Sierra Mistas

Sierra Mijas from my Toyota - just a small cloud

25-07-2013

Sierra Midges.Yes, I know it is pronounced Meeoss. Actually it was more Sierra d’ants. There were hundreds of ant nests on the path. Mijas town is a pretty little town of white buildings on the slopes of the sierra above the ugly resort of Fuengirola. However, the day after I was in the tourist crowded town of Mijas a British man murdered his wife and daughter, then committed suicide, so maybe it is not as serene and untroubled as it seems.

The signboard shows a choice of routes to the summit. I decided to use the yellow, blue green and then orange routes up and the alternative orange and red routes down. However, I could not find the start of the alternative orange path and as it was misty I did not want to end up getting lost so came down the ascent route. Later, I called in the tourist information office to pick up a leaflet, ‘Hiking in Mijas’, however this does not show any orange paths at all. The leaflet informs the reader that the town was founded by the unfortunately named Turdetanos.

There is a small car park on the A-387 and stop for the M221 bus (Fuengirola-Coin) at N36.59560 W4.64082 (453m). The path starts at N36.59653 W4.63978. The paths are quite obvious, signed and waymarked lower down. Except, it is easy to miss the junction on the blue path at N36.60361 W4.64336 and I ended up having to backtrack to it. Nearer the summit the signs disappear and the waymarks less obvious. And, for me, the views less good because what had started as just a small patch of cloud just above the summit turned into a generally cloudy day with a cloud base at around 800m. In a sense, this improved things at the top because most of the time the various masts were obscured.

Pico de Mijas 1149m P850 Major N36.61334 W4.65931 – 14.5km 1170m total ascent

Overnight in Canillas de Aceituno

A junction

Lentisk - Pistacia lentiscus

Somewhere around here the orange path splits into two 

When the mist cleared momentarily

Opuntia face