The square, dressed in festive attire, encourages us to walk this route in our escape from the hustle and bustle. We decide to lose ourselves for a couple of hours in the explosion of color that is nature at any time of the year. We take San Antonio street at five o'clock in the afternoon. The sun, as every day, animates life everywhere with its rays. The flowerpots of some balconies look out onto the street with their multicolored costumes to observe the kids who, like a flock of airplanes, travel the street from side to side playing "pilla-pilla".
In several minutes we are at the exit of the village, next to the hermitage of San Antón. The older people, their dark dresses standing out against the white walls, fill their benches waiting to gratefully say goodbye to the sun that constantly calls them back to life. As is natural for them, they greet us in a friendly manner as we pass by their resting place.
Canillas Road
At the end of San Antonio street we take Canillas Avenue, and after about ten meters, at the foot of the house with an octagonal tower, we take the path that, on the left, will lead us gently along part of our route. As soon as we start it, we discover that next to us, runs the old royal irrigation channel that, since time immemorial, irrigates with the water of the river Turvilla the terraces that extend, as an extension of the village, down the hill. To our right, as we walk, the olive trees speak to us of dry land, of the hard life of the farmer always pending the benevolence of the climate; to our left, the narrow and stretched terraces fill their cores with all kinds of vegetables; and in front, the Sierra Tejeda, immense, rises like a colossus with its open arms that are gradually becoming the farmland of the neighboring villages.
In spring, in autumn, in winter, in the cool summer mornings, to be carried away by this path is a joy that introduces us to rest and the harmonious silence of nature; suddenly we can find ourselves in front of a picture of a few decades ago if we cross paths with some of the farmers who continue with traditional agriculture.
After twenty minutes, an asphalt lane abruptly interrupts the path. During working hours, the huge trucks from the Canillas quarry drive along it. Fortunately for the tranquility of our walk, the route and the trucks only coincide for about a kilometer. So we follow the paved lane during this stretch, flat at the beginning and with a steep climb at the end, until a curve where the descent to the quarry begins.
Gradually, as we climb, on our left Canillas de Albaida appears to greet us with its peculiar hermitage at the top; and in front of us the mountain range is still beautiful as we approach it. At the end of the ascent, on the right a lane ascends gently in an easterly direction that will be the one we will take from now on and that makes us change the direction of our march starting the return to Cómpeta.
Mosquín
In spring and early summer, the slopes of El Mosquín, which extend to our left, are dressed in a thousand colors and shapes touched by the characteristic spikes of esparto grass along the entire path. Numerous pines proudly raise their branches after having survived the last fire. Now, to the right, after each step, the landscape of farmland, with Corumbela overlooking a hill to the right of the Turvilla and Sayalonga overlooking another to the left, extends majestically to the Mediterranean, on whose shore sits Torre del Mar to watch the boats go by.
Almost without realizing it, in almost three kilometers, we have climbed up to 850 meters of altitude; 200 meters that suppose an average slope of 6.6% that has passed unnoticed by the innumerable attractions that the landscape offers us.
Gaviarra
After leaving behind, to our left, the path that ascends the northern part of the Loma Gaviarra and that we will travel on another route, we suddenly look out over Cómpeta. Seen from above, lying on the slopes of the mountains, it resembles a young girl watching the horizon waiting for her beloved. A few meters further down, to the right, a path runs along the slope of the mountain of La Salara to the upper area of the Urbanization of Colmenillas whose central street leads to the ring road; this will be an alternative for another day; Another alternative, if we are tired, is to turn left at the height of the soccer field to the water tanks and go down the road that runs next to the field to take the lane that goes up from the Plaza del Carmen; but today we continue the lane bordering the entire mountain on which sits Competa, we leave behind the soccer field and already in the Loma La Fuente we observe new views of the village with its tower dominating everything.
Plaza de la Vendimia
The lane leads us to the upper area of the Urbanization of Cruz del Monte and following its central street, we get into the lane that we described at the beginning of this section and that we call "Urbanización Cruz del Monte". To the left, this central lane leads us to the monolith that gives its name to the area while constantly offering us views of the village. Once we reach the Cruz, we take the lane to the left, cross the ring road in the direction of Tejarejo and once in the Avda. de Nerja we go down to the Plaza de la Vendimia; finally Toledo street brings us back to the starting point, to the square that is still dressed for a party.