Beach Route

Details of the Beach Route in Chiclana, Spain:
Length: 8 km
Route: Linear
Difficulty: Easy

Sight-Seeing Highlights:
Fabulous country scenery and rich in biological plant, ornithologic, and geological features. Accessible and easy.

Beginning of the route:
To begin the route, we will go down the road that passes by the old Civil Guard Barracks (that is in ruins), from the highway of the coast that unites La Barrosa with Conil, at the limit of the municipal district.


Description:
We can opt for taking the route by bicycle, using the footbridge to access the different places of interest or cycling on the bike trail situated right next to the highway. There are sections with footbridges and wooden platforms that make the journey more comfortable, and offer protection against the hot, summer sun.

We begin our route at the 16th century Torre del Puerco (Pig Tower). It is an old watchtower, situated at the limit of the municipal district where Chiclana meets Conil.

From here we will continue west on a cobblestone path that wanders through the high part of the old, rocky cliffs and over fossilised dunes until we pass the Riu Hotel, where we will finally go down towards the beach on a steep flight of stairs made of stone; in this zone you can see a great number of water birds at both sunrise and sunset.

We can reach a new zone of dunes from some of the footbridges that we will encounter along the way, and in doing this, we can enjoy observing local species such as the coastal juniper, and Savin Juniper Tree, or the curious landcape that was formed from the errosive action of the wind and sea. When we get to the end of the hotel zone, we can take a path that will allow us to get to a place known as the Pinar Publico de La Barrosa, in which we can observe a mass growth of pines that are re-populating what was once an ancient Mediterranean forest.

We will continue along the path, through the dunes and sand until the point where the Paseo Marítimo begins on the Avenida del Atlántico (second line of the beachfront). This path ends at the first line of the beachfront, next to the
16th century watchtower, Torre Bermeja.

Here we find a zone of cliffs, giving us the option to continue the high road -going through a region of coastal pines including the inside of the Periurbano Pinares de la Barrosa Park that has different viewpoints on the edge of the Atlantic - or perhaps, if the tide is low, we can continue our journey along the beach, encountering rocky tidepools that are home to many marine species, which can be easily observed. Take great care with the tides, as they can betray you in a moment, leaving you suddenly isolated for a long period of time below the cliffs. If you don´t know for sure if the tide is coming in or going out, we advise you to not go inside the inner cliff zones.

Once at the end of the cliff zone, we will come to a magical place from which you can view Sancti Petri Castle out at sea (a stronghold which dates back to the 17th to 18th century, though it is believed that this is the point where the first temple of the west was erected and dedicated to the semi-God, Melkart or otherwise known as Hercules).

We continue along the sand dunes until we reach the small neighborhood of Sancti Petri, a former tunny fishery in the 1950´s, and a military zone from 1970 to 2000. The Maritime Sports Port is also situated here in the mouth of the Caño de Sancti Petri Channel, which is one of the principle waterways for the entry and departure of water from the marshes, and is also included as part of the Bahía de Cádiz National Park.