La Montera del Torero
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On the right hand side of the service road (Los Barrios – Jerez de la Frontera) 12Km. from Los Barrios, there is a rocky formation that looks like a bullfighter’s hat. 1Km. earlier as you proceed from Los Barrios there is the Montera del Torero a public recreational area. Fifteen minutes walk from there, inside a fenced area you will find a natural shelter with cave paintings, sadly now almost disappeared, but from there you can still enjoy a magnificent landscape. Continue to the adjoining gully to a brook with a magnificent water-pocket, as if it was a natural reservoir, and for 200 metres around you will find all the elements worth looking at. Montera del Torero has been created by natural external processes: like wind and water erosion common in sandstone. It belongs to the Aljibe blocks, together with those found in Algeciras and others which make up the Flysch Blocks of the Campo de Gibraltar complex all of which belong to the Betica Mountain range. |
The Montera del Torero Natural Shelter, is a classic example, the shape was produced when the points where the different types of sandstones are joined were exposed and eroded. Seeping rain water gradually opened them and the blocks become isolated and in time they will form into shapes without any edges at all.
Apart from the granular disintegration common to sandstone, the shapes at some time, before completely eroding, often will resemble recognisable shapes. Collapses are frequent with blocks in the lower levels falling and the high drier levels left hanging, which is where the arch or vault will be found.
This manner of formation of these shapes is very frequent in sandstone of the Aljibe, and if they lack a way out, are known as natural shelters. If it has an exit, it becomes a rocky arch. There are also “Taffonis”, rocky cavities where the granular disintegration is more powerful than the diaclasar one or bee’s nest if the cavities are many and small. Iron coatings protect some areas from the water and these areas are more compacted than the other areas and sometimes may even become case hardened.
To summarise – the final shapes evolve due to natural granular disintegration, wind action and plant roots working down between the points where the rock-types meet, and not least to human activity which has continued since prehistoric times.