We started off in fresh and breezy Casares (about 17º, ended up at 25º when we finished!). Casares really took us by surprise – it’s a beautiful white-washed village in the hills above Estepona – so close to the busy tourist-filled coastline, yet it has somehow retained its traditional character, and has a lot to offer in terms of historical monuments. An important note – the Father of the Andalusian Homeland (Blas Infante) hails from Casares and spent much of his youth here. More information in the descriptions of some of the photos in this album.
As we headed out of Casares, we passed farmland - mainly fields of sheep and horses. The humidity (and elevation) rose, and it was a bit of a challenge, but one we relished.
The one (rather big) downside to this hike, was that it goes past the Costa del Sol’s main landfill site – the stench was overwhelming! We couldn’t believe the official trail takes hikers past this monstrosity – we’ll never forget it, that’s for sure.
The stats: approx 13.2km (14km in reality, as we had to park a little further away from the start and end points), 460m elevation in just under 5 hours.

After a rather smelly end to the first stretch last week, the second stretch of Stage 29 was a vast improvement (though still smelly at the start of course, as we were very close to the landfill site). Rocky tracks were the order of the day, cutting along the south face of the Sierra Bermeja. It was technical in places, due to the elevation ups and downs.We enjoyed some beautiful views towards Gibraltar, the Moroccan coastline, and the side profile of the Sierra Blanca, with the imposing ‘La Concha’ peak clearly visible.

It’s still very warm at the moment, and we were happy to get to Restaurante El Frenazo at the end – unusual for a place to do a ‘Menú del día’ on a Saturday, but we can recommend it, very tasty food – though it was packed, so you’d need to reserve a table (Tel: 952 79 50 11 Location: [ Ссылка ]).
The stats: Just over 11km, almost 400m elevation in just over 4.5 hours.

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Thanks to Bad Snacks for the music in this video.

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