Rodalquilar — the gold mine badlands

Gold was worked in the Rodalquilar valley until the 1960s, and what is left is a stepped concrete processing plant climbing the hillside, tanks and terraces and stairways, set in a caldera of eroded rock that runs orange, ochre and violet.

It is the most graphic location in the park. Straight lines and hard geometry against soft, crumbling badlands; a single figure on the upper terraces reads at any distance. From the top the valley opens out towards the sea, with palm and prickly pear in the foreground.

Light matters more here than anywhere else on this coast. The last hour turns the rock genuinely orange and puts long shadows down the terraces; at midday the same view is grey and dead. Spring adds flowering broom and mallow across the slopes.

The site is open ground with no fence in most places, and it is a ruin: broken concrete, open shafts and unsafe edges. Stay on the obvious paths, keep away from the openings, and do not put anyone on a wall for a photograph. Some parts are fenced off and signposted — respect the signs and check locally what is currently accessible.