For our third full day in Spain we planned to hike the Caminito del Rey which is a walkway along a narrow gorge about an hour from Marbella. The walkway was built in the early 20th century but due to it crumbling away was completely re-renovated in 2015.

It is necessary to book tickets for the hike but unfortunately I left it a little bit late so the only tickets available were for a guided tour first thing in the morning. However – on our early morning drive we were treated to a spectacular sunrise over the mountains.

We parked up at the north entrance where we had a 15 minute walk to reach the tour meeting point. When we arrived we were kitted out with our safety helmets and waited for our tour to begin.

^{Views whilst waiting for our tour. The gorge we were walking through and the river at the power plant.}

The first part of the hike was quite tame. We entered the gorge and walked along a wooden path built into the cliffs. You could see through the slats in the wood and for the most part you could see the old concrete path below you. There were areas where the old path had crumbled away and you could see all the way down to the base of the gorge – that was quite scary.

^{Walking through the gorge}

There were lots of places to stop and take photos and the tour guide took a family picture of us.

We soon left the gorge temporarily and came to an open space with views over the mountains and the river. We were given a 15 minute break so we ate our lunch – despite it being early and took lots of photos.

^{Break time!}

We then re-entered the gorge for the second stage of the hike. I found this part much more difficult – the drops under the walkway felt bigger and the cliffs seemed more dramatic. I had to give my phone to Stu to take the photos as my hands were shaking too much! Again Tom & Izzy were not phased at all!!!

^{The second part of the hike}

Towards the end of the hike there was a bridge we needed to cross that spanned the gorge. We waited till towards the end to cross so Stu could film us all. I walked across very quickly and did not look down. When it was Stu’s turn he took his time and filmed the whole thing!

^{The bridge!}

For me the final five minutes of the hike was the worst – the path was connected to the cliff with a sheer drop. The very last part involved climbing up a staircase where you could see though the rungs – I just didn’t look down.

We handed back our helmets and made our way to the bust stop where we were driven back to the car park. Although it was a scary walk it is definitely one of the best hikes we have ever done.