Walking

On the Ayamonte Council web site they recommend and describe a couple of walks which sound most interesting but without having done them, its difficult to say how easy or not they will be nor how clear are the instructions and paths. Nevertheless they're here as possiblities.

RURAL PATH AYAMONTE-VILLABLANCA

This route starts from the "Parador Nacional de Turismo", where, before starting, we can enjoy some wonderful sights of Ayamonte, the mouth of River Guadiana, Villa Real de Santo Antonio, Castro Marím and the International Bridge.

We go down from the Parador to the road of the International Bridge, passing under it over a small bridge and onto a path which is in perfect condition, although in some sections it is very stepp. Following this path, we will pass through a zone of marshes and swamps which we can cross by an inner path which later will continue by the side River Guadiana. We will go on along a path leading to Villablanca which surrounds the property of "Boyeros" and later we will take the path called "La Zaballa" which will directly lead us to Villabalnca after having covered about three kilometres.

The total distance covered is about four hours and a half or five approximately, and during this route we can observe a great variety of vegetation such as the one of the marsh itself, near Ayamonte, and more towards the north the one of the ecosystem of the meadow mainly formed by holm oaks, cork trees, moorlands, etc., although they are now very degraded zones where we can only see citrus and other bushes existing.

With regard to fauna, we may see a big diversity of migratory birds which nest at the marsh zone, and possibly animals, especially to the north, such as small game like hares, rabbits and partridges; some of big game as the wild boar, with a little of luck, we can see other kinds of species which are less common such as the ichneumon.

ROUTE SANLÚCAR DE GUADIANA-PUERTO LA LAJA

Although this route has neither the departure point or the arrival point in Ayamonte, we mention it because it is very close to Ayamonte, and because of the beauty of the covered distance alongside the Guadiana river.

We start this route in Sanlúcar de Guadiana, going downstream to where we arrive at Puerto La Laja after about eleven kilometres and with a path of medium difficulty. The first five kilometres are covered by the river, where you can enjoy beautiful landscapes between Spain and Portugal. As we go on, this path is turning into a bridle path, where in some places it still has some its original stones. When we arrive to a house, called "Casa Hierro", we turn right and go on until we arrive to the "Huerta Torres". Later, we go on the left through a stream to get to a path well defined to the right, which will lead us up to a main path, which will take to the delimited one again which leads to the riverside " La Rochona ", leaving this to our left side, we can find " La Madrina ". Going on this way, we get to the Guadiana river again, and shortly afterwards we leave it and take a path, because of its difficulty and because we would have to cross private lands. By this way, we will get to a road in about two kilometres, and we will see the old mine railroad which crosses the road. We continue to the left and then we go through a tunnel and shortly later we will arrive at Puerto La Laja, which is the destination of the route.

This place had a great mine activity, because a mine train -which gathered minerals from different mines of the region Andévalo- arrived to this place. From here the minerals -such as pyrites in " Las Herrerías" of Puebla de Guzmán, manganese of" La Isabel " of El Almendro and of" Santa Catalina " of " El Granado "- were put in a ship to Ayamonte.

There are also a few recommended in Portugal which will be added in due course.