We were heading to Granada to catch up with Jim and Claire for a week’s flying visit. Rather than blast around the coastal motorway system, we opted for the cross-country route for a bit more scenery and some potential cragging on the way.

Ayna

First stop Ayna, about 50km south of Albecette. We’d stumbled across this idyllic mountain village in 2013, and been completely enchanted. We were sure we’d be revisiting sooner than this, and also in the meantime that it would be “on the map” as a major destination climbing area. Neither happened, and it’s hard to see why…

There’s a tonne of climbing – more than 300 routes (or nearer 500 according to 8a.nu) spread across 25 sectors, many of them very accessible such as the largest: Tolilandia.

… and the tourist office have invested in nice signage…

… and make bold claims for its world class status: https://turismoayna.es/tour-item/sectores-de-escalada/

… but we only bumped into two other teams over the course of a weekend in primo season and conditions.

Anyway, no doubt a feature on Rockaroundtheworld.co.uk will have the hordes descending (LOL).

One minor irritation is that it’s quite tricky to pin down the guidebook. There’s a relatively new edition, allegedly available in the tourist office, but that’s only open briefly from 10am on Saturday and Sunday (and in reality NOT actually open at all!)

The newsagent wasn’t forthcoming either, and I got bored before trying the various bars and hostels that are suggested. Happily we bumped into a friendly couple from Granada who lent us their guide, which just served to highlight how much new routing has taken place since it was published (maybe 8a.nu is right) so it’s back to the usual educated guesswork and much Googling to fill in the gaps.

Anyway, on with the climbing, and we mostly stuck with the occasional routes that have these carefully crafted signs: Pro Toli, 6a, was an excellent if stiff warm up. Toli Machine, a new post-guidebook addition, is also excellent – a rope-stretching 6c with a sting-in-the-tail crux at the chain and a missing hanger on the final bolt for extra excitement.

There are no campsites within a reasonable distance of Ayna, but there is an officially permitted van stopover spot, buried in the depths of the gorge beneath the village. No facilities but it does come with a view of the crags through the skylight.

It’s a 10mins wander up into the centre for a bakery, bars and a supermarket, and this view back down to the parking area.

The following day we explored the cluster of crags accessed from limited parking on a hairpin above the village.

Helen did a couple of mystery routes on Sector Bombero – both about 5, well bolted and recommended.

Bombero is the smaller tower in the centre of the photo below…

… and to its right is its big brother

Melon Este is a pretty impressive chunk of rock, with two and three pitch routes to 60 to 80m. I had my eyes on a couple of long 6cs but thought I’d warm up on Meteora, 6a. The old school scratched name should have been a warning of an old school route…

… and sure enough I had a harrowing time with tough moves on unchalked holds with about half a dozen bolts in 30m. An abandoned maillon around two thirds height suggested it wasn’t just me who’d been sandbagged, and at least I made it to the chains, but my 6c ambitions evaporated for the day! It was far too hot for trying hard anyway!

Skirting around the top of Melon Este you pass beneath the impressive Placa Gris sector – bird banned in the spring:

Looping back towards the road, the Meloncito sector was only just coming into the sun, and at least the rock was cooler on Venga, 6a.

With just a couple of half-days under our belts, we left Ayna to continue our journey to Granada with a determination to return in less than 13 years (maybe on the return loop of this trip).

Zújar

We ended up at a slightly odd campsite in Baza which fancied itself as a “desert experience” but had the merit of being halfway to Granada and handy for the N342. Checking on thecrag it also turned out to be a stone’s throw from some climbing near the town of Zújar. On further inspection, the crag actually features as the most easterly in our new Granada guidebook (Santa really came up trumps this year!) The guidebook says: Zújar is undoubtedly the area with the most future and expansion possibilities in all of the province of Granada. The rock that we will find is also of exceptional quality. We’d scanned the QR code into Google Maps before you could say “escalada” and as we approached the motorway turnoff we were gazing up at a blaze of orange rock slashed across the hillside. Wow!

How could this not have been on our radar?

There’s a dirt road running beneath the crag, and a Saturday night / Sunday morning crew of locals in vans, lounging in deckchairs or packing gear, waiting for it to warm up (we’re nudging 1,000m here). We kicked ourselves for not skipping the campsite and kipping up here instead.

There’s a magnificently cairned path up to the righthand end of the crag and sector Metafisico…

… and magnificent vistas back to the Sierra Nevada.

Another tick in the “Carlsberg” quality crag checklist, the skies are full of Vultures.

The only quibble, and it feels rude and ungrateful to mention it, is that only 20 of the 90 routes are easier than 7a, and only half a dozen easier than 6b.

Three of these are at the far right hand end of the sector and in a fit of pride I eschewed the rightmost Las Planta Tambien Sienten, a lowly V+, and hopped on the route to its left which should have been a 6a. I was soon grumbling about sandbag grades, hot feet and sweaty hands, and all thoughts of a Carlsberg crag were temporarily forgotten as I tacked right onto the adjacent route to avoid further pain.

My pride, and my faith in the crag (but NOT the guidebook) were partially restored when I spotted the error in the guidebook (juxtaposition of the righthand two routes) and realised I’d tried to warm up on Quasar, 6b. Pulsar, also 6b and tucked into a corner giving some relief from the sun, was much more reasonable, and we concluded our brief visit with a willingness to return to give Zújar a second chance.

You certainly can’t fault the outlook…

… and it’s a magnificent van spot…

Back at the van, we spotted a team of late-shift locals on Pulsar, who’d sensibly left it until mid afternoon to head up to the crag. Who’d have thought you’d be chasing the shade at 1,000m in February?