house at 7.30am. It’s still pitch black but Ian can remember the way. Good because no mobile coverage here! We make

Watch out for low rocks!

our way very gingerly down the potholed road when suddenly we appear to be in someone’s driveway. Ugh. A three point turn here us not what we want. I jump out to make sure sure Ian doesn’t reverse over the edge of a precipice. Back up the road and we are now back at our guesthouse. Ugh, it must have been the right way after all. It all looks very different in the dark! Another turn around and the backyard turns out to be the track (I can’t really call it a road) after all.

We’re back at the tarmac road. The road block barrier that was there yesterday has been removed and we park up in a proper painted slot. The shuttle bus is just passing us to do its three point turn so we’d better hurry up!

There’s half a dozen of us catching the bus which will take us to the start point of our walk. Not many passengers for a full size coach but it will get much busier later.

The coach has snaked it’s way around the mountain roads and we now have daylight. We all all dropped off at the kiosk,

New walkway

place of the main entrance tunnel. Fortunately Julie at the guesthouse has told us that we can walk a little further back down the road to find a smaller tunnel that will take us to the entrance via a much shorter route. Why have two tunnels then? She thinks it’s so that tour guides with ground can spin it out!

We walk for about half an hour down a pleasantly shaded path and dirt track road, arriving at the entrance at 8.30am (ninety minutes ahead of our 10am entrance time). Apart from a ticket office and last chance loos there is nothing else here so we sit on a wall and wait our turn.

I occupy myself reading the notice board. My first source of amusement is the rules and regulations, some of which have lost a little in translation. No matter, we cannot smoke, we cannot stop for a picnic, we cannot lay down or remove our clothing, we cannot leave litter, even if it is biodegradable, we cannot wear flip flops and we cannot spread ashes. There’s more, but this is the general gist.

Now I’m back on the wall with Ian. The 8.30am ticket

Old bridge

holders are gone and the 9am bunch are arriving. Amongst them a large group of young women who look suspiciously like they might be on a hen do (also not allowed on the rules board). Four of them are carrying two large cool boxes between them. Ian and I exchange knowing looks. Clearly they did not research their outing at all. It clearly stated that the walk is only one metre wide so no stopping except to take a brief photo as it might be dangerous to others.

Ten minutes later and the ‘Brits Abroad’ are back. They have been told they cannot take their cool boxes so they are going to eat their lunch now. Hmmm, except for the fact that they forgot to bring their plates and cutlery and napkins. Oh dear, they are going to have to eat their choc au pains and marmalade croissants with their fingers. :-) We are both in stitches. Oh and now they have to have one last fag. Please hurry up, we don’t want to be in the same group as you lot!

The gaggle of girls have gone, having abandoned their cool boxes by reception. Whether they will

Snaking around the mountain

bother to return to retrieve them is anybody’s guess. The 9.30am crowd are starting to appear and we decide to try our luck at being allowed in earlier. Those on guided tours are in a separate queue to us…not that it gets them in any quicker despite all the marketing hype about skipping the line!

A woman turns up for her tour, where do I go, where is my guide. The lady checking tickets is very patient considering that she is 20 minutes late and her group has gone! Can she speak Spanish, does she want to join the Spanish group? Ummm, yes, no, umm maybe. Well does she want to go on her own without a guide? Well yes maybe she should, but hmm no maybe not. No she thinks she wants a guide. I’m not sure how she manages it but the ticket lady takes her off to get a hard hat and comes back alone - maybe one of the staff took her to catch up with the English group?

They are calling out 9.30am and we stand back along with another guy who is clearly 10am like us. The others swarm through, then we

Path is getting narrower

see the other guy go for it. The lady seems to have stopped checking times in tickets so we move forward too. Our bar codes are scanned in no time and we are through.

Now to collect our hard hats along with a very trendy hair net and gather for the safety briefing. How to fit the hard hat, who to ask if we have difficulties on the way or want to chicken out and finally a dire warning not to remove the hard hat at any time as that will result in immediate expulsion from the walk. Not sure how that might be achieved given the nature of this narrow walk but best to do as we are told!

And now we are off - it’s really not very long before everyone is ahead of us and we enjoy the whole walk more or less in our own space.

The wooden planked walkway starts almost immediately and it’s fine as long as you don’t look down through the slats. There are high sides and you really would have to be doing something pretty stupid to actually fall off. The hard hats are necessary because sections of

Old and new

the rock do jut out. Ian is paranoid I’m going to drop my phone…now that could easily slip through the cracks!

To be honest it’s not nearly as bad as I’d expected it to be. For someone as afraid of heights as me I had wondered if I’d be the one chickening out. :-)

Now it appears we have come through the narrow gorge and the walkway is finished. We’re making our way along a pleasantly shaded path high above the green waters below. Here we find a number of benches where we can stop for a drink or a quick snack. We opt not to stop too long though - otherwise the next group will catch up and we’ll no longer have the place to ourselves.

Suddenly we have found ourselves on another wooden walkway, and we can see a bridge in the distance. This is the bridge that we must walk across to traverse the gorge. It looks sturdy enough from here?

I reckon they have left the scariest section to the end as the suspended path has got much narrower. Here we also have very clear visibility of the original path below. No

Nutters walkway below

guard rails, great big holes and chunks of platform or stairs completely missing. Seriously those earlier thrill seekers must have been complete nutters!

We see a train passing through opposite and now we have reached the gorge bridge. Oh dear, the nice solid number is there to support large round water pipes…not humans! The footbridge is cleverly hidden behind. It’s a long steel suspension bridge. There is no going back now! There’s just us an a German couple. Would they like to go first? No, after you. Although the bridge can take ten, I ask them if they can possibly wait till I’m over as I know it will start swinging. The more people crossing, the bigger the swing! They considerately oblige (though Ian is doesn’t).

Now we have some steep descents on wooden steps…I approach these backwards ir sideways on, in much the same way that I would on a dive boat.

All the pleasant shade has now gone and we are facing the fierce late morning heat. But at least we are off the walkway now. Hopefully it will just be a slow walk down the single car width track to El Chorro.

Finally

Scarey stuff

we reach the exit and return our hard hats. We’re down at water level so a bit of a climb is required to get back up to El Chorro.

At last we are back and sink into shady seats in the little street cafe. Cold drinks and a plate of chips and mayo to share before reclaiming our car. The place is now packed so early morning was definitely the way to go!

The exit road is barricaded again today. It’s the same guy that let us through yesterday but today he is saying no. We must take the other road. What other road? There isn’t one! I try to explain that we are not taking the left hand fork where the roadworks are happening. We are going right to our pension. Yes, he knows but we have to go the other way. Seriously there is no other way! Ian is getting very hot under the collar - no point arguing I tell him.

I make it clear I’m not shifting and the young lad says he will be in trouble with his boss if he lets us through…but his boss won’t know as we’re not going

Do you expect me to cross that?

where he thinks we are going! Finally it is the young man that loses his rag because another local turns up and is giving the guy gyp because he won’t move the barrier and we are blocking his way. He shouts OK OK, you go, you make big trouble for me with my boss! Quick Ian let’s go before he changes his mind!

We make our way back up the steep rough track with the local following behind. Like us, the local is taking the right hand fork, nowhere near the roadworks. Two camper and are supposed to be staying at our place tonight. I don’t fancy their chances of getting through either!

Back in our lovely pension it’s getting on for 2pm, siesta time!

We finish our day with a lounge around the pool. Just as soon as the sun starts to sink behind the lovely thick tree that gives us welcome shade. Neither of us are sun worshippers! It’s a very quick swim for me today as I develop chronic cramp the moment I dive in. Just a quick cool off then. Ian has found three thick paperback books in the room so that’s him

Steep descent - let’s turn and go backwards!

sorted for tonight at least!

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Two Vines

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