We’ve really enjoyed a few previous excursions into Jaén and especially discovering Reguchillo, which I described on this blog post as… this is a contender for “best crag in Spain you’ve never heard of”

Reguchillo revisited and so much more around Jaén 

I also noted the scope to explore more of the 20 or so crags featured in the Jaén guidebook and that… The biggest drawback is there isn’t a campsite within 50 miles of the city…

Bedmar La Serrezuela

That’s not entirely true, as there’s Camping El Cantonet in Albanchez de Mágina, near Jimena. This is about 50km / 50mins from Reguchillo, so not ideal, but did open up a basecamp for exploration of the east of the province. There’s a cluster of climbing around there, but the gamechanger was the discovery of Bedmar La Serrezuela (NOT in the guidebook). TheCrag promised around 70 routes, recently developed, close to town, well-bolted and with a good range of grades (IV to 7a, albeit mostly 5s and low 6s). Worth a look…

The climbing is strung out along a kilometre-long stretch of impressive hillside, and the scope looks absolutely vast.

Closer inspection reveals that the climbable rock is restricted to occasional patches along the escarpment, but the good bits are pretty decent. Our first foray was on one of those “looks great in the photos” days, when the unseen hoolie is seriously taking the edge off the enjoyment. Added to which, the westerly aspect makes for shade on most of the crag in the morning, so we started at sector Jartate at the right hand end, which has a more southerly outlook.

This is probably the most popular sector, with the highest concentration of quality routes, including Magic Line, 5…

Pon un Felcro en tu Vida, 6a…

… and the superb Gallo, 6a.

The next sector left is Graffiti, with a good clutch of routes from V to 6b

… including VDA-Extrema, V

Good views down to the castle, which offers convenient parking…

… and over the town (El Cantonet camping is on the far hillside opposite).

Another bluebird day for our next visit, indistinguishable in the photos, but it’s jumped 10°C in 48hrs and the wind has dropped. It’s a tad warm!

We headed to the far left hand end (Barranco del Buho Izquerda), this time hoping to eke out the shade as long as possible (what fickle folk we climbers are!) Helen was kind enough to give me the first route (in the last of the shade) and I jumped straight on Off Jorse, a two pitch or mega extended 6c of about 45m, with the top half pulling a roof before finishing up a 15m tortured path of gouttes d’eau.

Here’s me rapping off

On the right hand side of the Buho sector, Helen did Paseito, V+ and then to more or less complete the set we set off rightwards to Plaça Covid and Helen did Des Fase, 6a and Fase O, 5c.

There are a couple of other sectors that we skipped as they looked a bit scrappy, and Cueva del Sol looked worth a return visit. It is a pretty spot, after all!

Here’s a bit of an overview of the sectors and the approach paths.

Cerro Golondrina

A crag that IS in the Jaén guide is this spectacular rock formation, another 10mins or so east of Bedmar. Its parallel-fin structure is vaguely reminiscent of Lower Sharpnose (… when the tide is a long way out…)

You park on a loop of disused road (coordinates in the guidebook) and cross the road heading slightly rightwards to breach a fence (being careful not to damage it further) before following your nose through scrub, heading for the foot of the main fin.

We opted to climb on the subsidiary fin (they’ve each got a dozen or so routes, from V+ to 6c – those on the main fin are 40m and we hadn’t packed the 80).

The slab at the foot of the fins looks like it might be a hideous scree slog from a distance, but actually it’s immaculate featured limestone. If it was 20° steeper they’d be quality routes…

It’s all fairly steep fare, apart from a breach in the fin at half height which gives Espolon Perita Luna, a really good V.

Around to the right, Gara is a good 6a with a short-lived crux.

Great view from the breach which highlights the thinness (finness?) of the fin and the scale of the main wall opposite.

Between these two venues and a lesser crag at Torres (which we didn’t get around to exploring) there’s plenty for a return visit (especially if you have a day or two commuting to the Jaén city crags).