Goat to Juan de Escama

We set off from the Vía Verde del Olivar, a former railway line that linked Puente Genil with Jaén, and leave it at the junction with the Camino de la Esperilla via an old stone bridge that allows us to cross over the old track, bypassing the stone walls that flank it. This brings us to a cluster of houses belonging to the hamlet of Cerro Gordo. The route of the Vía Verde marks the boundary of the Sierras Subbéticas Natural Park, and by following the path just beyond the bridge, always heading uphill, we will gradually enter this iconic natural area. We will move from being surrounded by olive groves into the heart of the Mediterranean forest, with holm oaks, rockroses, hawthorns, honeysuckles, kermes oaks, and more. Once we leave this copse, we return to the thicket of olive groves at the junction of the Llano Seas and Juan de Escama paths, many of which are over 50 years old. Close to the path lies Cerro del Gardopar (or Gordopaz, as it appears on the land registry maps), where an interesting isolated forest of holm oaks still remains. However, the western foothills of the Picacho and Camarena ranges will also serve as a scenic backdrop to our route, offering privileged views that will allow the most experienced observers to identify the folds and faults that caused these limestone rocks to rise to over 1,000 metres. At the end of the route, we will reach what is known as the ‘Partidor de Juan de Escama’, a stretch of private land that provides access from the farmstead of Juan de Escama to the Sierra de Camarena. This land is fenced off as it is used for grazing livestock; however, if we obtain permission from the owners to access it, we would be able to link up with the nearby Greenway to complete a circular route back to the starting point. Even so, the spot where the partidor is situated, the views over Camarena and the large, tree-like cornicabra figs that can be seen here are well worth the effort.