El Torcal looks like a city that someone has abandoned to the weather. Great stacks of grey limestone, worn into the shapes of piled plates, mushrooms and heads, rise from a bare plateau high above Antequera, and the whole thing was once seabed. The rock is Jurassic, laid down under warm water around 150 million years ago, then lifted and eaten away by rain and frost until the layered beds were cut into this extraordinary maze. It is a karst landscape, one of the finest in Europe, and part of the Antequera World Heritage listing.
The road up from Antequera is short and steep, with tight bends and a surface that is generally good. At the top you are well over a thousand metres, and the weather changes fast: fog can swallow the rocks in minutes, and then the sun comes through and everything shines. In winter it can be cold, windy and wet. Carry a layer even in spring, and take care with damp tarmac in the shade.
Wildlife is part of the charm. Ibex, griffon vultures and kestrels use the ledges, and in spring the clefts are full of wild peonies and orchids. The visitor centre has walking trails of different lengths, one of which gives a good taste of the maze, and it is worth doing at least a short loop, since the formations are best understood on foot.
Practicalities are easy. Antequera, a town of forty-five thousand, has plenty of fuel and food, and the surrounding countryside is famous for olive oil and for porra antequerana, a thick cold tomato soup, and the sweet bienmesabe. The ride that passes through here continues toward Ronda along Andalucian mountain roads, with limestone ridges, white villages and long views. Plan an early start to avoid the heat, and leave time on the plateau, because the light changes the rocks every few minutes.