- Time of past OR future Camino
- Ingles, F+M, Salvador, Norte, V.Serr., Fr.Leopoldo
I walked this brand new camino in December 2023. I discovered this trail, when @islandwalker reported about it here in August last year. As I had walked the Via Serrana in December 2022 and wanted to hike another Andalusian trail it immediately attracted my interest. I researched accommodation on booking.com and google.maps. I had to amend some of my stages because of lack of accommodation options.
This new trail follows the life of Fray Leopoldo, a capuchin monk, which died in 1955. He was well-known for his simple life and his help for the poor and weak. For this he was beatified by Pope Benedikt XVI in 2010. The path starts in the small village of Alpandeire, where Fray Leopoldo was born and ends in Granada, where he is buried in the crypta of a church which was named after him.
While Fray Leopoldo is very well known in Spain (his grave is the second most visited site in Granada after the Alhambra) this camino is not (yet). It follows several GR (gran rutas) of Spain's hiking system. The different GR’s are marked, but there is no specific sign for the Camino de Fray Leopoldo. In fact the only time I saw his name after having left Alpandeire was in a town off-camino, where I had booked accommodation. Around Antequera the trail runs for about 10 km along the Mozarabe (coming from Malaga). The only albergues exist in Antequera and Granada, which I didn’t use.
I used the official wikiloc of the Camino de Fray Leopoldo here which is absolutely essential and very accurate.
The official stages are as follows:
- Alpandeire – Ronda (19,3 km)
- Ronda – Serrato (29,6 km)
- Serrato – Ardales (13,9 km)
- Ardales – Valle del Abdalagís (26,7 km)
- Valle del Abdalagís – Antequera (21,3 km)
- Antequera – Archidona (21,1 km)
- Archidona – Riofrío (22,6 km)
- Riofrío – Villanueva Mesía (23,1 km)
- Villanueva Mesía – Láchar (21,6 km)
- Láchar – Granada (26,3 km)
0. Estacion de Jimera de Libar – Alpandeire (13,3 km)
- Alpandeire – Ronda (20,3 km)
- Ronda – Cuevas del Becerro (off-camino) (22,5 km)
- Serrato – El Chorro (33,6 km), includes bus transfer (10 minutes) at the beginning
- El Chorro – Valle del Abdalagís (11,3 km)
- Valle del Abdalagís – Antequera (22,2 km)
- Antequera – Archidona (21,0 km)
- Archidona – Loja (29,6 km)
- Loja – Loreto (28,8 km)
- Loreto – Santa Fé (24,8 km)
- Santa Fé – Granada (13,6 km)
I could not find any bus going to Alpandeire from anywhere, so I worked out a kick-off stage from the nearest train station, which happens to be Jimera de Libar, where I passed by the year before on the Via Serrana. This 14km-walk is called Ruta de Fray Leopoldo and is already a well established hike. The Ruta also offers a good preview of the camino, as there are practically only ascents and descents.
There is no accommodation in Serrato (at least I couldn’t find anything), so I opted for the nearest location, which was Cuevas del Becerro. I also wanted to stop in El Chorro in order to hike the world famous Caminito del Rey. And I wanted to have a short final day into Granada. I spent a rest day in Antequera, which turned out to be a lovely town. As I was hiking in December, I had daylight from 8am to 6pm, which was fine for the most part, but quite nerve-wracking on my long third day, as the hardest part is the steep and rocky descent to El Chorro, which I had to tackle partly in the twilight.
I really enjoyed this camino. The first part up to Antequera is quite challenging, you have a few hour-long ascents and descents. I was glad that I was walking in hiking boots and not trail runners. There are long sections without services. The camino also offers some really picturesque views. In terms of difficulty, I would rate the first half of the Camino de Fray Leopoldo just below the Salvador (where I quite struggled) and above the Norte. The second part is much easier to walk, but has one disadvantage: every day, sooner or later, the path hugs the A-92 national highway, resulting in some rather annoying parallel walking. But the villages are pretty and there is plenty of time walking through pleasant landscapes. I didn't meet any other pilgrims, just a few day hikers.
The accommodation options in the second half (Antequera to Granada) are better and there are more places in between the stage to stop for food. Of course, this is not a cheap camino, I mostly paid 50-80 Euros a night (without breakfast!). Apart from Alpandeire I booked everything via booking.com.
These were my accommodation choices:
- Alpandeire: Hotel Casa Grande Alpandeire (50 Euro), I booked via phone (+34 629 56 47 84), very hospitable and good hotel restaurant
- Ronda: Hotel Catalonia (expensive, lots of other options around)
- Cuevas del Becerro (off-camino): Hotel Rural El Castillejo (69 Euro), at the edge of town, a bit too simple for the price
- El Chorro: Complejo Turistico La Garganta (99 Euro), very touristic but perfect location (bus to the start of Caminito del Rey leaves in front of the hotel)
- Valle del Abdalagís: Patio de Los Berberos (59 Euro), nice apartment in centre
- Antequera: Parador (expensive, lots of other options around)
- Archidona: Escua (58 Euro), at the edge of town, very good restaurant, but you can’t regulate the heating (the owner does)
- Loja: Hotel El Mirador (61 Euro), good money for value, nice location, overlooking the town
- Loreto: Hotel Paraiso Granada (45 Euro), part of a highway rest area, quite new and clean, with restaurant/bar/shop in gasoline station
- Santa Fé: Casa del Trigo (79 Euro), rather disappointing, but with a cheap breakfast buffet that attracts half of the city's residents
- Granada: Áurea Catedral (expensive, lots of other options around)
Apparently, as @islandwalker has shown here, a special credential for the Camino de Fray Leopoldo exists, which is probably available in Alpandeire (where exactly, I don't know. I would try the museum or information centre). I used a regular Camino de Santiago credential instead. It was only half filled with stamps from the Camino del Estrecho I had walked just before in reverse order, so I used it also for the CdFL, which was no problem. I got stamps from tourist information centres, hotels and restaurants. Sometimes they didn't have a stamp, so they signed my credential.
A post with more information about the stages (and my struggles) will follow. I am attaching a few pictures of the beautiful (but not easy) stage 1 from Alpandeire to Ronda.
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