Coming from Loja, and arriving in the Calle Real of Villanueva del Mesía, we descend to exit the town, next to the church, towards the A-92 motorway.
Once we have crossed the bridge over the Genil river, we take a right turn along an earth trail, surrounded by asparagus, maize fields and poplar groves. Immediately after we cross the Cacín river (a tributary of the Genil), and continue along a deceptively flat earth trail, parallel to the river, amongst a mass of poplar groves. We pass next to the open-air restaurant called Venta del Grano, once called Venta del Cacín, where travellers would frequently stop on their way to Granada. After crossing underneath the A-92 bridge, we continue steadily upwards with the course of the river to the left, parallel to the trail.
We cross the river after passing Cortijo del Pozo, on a small bridge. 200 metres further along we take a left turn, distancing ourselves from the river along a short slope, amongst olive and almond trees. The snake-like trail that goes up and down, with occasional difficult and stony stretches, always has the river to the right. Next to the trail, on the riverbanks, we find capers in abundance. As we go up the slope towards Cortijo de Santa Rita (now in ruins), we must pay special attention to find the turning (km 22.2) on our right, along a badly marked path that leads to an irrigation channel next to the ditch, until we reach a good trail (km 22.8). The river is still on our right.
We begin a smooth climb along Camino de la Presa de Derivación (Path of the Subsidiary Reservoir), that will take us to the town, which we enter along Calle Málaga. We cross the town passing next to the church, and leave along the road that goes towards El Turro and Cacín. 300 metres ahead, we leave the road and take an earth trail, that leads to the warehouse for storing building materials.
Once we have passed the stadium "El Salao", the trail goes down and crosses a bridge over the river, and begins to ascend Monte Horniceros. After passing a crossroads, and successive junctions with imposing references, like the fig tree (km 27.6), we continue to the right, and near to a big Holm oak we ascend to the left. We then reach Cortijo de Horniceros which we go round and continue to the left, down a short slope and then along a deceptively flat stretch, next to terraced olive groves.
We come out onto the El Turro road, to the Cortijo El Nogal (km 29), the way that being partly flat, partly downhill, along a road called Camino de Los Llanos (Path of the Plains). We cross a bridge over the Alhama river, and ascend a small slope, until we join and turn left onto the A-335 road (Alcalá la Real- Velez Málaga), always being careful with the traffic. In the Buenavista district, we will leave the road, descending to the left along a trail which takes us back to the riverside.
When we reach the Alhama river, we turn to the right. The trail is flat and parallel to the river, next to poplar groves and wild asparagus. Soon we will cross the river, and come across a trail, cut off by a chain which must be jumped over on foot, and continue up a short slope that curves to the right. Once we have reached the top of the slope, we turn to the right, passing next to the ruins of Cortijo de la Gallina. As we go round a bend to the left, we get a panoramic view of the leafy poplar groves of Cortijo de La Puerca, and the Valenzuela district. We reach Valenzuela, and go through the streets until we cross a bridge over the Alhama river, where we turn to the left, along an earth trail, parallel to the river, and in the shade of the poplar groves.
Going through the Vega and always parallel to the river, we pass Huerta del Aguilucho and Molino De la Vega, to reach Santa Cruz del Comercio, next to the bridge and to a pond full of ducks. We will carefully cross the road, ascending and taking a left turn along the old road from Santa Cruz del Comercio to Alhama de Granada.
After ascending deceptively gentle inclines, smooth ascents and steep slopes, accompanied by straw-coloured fields and the leafy riverside vegetation of the Alhama river, we reach a fork. The path opposite us leads up to Torre Solana, and Alhama. We will take the left, towards the Alhama de Granada Baths, of Roman and Moorish origin, which are about 300 metres away. We continue up the road to the baths, to a Roman bridge, over the Alhama river, and to the A-335 road, which we take to the right. One hundred metres on, we turn to the left along the old entry road to Alhama. Here we are able to see the town, over a rocky promontory, cut into the gorge due to the erosion of the river, against the backdrop of the Sierras de Tejada y Almijara. We enter Alhama, along Camino de los Remedios and Calle Carril Bajo, and we get off at a unique fountain of the church "Iglesia del Carmen", to have a drink and admire the surrounding views.
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