The upper valley of the Guadiana Menor lies on the south-eastern side of the Sierra de Cazorla, in a country of olive terraces and open pine, and the name Manolo Vallejo, a person's name, sits there in the list of shelters like a marker for a family farm. The shelter is about five kilometres from Huesa, a town of some two and a half thousand, and seven from Hinojares, and it belongs, like its neighbours, to the Levantine rock art of the Mediterranean arc, recognised by UNESCO in 1998. Its siblings on the route, Poyo Medio Cimbarra and Cerro de la Caldera, are in the same district.
You are on the doorstep of a very big park. The Sierra de Cazorla, Segura y Las Villas is the largest protected area in Spain and the second largest in Europe, covering some two thousand square kilometres of mountains, forests and reservoirs. It is also the birthplace of the Guadalquivir, which rises from a spring high in the sierra and flows through Andalusia to the Atlantic at Sanlúcar de Barrameda. Thousands of visitors come in the summer to walk its gorges and watch for ibex, red deer and griffon vultures, and in October the stags' autumn roar is one of the great wildlife sounds of Spain.
The riding is outstanding, with some of the best roads in Andalusia in or near the park. The road through the sierra from Cazorla to the Tranco reservoir and on toward Segura de la Sierra is a bendy, climbing, scenic route, with forest to either side and views over the water. Closer to Huesa the land opens out, with gentle bends and long straights through olives. Summer is hot, winter can be cold with some snow, and the ideal months are May, June and the first half of October.
Fuel is at Quesada, eight kilometres away, or at Huesa, where there is a smaller choice of services, and Cazorla has more. All three have bars and restaurants where you can eat a hearty dish of mountain stew, ham or game. Bring water for walking, and respect the park rules if you head into the protected zones.