It's a Sign!

If you've been on a walking holiday with me, you'll know that our routes often combine official and unofficial (ahem, goat or sheep) paths. Where we do follow an official trail, there are usually wooden posts and signs with different markings on them, and I'm often asked what they are.

Federación Andaluza de Deportes de Montaña, Escalada y Senderismo. (FAM)

The control and regulation of the hiking trails in Andalucía falls primarily to the Junta de Andalucía and the Andalucían Mountaineering Federation (FAM). The Regional Government defines the principles for sports trails, and the FAM, as the competent body, is responsible for the technical approval, maintenance, and enforcement of the regulations governing these trails.

I can only imagine the amount of work that goes into preparing a potential route; negotiating with landowners, ensuring that an actual path exists, and any construction and remedial works necessary to make the route safe.

Only after all the prep work is complete will the signs go up and the official route board be installed.

At the start of a walk

At the beginning of an official trail, whether linear or circular, there is always a board displaying route information, including the route name (PR-A 395, for instance).

This information can contain -

• Length of the route
• Estimated time
• Accumulated ascent
• Accumulated descent
• Type of path surface
• Suggested time of year to walk
• MIDE chart
• Signs along the route
• Chart showing ascent and descent
• Route Map
• Route description including highlights
• Warning signs

As you can see, it's a lot of information which helps you to enjoy your day on the trail.

Off we go

You'll notice the signs have been installed in strategic locations along the path, so that, unless they've been damaged or removed, it is difficult to get lost or go the wrong way. With such excellent markings along the route, I still recommend using GPS or route-tracking software to accompany you along the way (more on maps later). 

To aid you in staying on the correct path, you will see, at a minimum, a wooden post with coloured collars on it. These are installed when a decision has to be made, such as at a crossroad or a fork in the path. The correct way has the wooden post; the wrong way often has another wooden post, with the coloured collars forming a cross. This cross can also be painted on rocks or on a wall.

 

On top of the wooden post may be a sign indicating the route name and the distance to the next waypoint or the finish.

When the path is not apparent, there will be further posts or, occasionally, painted rocks indicating the direction to take.

When travelling on a local path, it may sometimes include a section of a much longer trail. In these cases, the posts and signs will indicate this with three colours: white (common), red, and yellow.

The wooden posts may include signs with information for different routes.

 

 

What trails do we have?

Long-distance paths (GR - Gran Recorrido)

Red and White markers

These paths are longer than 50 km and connect points that are a great distance apart. They stretch across beauty spots, areas, regions, or countries far from one another. These trails are generally divided into stages.

Short-distance paths (PR - Pequeño Recorrido)

Yellow and White markers

These are between 10 and 50 km long, go through specific areas or lead to a particular village or town, or other destination, and can be done in a day. PR-A indicates a short-distance path in Andalusia.

Local Paths (SL - Sendero Local)

These paths can be up to 10 km long and are of minimal difficulty.

SL-A indicates a local path in Andalusia.

Other signs we'll see along the trail.

It's not surprising that we'll see very few signs, other than the official path markers, as we make our way along the trail. Those that we may encounter, such as Caminado Privado (private road), or Peligro Abejas (danger, beehive nearby), seem reasonably self-explanatory.

There are, however, many small metal signs, often on a thin metal stake, and sometimes, quite unbelievably, installed at the very top of the mountain, or precariously on rocky outcrops, that always seem to elicit the question, 'What do they mean? '

These are indications of walking near, or through, private estates where hunting takes place.

Private hunting or coto privado de caza

Perhaps the most common sign you will see is where almost all landowners use their hunting rights. It also denotes Coto intensivo de caza, an area of intensive hunting and Coto deportivo de caza, an area of sporting game hunting that may be used regularly by local hunting organisations and groups.

Accompanying these signs are the words 'Coto de Caza' or 'Coto privada de Caza' written on wooden boards, or even painted on larger rocks. 

Game hunting reserve or Reserva de caza

Usually, this is within protected natural park areas. In many cases, this is under the control of local park authorities, and selected culling and trophy hunting are carried out under the supervision of park guards.

No hunting is allowed where you see the red sign Zonas de reserva or reserve area.

Hunting or firing a gun is not allowed. This sign also indicates zonas de seguridad. Security zones are areas where shooting a firearm is not allowed at all due to dangers to the public and property.

For example, they are always placed on the field side of a fence if a road is on the other side. Refugio de caza is a game refuge. Vedado de caza means that hunting is forbidden, and Reserva ecológica is an ecological reserve area where hunting is not allowed.

A temporary exclusion zone for hunting, Zona de exclusión or limitación cinegética permanente, which is an area of permanent exclusion or limitation of hunting for a specified time.

This could be a transition from a hunting area to a non-hunting area, or vice versa. No hunting allowed.

A breeding area for game animals, Granja cinegética specialises in breeding them.

Animals such as rabbits, deer, ibex, and partridges are bred in these areas and transported and released into hunting areas when sufficient numbers are available.

Hunting for animals bred and released to the area, or Escenario de caza.

This is an area where game, often from a Granja cinegética, has been released for shooting on a particular organised day. This may occur at local fiestas and celebrations.

A little bit about maps.

In Spain, we have the CNIG (Centro Nacional de Información Geográfica), an autonomous governmental body responsible for the production, distribution, and commercial sales of official geographic data, products, and services for the country. It is very much like the Ordnance Survey.

They produce a range of maps, down to 1:25'000. The clarity and level of detail are not like those of the OS Explorer Maps, and navigating with just a 1:25'000 CNIG map can be very difficult. For instance, buildings, paths, and even steep rock faces may not be shown. And they are often cluttered with information on what type of grove, forest, or orchard covers the land.

I do have, for reference, the maps for all the areas I walk in, and even though they were bought recently, their publication dates can be as far back as 15 years.

When writing this article, I wanted to check if any of the maps had been updated, and it looks like many have been, with 2024 listed as the publication date. I decided to order several maps of the areas I walk in, and the new, updated versions are vastly superior to the old ones. It is still not the Ordnance Survey level of detail, but much more friendly for walkers.