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ACCEDER

Peñas de Castro y Monte del Canjorro

Routes

Three hours

The approach will always be by vehicle, from the city of Jaén. There are two options. On the eastern side, taking the road to the Puente de la Sierra, at Km 2.5 three hundred meters after the Casería de Cristóbal restaurant, take a private road (Pedro Coes lane) with a steep slope to the right that borders Las Peñas , taking a track to the right paved with cement that reaches its base. On the western side, from the Villares road to El Portichuelo (Km 4). This last possibility will allow us a more comfortable ascent to the rocks, since we must overcome less height. We can leave the vehicle next to El Mirador Restaurant, shortly before arriving at the port.

Program

About a hundred meters past the restaurant, we take a lane to the left that, after passing a house, leads us to the stately Casería del Portichuelo, located right at the foot of the hill formed by the two rocks that form the picturesque rocky complex. We climb through the olive grove to the hill (840 meters) from which we can see the other side of the rocks towards the Pedro Coes payment and the valley that forms the Jaén River.

If we want to attempt the ascent to the highest peak of Las Peñas, we will look for a path on the hill that we will take to the left in the direction of the northern rock. The path passes over the pine forest that falls between the two rocks and borders the rocky wall. In this area there are a large number of climbing routes and in a fracture in the wall a cave (Secret Cave) in which there are anthropomorphic cave paintings (some of up to 65 cm). After crossing a mountain area and crossing a cattle fence, it ends up in a small and secluded meadow surrounded by pine and olive trees. To the right of that meadow, half hidden in the undergrowth, it begins to climb towards the ridge. From here, the ascent begins, which becomes quite difficult, since the crest line is very steep and we will find complicated climbers. We will have to be careful with the rocky abyss that is forming on our right: in about twenty minutes we will be at the top of this unique mountain. In it there are remains of an Arab tower. Here we will enjoy one of the best panoramic views of the Jaén region, since we are right in the geographical center of it, in a stone watchtower of 945 meters high and without any obstacle to the view.

From the hill we have another less risky option: go down to the other slope taking as a reference the ruins of a medieval tower, a little further down go to the farmhouse of Pedro el Cruel. After a kilometer we will be at the farmhouse, behind which there is a path that leads us in twenty minutes to the Canjorro mountain, the final foothills of the Peñas de Castro. It is an interesting climbing area, with abundant caves, from which you can see the boxing of the river from above and the Los Villares valley.

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