Soaring over the Sierra

A beautiful, nearly cloudless 30°C day so a trip today to the 1040 metre high Sierra de Lijar, pictured here in the far distance as seen from Olvera.

 The entrance to the Natural Park is on the road to La Muela, about 11 kilometres after turning off the main A-384 road from Olvera and identified by the sign below. (Route map here)

The mainly gravel road winds its way around the mountain for just over 10 kilometres, about 45 minutes of careful driving, offering spectacular views over the scenery below......just don't take your eyes off the road.

After stopping several times, I reached the top just before a large group of enthusiasts arrived at one of the premier hang gliding and paragliding sites in Spain, if not in Europe.

The first paraglider takes off watched by the next in line to go.

Looking down to the Mirador de Levante and below the views over the pueblo of Algodonales.

   Ooops. Sometimes it doesn't always go to plan.

There were also a few hang gliders amongst the multi-national group gathered who, judging by the vehicle number plates, came from France, Poland, Germany, Holland and the UK.

Olvera.

The reservoir at Zahara de la Sierra.

 

A good day was had by all.

Sierra de Lijar re-visited

It's unbelievable but looking back on the blog, a year has gone by since our last visit to the Sierra de Lijar, a mountain just over a 1000 metres high, about 20 minutes drive west of Olvera.

The mountain is one of the premier jump off points in Europe for hang gliders so we thought we'd take a drive out in the hope of catching some taking off.

The drive up the mountain starts on a turn off a short distance before the village of La Muela and winds up a dirt track, passable with care, to the top of the mountain.

On the way up we passed this climber attempting a sheer rock face. This is before.....

....and after losing his handhold, falling about 15 metres, thankfully secured by his rope.












We continued upwards stopping off at several miradors (viewpoints) on the way up. This one looking over to the village of La Muela.

After about an hours slow drive, we reached the top. Unfortunately, there were no hang gliders around but the views were still worth the trip.

Looking down over Alogodonales.

The day was warm but a little hazy. The view towards Zahara de la Sierra and the reservoir below the village.

In a short time we will witness the spectacle of the "processionary caterpillars", when long lines of caterpillars leave their webs which are spun into the pine tree's and join up in a long line to head out into the big, wide world.

Despite the lack of hang gliders, we were joined by quite a few cyclists from the Olvera club winding their way to the top.

Much easier coming down though!.

Looking down upon the the Peñón de Zaframagón, one of the premier breeding sites for Griffon vultures in Spain and home to several types of predatory birds.










Within the park area are several footpaths for those with more energy than us. This path leads off from one of the miradors. advising that is is 6.5 kms in length, of medium difficulty and will take on average about three hours to reach the top.

Linked posts:

Sierra de Lijar
Hang gliding

Hang gliding

As mentioned in our previous post, the Sierra de Lijar is a popular venue for hang gliding. So we were fortunate on our descent from the top to come across this group preparing for a flight, who subsequently turned out to be French "pilotes".

We stayed for around an hour and watched the preparations and finally the jump off's in the direction of La Muela.

Linked post:Sierra de Lijar
Sierra de Lijar re-visited