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The world’s most dangerous path.

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The world’s most treacherous, the world’s
most deadly.

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This got all those descriptors and more.

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This is El Caminito Del Rey, near Malaga,

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on the southern coast of Spain.

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And, well, once this was the world’s most
dangerous path,

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or certainly something very close to it.

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It was built between 1901 and 1905 by sailors
and prisoners,

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who were either used to working at height,

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or didn’t really have much of a choice.

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And it was used to get people between two
hydroelectric power stations, and yes,

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apparently there were hydroelectric power
stations in 1900s Spain.

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It surprised me too.

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It was named El Caminito del Rey, the king’s
little pathway,

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after it was walked by King Alfonso the 13th.

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But it didn’t look like this back then.

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It was just some metal, hammered into the
rock at 45°,

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and then some concrete put on top of it.

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And maybe there’d be a bit of a handrail
or a safety wire,

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but it was certainly not safe by modern standards.

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And over time, the path fell into disuse,

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and it fell into disrepair,

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and then just started to fall apart.

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But that didn’t stop thrill seekers.

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As the internet and the web started to spread
news of it,

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this attracted people from all over the world
to come and walk

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this crumbling but apparently-just-about-safe
walkway.

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And there are photos, all over the web, of
2005 and 2006,

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of people climbing onto safety wires and walking
across very narrow bits of metal

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to try to get to the next bit.

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But that’s not what it looks like now.

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The trouble was: people kept falling to their
deaths,

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at the rate of one every couple of years.

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And eventually the local government decided,
well, no,

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this is enough.

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We are closing this.

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Which of course just made the problem worse,

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because now thrill seekers want to do the
most dangerous path in the world…

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that had been banned.

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So eventually they found a solution: build
a brand-new path,

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on top of the ruins of the old one,

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and build it to 21st-century standards with
21st-century technology.

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There are safety helmets now.

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There are handrails, there’s wire,

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there is a guard at the entrance checking
tickets.

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And there is wi-fi and toilets at each end.

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And you know what?

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It works.

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It’s still thrilling, but it’s also safe,
and now:

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there are a heck of a lot more people who
have access to this incredible site and the

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views.

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But online?

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This is still the most dangerous path in the
world.

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You will still see the old blog posts from
the 2000s,

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you will still see the old image sharing sites
and YouTube videos from five years ago saying,

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"oh yeah, this is still dangerous.

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This is still terrifying."

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And of course nobody bothers fact checking
online,

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so, oh, this still gets forwarded everywhere.

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But this isn’t that dangerous any more.

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It used to be as dangerous as, say, a base
jump,

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it used to attract thrill seekers,

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the real adrenaline junkies... and now?

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It attracts tourists who are okay with heights.

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And I reckon that’s better.

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Even if the click bait might not be true any
more,

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a heck of a lot more people have access to
what is an incredible place.