The Inland Lake District El Chorro and Sierra Del Torcal.

El Chorro

When Wordsworth wrote there lines he was referring to beloved Lake District in England, but his poetry could just as easily describe a sunset at El Chorro. Its three great reservoirs live five kilometres north of Malaga by road, less as the pink flamingo flies on the annual spring migration to its nesting grounds, at the heart of a region far removed from the bright lights of the coast. Here is a sparsely populated wildness defined by historic white pueblos, craggy mountains rugged canyons, scented pine forests and surreal rock formations.

Sierra Del Torcal – Rock and Mountains area.

The story of there strange rocks capes – the Sierra del Torcal – began two hundred million years ago when much of the world was ocean and, in this small corner of Spain, the landscape began to change. Violent movements in the earth’s crust forced the seabed upwards into strange plate-like rock formation soaring 1,300 meter skyward. As winter followed winter, the wind and rain of centuries chiselled away at these glacial limestone massifs, carving them into fabulous shapes, some resembling Gothic castles, other mythological beasts, some taking on human form with monstrous noses and cruel teeth.

Today, tourists who follow one of the moss-covered walking trails between these barren lunar outcrops can fancy they are in some lost Inca citadel, treading a green carpet between phalanxes of sculptures created in tribute to the gods of the time.

La Sierra del Torcal National park.

La Sierra del Torcal is the most geographically arresting of all Spain’s national parks, containing within its 17 square kilometres some of the most stunning natural limestone formations in Europe. Dusted with snow in winter, the spring and autumn rains provoke an annual explosion of colourful plant life and the fertile clay soil is pinpointed with lilies, vivid red peonies and 30 varieties of orchid intertwined with hawthorn, ivy and wild pink and yellow rose bushes.

Eagles and griffin vultures circle above El Torcal´s fairytale pinnacles; badgers, polecats and weasels burrow in the undergrowth; lizards and snakes bask in the noonday sun on smooth slabs of rock stacked like dinner plates.

New Investments in Hotel, Hostel, properties and tourism

El Torcal is one of the many surprising features of a province which has for years relied on its beaches and brasher manmade attractions to draw visitors but has latterly begun to exploit its more natural attributes under the banner of Rural Tourism. Big money is being invested in opening up the inland regions with building apartments, villas, properties, fincas, country house hotels and guest houses to cater for foreign visitors, and areas like El Torcal and neighbouring El Chorro, once the best kept secrets of Spanish families who came to fish and swim in the reservoirs and picnic among the rocks, are now being marketed as Spain’s Lake District.

Garganta Del Chorro Dam in Guadalhorce River.

The name is well deserved. El Chorro, liked by hairpin bend roads to three turquoise artificial lakes bordered by sandy beaches and shaded by feathery conifers, is more akin to the countryside of Cumbria or the cantons of Switzerland that anything one would imagine could be found on the Costa del Sol. West of the white village of Alora, there pantanos were created in the early 1900s by a dam built across the Guadalhorce river gorge, the Garganta del Chorro, an immense fissure five kilometres long and 300 meter deep, running between two towering limestone cliffs and linked by a perilously rickety bridge.

King Alfonso XIII of Spain opened the dam.

The dam, part of a major hydroelectric power scheme, was officially opened in 1921 by King Alfonso XIII of Spain who took a walk along the concrete hanging catwalk threading the length of the gorge some 100 meter above the river. Originally built to provide access for workers tunnelling through the cliff, the path, which skirts the iron girder railway bridge where Von Ryan’s Express was filmed, was named the Camino del Rey in King Afonso´s honour.

However, following in his royal footsteps is not recommended. One tourist fell to her death here in 1998 and a signpost, Peligro, Paso Prohibido warns of the dangers of its poor state of repair, although there are plans to restore it. Already popular in summer with local campers and day-trippers, a tourist explosion is likely if plans go ahead for a new private international airport on the outskirts of Antequera, the region’s main town. Malaga International Airport can’t take any more passengers.

The sheer size of the El Chorro reservoirs means that it is not impossible to find a quiet spot in the winter months, when the snow caps the mountain tops and the lakeside ventas with their blazing log fires offer a warm welcome.

Train from Malaga to El Chorro.

The village of El Chorro, served by two daily direct trains from Malaga or bus from nearby Alora, is rapidly becoming a centre for extreme sports. The nearby Finca La Campana is a good base camp from which to enjoy rock climbing, caving and mountain biking and has its own pool and equipment hire shop. Visitors are in expert hands as all tours and activities are supervised by the owners, Jean and Christine Hofer from Switzerland, who are experienced climbers. Paragliding is another popular activity, hence El Chorro’s pseudonym; the Flight Capital of Malaga.

Crossing the El Chorro dam from the train station, the road winds up through some of the wildest scenery in Spain to Bobastro and the mountain top remains of a Mozarabic fortified settlement. Just beyond the Bar La Mesa must be one of the most panoramic restaurants in the world. Here, if he is in the mood, the owner will show you how ha attracts the local vultures by swinging a leg of Serrano ham in the air until they are circling en masse.