Jackdaws gave this place its name, grajos in Spanish, and they still wheel and chatter around the limestone cliffs where prehistoric people once sheltered and painted. Los Grajos lies in the hills near Alhama de Murcia, in the valley of the Guadalentín, where dry mountains rise above a plain of orchards, greenhouses and towns. The rock shelters here hold paintings in the Levantine style, and access is generally restricted to protect them.
The great natural landmark nearby is the Sierra Espuña, a mountain range rising to over 1,500 metres just west of Alhama. In the nineteenth century, the range was almost bare after centuries of overgrazing and logging, and a remarkable reforestation project, led by the engineer Ricardo Codorníu, covered it with pine forests. Today it is a regional park, with forests, gorges and old snow wells, the pozos de la nieve, where snow was stored to be sold as ice in the summer.
The Sierra Espuña is a favourite with riders in Murcia, and for good reason. The roads climb from Alhama and Totana through the forest, with tight bends, steep gradients and views over the plains to the coast. The surfaces are generally good, but the roads are narrow and shaded in places, and cyclists are common on weekends. The road over the top, past the Collado Bermejo, is particularly fine. Summer is hot on the plain, but the mountains offer cooler air, and in winter the peaks can be dusted with snow.
Alhama de Murcia, a town of twenty thousand, has fuel, shops and restaurants, and its castle ruins and old thermal baths, dating back to Roman and Moorish times, gave the town its name: al-hamma means the hot spring. Librilla and Pliego are smaller villages nearby. The local cuisine includes zarangollo, a dish of scrambled eggs with courgette and onion, and michirones, a spicy bean stew, both typical of Murcia. In the evening, the light on the Sierra Espuña turns the mountains purple.