GR7 in Spain Day 6: Capileira to Soportújar (via Pampaneira)
12 miles
2500 ft of elevation up and 3000 ft of elevation down
We woke up to sunshine on the last day of our walk on the GR7.
I had originally planned for us to only walk the five miles to Pampaneira. However it seemed like such a shame to not spend the whole day in the sunshine, so I extended the walk to Soportújar. We would go 12 miles instead of only five or six. We couldn’t do two short days in a row!
We fueled up early on this day. Two twin brothers ran the hotel where we were staying. They served us the usual toast with ham, cheese, tomato and olive oil. The bread for this toast was delivered fresh every morning in each place we stayed.
I (per usual) also asked for hard-boiled eggs and we kept our hosts busy with our requests for multiple coffees.
Whenever I would say, does anyone need more coffee?
The answer was always YES.
These brothers were so kind and patient with us!
We finally drank our last sips of coffee and got out of their way.
We descended out of Capileira quickly. It was cold so we were anxious to get into the morning sun.
It’s hard to describe how steep the descent was that morning. We first dropped into the valley, crossed the Poqueira River and had to climb back out.
Then once we got to the other side of the gorge, we went downhill for the rest of the morning.
The day was so beautiful that it made me a little teary. I am always sad when a walk ends, but this week had gone by so fast and this day was so gorgeous, I sort of wanted it to go on forever, a sentiment I would later make me laugh.
The Poqueira Gorge or barranco, as it is called in Spanish, is absolutely stunning. The hills climb steeply up both sides of the river and are covered in olive and almond trees.
When I see terraced farms on steep hillsides, I wonder at humanity. Honestly, how did we ever begin to farm this kind of terrain?
When I got home from this trip I read a book called Driving Over Lemons by Chris Stewart, which is about one family’s experience of moving to this part of the world to work this land. It’s a good read, both for how funny it is and because of the glimpse you get into the world of the folks who still live and work up in these mountains.
It felt like we spent the whole morning losing all the height we had gained throughout the week.
We got down to where we could see Pampaneira, but it was still probably an hour before we made it into the village.
We had a small break when we got down to where we crossed the river again.
I pulled out my fig log and cut off little chunks as treats and hopefully motivation for the final push.
Everyone was hungry and ready for some lunch in town.
Pampaneira isn’t very high on the side of the gorge, but it was still a short climb for us to get into the town.
This village is a popular stop for folks who are visiting Alpujarran pueblos blancos, so it had more people in it than we had seen all week.
I think one of the draws might be the local chocolatier. She certainly got our business.
We had a quick wander about town and a snack in the square. I gave everyone an hour to spend in the village, most of which I spent in the square people-watching. We managed to drop a fairly astonishing amount of money in Pampaneira in one hour. I might have instigated a bit of panic shopping by not giving everyone more time. But sooner than everyone wanted, it was time to push on and continue our hike, with backpacks just a little bit fuller.
Bye Bye Pampaneira! We hope to see you again one day.
We had to drop back to the river and cross it a third time before rising again. Before we left the gorge, we could look back and see both Pampaneira and Bubion in the distance behind us.
The towns got smaller and smaller as we climbed away from them. The trail map for the afternoon looked fairly easy. Instead of climbing up for a long time and descending for a long time, the trail went steadily up and down. It looked like a gentle ramble.
Unfortunately, the steady ups and downs were on a rough trail that wasn’t nearly as traveled as the one we’d been on in the morning. And they were not long drops or climbs but they were steep. So it was a lot of work.
As the afternoon wore on, the sun beat down and it was not long before we grew both tired and hot.
And so I got my wish. This day DID go on forever.
We kept on hiking for hours and hours before we finally arrived in the witch-themed town of Soportújar.
Truly, the town has witches everywhere. I’m not sure why but it’s quite cute. You can even visit Hansel and Gretel’s house. (Not a Spanish fairy tale, but who cares?)
We made a quick effort to see the town before we posted up in the main road and ordered food and drinks like we hadn’t eaten all week.
I remember having the best salad of my life. (I’m sure that how good it tasted had nothing to do with the extra hours of walking in the sun.)
But even though it was a long last day, I was grateful to feel like when we left the GR7, I had given my all.
It always feels good to push hard on the last day. I’m sure my fellow hikers agree, now that it’s behind us. We left the witchy town in a taxi to stay in a town where we could catch a super early bus back to Granada the next morning, where we spent one more day together touring the Alhambra before saying goodbye.
It was a grand adventure, and I’m so grateful to this sweet group for joining me in the Alpujarran hills! Let’s do it again soon y’all!
This is the sixth in a series of posts about hiking the GR7 in Spain in the Alpujarras. Many of the photos come from my fellow hikers: Kristie, Eve, Zoe, Alexis and Kelsy! I’m super thankful to them for trusting me to lead them on this adventure.
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