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Spain 2023 - Almeria/Cazorla
  • Elaine and Ned
  • Elaine and Ned

Spain 2023 - Almeria/Cazorla

We're walking from Almeria on the Ruta del Argar to the Parque Natural de Cazorla where we will pick up the GR 247. A map of our route is here: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1ERMUl_n9lASIh2n-8TJlr3A7HcK49SM&usp=sharing Read more
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  • Elaine and NedSpain 2023 - Almeria/CazorlaTraveler

    La Hueta: Acequias

    April 29, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 73 °F

    We’ve long been interested in the water-channeling system of acequias introduced by the Muslims during their rule here in Andalucía. In the Sierra Nevada in 2018, we were able to walk along high mountain acequias de careo that channel winter snow-melt to areas of underground infiltration where the water can emerge from springs lower down during the summer. Here today, in La Hueta, for the first time we were able to watch a farmer opening and closing his irrigation channels off the main acequia de riego. This system allows him to water his potatoes and tomatoes in spite of five months of no rain. I wish we had asked him if we could video the process, but we were so busy asking him questions that it never occurred to us until too late.

    La Hueta is located about three kilometers farther up the Río Morles than Puente Honda. It is criss-crossed with old acequias dug out of the ground and the modern replacement - big black hoses. All of them feed the huertas (vegetable gardens) that I assume gave the village its name (minus the “r”).

    As if that wasn’t enough good luck in meeting people for the day, on our way back from one of our walks we met the one person who still lives in La Hueta year-round. We had been told that she was a spry 86 year-old, and sure enough, we met her marching down the steep track to Puente Honda on a four kilometer walk with her liter bottles in a shopping bag to get the good water from the fountain there and to see friends who only come out to the village on weekends!

    Today’s Wikiloc tracks:
    https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/la-hueta-…
    https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/la-hueta-…    Read more

  • Elaine and NedSpain 2023 - Almeria/CazorlaTraveler

    It’s raining!

    April 29, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 72 °F

    First actual rain in five months! There’s thunder too. You can actually see the drops on the balcony tiles.

    5 minutes later: it is really pouring now - just bucketing down. I hope it keeps up!

    Oh my. This is very loud. The lightning is quite close.

    45 minutes later: Well, that’s sad. It’s all over. They need hours and days of rain, not just a 45-minute soaking.    Read more

  • Elaine and NedSpain 2023 - Almeria/CazorlaTraveler
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    La Hueta: Cascades

    April 30, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 73 °F

    La Hueta is in a bowl with mountains forming the rim. The Río Morles makes some huge jumps coming into the aldea, resulting in a series of cascades. We walked out to see the most accessible one yesterday (I was smart enough this time to follow my new rule: don’t go up something you can’t come down!), and Ned went even higher today, getting a fine sense of how the village fits into its surroundings. It must have been very self-sufficient in its day - we saw an era for threshing and a bakehouse, in addition to the many huertas.

    The house we are staying in has many reminders of what it must have been like to live here in the past. Both the living room and kitchen tables have heaters under them (one original and one updated; see photos) and long heavy coverings that reach to the floor. They remind us of the Mustang tables in Nepal. You pull the drapery over your lap and your legs and feet get to stay warm while your upper half sips hot tea.

    Today’s Wikiloc track:
    https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/la-hueta-…    Read more

  • Elaine and NedSpain 2023 - Almeria/CazorlaTraveler
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    La Hueta to Orcera: May Day

    May 1, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 79 °F

    The May Day holiday must surely have added to the number of walkers and cyclists we met on the trail today - maybe 20 or more. So far we’ve not met any other walkers with overnight size backpacks though, and only two cyclists with panniers.

    The trail to Orcera alternated between a small paved road and a narrow path through the woods. We saw some signs of last night’s half-hour of rain: mud across the road and bright green moss, plumped up by the long-awaited water. As we got closer to Orcera, we spotted the castle that towers over Segura de la Sierra (where we are going next) and three Muslim towers that we will explore while we are here.

    It was hard to leave La Hueta. Our three days there plus the two days at Puente Honda have given us a real feel for what a subsistence lifestyle in these villages must have been like. Now we are in a big town (population 2000), amazed to be back in the land of grocery stores and fast internet. No grocery stores open today though, due to the holiday, so we were lucky to find an open restaurant where we had heaping platefuls of meat, potatoes, and eggs for five euros each. No fruit or vegetables to be seen, and we speculated on how many inches of arteries we were clogging up, but consoled ourselves with the memory of the leftover red pepper we had for breakfast and our usual mandarin orange break while walking.

    Today’s Wikiloc track:
    https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/la-hueta-…    Read more

  • Elaine and NedSpain 2023 - Almeria/CazorlaTraveler
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    Orcera: Three atalayas

    May 2, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 81 °F

    Saying we wandered around in stony olive groves under a hot sun looking at old crumbling towers doesn’t sound anywhere near as inspiring as it actually was. There are three Muslim watchtowers from the 12th century near Orcera (built atop Carthaginian ruins from the 3rd century B.C.), with no defined path to any except the last one. We wound our way through the groves, trying to guess the best route to the first one, and suddenly, there it was - stones from over a thousand years ago that we could reach out and touch in a landscape little different from how it would have looked then.

    The olive trees themselves are of great interest close-up. Right now, the branches in full sunshine have clusters of tiny yellow and white flowers opening up, while those in the shade are still green buds. Interestingly, a mature tree will have some 500,000 flowers, of which only 1-2% will become fruit. That’s still a lot of olives!

    Today’s Wikiloc track:
    https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/orcera-tr…    Read more

  • Elaine and NedSpain 2023 - Almeria/CazorlaTraveler
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    Orcera: Linarejos loop

    May 3, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 82 °F

    Puente Honda: population, four. La Hueta: population, one. Linarejos: population, one. Three villages all under the watchful eye of the peak of Peñalta; all thriving aldeas for hundreds of years; all now with year-round populations approaching zero.

    When we saw Linarejos from afar the day we walked from La Hueta to Orcera, we knew we had to find a way to see it up close. Its mountainside perch combined with its striking terracing were irresistible.

    Our route today followed the Río Orcera up into the heavily forested ridges, with most of the river’s water diverted into acequias. We came to two junctions with the GR 247, and then the aldea itself with its wonderful views, its clean, neat streets, and its terraced orchards. At first we thought it was deserted, but the lone resident came out and chatted with us. He said he loves living alone there because it is so peaceful. On summer weekends, as many as 18 people come to stay in their second homes, but during the week he and his two dogs have the place to themselves. He likes winter even better than summer because then nobody comes on weekends. Winter used to bring up to a meter of snow to Linarejos, but now there is none. He knows well the 86 year old woman who is the only full-time resident of La Hueta, and says she walks all the way to Orcera to get her groceries (!) and gets a ride home from the police.

    The walk up to the aldea passes Orcera’s public recreation site with a huge swimming pool and various sports areas, all quiet on the way up, but filled with enthusiastic pickle ball players and workmen sanding and staining picnic tables on the way back.

    Today’s Wikiloc track:
    https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/orcera-li…    Read more

  • Elaine and NedSpain 2023 - Almeria/CazorlaTraveler
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    Orcera: A maritime province?

    May 4, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 75 °F

    In all of our many visits to Spain, only one village museum was ever open when it said it would be. Most were permanently closed. Today was no exception, but a kind employee in the ayuntamiento unlocked the door for us, and said that if we could work our way around the cardboard planetarium the school kids were constructing, we were welcome to visit.

    The museum is devoted to explaining why a landlocked province like Jaén was named a maritime province in 1751. It turns out that the Royal Navy admired the straight, tall black pines as much as we do. In the interest of building ships to sail to and from Spain’s new colonies in the Americas, the forests of the Sierra de Segura were “terribly sheared by the intensive felling of their wood.” ‘Gancheros’ then drove rafts made up of thousands of trunks 600 km down the Guadalquivir to Sevilla. After the demand for wood for sailing ships dwindled, the trees continued to be felled to be used as sleepers for the new Spanish railway network. Good thing the Parque Natural finally came into being, so there are some trees left!    Read more

  • Elaine and NedSpain 2023 - Almeria/CazorlaTraveler
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    Orcera to Segura de la Sierra

    May 5, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 81 °F

    We knew Segura de la Sierra was perched on a steep slope , but it wasn’t until we walked up here today that we realized that it was a sheer drop in every direction. It wasn’t hard at all walking up, but I bet it is going to be a different story going down! We walked out to a mirador where the drop was so steep it made us nervous to stand by the railings. Too bad the camera can’t capture the sheer nature of the surroundings - it’s quite a sight.

    We got an early start (not wanting to climb 1220 feet/472 meters in the sun); had shade almost the entire way; and even saw some unusual wildlife: a lizard and a big flock of doves. The views back to Orcera were great - it kept getting smaller and smaller as Segura got larger and larger. And we finally found out the name of the big peak we’ve been seeing all week: Yelmo. Our trail out of this area goes right by it.

    Today’s Wikiloc track:
    https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/orcera-se…    Read more

  • Elaine and NedSpain 2023 - Almeria/CazorlaTraveler
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    Segura de la Sierra: The castle

    May 6, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 77 °F

    We were pure tourists today, walking up to the castle that towers over the town and seeing the sights associated with it: the Arab baths, the workshops from the Middle Ages, the pozo de nieve (where winter snow was stored for summer use), the chapel for the Order of Santiago, and the bullring. The light was just right for us to get a good look at the 100 meter/300 foot sheer drop on three sides of the mirador we walked out to yesterday. I think you can even make it out in the photo. Ned went up the narrow staircase to the top of the keep while I kept my feet and hands firmly planted on the adarve (the walk around the perimeter walls used by the sentries). The Arabs described the site as being “as inaccessible as an eagle’s nest on a sheer cliff”. I agree.

    Today’s Wikiloc track::
    https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/segura-de…    Read more

  • Elaine and NedSpain 2023 - Almeria/CazorlaTraveler
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    Segura de la Sierra: Gontar loop

    May 7, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 75 °F

    Our loop around Cerro de Gontar turned up some heartwarming surprises today. To start, although the peak of Peñalta had dominated our views from Puente Honda and La Hueta, we had never expected to see it again on this trip. So coming around the shoulder of a ridge on the GR 247 this morning and seeing Peñalta pop up felt like greeting an old friend. Not only that, we could also make out the line of the route we had walked from La Hueta to Orcera. Around the next corner was an even more unexpected surprise. We were looking down on the roofs of a tiny aldea, speculating on what it might be, when Ned recognized the terracing in front of the houses. “That’s Linarejos!” We were now far above it, looking down on the scene we had climbed up to from Orcera last Wednesday. It’s Ned’s favorite village so far, so it was a real thrill to see it again and to even hear its two resident dogs barking.

    The third surprise of the morning was coming across another pozo de nieve like the one below the castle. I had really hoped to see one for the first time on this trip, and now I’ve seen two in two days. They were used to store snow during the winter that would then provide ice during the summer. Inside the well, the snow was stored in compacted layers separated with straw. When the well was full, a covering was sealed to maintain the interior temperature. When summer arrived, the well was opened and the ice was cut into blocks to be sold. The one below the castle looks to be about 20 feet deep, so that’s a lot of ice!

    Speaking of snow and ice, we had a brief rain shower about 8:30 last night. It lasted for less than an hour, but was enough to make the trail smell damp this morning. This is the third tiny bit of rain in ten days after five months of no rain.

    Today’s Wikiloc track:
    https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/segura-de…    Read more

  • Elaine and NedSpain 2023 - Almeria/CazorlaTraveler
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    Segura de la Sierra: Arab baths

    May 8, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 75 °F

    When we originally mapped out the route of this trip three years ago, our plan was to leave Segura on the main track of the GR 247 and continue to the Refugio Casa Forestal El Campillo, staying overnight there with sleeping bags and mats. While waiting for COVID restrictions to end, however, I read a few descriptions of this stage on Wikiloc and found out that there had been a big forest fire here a few years ago making the route impassable due to kilometer after kilometer of fallen trees blocking the path. Everyone now uses an official variant that goes via Moralejos and Rio Madera - so we will too!

    We did walk out some of the original GR today though, and then continued on a great dirt track through an olive grove below the mirador until we came to a locked gate. We could see the fire damage in the distance - trees that look like toothpicks. It must have been a terrifying scene.

    Working our way back through the maze of tiny alleys, we stumbled upon Arab baths from the 11th century - and the door was open to go inside! What great luck. Built on the Roman model, there are three rooms (cold, warm, and hot). You can see the hypocaust structure below the floor for heating and the excavated caldera for the fire.

    Just outside the hammam, there was a plant we have never seen before with leaves far, far bigger than my hand, and flowers that look like painted porcelain. Such a treat to see.

    Tomorrow: off to Moralejos, and then to Rio Madera, where the hotel is only open on weekends.

    Today’s Wikiloc track:
    https://es.wikiloc.com/rutas-senderismo/segura-…    Read more

  • Elaine and NedSpain 2023 - Almeria/CazorlaTraveler
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    Segura de la Sierra to Moralejos

    May 9, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 79 °F

    The aldea of Moralejos is tiny. I forgot to ask Beatriz, the owner of the house we are staying in, what the actual population is, but we’ve seen only two people since we arrived. Beatriz lives upstairs and we have the downstairs of a large stone house that looks delightfully old and sturdy. We are staying here three days so we can explore the remains of the original Segura settlement in the cliffs above us. Unlike Puente Honda, La Hueta, and Linarejos, there is no central square or gathering place here, but we did see the remains of an era on the way in.

    We carried in three days worth of food, but we could have left most of it behind because Beatriz has left us eggs from her chickens, tomatoes, potatoes, and mandarins, as well as an array of bakery delights.

    The walk to get here was all along small paved roads. We wanted traffic to see us well ahead of time, so we carefully arranged our orange jackets in the mesh pockets of our packs with the arms dangling down to wave in the breeze. But it turned out to be totally unnecessary; only four cars passed us the entire morning. I’d say this part of the Sierra de Segura is not heavily traveled!

    Today’s Wikiloc track:
    https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/segura-de…    Read more

  • Elaine and NedSpain 2023 - Almeria/CazorlaTraveler
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    Moralejos: Los Riscos

    May 10, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 64 °F

    The cliffs and crags (riscos) above Moralejos are striking. They are reachable by a detour off the GR 247, and contain ruins dating from Roman times. As we climbed up to them today, I kept a running total in my head of how many spots were precarious enough on the way up that I needed Ned’s help to get across them, knowing that they would seem even more difficult on the way down. When I got up to four, I prudently decided that was my limit. Ned went another quarter of a kilometer with another 100 meters of altitude gain (yup, it was steep!) and was able to clearly see the birds of prey that nest here (los buitres) soaring overhead. By continuing on the GR, we were able to find a very comfortable way down with some great views of Yelmo and no precipitous drop-offs.

    Talking with Beatriz this afternoon, it turns out she is the sole year-round resident of Moralejos! The shepherd we saw yesterday comes just for the day; he lives elsewhere. So Moralejos joins La Hueta and Linarejos as villages we have been to on this trip that have a population of one.

    Today’s Wikiloc track:
    https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/moralejos…    Read more

  • Elaine and NedSpain 2023 - Almeria/CazorlaTraveler
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    Moralejos: Río Trujala

    May 11, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 73 °F

    We had a nice Wikiloc track picked out that would take us on a loop walk up the Río Trujala and back by a forestry track today, but shortly after we left Moralejos, it became very overgrown. By the time we crossed the river (it’s pretty narrow, but we should be glad it’s running at all!), we realized it was useless to try to continue. We had noticed some electrical towers nearby and thought if we followed them, it might make a nice second choice. What luck! They led us up high above the river through glades full of flowers, and then to a walker’s equivalent of a superhighway: a wide, smooth forest track, complete with some of the original kilometer markers. Eventually this joined the GR 247 stage that we are going to walk tomorrow when we move on to Hotel Río Madera. I was especially glad to get a preview of that stage today, even in the opposite direction, since I have been worrying that it might be too precarious for me. My fears were totally unnecessary. It is steep, but it’s not at the edge of a cliff, and there is nothing precarious about it.

    Just before getting back to Moralejos, we had a first on this trip: meeting other walkers with overnight packs! A friendly Dutch couple who are doing the same thing we are - staying several nights in a village and making loop walks before moving on - stopped and chatted with us about the area.

    This afternoon we toured all of Beatriz’ buildings here. She has done a lot of work to make them comfortable. We ended up with a taste test comparing gazpacho and salmorejo. Thanks, Beatriz!

    Today’s Wikiloc track:
    https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/moralejos…    Read more

  • Elaine and NedSpain 2023 - Almeria/CazorlaTraveler
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    Moralejos to Rio Madera

    May 12, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 64 °F

    To make it easier to say goodbye, Beatriz walked down to Moralejos Abajo with us this morning, and we then started up a beautiful climb to the pass that separates the Rio Trujala valley from the Rio Madera valley. There were lots of rocky outcroppings (Ned used his poles for the first time in two months), mountain dehesas (the first we’ve ever seen in high mountains), and plenty of birdsong the entire way. Once we were down in the Rio Madera valley, we had an even bigger surprise: the first acequia made from tree trunks that we have seen. And not just one, but two, both crossing the river at 90 degree angles. Pedro, the owner of the Rio Madera Hotel where we are staying, later told us that the first acequias that carried water from the Sierra de Segura to Murcia (190 miles east, near the Mediterranean) were entirely made of wood. Incredible!

    Pedro runs the isolated mountain hotel and restaurant here, and in fact, lives here year round. You can already guess that he is the only permanent resident. We had a chance to talk with him about the lack of rain and how it is driving up food prices in Spain. He says shepherds now need to buy grain for their flocks, so the price of meat has gone up as well as all the food crops that rely directly on water.

    As for today’s video clip, it’s a bit out of the ordinary. When I stumbled across these beetles this morning, I immediately thought of Chris Stewart who wrote a hilarious chapter about them in one of his books in the Driving Over Lemons series (recounting his efforts to create a self-sufficient life on his cortijo in Spain’s Sierra Nevada).

    Today’s Wikiloc track:
    https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/moralejos…    Read more

  • Elaine and NedSpain 2023 - Almeria/CazorlaTraveler
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    Río Madera

    May 13, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 59 °F

    What could be better than spending a day with friends? Roman and Teresa drove all the way across Andalucía only to arrive on our coldest day yet temperature-wise, but the warmest day imaginable in terms of friendship. It was a day emblematic of all the things that make life truly good.

    Today’s Wikiloc track:
    https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/hotel-rio…    Read more

  • Elaine and NedSpain 2023 - Almeria/CazorlaTraveler
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    Hornos de Segura

    May 14, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 63 °F

    We are now in the village of Hornos de Segura, where the houses are balanced on overhanging rocks and the night skies are celebrated for their lack of light pollution. In fact, we spent several enjoyable hours at the castle which has been turned into an astronomical center housing a planetarium and offering nighttime telescope tours of the stars.

    We were really looking forward to walking here, but decided it was still beyond the capability my foot and knee have recovered to. So we made use of the local taxi, and over the next few days, we’ll walk whatever parts seem reasonable.    Read more

  • Elaine and NedSpain 2023 - Almeria/CazorlaTraveler
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    Hornos: Arroyo de los Molinos

    May 15, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 68 °F

    With the tempting name of the arroyo, we expected to see some mills today, and maybe we did get a glimpse of them, but we were so far above the river, there was no way to tell if the roofs we were seeing were atop old mills or modern houses. We did have a great time exploring old fountains and what must be summer swimming holes, though. The biggest marvel of the day was the steep angle of the olive groves. They must have incredible tractors to be able to reach those trees.

    Today we ran into a new component of the shrinking rural population problem: Hornos - which still has enough people to support two tiny grocery shops, a bakery, two restaurants, and several bars - evidently does not have enough people to hang onto its previous bus service. The internet still shows two buses a day to the provincial capital, but both the ayuntamiento and the host of our casa rural have told us there is no bus service anymore. Hmm. That was going to be our connection for our return to Madrid next week as Hornos is the end of our planned waking route. Good thing there is still taxi service here!

    We did our first wash using a washing machine in our ten weeks here and managed to decipher the unfamiliar symbols just fine. The lucky clothes had a great view of the peak of Yelmo as they dried!

    Today’s Wikiloc track:
    https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/hornos-ca…    Read more

  • Elaine and NedSpain 2023 - Almeria/CazorlaTraveler
    13Remember these?2

    Hornos: GR 247 toward Capellania

    May 16, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 63 °F

    The GR 247 from Hornos to the aldea of Capellanía starts out winding through terraced olive groves north of town. They are a reminder that the prized local olive oil has its own denomination: Denominación de Origen de Aceite de Oliva Virgen Extra Sierra de Segura. If only the bottles weren’t too big and heavy to carry in backpacks! The trail then narrows and winds deep into the forested area below Yelmo Chico. On the way back, we met a local man out walking his dog who pointed out a soaring eagle, one of a pair that nests on the nearby cliff. He said the buitres that nest closer to Yelmo can be seen about 2 pm after the air has warmed up.

    Back in town, it was market day. Beautiful dark red peppers, cucumbers, and tomatoes made our lunchtime salad, and mushrooms spruced up our chicken and mashed potatoes.

    This afternoon‘s task: search for a way to walk to a village with bus service.

    Today’s Wikiloc track:
    https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/above-hor…    Read more

  • Elaine and NedSpain 2023 - Almeria/CazorlaTraveler
    Cortijo by the salt pans1Pomegranate1

    Hornos: Salt pans

    May 17, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 68 °F

    Today we saw salt pans (salinas)!!! We’re 300 kilometers inland and there we were, standing by evaporation ponds where salt was recovered! Not the big, huge, industrial-sized evaporation ponds like we saw at Cabo de Gata, but still, we never expected to see salt pans so far from the ocean. There must be a spring nearby that supplies saline water.

    It’s fantastic when you have an A+ walk near the end of a trip, especially when you didn’t have any particularly high expectations for the day. We started out on a Wikiloc track that would take us down to the level of the reservoir and then loop back up. At about the halfway point, I remembered reading about salt pans in the area. But where were they? No waypoints on our track indicated salinas. I checked the other tracks I had saved for the area. No luck. Giving up on finding them, we just enjoyed the butterflies and the flowers. At one point, I just happened to look backwards into a brushy area…and there they were, almost hidden in the reeds. What a stroke of good luck.

    Today’s Wikiloc track:
    https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/hornos-sa…    Read more

  • Elaine and NedSpain 2023 - Almeria/CazorlaTraveler
    Shadow symmetry5The only snake we have seen on this trip.2

    Hornos: Peña del Águila

    May 18, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 55 °F

    We managed to sneak a quick walk in before the predicted thunder and lightning started. Quite dramatic- but none of the predicted rain yet.

    Peña del Águila is a ridge that gives good views of the olive groves that surround the embalse, each with its own special colors in the soil - red, blue, green, and grey. The last ten meters to the peña were unfortunately inaccessible due to a locked gate, but since we were already up to within a meter of the maximum elevation, it didn’t really matter. The handy boulders nearby made a comfortable spot for a mandarin orange break.

    We are always speculating about how a person could make a living in these small villages. The walk today gave us some hints. First we passed a man working down in a manhole on the water system. He joins the other five men we see every day using jackhammers to dig up areas of the town streets that we assume are over waterlines. Next we had a good view of the hoppers and conveyor belts that move the olives that are trucked in to the local oil processing plant. The plant isn’t processing right now (wrong season) but we saw some local farmers on a robust tractor headed out to their olive groves. Finally, we passed the imposing sand and gravel quarry. So our conclusion is that if you want to work in Hornos, you should either be in the hospitality business or know how to run machinery.

    Today’s Wikiloc track:
    https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/hornos-pe…    Read more

  • Elaine and NedSpain 2023 - Almeria/CazorlaTraveler
    Oops.2The owner of this house carefully explained to us how he arranges his plants.Quite a balancing act!

    Hornos: Around the village

    May 19, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 61 °F

    Although today was mainly devoted to tasks that needed to be done before we move on tomorrow (like buying four days’ worth of groceries - no shops in La Platera - and making our onward reservations), there were some noteworthy moments. Top of the list would be the muddy brown water pouring out of the kitchen tap this morning. I bet one of those jackhammers we’ve seen at work around town accidentally broke into the water supply line. While that was being remedied, a visit to the 16th century church showed details of the fortress churches we’ve seen in other parts of the Segura de Sierra. This one is typical of La Orden de Caballería de Santiago.

    We had originally planned that Hornos would be the end of our walking route, so I’ve been waiting for inspiration to strike as to where we could go next before meeting friends in Cordoba and then flying home from Madrid. The winning idea: moving to the tiny grouping of houses near the Embalse del Tranco called La Platera. This will give us a chance to explore a different part of the embalse and the historic cortijos nearby before we fly home in less than two weeks.    Read more

  • Elaine and NedSpain 2023 - Almeria/CazorlaTraveler
    Our beautiful eraEl trillo - upside down - covered by protective glassPedro generously explained the history of the cortijo.Carrascal and its lavadero1We got five minutes of a tiny rain shower out of this cloud.Heat and drought- stressed olive tree

    Hornos to La Platera

    May 20, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 63 °F

    We have our very own era to admire every time we step out our front door!

    Choosing the tiny aldea of La Platera for our last four days of walking turned out to be a very lucky decision. When Pedro, the owner, opened the door to our casa rural, we noticed right away that the table in the living room was a trillo, a sled-shaped board with pieces of blade-shaped rocks embedded in rows to thresh the wheat. Pedro beckoned to us to follow him, and not ten steps from our front door, he gestured with his arm - and there was an era where the threshing took place. Pedro could tell we were really interested in the history of the place, so he stayed for an hour and a half, telling us that there were a “montón” of people living here when he met his wife here 36 years ago. Now there are two year-round residents left. “Una pena,” he said several times.
    He showed us how the threshing took place with a donkey pulling the trillo around and around over the wheat spread on the era. The era was located in a breezy spot so that after the threshing, if basketfuls of wheat were thrown in the air, the wind would blow away the chaff, allowing the heavier grains of wheat to fall to the ground. The families of the aldea were self-sufficient, he said, growing or raising all their own food. Now, all the young people want to live elsewhere and have paying jobs to buy their food. In an opinion we haven’t heard before, he said the formation of the park accelerated this trend because even if a young person wants to try to make a living here now, it is very difficult to get permission for land use from the park authorities.

    Our walk today took us past the neighboring aldea of Carrascal and by scattered cortijos. We saw olive tree after olive tree with no budding olives and with dying yellow leaves that we assume are showing the effects of heat and drought.

    Today’s Wikiloc track:
    https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/la-plater…    Read more

  • Elaine and NedSpain 2023 - Almeria/CazorlaTraveler
    1
    Lake fed by saltwater spring2The dog that followed us all dayThe dog belongs here in El Carrascal.2

    La Platera: La Laguna

    May 21, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 64 °F

    We woke up this morning to drops of rain on the plants in the arbor, small puddles on the flagstones, and thick fog hiding the surrounding hills, but now, after a day of sunshine, everything is dried up again.

    Earlier this week, while combing through maps and tracks along the southern shore of the sprawling Embalse del Tranco that lies just below us, I kept finding references to a small lagoon. Pedro also mentioned this yesterday, saying that it was a source of salt, and that nearby was a particularly beautiful era whose floor was made with stones of various colors. This all sounded very intriguing, so we set out to explore that area this morning as soon as the fog lifted. When we reached the next aldea, El Carrascal, a dog followed us out of the village. We tried our hardest to get him to turn around and go home, but he insisted on staying with us throughout the entire day. It’s a good thing we were making a loop trip, or he would have ended up very far from home and very thirsty. The road along the edge of the embalse gave us colorful views, not only of the water, but also of forest glades followed by old olive groves with trees with very thick trunks. We found the lagoon, but were so distracted by our worries about the dog that we forgot to look for the era with the colored stones. On the way home, we decided to take a route for which we had no GPX track, but the trail showed clearly on the IGN map of Spain. It’s always a bit worrisome not to have a track to follow, but after a few wrong turns, we made it to an overlook with tremendous views of the entire area and felt quite happy that our adventure had turned out so well. In addition, our canine friend is now back in his home village. Whew!

    Today’s Wikiloc track:
    https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/la-plater…    Read more

  • Elaine and NedSpain 2023 - Almeria/CazorlaTraveler
    MonteagudoFirst set: trail markersSecond set: communidad boundaryControl pointAha!Yelmo in the clouds1

    La Platera: Collado de Montero

    May 22, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 59 °F

    It’s cloudy today and every once in awhile, there are a few droplets that meander down from the sky, but there isn’t any outpouring of the kind that would nourish plants and animals. The frogs in the local water tank are happy, though.

    Our route today was in the best condition of all the dirt tracks we have walked in the last ten weeks. No ruts, no potholes, no excessive loose stones, no narrow sections - just a wide, well-graded track rising steadily from La Platera to the Collado de Montero. As such, it was a bit of a mystery. We kept asking each other why a track in such perfect condition was here. It didn’t lead anywhere important, so why was it so special that it even merited being here, much less being maintained in such stellar fashion? There was a barrier just beyond the village that could close off the track, but why? Ice or snow in the winter? Fire danger? On the way up it passed access roads into numerous olive groves, most so steep that the prints in the dirt were of tractors with tracks rather than tires. But orchard access wouldn’t account for such a fine track.

    At the pass, we could see lots of signs and thought maybe they would give us a clue. First set: trail markers, no clue. Second set: comunidad boundary markers, no clue. Third set (after another lockable barrier): a big sign with red letters announcing “Danger! Hunting Area”. Not the tame little black and white “coto privado“ signs you usually see. Aha!

    So we are guessing that either the Sociedad de Caza Arroyo Montero maintains the track to this high standard or they have a lot of influence on whatever other entity is responsible for the track. Either way, it provided a great route for us today!

    Today’s Wikiloc track:
    https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/la-plater…    Read more

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