A pilgrim walks towards a village and a castle on a hill

Walking the Camino Mozárabe: 5 things you need to know

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1. Why should I consider walking the Camino Mozárabe?

You might consider walking the Camino Mozárabe because when you walked the Camino Francés, you wished you’d walked it years ago when it was less crowded. Or, maybe the Camino has got under your skin and you’re ready for another, more adventurous, pilgrimage.

The Camino Mozárabe is well-marked and you’ll be mainly walking on old tracks and quiet minor roads. You’ll visit the history-laden cities of Granada, Córdoba and Mérida, walk past Roman ruins and visit fortified hilltop villages. 

Could it be in your Goldilock’s zone of a quieter, less travelled Camino with a rich cultural history, dazzling architecture and good infrastructure for pilgrims?

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A pilgrim approaching the hill town of Magacela on the Camino Mozarabe

Camino Mozarábe, Spain. Part 3: Córdoba to Mérida

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Three hundred and seventy plus kilometres from Almería to Córdoba on the fabled Camino Mozarábe. An injury. A rest day in Córdoba. Uncertainty in the air as we set out on the final stage of the journey to Mérida, the old Roman capital.

Córdoba to Mérida (246 km)

A singular woman in a bright red flamenco dress walks home from a late-night gig through the quiet, early morning streets of Córdoba. We catch a suburban bus bustling with Sunday hikers a few kilometres up through the forested hills to Cerro Muriano to lessen the impact of today’s long-distance on Michael’s injured tendon.  Read More

Close up of red/white striped arches of the Mezquita in Córdoba

Camino Mozarábe, Spain. Part 2: Granada to Córdoba

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Two hundred plus kilometres from Almería to Granada on the fabled Camino Mozarábe. An afternoon in Granada; a visit to the Alhambra, the sultan’s heavenly palace and the gardens of the Generalife. Built on the ruins of a Roman fortress in the 13th century by the Nazari dynasty (the last Arab Caliphate in Iberia) its architecture, its blue, red and golden interiors, its courtyards of roses and orange trees, its fountains and its history of political and romantic intrigue are beguiling.
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Floodlit Alhambra at night with moon.

Camino Mozárabe, Spain. Part 1: Almería to Granada

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Travelling south to Almería (the start of our Camino Mozárabe) through provinces ruled by the Moors for 800 years. The landscape a dream. Windmills for tilting at, iconic black bulls silhouetted against the bright sky, stunted vines growing in the parched earth, trees white with blossom. The rugged, snow-covered peaks of the Sierra Nevada. A shimmer of yellow wildflowers in the valley below. Tall slender poplars, bare of leaves. Islamic forts, cave dwellings, forsaken adobe villages and stations where the train no longer stops. Afternoon winds laden with red dust from the Sahara, making the skies hazy and the horizon blurred.

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Red rock escarpment and water hole on the Jatbula Trail

Jatbula Trail: Nitmiluk (Katherine Gorge) to Leliyn (Edith Falls), Northern Territory

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The Jatbula Trail is named after Peter Jatbula, a traditional Jawoyn elder pivotal in securing land rights for his people. The trail weaves its way across the western edge of the Arnhem Land escarpment, following ancient songlines walked by the Jawoyn for thousands of years. 

It is a five-day walk; not a long walk, just 60 kilometres from Nitmiluk Gorge to Leliyn, but a remote and entrancing walk through natural and cultural landscapes full of spiritual significance for the Jawoyn Traditional Owners. Dreaming beings in the form of humans, animals and plants brought this landscape to life by ‘putting themselves’ in the country. Their actions can be seen in features of the landscape and are kept alive in language, sacred songs, stories and dance. 

September is regarded as the ‘most heavenly month of the dry season’. This year though, it’s the hottest and driest on record and the midday heat is searing. We’ll need to set out each day at first light, walk slowly and cherish water.

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Detail of Jawoyn rock art

Nitmiluk National Park, Northern Territory

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Darwin (en route to Nitmiluk National Park)

The shadow of a bird of prey moving across the dry grass. A shimmering flight of rainbow bee-eaters seeking refuge in the green canopy of the monsoon forest. White fruit doves, double-barred finches and orange-footed scrubfowl. The careless sea breeze that comes in with the tide each afternoon of the dry season. Travel-weary backpackers. A procession of red-dirt splattered twin cabs driving into town at the end of the working week. Later that night drinkers spill onto the footpath and men prowl the streets, an undercurrent of reckless longing in their gait.

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Heysen Trail: view of Spencer Gulf at sunset

Walking the Heysen Trail, South Australia: Episode 2.

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The Heysen Trail is a 1,200-kilometre walk from the rugged coast of South Australia to its arid inland. We are looking forward to the slow meditation that is long-distance walking but are a little apprehensive. We have walked long distances before but mainly in Europe, where there is a cafe every few kilometres and a warm bed each evening. On the Heysen Trail, we need to be self-sufficient and carry our own shelter, warmth and up to six days’ food. Do we have such a walk in us, we wonder? Read More

Sun lighting up the red rocks of the Heysen Range

Walking the Heysen Trail, South Australia: Episode 1.

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The Heysen Trail winds between Cape Jervis at the southern end of the Fleurieu Peninsula and Parachilna Gorge, 1,200 kilometres to the north. The trail traverses beaches, sea cliffs, national parks, rural landscapes, historic towns and the ancient, rugged peaks of South Australia’s largest mountain range. It is named for the artist Hans Heysen, renowned for his paintings of majestic gum trees and the arid, beautiful Flinders Ranges.
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Wide view of the cloud swept landscape of the Tongariro Crossing

New Zealand: Two Islands, Two Walks. # 2, The Tongariro Northern Circuit

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The four-day Tongariro Northern Circuit winds its way around the sacred mountains of Tongariro National Park; Ngauruhoe, Ruapehu and Tongariro. The stunningly beautiful volcanic landscape holds a profound cultural and spiritual significance for the Māori Ngāti Tūwharetoa iwi. In 1886, the iwi gifted them to the New Zealand people as the country’s first national park. In 1993 Tongariro National Park became the first site in the world to be inscribed on the world heritage list for both its natural and cultural landscapes.
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New Zealand: Two Islands, Two Walks. # 1, The Heaphy Track

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Aotearoa, New Zealand, the land of the long white cloud. We fly in over the rugged snow-capped southern alps to breathtaking glimpses of Mt Aspiring, Lake Tekapo, ice-blue ribbons of water and the grey scoured ghosts of long receded glaciers. A dramatically beautiful landscape. Then the wild country vanishes and in its place are the neat, green fields and hedgerows of the Canterbury Plains. We’ve come to tramp two of New Zealand’s ‘great’ walks; the five-day Heaphy Track in the north-west of the South Island and the four-day Tongariro Northern Circuit in the centre of the North Island.  
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