Benahavis and Ronda
Well, "it's that sense of deja vu all over again" as Yogi Bear once said! Tom Argles' OUGS President's trip last year was so successful that when asked to lead an Ex-President's trip in 2016 he plumped for a reprise and asked Jan A-J to organise it again.
Worming our way around likely weather patterns, the Easter holidays and OUGS AGM weekend we identified a fortnight at the end of April and got planning. We made a few minor changes to last year's logistics - a hotel nearer the airport for those arriving the day before, a couple of nights in Benahavis to save some driving up and down between Ronda and the coast, a hotel in Ronda away from the noisy main street and a more central one in Antequera which we had checked out on a trip last autumn, rather than out on the
poligono industrial next to McDonalds.
Jan and I headed down to Spain on the Monday, so's to be in place when the first of the group arrived next morning and in passing discovered the outdoor departure lounge area at Bristol airport. Didn't stay long though - too chilly!
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| Outdoors at Bristol Airport - lots of space... too chilly! |
Checking out the route from Malaga airport to the hotel (round the roundabout, down the service road, through the industrial estate, up a kerb, under the bridge and you are there) a broken down car transporter had managed to block the road very effectively - patience paid off in the end
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Transferring cars from one transporter to another by the all-
important "Parking Lido" sign |
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The following morning we picked up the remaining half-dozen arrivals, including our all-important leader, and after lunch which Jan had organised at the hotel, we headed down the coast and up into the hills via some new field stops which we'd not been able to see last year but which were excellent for getting "our eye in" on various rock types as well as giving some stunning views south-west towards Gibraltar.
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First stop .... reminiscent of Level 1 summer school with the
"light rock and the dark rock" only then it was chalk and flint!
Everyone peering hard at rocks..... |
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| And here they are - peridotite on the left and leucogranite on the right |
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| Unsettled weather on Day 1 |
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| Storm clouds over Gibraltar - some typical April weather! |
At the last field stop of the day we found an
in situ exposure of the leucocratic rock - I'm hazarding a guess here that this is a partial melt, perhaps associated with emplacement, rather like the Kennack Gneiss in the Lizard.
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See the white blob on the skyline? Luckily we found
some pieces that had fallen into the gully on the right |
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| Ted, Liz and Tom take a look at some samples |
Jan and I had had a hectic few weeks, packing up before she and John moved house a week before the trip, and then getting the new place organised so that John was reasonably comfortable while she was away. Bad timing, but unavoidable! Anyway, we felt we had earned some time off, so opted out of Thursday's excursion to the Sierra Bermeja (which we had "done" in 2015), in favour of a lazy day at the rather nice hotel in Benahavis.
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Gran Hotel Spa, Benahavis. very opulent for a field trip...
gave the participants ideas above their station! |
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| One of the courtyards at the hotel |
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A morning stroll up into the village, a coffee, then
back down for lunch, a snooze by the pool and a dip |
Friday, and we were off (via some interesting tracks through the mountains) to the second centre, Ronda. The first stop was on the main road, which winds steadily upwards through the mountains.
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Stop 1 was on the faulted junction between
the peridotite and the Dorsale Limestone |
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We also had a lesson in field mapping: the peridotite is
covered in trees but the limestone is bare! |
Then we retraced our steps and turned westwards down a forestry track, stopping at a viewpoint where we found that the peridotite country rock had been intruded by felsic igneous material.
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| Looking north at the second stop |
Spotted a rather shaggy black grasshopper here, though no idea what it is called!
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| Mr Shaggy Grasshopper |
The final stop of the day was at a bar in Igualeja where we were able to see the Genal river issuing from a crack in the limestone (which was also appreciated by a Grey Wagtail).
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| Grey Wagtail on the Rio Genal at Igualeja |
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| Rio Genal, Igualeja |
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The Rio Genal appears from its underground course,
through a fissure in the limestone |
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| Abundant white starry flowers |
A final stop (by a very fishy smelling storeshed) on the way back to Ronda was an opportunity for Tom to brief us on the Ronda Basin - and to appreciate the small white star-like flowers and some Tasselled Grape Hyacinths.
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| Isobel and Liam enjoying an icecream in Ronda |
The treat in store on Saturday morning was a visit to the Cueva del Pileta, a limestone cavern with stalagmites, stalactites and cave art. This was a repeat of last year's visit and while the group toured underground, Tom and I enjoyed some bird watching! The cave entrance is on the hillside above a lovely little valley which looks an idyllic place to live!
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| Valley below Cueva de la Pileta, Ronda |
From here we crossed over the ridge to the east into the next valley and spent some time doing proper, as opposed to tourist, geology: inspecting structures and minerals in the Malaguide rocks in a road cut near Benalauria.
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| Lavender and spurge at Benaluria |
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| Traditional style doors at the Venta |
After a rather late coffee stop (beginning to get Tom trained) we turned off at Algatocin and headed down, and down, and down, 500 m down a series of hairpin bends into the bottom of the Genal valley. Besides finding a shady spot for lunch, we had a chance to find some andalusite around the outer edges of boudinaged quartz veins.
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| Quartz boudin with mica and andalusite around the edges |
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| In the Genal valley |
Returning up, up, up again, we drove back to Ronda via Atajate, stopping in the mirador not only for the views but for the spectacular pink and white striped Cretaceous marls in the cutting opposite.
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| Tasselled Grape Hyacinths |
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| The view towards the Mediterranean from Atajate mirador |
Last year Jan and I missed out on the walk down into the gorge as we were busy sourcing a "leader's gift" for Tom but this year we were able to see some of the lovely trace fossils in the paving slabs when the group headed down there on Sunday morning.
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| Ronda Gorge from the old town |
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| Burrows in flagstones on the Gorge path |
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| More burrows |
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| And bivalve shells |
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| Fragments of larger bivalves in the paving on the bridge |
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| More big bivalve bits |
Then, when we walked back up into the town it looked as though they were preparing for "Ronda Romantica" - the annual festival held to attract tourists - very atmospheric
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| 19th Century Ronda comes to life! |
Also a car rally - lots of vintage models
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| I think Dad had one like this in the 1960s! |
The afternoon was spent, as in 2015, at Montejaque.
On to Antequera
In 2015 Jan and I missed some of the stops on the way to Antequera as we had spent time looking for Tom's lost phone. There was a new location this year anyway though, at Puerto del Viento, the pass over the Serrania de Ronda on the way towards El Burgo.
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| At Puerto del Viento, older limestone overlies younger, Cretaceous marl |
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| Limestone crags up above the pass |
We spent some time debating how the older Jurassic limestone got above the younger Cretaceous limestones and marls - something tectonic obviously: was it faulting, or folding or thrusting? A little way up the hill we found that the Cretaceous rocks had been strongly folded. Could this be a clue? I know in other areas the Jurassic limestone has been thrust over the younger rocks.
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| View over the Ronda Basin from Puerto del Viento, folded beds in the foreground |
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| A puzzling plant at Puerto del Viento - very fleshy, hairy leaves! |
Moving eastward we revisited the exposure at Alozaina - Palaeozoic conglomerate of the Alboran Block and tried once more to produce a convincing story about the order of deposition and hence erosion of nearby rocks, before Jan and I headed off into Antequera to finalise arrangements with the hotel. We got there an hour or more ahead of the group which meant we had time to get the rooms allocated, and sort out a small misunderstanding with the booking before they turned up, then we headed off to La Paz for a few days recovery time after Jan's busy house move the previous week.
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| Pool nicely warmed up - between 18 - 20 degrees :) |
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| Asparagus fields doing well in Huetor vega |
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| A new bridge replacing the ford on the turning to La Fabrica! |
We soon got to Friday however, and, girded up our loins for the Granada stretch! Met up with the gang at the Cortijo de Tajar at lunchtime, then headed in to the city and the Hotel Alixares where we had stayed last year. That first evening Tom tried a debrief on the terrace in front, but though he coped it was noise and on Saturday he managed to persuade them to let us have an unused function room. Not sure what the lever was that he used? Something like "we will sit all over your lobby in our walking boots and make it look untidy" perhaps?
Saturday morning we did a repeat of the trip up the Sierra Nevada, but with a lovely stop at the Collado de las Sabinas thrown in - there are some beautiful structures there.
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| Mountain weather in the Sierra Nevada |
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| Collado de las Sabinas |
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| Beautiful isoclinal folds |
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| Porphyroclasts in the folded gneiss |
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| Explanation from Tom |
We enjoyed out lunch up at the top of the motor road once more and then went back down into Granada, where most of the group were booked to go round the Alhambra in the afternoon. Jan and I, after organising that, wondered what to do and noticed a "hop on, hop off" City Tour bus about to leave, and hopped on! We had a lovely tour around the Alhambra and Albaicin hills, and the city centre below.
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| In the Albaicin |
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| Glimpse of the Alhambra from the Albaicin |
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| View over Granada |
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| In the city centre |
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| In the city centre |
The following morning we headed back to Malaga, taking in the Niguelas Fault, the Nerja comglomerate and the Torrox gneiss as in 2015.
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| The group spotted some large garnets with pyroxene inclusions in the Torrox gneiss |
Our group enjoyed a final meal all together and then most began to head to the airport the next morning with a few staying on for another night or two. Jan, Gill and I, who were all on the same flight to Bristol had a spare day which we used to explore the Gibralfaro hill on the east side of the city.
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| Relief model of Malaga and the Gibralfaro hill in the fort |
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| View over Malaga |
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| Looking along the coast |
Another super geology trip!
