The rugged mountains of the Sierra de Loja are right on our doorstep. We can take you across its rough tracks in a very comfortable, air-conditioned Jeep Grand Cherokee.
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We leave Alhama and travel for about 10 minutes on tarmac before heading onto unmade roads through farmland and climbing over two thousand feet up onto the Sierra de Loja. The views and the barren, almost lunar, landscape up here are quite spectacular. We follow the ancient Ruta de los Pescaderoes, the track used, since Moorish times and earlier, to haul fresh fish up over the mountains from the coast. This drops us down off the Sierra and into Loja, where we stop for refreshments.
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On the move again we climb steeply up out of Loja, rising up through pine trees on the mountainside until, above the tree line, we reach the tremendous views back over the Loja valley. Onwards and upwards, cresting over the highest points of the Sierra, we pass through a large wind farm before descending gradually to the flat land around Ventas de Zafaraya. Nestling at the edge of the plateau above a narrow pass beyond which the land drops steeply to the coast, this fertile little plain provides much of the fresh produce sold in Alhama.
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None of this is extreme off-roading – just trails you wouldn’t take your hire car over with a clear conscience! The pace is slow so that you can enjoy the scenery, and we can pause for photographs as often as you wish. The whole trip lasts 4 to 5 hours depending on stops.
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The cost of this excursion is 120 Euros, regardless of the number of passengers. The Jeep seats four, plus the driver. We can set the departure time to suit you, though in the summer we would recommend either an early morning or early evening start.
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