Day 48 – to Bérchules

Bérchules is based around orchards, various fruit, but cherry tomatoes being the most evident.

It is much less touristy than the other Alpujurran villages I have passed through, and I’m unsure exactly why. It has a similarly spectacular setting. It can’t offer the parking that the other villages somehow manage to do, and maybe because there isn’t the tourist infrastructure of cafes, restaurants and souvenir shops. It’s just a bit unfashionable it seems. I was here to do the walk into the gorge at the top of the village. Initially, as ever in these white villages, there is a problem to get through the maze of narrow streets of the village – the only section of which I needed my GPS for. After that, the first couple of kilometres of which almost put me off. Though they pass through orchards, they are overflowing with litter.

After those couple of kilometres though the gorges sides steepened and the atmosphere of the hike began to dominate.

The gorge begins with the confluence of two rivers, the Grande, and the Chico. After perhaps 5 kilometres the route passes an ancient silk mill, a great spot also to take in the view. Further up, there are steep sided and ancient terraces dating back to the Moors, along with their irrigation channels.

I found a great place to stop for the night below the village by the river. There was rain forecast, and the locals were very excited. It could be the first for four months..