The route enters Andalusia by crossing the border with Extremadura through the province of Badajoz, between Mediterranean pastures, facing the nearby town of El Real de la Jara, already in the province of Seville. Here, the route enters the confines of the old “Banda Gallega” (Galician Front), a defensive line that the Kingdom of Castile raised on the border with Portugal and that resulting in the construction of castles and fortifications, such as the one that stands over this small mountain town which is famous for its game meats, cheeses and for being a crossing point of the Vía de la Plata (Silver Route).
We leave the town via the SE–177. This road has little traffic, and goes down to the Rivera del Cala river, marking the division between the provinces of Seville and Huelva. It also marks the divide between the Sierra Norte of Seville Natural Park, from which the route comes, and the Sierra de Aracena and Picos de Aroche Natural Park, through which it passes for many kilometres. These two Natural Protected Spaces, together with the Sierra de Hornachuelos Natural Park (Córdoba), make up the so-called Dehesas de Sierra Morena Biosphere Reserve, which has the GR–48 long-distance footpath as its backbone.
After a few kilometres, we enter Santa Olalla del Cala, presided over by another of the castles in the area and surrounded by extensive grasslands where the famous Iberian ham P.D.O. Jamón de Jabugo is produced. Not far from this town, on the N-630, towards El Ronquillo, we find the Natural Monument Encina de San Francisco, in the grasslands of the same name.
From Santa Olalla we enter into mining territory and we do so using, precisely, part of the old railroad line that connected the Mines of Teuler and Cala with the port of Seville. The slagheap of the Teuler Mine is one of the landmarks to contemplate on the way to the town of Cala, from where we continue along the old HV–126 to Minas de Cala and Puerto Moral after leaving behind the Aracena Reservoir.
Comments: Section 25