To La Cantera pass (Up to km 4.8) 

Taking the necessary precautions  when starting along the A-387 from  Calvario street, you will see the first  signpost for the Mijas footpaths. Also  look out here for a plaque dedicated to  the late author of the Sierra de Mijas’s  guidebook. The climb begins here, up  a footpath which overlaps with the Vía  Crucis (Way of the Cross) with a bench  at each station. Although the path takes  a detour to the right shortly before  reaching the chapel of El Calvario, it  is well worth visiting the Carmelite  hermit of the Virgen de la Peña. 

Leaving the section also covered  by Stage 32, the route continues to  climb upwards among the surviving  Stone pines with blackened trunks.  The vegetation in this first part is formed  mainly of Esparto grasses with Dwarf  fan palms, Confetti trees and Lavender.  As the path progresses along the ridge  of a hill you get some good views of  the coast in the forest clearings. 

On the left is the turn-off to El Barrio  quarry and to the right, the Gertrudis  ravine. After about 1,800 metres from  the start, you join the perimeter track.  A footpath belonging to the PR-A 171  continues up towards the Malaga pass  from here. Meanwhile, you take the  country track which levels out to the  east and runs along the head of the  Nacimiento stream’s catchment area,  with the Chaparral hill and Mendoza  peak on your left. At each of the interior  bends, you pass a small stream, while  the exterior edges have views over the  first of the aggregate quarries from up high. The rounded, shiny tops of the Stone  pines contrast with the white, graduated  rockfaces of the mine, which fortunately is  being regenerated with native vegetation.  The rocky slopes beside the route can  be broken down into white sands and  red clays occupied by plants that grow  almost without soil, such as Blueweed. 

The last of the track’s ledges offers  panoramic views over the coastal area  below and the ridge of the Sierra de Mijas  mountain range up ahead. The route runs  along this, all the way to the hill crowned  with tele-communications masts, the  Cerro del Moro. Almost immediately, the  vegetation changes due to the shade cast  by the peaks above, with many Holm oaks  appearing among the Aleppo pines and  Stone pines, with Kermes oaks, Juniper,  Rosemary and reasonably-sized Gorse.  You eventually come to a crossroads,  indicating your arrival at La Cantera pass  (km 4.8), where you take a forest track  in much better condition, turning to the  right. A little further on down this track,  the Great Path re-joins the PR A-171 and  the Variant coming from the west. 

Along the mountain ridge (Up to km 11.5) 

The first stretch of the new track faces  north and so results in a more mature  Aleppo pine forest, which is so dense in  fact that it hardly allows other plants to  grow. As testimony to the fact that we are  in mining country, at the turn-off to the  right there is a disused green water storage  unit, owned by the Compañía General  de Canteras S.A. to supply water for the that the shaded area around the stream  provides. 

You then pass a rest area with benches  and a water-less fountain (km 14.8), before  crossing the streamlet of El Quejigal,  with its Oleanders and Rushes. You will  find the first of the shelters here, that guide  and accompany you all the way to the  end. The path goes uphill ever so slightly,  as the vegetation grows in variety and  becomes lusher. The vegetation settled  on the cliff faces of the disused quarry is  the most interesting, where Turpentine  trees are most common. 

The GR 249 gradually turns towards the  west and approaches the Mediterranean  Motorway. The path is joined by another  route coming down from the right and  (leaving to the right the other alternative of  the same route) run alongside the fast road.  A second junction of paths has signposts  to another branch of this alternative route  and you follow the manholes and piping  that appear from time to time. The route  then passes under the AP-7S via the tunnel  of the Hondo stream, which leads to Calle  Milano in the northern part of Benalmádena,  where the stage comes to an end.