Caminito del Rey (King's tiny gangway)
On may the 21st 1921 the hydro-electric regulation project of Turon, Guadalteba and Guadalhorce rivers was initiated. As the construction of the dam of "el Chorro", which by magnitude, all efforts were focused. King Alfonso XIII of Bourbon, as well attests his stone chair that still prevails in the dam wall, visited so vast engineering work jointly with other waterworks; among others and since the so-called Caminito del Rey.
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This gangway was created as a means of service for workers, supply of materials for the construction and subsequent maintenance of the waterworks. It was a pasage for workers and horses in addition to the residents of Ardales and El Chorro shortened their way around here.
Today, the walkway allows you to pass comfortably, but the old one still remains underneath and sometimes not even one meter in width. The gorge, which is a wonder of nature, reaches a depth of 700 meters. Its exact location is among the towns of Alora, Antequera and Ardales province of Malaga in Andalusia; being part of betico-mountain system. |
The works to rehabilitate the Caminito del Rey began on March 13, 2014, with the inauguration on February, 23, 2015. The most hazardous jobs were performed on 1,600 m of aerial walkways.
The construction company carried about 500 tons of steel and wood to the site. It was necessary to use a helicopter to transport materials and workers were hung in the gorge to build the new bridge, following almost the same system that was used in the initial construction more than 100 years ago.
Another interesting point to highlight in this area, its geology. I wanted to focus on it especially in the stone structures in the following photographic coverage. |
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Geologically, it belongs to the sub-betica mountains structure; consisting of mesozoic materials structured by the alpine folding. Here sedimentary material from the bottom of the pit and the pre-alpine socle itself. Here is also observed that these materials have undergone metamorphic processes from pressure and time. From the viewpoint of its structure, this is more complicated because of the thrust from south to north produced by alpine folding has to be folded not only by shifting but also as thrust nappes.
In this system there are frequent karst phenomena such as torques in the near Torcal Antequera. For more information see the torcal. In the picture above we see the print of a fossilized ammonites from the cretaceous period of the sedimentary bottom of the Tethys Sea.
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Translation Jesusf.
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