The King's Walkway.... stepping by faith

Last week, the first week of October, I looked at the date one day, and realised that it had been exactly nine years since I had come to live in Spain. How time flies!

Among the first places I ever visited, about an hour inland from Malaga, were the stunning turquoise lakes of El Chorro, and they have continued to be a favourite destination of mine for a summer swim. At the time, there was much talk of a walk called "El Caminito del Rey" - a narrow ledge, built in 1905, that hugged the side of the cliffs (see above) and was often touted as "the most dangerous walk in the world" or "the scariest hike in Spain." It was illegal to do the Caminito, so we would simply stand down by the lakeside, taking photos of the crumbling walkway and the iconic bridge that spanned the river gorge. (Adrenaline junkies still ventured up there in secret, and took great pride in posting their exploits on YouTube. However, there was at least one such thrill seeker who fell to his death every year.) 

In 2015, the Malaga tourist board decided to rebuild walkways that would make the Caminito del Rey safe again, and an official destination for "active tourism" in Malaga. Of course, this was at the time when the degenerating arthritis in my feet was particularly painful, and it was hard for me to walk more than ten or fifteen minutes at a time. The new Caminito looked like a great adventure, but I knew I wouldn't have the physical capacity to complete the 5 mile hike.

However, as I've written in a previous post, I was very aware that limiting my physical activity in order to avoid pain would only make me even more unfit in the end. For a couple of years now, I've been trying to build up my strength and monitoring the distance that I'm able to cover while walking the dog(s) every day. A number of my friends went to walk the Caminito earlier this year, during the LDC, but I was on crutches at the time, and wasn't able to go with them. Tony (our Mexican cook) and I decided that we would try to go up there in the autumn, when the rest of our team were working with the LDC in the USA.

So, last week, on the ninth anniversary of my moving to Spain, we set out for our adventure. We hadn't booked tickets in advance (there's such a huge demand for the walk, that you have to go online and reserve a place) - partly because we wanted to wait and see choose a day when the autumn weather would be mild, and partly because I don't always know in advance whether my fibromyalgia will be giving me a lot of pain or not.

So it was pitch dark when we left home before 7 am, and still dark when we arrived an hour later at the northern end of the lakes. Fortunately, the daylight was just beginning, because the Caminito begins with a three kilometre walk to the ticket office, and we wouldn't have wanted to stumble through the pine forest by the light of the full moon. Too much risk of losing your footing and rolling down the hillside to the river bed. 

We knew that we had to arrive at the starting point before 9 o' clock, as there are only a limited number of tickets available for people who didn't book them in advance. Our timing was perfect and we were about tenth and eleventh in line when we came out of the woods and arrived at the hut where we could get our tickets and our hard hats. (By the time the counter opened, at least forty people were standing in line.) We got our tickets, we got our hats, and we were off. Despite the fact that fifty of us were allowed to enter the gorge, it never felt crowded or touristy. Some people tended to walk faster, while others lingered to take photos of the stunning scenery, and so it never felt as if you were just part of a group.

I'd felt slightly nervous about undertaking the Caminito, because I didn't know if I'd be physically capable of it. Yes, I walk 3 km every morning and 3 km every evening (on a good day) with the dogs, but I didn't know if I'd be able to walk 8 km at one stretch. That was part of the reason why, on the doctor's advice, I'd cancelled my involvement in Africa outreach this year.  So, going to the Caminito was kind of a step of faith. Imagine my surprise and relief to discover that it was a very easy walk - nothing strenuous or scary about it. We'd begun at the northern end, so it was a leisurely downhill stroll amidst breathtaking scenery. After a couple of hours, we were already approaching the famous hanging bridge that I had so often photographed from down below.

After that, comes the most impressive part of the walk (and for me the most strenuous part, as it involves going up stairs and then climbing uphill!) What a wonderful experience and what amazing views of God's creation: the turquoise lakes, the towering mountains, the falcons circling in the deep blue sky...

Now the mountainside walkway part of the trail was behind us, and all that remained was a pleasant 2 km walk down the hillside to the southern access point. We arrived there in time to hand in our hard hats and eat an ice cream before catching the local bus that drove us back up the 8 km winding road (also a lovely scenic drive) to where we had parked my car by the lake at the northern access point. It had been a wonderful adventure, and I highly recommend it.

Was I sore and stiff the next day? Well yes, but I'm always like that after any kind of sustained physical activity - whether it's cleaning the house, carrying a shopping bag, bringing in the firewood, or walking a little further than would be normal for me. I experienced the same kind of stiffness after our outreach days in Wittenberg and Rome this summer.

But was it worth it? Definitely! Being high up on the mountainside of a river gorge made it possible to see all kinds of scenery and geological features that you wouldn't normally be able to see - unless you went up in a helicopter or something like that. It was such a fun thing to do - accessible even for children and older people, and I'll certainly be recommending it to anyone who's coming to visit the Malaga region of Spain.

Click here to see a short video that gives you a taster of what we experienced. Or, if you understand Spanish, you might enjoy this short video from one of our southern TV channels.