Friday 16th October 2015 – El Rocio, Spain

Les and Les had been following last year’s cycle route down through Spain but lady Les had read about the nearby town of Jerez de los Caballeros and thought that it was worth a detour to visit. Les and Les drove up into the walled town but we thought that the lower town was a better place to park the van. Walking up through the narrow streets to meet them confirmed that we had made the correct decision.

We found the tourist information office and Les and I walked in to obtain a town map and find out about the sights to visit. Meanwhile, the ladies walked through the door next to the office, up the stairs to the landing where they found a lady mopping her landing! There were mumbled apologies followed by a quick retreat. I will say nothing about ladies and their sense of direction.

When we visited Jerez last year, all of the churches were closed and the lady in the tourist information office told us that it was still the case. However, the castle area was open and we headed there. Last year we had done the tour of the sights in the rain but now it was sunny and this made the visit to the castle much more enjoyable. There is very little of the castle remaining, just the walls and towers, the hill now being occupied by municipal buildings but there are some very pleasant gardens and lovely views over the surrounding countryside. The information board told us that the castle was occupied by the Knights Templar and when they were dissolved in the 14^th century, they resisted and refused to renounce the Order. The castle was put under siege by royal troops and eventually the knights were corned in the Tower of Homage. After capture, the army cut the throats of the knights and through their bodies from the tower. The tower was then renamed the Bloody Tower.

Les and Les retraced their route to get back to the EX101 and the cycle route whilst we headed south. The scenery in this area is quite beautiful with thousands of pine trees that last year I christened ‘Pompom trees’ but have now decided to name ‘Blown-out Umbrella trees’ as there is a tall, straight, branchless trunk until the branches suddenly come out at an acute angle to produce a rounded, green canopy.

We travelled on past the turning to Minas de Riotinto where we stopped last year but even from the main road the massive mine workings were clearly visible. Turning south east at Valverde, we eventually crossed the E1 and headed south for El Rocio where we were going to meet up again with Les & Les.

We stayed at El Rocio last year after we had flown back to pick up the van and recommended it to Les & Les. It is a pilgrimage town, created especially for a pilgrims who come to the Sanctuary of the Virgin of the Dew. Needless to say, legend has it that a shepherd found a statue of the virgin in the hollow of a tree trunk and this was the start of the cult. There was a church on the site in the 13^th century but the current sanctuary dates to the 1960s and the town itself is modern with religious societies from all over Spain having built large buildings to house pilgrims when they visit. Every weekend a number of these societies will visit El Rocio bringing with them their own statues that they then carry in a procession to the sanctuary. However, the biggest pilgrimage is at Whitsun each year when one million (!!) pilgrims descend on the small town. Many of the pilgrims come on horseback across the neighbouring national park together with Wild West style covered wagons – the Spanish took covered wagons to the New World. The Wild West theme doesn’t stop there as the whole town has sand-covered streets (no asphalt) and outside every house and bar there are rails to tie up horses.

Last year the town was deserted but was now weekend and as we walked from our campsite to Les & Les’ hotel we saw groups of people sat outside some of the houses and bars. One religious group had arrived and were unloading the statue and other trappings for their procession; flamenco guitar and singing was coming from a group sat in a bar and everywhere there were horses. Often the horses are left to roam through the streets, grazing where they find grass. We saw one horse that we assumed was one of these until we noticed that it had a saddle but no rider. Seconds later we saw a Range Rover in hot pursuit trying, unsuccessfully, to head off the horse and then we saw the rather disgruntled-looking rider trudging back. After wandering around with Les & Les, we settled on a restaurant and had a very good meal.

Photos: Les & Les meet an important man in Jerez; The Bloody Tower; The lower town of Jerez with wall towers peeping out from between the modern buildings; The two horse riders were on their mobile phones until they came closer and saw that I was about to take a photograph, then they lowered their phones to pose – perhaps it is illegal to use the mobile phone whilst riding in Spain?; Pilgrimage building belonging to the Hermandad (literally ‘Holy Botherhood’) of Bullollus, a local town; Dust rises from a covered wagon as it disappears down the sandy street.

Thursday 15th October 2015 – Zafra, Spain

Those of you who read last Autumn’s blog will know that we acted as support vehicle for a charity cycle ride from Somerset to Portugal by our friends Les & Ian. Les and his wife, also Les, had invited us to stay in their timeshare villa in Vale Do Lobo in Portugal but we had to return to the UK because my mother became seriously ill. Very kindly, Les & Les have invited us again this year and this time we hope to make it!

Les & Les arrived in Spain by ferry a few days ago and are spending two nights in Zafra, so we have arranged to meet up. The rendezvous was the Zafra parador, easy to find as it is a Mediaeval towered building in the middle of the town. It was a happy reunion with much talk of goings-on in Somerset and are respective travels. We wandered around the town and found an intriguing restaurant for lunch, La Marquesa, housed in an historic building once used for olive oil production. The restaurant was made even more interesting by the fact that they brewed their own beer. We sat in the bar area surrounded by olive oil production equipment.

On our travel around the town we came to the Museum of the Santa Clara Convent where we learnt about Santa Clara, the history of the building and the life of the nuns. In a video about their life, we saw some of the nuns playing basketball and when we went to the nun’s shop to buy some cakes I was served by one of the nuns who had scored an excellent basket. I have never before had cakes baked by basketball-playing nuns!

In the evening we met in Zafra’s Plaza Grande, which together with the Plaza Chica, is a lovely area especially in the evening when the squares and buildings are floodlit. After a drink in the Plaza Grande, we headed back to La Marquesa, this time eating in the plush dining room with its glass floor covering a stone floor with many different sized holes. This was definitely connected to olive oil production but we were unable to ascertain its exact purpose. The meal was excellent and so was the company.

Photos: The olive press in La Marquesa; Zafra’s Plaza Grande at night; Les & Les with Jane walking across Plaza Chica; This Zafra gate is next to La Marquesa; Zafra’s parador.

Wednesday 14th October 2015 – Berlanga, Spain

A cloudless blue sky augured well for the day and we had a lazy start. We are heading for Zafra to meet up with friends on Friday but, much as we love Zafra, we don’t want to spend two days in the Zafra aire as it is rather noisy. Jane found another aire just 45 minutes from Zafra at Berlanga and that allowed us to plot a meandering route.

As we came of the Sierra de Guadalupe, we headed for the Embalse (reservoir) de Garcia de Sola. We were heading through craggy hills and found the reservoir much depleted after the hot, dry summer. The lower stretches were however full and went on for many kilometres, with some very pretty scenery. This area is full of reservoirs, producing large amounts of hydroelectric power and drinking and irrigation water. We past many thousands of olive trees before the land turned dry and stony and apparently barren although I suspect that there was lots of grass before the summer heat burned it up. Later we moved into the Iberico ham area with many pig farms and fields of small oak trees (the pigs eat the acorns).

We arrived at the aire on the outskirts of Berlanga and, after a late lunch, set out to investigate. The aire is in a nature park where walks have been created around a small lake and animal compounds and cages hold animals and birds. There is also plenty of real wildlife with ducks, black swans and interesting birds such as the flock of Azure-winged Magpies that flew into the picnic area next to the van. We strolled around the lake before heading into the village that appeared to be asleep or just distinctly lacking in people. We found the main church that looked really interesting on the information boards but it was closed.

We stopped at a bar (the only open bar!) on the way back and had a large beer and red wine for which we were charged €2 (£1.50) and that included a little cheese and bread! I gave a 50% tip, something that I have never done before!

Photos: Some unusual rocky landscape; View over the lake of the Berlanga Nature Park; a black swan.

Tuesday 13th October 2015 – Guadalupe, Spain

We had a choice of whether to stop at La Estrella or push on to Guadalupe last night but were very satisfied with our decision. La Estrella was a lovely aire and it meant that we could go over the next mountain pass in the morning sun.

It was only a short journey but we both agreed that it was the most beautiful drive of the holiday so far. The weather was excellent with low sun and no low cloud, despite the distant view of fog from the La Estrella aire. As we approached the quilt-folded slopes of the Sierra de Guadalupe the scenery became much greener.

Thankfully, there was a place to pull in at the pass of Puerto de San Vicente (807m) and we sat there transfixed by the large number of vultures and / or eagles wheeling over the peaks. Jane spotted a vulture stood on a rock in the distance. We confirmed this with binoculars but found it impossible to identify the large number of airborne birds.

The descent from San Vicente was lovely with wonderful views at every turn, and there were lots of turns!

We arrived at Guadalupe and found somewhere to park relatively close to the World Heritage Site of Guadalupe Monastery. The village itself is pretty with traditional architecture but the monastery is spectacular. We joined a guided tour and enjoyed looking at the exhibits, the wonderfully decorated rooms and church but no photography was allowed as it is still a working monastery. The last part of the tour, a visit to the shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe, was given by one of the monks who blessed the visitors who kissed the holy icon. The monastery was established after a shepherd in the late 14^th century was led by a vision of the Virgin Mary to find a hidden statue of the Virgin. Subsequently, great royal patronage lead to flourishing of the monastery. Surprisingly for such a major site, no guidebooks are available in any foreign languages.

Next to the monastery is the original hotel for their visitors and this is now a hotel, the Hospederia del Real Monasterio. The hotel is open to non-residents and has a restaurant, café and bar. We took a look inside and found that they had a fixed ‘menu of the day’ for €15 (£12). It is a beautiful building and restaurant in the central courtyard is a beautiful setting. The meal was excellent quality and value and we would highly recommend it. If we hadn’t been in the motorhome, we would have been very tempted to stay at the hotel.

After wandering around the village dodging light showers, we drove down just below the village to the Las Villuercas campsite, which is a little basic and was deserted but the shower block was very clean and it was a convenient stop for the night.

Photos: Early morning view from the La Estrella aire looking towards the Sierra de Guadalupe; At the top of Puerto de San Vicente; And a view down; The cloister of the Guadalupe Monastery; The Hospederia del Real Monasterio; What a place to have lunch!; The Pudding.

Monday 12th October 2015 – La Estrella, Spain

A longer journey is required today and we planned it to include some green routes as marked on the Michelin map, hoping that we will have some good scenery. We thought that the aire would be much quieter come Monday morning as the vast majority of the vans were Spanish and, if they were working, they would travel home on Sunday. However when we left there were still over 30 vans parked up.

We travelled south west on the N110 round Avila and then the N502 heading down south over the pass of Puerto del Pico (1353m) in the Sierra de Gredos mountain range. As we approached the pass we saw large numbers of cars parked up and at first we thought that they were walkers but there were too many. I suggested that they might be collecting fungi and soon we saw people returning with baskets overflowing with mushrooms. Judging by the number of cars, it must be a very productive area for fungi hunting. When we got to the pass, fungi hunters were all we did see as low cloud covered the area and the beautiful view was totally obscured. Murphy’s Law applied and the view cleared within a few hundred metres of our descent but, as often in Spain, there were no pull-ins large enough for the motorhome and it was very difficult to appreciate the views whilst driving down the mountain road.

We turned off west to Arenas through great scenery and then turned south at Candeleda. It was then due south until we reached the small village of La Estrella. We had now come off the Sierra de Gredos mountains and were much lower, less than 400m, where it was warmer and much drier judging by the lack of green vegetation. The Vicarious Books book showed an aire here, remote and rural, along 1km of unmade track. It was well worth it – next to a sports and play area, it had fantastic views over the surrounding countryside. The sun was shining beautifully and we were the only people there so, against normal aire rules, we took out our chairs and sat in the sun looking across the plain at the distant mountains. After we came in for dinner, two very heavy showers came through – good timing!

Photos: We have passed a good many castles on this sojourn, many in ruins, but this was looked complete and in a commanding position; Relaxing and looking at the lovely view at the La Estrella aire.

Sunday 11th October 2015 – Segovia, Spain

This morning was much warmer than recently, 13ºC first thing, but it was cloudy and threatened to rain. We hadn’t seen all of the old town and therefore wanted to return. There were two particular sites that we wanted to visit, the Museum of Segovia and the Alcazar. The museum of Segovia was very good and very quiet but when we got to the Alcazar there were thousands of tourists and the queue for tickets was enormous. We realised that if we joined the queue, we wouldn’t get much else done, so we decided to leave the Alcazar for our next visit, preferably not at a weekend.

We wandered around some of the town walls and the many other places of interest before settling for a Sunday lunch at La Cueva de San Esteban, choosing different options from the menu. On the way back we picked out some palaces to pass by and then chose a route parallel to the aqueduct that gave us a more realistic view of the lives of the Segovians.

Photos: A section of the Segovia walls; Suckling pig at a Segovia restaurant; Sunday afternoon entertainment in the Plaza Mayor was a rock band – nowhere as good as the folk band but I was impressed that the lead singer was the drummer; One of the two very impressive organs in Segovia’s cathedral.

Saturday 10th October 2015 – Segovia, Spain

We woke to a lovely day with clear skies that helped to explain the 3ºC early morning temperature. This has been the pattern for the last few days with sweaters and the heating on in the van in the early morning and T-shirts by mid-morning. It is easy to forget that this part of Spain is actually quite high and we have been at over 1,000m when we have been on the plain and even higher in the mountains.

The next stop is Segovia but the Michelin Green Guide mentioned an interesting walled town on the way – Pedraza. The Garmin satnav showed a car park in the town but as we approached the small hill crammed with buildings, I decided to park on waste land at the bottom. It was a good decision as we walked up into the town through a narrow stone gateway and then even narrower streets – it would have been a nightmare in Henrietta. There was however, surprisingly, a very large car park on the top of the hill by the castle, which was just as well as the cars were pouring in. The Michelin guide warned us that weekend visitors flock to Pedraza and it was entirely accurate. Having said that it was easy to avoid them as we walked down the lovely side streets and admired the views over the plains. We decided to give the castle guided tour a miss – it was going to be in Spanish and the main attraction was art rather than history.

The Segovia aire has places for 10 motorhomes but the Vicarious Books aires guide says that more spaces can be found. A good job too! There were 20 plus motorhomes there when we arrived but we managed to find a reasonable spot. The whole car park is on a slope but our pitch was not too bad and by using levelling blocks we were almost level. The aire is in the most fantastic position. A 15 minute walk is all it takes to get to bottom of the hill on which ancient Segovia was built. Within a few minutes of starting the walk we came across the remains of the Roman aqueduct that bought water from over 16km away to the hill top city. It was just a few feet above ground level when we joined it but as we descended towards the centre, it rose steadily above us and when we reach the visitor-thronged Plaza del Azoguejo, it had reached 28m high on two tiers of graceful arches. It is one of the greatest pieces of Roman engineering still standing and all done without any mortar or cement joining the blocks.

We obtained a city map from the tourist information centre, which gave us even more information about the notable buildings than the Michelin Guide walking tour. There are 72 notable buildings on the map and of those 32 are churches, monasteries or convents – there were (and still are) a very religious lot! We did a small part of the tour and then it was time for dinner, for which there is a huge choice. We found a small restaurant away from the main tourist drag, La Cueva de San Esteban (Calle Valdelaguila 15) where we had their €24 (£18) 3-course menu including water, bread and half a bottle of wine each. Jane had a salad starter and I had Judiones de la Granja, giant white beans (like Greek gigantes beans) in a substantial soup with pork and chorizo – delicious. For the second course, we both chose the local speciality of roast suckling pig, offered by every restaurant in Segovia except, perhaps, the vegetarian restaurants although we didn’t see one of those. It really was a very good meal and excellent value – highly recommended.

It was time to wend our way back to Henrietta and a lovely walk it was too. Plaza Mayor (the main square) was full of families at 21:30 and with the floodlit buildings it was a great scene. The aqueduct was also beautifully lit and looked even better than in the daylight. When we arrived at the aire, we found even more motorhomes – well over thirty.

Photos: The wall Mediaeval village of Pedraza; View from the old Pedraza prison although the inmates didn’t get the chance to enjoy it; Our first view of the Roman aqueduct; Getting bigger; Huge!!; Photographer in one of Segovia’s squares – I first saw this setup in Athens forty years ago and was amazed to see someone still doing it. After taking the photograph, the photographer develops the black & white photograph inside the camera; One of Segovia’s many churches, this is San Esteban close to our restaurant; This great folk band from Segovia were celebrating their 25 anniversary and had been drinking for most of the day, and the music was still good, as was the dancing by two of the girls; Segovia’s Plaza Mayor at night, dominated by the cathedral.

Friday 9th October 2015 – Riaza, Spain

This is a big area for Celtiberian / Roman sites and we decided to visit another today – Tiermes. We stopped at Ayllon, described by the Michelin Green Guide as an ‘attractive Castilian town’ and we have to agree. It is a small town and after parking just outside the old town we walked over the river bridge to the newer part of the town to a small supermarket for essential supplies. We hadn’t intended to stop but the old town looked interesting so we walked in through one of the old gates that once had walls either side, long since converted into houses. The square was especially pretty with some lovely architecture and a hotel that we both like the look of with rooms overlooking the square and a good restaurant below. There was also an interesting crenulated tower above the town but we didn’t have time to investigate that.

On then to Tiermes where we stopped at the museum and paid the huge price of €1 each for entry. It was a very small museum mainly displaying information boards and an audio visual (all only in Spanish) with just a few finds. We drove on 1km to the site expecting to pay an entry fee only to find that it is totally open. Once again, the remains are almost exclusively Roman or later but it is an intriguing site as much of the town was cut into the red sandstone hill. On the cliffs, rooms and stairs have been cut into the stone and extra room and house frontages added in a combination of stone and wood. On the top of the hill basements were cut into the rock and this was also ideal for bath complexes. An aqueduct brought water from the hills and in was then transported by deep gullies and a long tunnel both cut into the rock. I was impressed that, rather than blocking off the aqueduct tunnel, there was a warning sign saying that you should use a torch and it might be claustrophobic. I had a torch! As with the other sites, the views were really good from the site making it a very good defensive choice.

Back then to the Riaza campsite where we decided to eat in their restaurant. I had the most enormous steak with, as usual in Spain, no sign of any vegetables. It was very good but a pudding was out of the question!

Photos: The main square in Ayllon old town; The unusual tower on the hill above Ayllon; Tiermes – Gate of the Sun still showing the ruts that the wagons made as they entered the town; The ‘Southern Rock Complex’ showing the buildings cut deep into the red rock; The substantial tunnel of the aqueduct; The Western Gate with the deep cut of the aqueduct showing on the left side of the cliff; Looking west over the shops below the forum.

Thursday 8th October 2015 – Riaza, Spain

A gentle start and no hangover! We said our goodbyes to Larry and Lorraine and hope that they will be able to visit us when they are in England. Although they are based in Norfolk, Lorraine’s son is based in Taunton in our wonderful home county of Somerset, so we are on their route.

We had two archaeological sites on our list for today – Numancia and Clunia. Numancia (also known as Numantia), just north of Soria, appeared to be the more major site and was the first one that we came to. It was actually a small settlement on a hill but is famous because of a long siege that took place here. The small hill was an Iron Age hill fort and the capital of the Arevaci, a Celtiberian tribe. The Arevaci did not take kindly to Roman rule and between 153BC and 133BC they had a number of clashes including a failed Roman siege in 153 and the defeat of a force of 20,000 Romans in 137 – a very impressive feat given that Numancia only had a population of 4,000 to 8,000. In 134BC the Romans lost patience and the Senate instructed that Numancia should be destroyed. The Romans turned up with 30,000 troops, surrounded the town and built a 9 km fence enclose it. The Arevaci’s position was hopeless but they refused to surrender. After 13 months of siege the people decided to commit suicide rather than be sold into slavery and they set fire to the city. This is held in awe by the Spanish people and Numancian is used as a term to describe a brave, last ditch stand and it often used in a sports context.

Cleverly, tall white posts have been put in position in the countryside around the hill that mark the position of the Roman camps and the fence that they built. It helps to understand how desperate the situation was with the fence, two rivers between them and the Roman army who were always in view. After the defeat of the Arevaci, the Romans took over the town and rebuilt it so the remains visible today are all Roman although there is an excellent reconstruction of a Celtiberian house and a reconstructed section of Arevaci wall. The views from the site are extensive and it is easy to see why it was chosen.

We moved on to Cluny, another Arevaci hill fort taken over by the Romans in 75BC, although it is not absolutely certain that the Arevaci occupied this hill or one of the neighbouring hills. We expected this site to be smaller than Numancia but it was in fact considerably larger. A photographic reconstruction of the site in Roman times showed a huge number of densely packed houses that must have meant that there were many thousands living there. Having looked at the small museum and viewed part of the audio-visual (it was in Spanish and we were short of time), we drove on to the centre of the site. Here we were able to walk around a very large, high status villa with lovely mosaics, then the forum, temple and more houses. A longer walk took us to two bath complexes. We then stopped on the drive back to the theatre to take a very quick look at the theatre before leaving the site followed by the staff ready to lock up!

Next stop was our campsite at Riaza on the outskirts of that very pretty village.

Photos: Larry and Lorraine at Cascante; The reconstructed Celtiberian house at Numancia; The posh part of Roman Numancia with the background giving an indication of the views from the site; A group of people were flying a drone over the site in order to obtain footage for a forthcoming documentary; The reconstructed Arevaci defensive walls; The extensive villa at Cluny; and one of its mosaics; The forum of Cluny with the shops on the left.