Santiago-Pontones

The Segura starts here. Not in some anonymous spring on a map, but in a damp hollow of oak and limestone five minutes above the road from Santiago Pontones to Pontón Alto. A stone slab marks the spot; water pushes out of the rock, already thick enough to form a pool, then slips away downhill towards the Mediterranean 300 km distant. Most British visitors race past the lay-by on their way to better-known Cazorla, which is exactly why the village still feels like a working sierra settlement rather than a weekend theme park.

At 1,340 m the air is thinner and the nights stay cool even in July. The village centre – a white church, two grocers, a pharmacy and a bar that doubles as the bus ticket office – sits on a saddle between deeper valleys. Behind it the land rises to the 1,800 m crest of the Sierra de Segura; in front, the road drops 400 m in tight hairpins to the infant river. Mobile signal fades in and out depending on which side of the ridge you stand; the soundtrack is wind in the pines and, at dusk, the odd clatter of ibex hooves on slate roofs when the animals wander in to lick salt from the gutters.

Walking the spring and the summits

The easiest outing is the signed 40-minute loop to the river birth. Trainers suffice, though the path can be slick with moss after rain. Early starts reward you with kingfishers and the smell of pennyroyal crushed underfoot; by eleven the first coach parties from Jaén arrive and the pool starts to feel like a school field trip. Carry on past the official viewpoint and the track becomes a stony fire-road that climbs through abandoned cherry terraces to the ruined Ermita de la Virgen de la Cabeza. From the doorway you can see two provinces – Jaén and Albacete – and on very clear mornings the white roofs of Villacarrillo 30 km south.

Serious mileage begins here. The GR-247 “Bosques del Sur” long-distance trail bisects the municipality, threading together old mule paths used until the 1960s to haul resin and snow down to the valley. A popular day section runs 12 km north-east to the hamlet of El Campillo, gaining 600 m of height through holm-oak and then red pine. The route is way-marked but phone GPS is advisable where winter storms have topbled posts. Expect to meet no-one between villages; carry water – streams dry up from July to September – and remember that shade disappears above the tree line.

What passes for a menu

Food is mountain-plain: salt cod crumbled into garlicky potatoes, rice with butter beans, or a plate of migas – fried breadcrumbs laced with chorizo – that arrives in portions big enough to fuel a muleteer. The only restaurant with a written menu is Mesón El Parque on the main road; otherwise you eat what the bar owner has cooked that day. Lomo con orégano, slow-roast pork shoulder scented with mountain thyme, is the safest introduction for British palates – less oil, milder paprika. Vegetarians survive on tortilla and the local sheep’s-milk cheese, but don’t expect avocado toast. Kitchens close at 16:00 and reopen at 21:00 sharp; if you turn up at 20.55 you will wait outside with the locals.

Cherries are the brief late-May treat. Trees surround every hamlet and roadside stalls sell them by the kilo for half the UK supermarket price. Buy early – by 11 a.m. the crop is often gone, driven north to Jaén markets. Almonds and honey travel better and pass UK customs; look for the dark, almost bitter honey produced from chestnut blossom.

Seasons and how to reach them

Spring and autumn are the sensible windows. April brings blossom and daytime highs of 18 °C, but nights still drop to 5 °C – pack a fleece even if the car thermometer says 25 °C down on the coast. October is stable and warm enough to swim in the deeper river pools; the rowan turns copper and the only crowds are Spanish retirees collecting mushrooms. Summer is hot and surprisingly busy: the village doubles in size with families from Córdoba escaping the plains, yet by British standards it still feels empty. Winter is serious. The road from the A-32 is cleared after snow, but ice lingers on north-facing bends and the single petrol station 20 km away sometimes runs dry when lorries can’t ascend. If you fancy a white Christmas, carry chains and book accommodation with central heating – traditional stone houses were designed for 40 °C summers, not –5 °C January nights.

Fly to Málaga or Alicante; Málaga is 15 min quicker on the motorway and baggage reclaim is calmer. Collect a hire-car with decent ground clearance – the final 40 km from the A-32 is tarmac but potholed after winter rains. Budget two fuel stops: one at Loja, one at Villacarrillo, because the village ATM is temperamental and garages close on Sunday afternoons. There is a daily bus from Jaén at 15:30, but it deposits you at the church square and leaves again at 06:45; without wheels you are effectively stranded.

The bits the brochures miss

Phone coverage is patchy in the valley bottoms – download offline maps. Midges love the river pools from May to July; bring repellent or you will spend the evening counting bites instead of stars. The village cash machine swallowed two foreign cards last August; carry €50 in notes for Saturday lunch when the pharmacy is shut and the bar card reader is “sin cobertura”. Finally, Santiago Pontones is not Santiago de la Espada – 30 km away and 400 m higher. Sat-navs mix them up; punch in postcode 23258 before you set off or you will arrive at the wrong church square wondering where the river went.

Leave expecting little and you will leave planning a return. No souvenir shops, no cocktail bars, just the smell of pine resin on hot rock and a silence broken only by the Segura rushing towards the sea.