GR-7 Path

Cádiar – Lobras – Timar – Juviles

Location: Lobras
Length: 9.9 km
Duration: 3 hours
Difficulty: Medium
Walk type: Linear

(At all times you must follow all the white and red signs of the local path)

Lobras – Cádiar Section:

Distance between Lobras-Cádiar: 5.3 Km. 1 hour  45minutes

The trail will begin at the Plaza de la Iglesia in Lobras, walking its streets you can realize they own their names to what they 

got, for instance, La Acequia, La Iglesia, La Era, El Chorro and without doubt, Lobras can be called “the town of the flowers”. If you take the south direction you will be taken to the road, 200 meters (approximately) surrounded by orchards of olives and almond trees, until you arrive to a park with stone benches and outdoor exercise equipment. This place is called “Era de los Llanos” it’s listed as a Patrimonial Element inside the declaration of the CIG with a category of historical site of the medium Alpujarra(La Alpujarra media) and La Tahá.

From this place, you will take a track on the left side of the park in a few meters away you will reroute on a path just at our right that descends trough the Tejar hill passing through the ruins of Fausto’s farm house.

At this point we already reached the Rambla de Albáyar, where the GR-7 and the GR-142 intersect, hereupon, special attention must be taken to continue the GR-7 and to do so, cross the stream of water passing through the Rambla and continue eastward.

At about 100 meters, the trail turns right and starts elevating surrounded by oaks and bushes. If pass you  this path during the spring, paying attention to the ground, you can enjoy from the presence of lovely yellow orchids, also known as “bee-orchids”, due to its similarities with the bees.

The climbed hill is called “Loma de Cádiar” towards the end, the unique landscapes offers spectacular views of Lobras, Tímar and Cádiar.

After a few meters and a few curves on the road, you will pass near some stones where pigeons often rest, even ocellated lizards sunbathing. Crossing a cape of launa, an impermeable clay soil that is used as an insulating sealer for plain roofs in the houses located in the Alpujarra, that is easily distinguished due to their bluish-greyish colours.

 If we follow the path, we will arrive to a canal, called La Acequia del Arenal, the river of Cádiar is just at our right hand, depending on the time of the year that we walk by this path, we could hear the outrageous flow. We will follow the canal until we arrive to the ruins of a cottage also known as Cortijo de la Venta de la Mora, at this point the canal will continue about two kilometres until a sand path that ends into the town, Cadiar.

 Hereupon this path you will see the river at you right, you will pass near small orchards that belong to nearby families that harvest kiwis and raspberries. Before entering Cádiar, we will cross the river on the first bridge we encounter and we will continue upstream along the road pass the sport centre.

Lobras – Timar Section:

Distance: 2.2 Km
Time: 40 minutes

After crossing the north side of the village, passing the laundr room and some rafts above the last houses, we will leave the asphalt to take a lane that goes to the left surrounded by holm oaks, almond and ash trees. Continuing the path, we will pass the beginning of the La Acequia de Los Castaños towards the town of Timar, just in front of us. At this point of the lane, we have reach a ravine, we cross it and we go through a stretch of launa, we do a detour that goes to the left and leads to the village of Nieles and so we get to the Albercon threshing floor. Above, we have the mercury mines ruins on the right hand we can find the road leading to the cemetery and the village.

Although there are a few streets, it is worth it to wander the town of Timar, because of its beautiful streets, its Moorish arches, and its well preserved folk architecture.

Timar – Juviles Section:

Distance: 2.1 Km
Time: 40 minutes

From the Retamar neighbourhood, on top of the town on the left side, we can find the path that goes to Juviles. On this neighbourhood there is a saying: “Cuando la pava llegó a Timar llegó por el Retamar, salieron a recibirla el cura y el sacristán” (¿??)

We pass under a steep cliff, called “The Yellow Stone”, which is above Tímar. Agave plants can be seen in order to retain any stones that could fall towards the town. There is a popular song that says: “la piedra amarilla se está cayendo y un pelotón de gachas la están sosteniendo”(¿?)

We take a wide path,where we can see Timar and its flat roofs. After crossing El Salto del Águila we can find a small path and to the left a water tank. Here we are able to follow and approach the hill called El Fuerte, located above we can see the remains of the ruins of its old fortress and two Moorish cisterns. This fort was once a particularly strategic place, because its difficult access, and now it is for its wide panoramic sights, Lujar, Gador and Contraviesa Mountains can be seen as well as Sierra Nevada.

We return to our path from where we can see Juviles at about  ten minutes away, we leave to the right secondary diversions that lead to cottages, after crossing the Umbria ravine we follow a small track that leads us up to the village.

Source: Topoguía del GR-7 editada por la Diputación de Granada