After our brief venture into the Sierra de Castril Natural Park on our day out in Castril (see here), I was very keen to get back there to camp and spend some time exploring the area. So, that's exactly what I did.
Janine and I loaded up the car and headed directly for the El Cortijillo campsite, where after booking in we discovered we could take the car directly onto the pitch which proved to be very handy indeed. The campsite was much bigger than I had realised on our first visit, and we picked a nice out-of-the-way spot at the far end of the site. The entire site sits under the shade of trees which was a blessing in the Spanish summer sun.
After pitching up we got our bearings of the site; an immaculate toilet & shower block with washing facilities; the bar and restaurant that I had briefly enjoyed on my previous visit and behind that a second bar and huge open-air, covered eating area. Beyond this was direct access to the river, and Janine was very quick to get in while I sat and watched from the bank - I wasn't quite ready to get in a freezing cold river!
Afterwards we decided to have a bit of a meander along the river in the direction of the reservoir. My original plan had been to walk alongside the river but we quickly realised this wasn't much of an option due to the terrain, so we walked along the road until we found a suitable spot to access the river, and having done so spent a good hour paddling and splashing about. It was cold, but after about ten minutes of adjusting to the temperature (me, not Janine - she launched herself straight in!) I plonked myself down and sat there quite happily, totally relaxed as I took in the beautiful surroundings and emptied my head of the stresses of day-to-day life.
Eventually we decided to head back to camp, where we chilled by the tents over some (rather warm) Tinto de Verano that we had brought with us, before heading up to the bar for the evening. We had planned on ordering food (incidentally, the bar is happy to provide food and drinks to take back to your pitch), but being in Granada the tapas was in ready supply, so we picked away at that all evening instead. I can only imagine the food is very good though - despite the campsite being fairly quiet, the outdoor eating area was packed at lunchtime; evidently people travel from far and wide to eat here.
The plan for day two was to hike down to the reservoir - an hour's walk according to google - so again we headed down the road, following the river. It's an easy and self-explanatory walk - no map required - and indeed an hour later we found ourselves at the reservoir's edge (passing, along the way, many Spanish families enjoying a Sunday out under the trees by the river, accompanied by their full kitchen and garden-furniture set up. It's a genuinely lovely sight to see).
Actually getting into the reservoir to a point where it was deep enough to swim was a much more tricky affair, and one that eventually proved fruitless. We criss-crossed along the ever-widening river, before doing some hill scrambling along animal paths to try and find a suitable access point, but to no avail; the banks were a lot steeper than the view from above leads you to believe, and while we may indeed have managed to get in for a swim there was a real danger we may not have been able to climb back out, so eventually we retraced our steps and plonked ourselves back in the river again, while also replenishing our water supplies.
The hike back to camp was an altogether more challenging affair than the outward trek, being as we were now at the peak of the midday heat, and within half an hour our ice-cold water had passed being warm and was on the brink of being hot; it was a joyous sight indeed when we came upon the old dam that signalled we were almost back at camp. The first port of call was the bar for some much-needed refreshment.
The second evening mirrored the first, as we whiled away the hours over beer and tapas. Normally I'm quite keen to get packed up and off on leaving day, but neither of us were in any particular rush to vacate our idyllic little spot in the country, so we sat for several more hours outside the tents absorbing the views and the sounds of birds and the running river.
Sierra de Castril Natural Park (more info)
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