TRAIL OF THE CUEVA DE LOS MUÑECOS

The path begins at the Centre for the Interpretation of the Historical and Cultural Heritage of the Natural Park of Despeñacolos (see on the map), which is reached by the road A-6,200 from the E-05 motorway, towards Aldeaquemada. The center has been built on an old aprisco at the foot of the hill of the Castle. On the contrary side of this run through the historic passage of Despeñapeas the highway of the South.

However, on this side where we find the intense traffic of the fast track seems far away. The visit to the centre is certainly recommended, as it provides information on the natural and cultural heritage of the environment and also of this path. Around the center we see places of great ecological significance. On the umbria slopes, facing north, we will see forest formations with tree leaves, like the whine, and shrubs like doves or madroños. On the other hand, in the solana, the mountain is dominated by cobblestones with little sodoscala, made up of pyruetans, jars, rosemary, etc.

The path consists of two sections of about five hundred meters each, starting both from the interpretation center. One goes up to the hill of the Castle - towards the west - and the other goes down to the cave of Los Muñecos, in a southwestern direction. Although the order to travel them is indifferent, as in any case we must return to the interpretation center, we will assume that we will first take the climb to the hill. The sinuous path that we will take goes through a relatively lush encore that disappears around the 920 meters. Then, until the top of the hill, at 961 m, we will see more naked rock than vegetation.

There are in the high remains of a possible Iberian village and a lookout towards the plateau with overwhelming views, with St. Helena to the south and the port of the Muradal to the Plateau. In front, the impressive pettic structure of Mount Los Organos and, under us, the highway that follows the itinerary that with great difficulty opened at the end of the 18th century, as an alternative to the road of Las Ventes (by Los Pedroches) and other itineraries in use between the ports of Cadiz and Sevilla - doors of Américo - and the capital of the kingdom.

After walking the way to the center of interpretation, we will head towards our second destination, the cave of Los Muñecos. We will descend on a soft slope by the skirt of the hill of the Castle, and in parallel to the electric slope, towards the road we arrived for, we will cross the lower part of the same oak that we have already met up to the hill, in which we will also see alcornoques and junips of great bearing.

In two hundred and fifty meters we will reach a point very close to the road, where we will change course to surround the cut we see on our right, in which environment we can distinguish maples of Montpellier and abundant cornicabra. We must be careful with some slopes and pozas of the numerous excavations around here, as we are in a rich area of archaeological deposits, with the cave of Los Muñecos as the center of them, where the path ends.