Ruta and Camino de Fray Leopoldo – December 2023

[Umwandert]

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:

1. Alpandeire – Ronda (19,3 km)
2. Ronda – Serrato (29,6 km)
3. Serrato – Ardales (13,9 km)
4. Ardales – Valle del Abdalagís (26,7 km)
5. Valle del Abdalagís – Antequera (21,3 km)
6. Antequera – Archidona (21,1 km)
7. Archidona – Riofrío (22,6 km)
8. Riofrío – Villanueva Mesía (23,1 km)
9. Villanueva Mesía – Láchar (21,6 km)
10. Láchar – Granada (26,3 km)

The distances sound reasonable. But due to several reasons I changed quite a lot and walked this schedule instead:

0. Estacion de Jimera de Libar – Alpandeire (13,3 km)

1. Alpandeire – Ronda (20,3 km)
2. Ronda – Cuevas del Becerro (off-camino) (22,5 km)
3. Serrato – El Chorro (33,6 km), includes bus transfer (10 minutes) at the beginning
4. El Chorro – Valle del Abdalagís (11,3 km)
5. Valle del Abdalagís – Antequera (22,2 km)
6. Antequera – Archidona (21,0 km)
7. Archidona – Loja (29,6 km)
8. Loja – Loreto (28,8 km)
9. Loreto – Santa Fé (24,8 km)
10. 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.

 

[MesaWalker]

We walked the Via Serrana this past fall, so thinking of Jimera de Libar and Ronda bring back lots of happy memories. The Camino de Fray Leopoldo looks like a similar length to the Via Serrana. How would you compare the two?

 

[Umwandert]

We walked the Via Serrana this past fall, so thinking of Jimera de Libar and Ronda bring back lots of happy memories. The Camino de Fray Leopoldo looks like a similar length to the Via Serrana. How would you compare the two?

Interesting question. While the Via Serrana only gradually leads to the highlights and difficulties (like the Valley of the Vultures), the Camino de Fray Leopoldo practically hits you straight away with two hours of steep climbing to the highest point of the route and is somewhat less balanced and without yellow arrows (apart from the ten parallel kilometres with the Mozarabe).

On the CdFL I sometimes felt further away from civilization, especially in the first half. The Via Serrana has a better infrastructure and there I didn't have to switch to a village quite away from the camino because of a lack of accommodation. I consider the Camino de Fray Leopoldo to be more difficult overall than the Via Serrana because of its first half, but the highlights of the Via Serrana are certainly a little more impressive.

Both paths lead through Ronda and many small picturesque villages. And both paths have a certain amount of tarmac. Incidentally, I had far fewer problems with dogs running loose on the Camino de Fray Leopoldo, but that may just have been a coincidence. I would recommend both caminos (but not as first camino).

 

[C clearly]

Thanks for such an informative report!

 

[hieudovan]

Thank you Umwandert. That is a very comprehensive write up of CdFL. I was thinking of walking this new Camino. After some research I decided to walk the first segment of the Mozárabe from Almería this February. I am glad I changed. Though I have walked several Caminos, including the VdLP a decade ago, at 75 I don't think I would be able to walk the CdFL, especially with the lack of infrastructure. Buen Camino.

 

[Umwandert]

Though I have walked several Caminos, including the VdLP a decade ago, at 75 I don't think I would be able to walk the CdFL, especially with the lack of infrastructure. Buen Camino.

You're welcome and maybe you're right, I was a bit surprised by the first part myself. But I was able to adapt and I usually like hilly terrain and hiking through remote areas. I wish you a nice Camino de Mozárabe! This Camino is also on my winter list. But this year I won't have much time in December, so I think about the Sur or the Manchego.