Aragón: Mallos de Riglos

After the blazing heat of Seville, the rolling green hills and cool temperatures of Aragón in the foothills of the Pyrenees seemed magic.  We came for the Mallos de Riglos, but loved the whole area, and could easily have stayed longer.  The 2hr circular hike through the 300m high conglomerate 'mallets' was spectacular, and probably the best thing we did in Spain.

We saw quite a few climbers, maybe 20 different groups. All French. The rock is conglomerate, and looked scarily bad, but I guess with enough traffic the loose chunks will have mostly been pulled out. As this climber says:

We now feel a little more confident climbing on those potatoes encrusted in the walls. The first day I felt like I had to test them all. And indeed some of them sounded hollow or cracked. But they stick to the wall anyway. So after a while you pull on anything that has chalk on it without a second thought.

I was sorely tempted to try and organise a guide and hire some gear to climb here, but it would have left Em at the bottom of the cliff with a baby to entertain, and we had lots of other stuff to see. There is a great climbers bar in the village with maps of all the routes on the walls, they also have some basic rooms to stay in.

Two climbers topping out Mallo Puro, the spike on the front of Mallo Pison.  According to their friends it is 6 pitches at around 6b

We stayed in a fantastic B&B that had some of the best food we ate in Spain and a fantastic view of the Mallos.

View from our patio