The Hill at the Back

Behind the campsite is a hill called the Cabeza del Horno: the Furnace Head. It’s not particularly high at 285 metres, but delivers a fine view from the top.

The way up is to follow a steep ridge on the right in the photo above. There is a track of sorts with waymarked paint splashes or stone cairns. We seem to need more rest stops than last year!

Less than half way up there’s a view of the whole campsite. It’s a bit misty this morning and the plastic tomato greenhouses look like lakes.

Last scramble before the top, with views inland towards some higher hills.

At the summit there’s an all round panorama including the coast of Mazarron bay.

 Easy to miss is a small shrine tucked away in the rocks, and unusually for Spain there are no candles to light for a blessing. Too windy probably, but even without the candles, it’s some reassurance for adventurers.

There’s also a disused communications mast on the top. It’s too much of a challenge for our mountaineering friends. Up they go. Second pic shows them at the top complaining that the mast was wobbling. Not surprising if you notice how slack the support wires are.

The dirt road from the back of the hill was built to construct the mast and then maintain it. It’s a much easier descent than the way we came up, although it’s deeply rutted as neither mast nor road is used.

When we first started coming here 12 years ago a chap used to play an alpine horn from the top, and then a Frenchman used to hoist a flag on the mast at Easter. We perhaps ought to have lit a bonfire as befits the name “Furnace Head”.