Corona Virus, Great Escape. Med. Spain to Green Spain

[jumartoo]

Today, the sun came out, as promised (although we get more rain again tomorrow!!). I had a walk along part of the reservoir to take a few brighter photos, before we left for a quieter place. We had the neighbours from hell last night (it's always us that gets them!) Loudly talking in the early hours right next to us, and with a dog that kept yapping!

We're now just north of Cistierna, on a picnic area next to the river Esla. We had a 55 km bike ride, mostly small roads (2 cars passed us in the first 20 km) and about 20 passed us on the whole ride. We did risk a track towards the end and managed to avoid puddles.

 

[jumartoo]

Another none day yesterday, cos rain was again forecast, except for shopping and then we drove all of 22km or so to a small village, Almanza, which has a newly built motorhome parking area (opened in July) and a mountainbike centre with marked bike trails.

The village itself looks quite modern, built around the old walls. The feature is the tower, which is replicated as the drinking water point on the parking.

Unfortunately, the forecast rain did come, we just got back to the van from a stroll around the village, before it became a deluge. It rained until about midnight and then, again as forecast, it stopped.

We went out on the bikes today, following Route 5 and Route 8 (a Wikiloc route). What a nice route. A mix of oak forest, pine forest, a bit of Cannock Chase and a bit of Clumber Park. It was remarkable dry, except for some puddles, because the soil is very sandy. We saw Booted Eagles, Griffon and Egyptian Vultures and Bee Eaters, and a couple of foxes.

Towards the end of the route, so not far from our parking, they are developing a multi use area. Orienteering, walking, biking and a zip wire.

An area to revisit in the future.

 

[Robert Clark]

Another none day yesterday, cos rain was again forecast, except for shopping and then we drove all of 22km or so to a small village, Almanza, which has a newly built motorhome parking area (opened in July) and a mountainbike centre with marked bike trails.

The village itself looks quite modern, built around the old walls. The feature is the tower, which is replicated as the drinking water point on the parking.

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Unfortunately, the forecast rain did come, we just got back to the van from a stroll around the village, before it became a deluge. It rained until about midnight and then, again as forecast, it stopped.

We went out on the bikes today, following Route 5 and Route 8 (a Wikiloc route). What a nice route. A mix of oak forest, pine forest, a bit of Cannock Chase and a bit of Clumber Park. It was remarkable dry, except for some puddles, because the soil is very sandy. We saw Booted Eagles, Griffon and Egyptian Vultures and Bee Eaters, and a couple of foxes.

Towards the end of the route, so not far from our parking, they are developing a multi use area. Orienteering, walking, biking and a zip wire.

An area to revisit in the future.

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Looks wonderful
Definitely a trip for us in the future
Everything we enjoy, just wish it was a bit sunnier for you

 

[jumartoo]

Looks wonderful
Definitely a trip for us in the future
Everything we enjoy, just wish it was a bit sunnier for you

The forecast now for the next week or so is for sun and cloud and temperatures in the mid 20's. That'll do nicely

 

[Robert Clark]

The forecast now for the next week or so is for sun and cloud and temperatures in the mid 20's. That'll do nicely

That’s perfect for outdoor stuff.
Enjoy yourselves

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[Helen Ariel]

Another none day yesterday, cos rain was again forecast, except for shopping and then we drove all of 22km or so to a small village, Almanza, which has a newly built motorhome parking area (opened in July) and a mountainbike centre with marked bike trails.

The village itself looks quite modern, built around the old walls. The feature is the tower, which is replicated as the drinking water point on the parking.

View attachment 417775View attachment 417777View attachment 417779View attachment 417780View attachment 417782View attachment 417783

Unfortunately, the forecast rain did come, we just got back to the van from a stroll around the village, before it became a deluge. It rained until about midnight and then, again as forecast, it stopped.

We went out on the bikes today, following Route 5 and Route 8 (a Wikiloc route). What a nice route. A mix of oak forest, pine forest, a bit of Cannock Chase and a bit of Clumber Park. It was remarkable dry, except for some puddles, because the soil is very sandy. We saw Booted Eagles, Griffon and Egyptian Vultures and Bee Eaters, and a couple of foxes.

Towards the end of the route, so not far from our parking, they are developing a multi use area. Orienteering, walking, biking and a zip wire.

An area to revisit in the future.

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On the list for us in the next few weeks when we come over. It's too hot to ride or do much tbh here even eating seems a chore these last few days in France.

 

[jumartoo]

On the list for us in the next few weeks when we come over. It's too hot to ride or do much tbh here even eating seems a chore these last few days in France.

We don't like the heat, that's why we've come north west. It's been a great summer in Galicia and we're hoping to finish off the last few weeks with similar weather.

It's still mid 30s in Murcia

 

[DBK]

Today, the sun came out, as promised (although we get more rain again tomorrow!!). I had a walk along part of the reservoir to take a few brighter photos, before we left for a quieter place. We had the neighbours from hell last night (it's always us that gets them!) Loudly talking in the early hours right next to us, and with a dog that kept yapping!

We're now just north of Cistierna, on a picnic area next to the river Esla. We had a 55 km bike ride, mostly small roads (2 cars passed us in the first 20 km) and about 20 passed us on the whole ride. We did risk a track towards the end and managed to avoid puddles.

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A lovely and overlooked area. I've driven through too often without stopping.

 

[jumar]

A lovely and overlooked area. I've driven through too often without stopping.

We too...this area has a lot to offer...and during the current Covid situation very few people...I have spoken to Robert and Liz Clarke recently expressing that our trip in Galicia has been far more rewarding than previous trips into Denmark and Sweden, and even some parts of Norway...and its only two days drive from home in Murcia or a long ferry crossing from the UK.

 

[DBK]

It's a good area for interesting wildlife. My brother and I were booked to go on a wolf watching tour there in October which we've now had to cancel. The area they go to is the Natural Park of Fuentes Carrionas and Fuente Cobre-Montaña Palentina (Google's English translation ) where they also get a few bears.

If you look up "naturetrek wolf watching" you can find trip reports which give more details. If you do the same for bears ditto. I think the bear watching trips are a little further west.

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[jumartoo]

We've had a couple of different days.

We left our parking and travelled towards Guardo. We stopped for the afternoon/night at an Ermita, where we parked in the shade.

We were a bit worried about being disturbed by the boom boom boom music, so we went across the road to an industrial area to spend the night.

From there we back tracked 4 km to a small hamlet to do a ride I'd found on Wiki. It started in Guardo, but because Guardo was under a blanket of thick cloud, we decided to start at a half way point, in the sun!

We had, yet another, good ride. And another encounter with the sheep guarding dogs. The (very handsome) shepherd told us they wouldn't bite .

We went back to the Ermita for the comfort of the shade and we had a "cheats" paella for lunch. Real paella rice, but flavoured with some cans of mussels, squid and octopus. (It was very nice, even if not authentic).

We had a very quiet night there last night

 

[jumartoo]

This morning, we were ourselves in the cloud, so at 7 am Martin connected the ebike batteries to the generator to charge them for tomorrow's ride. (No other people were affected in the running of said generator ).

Todays, knee resting day, we had a touristic drive along the P210 road, passing various reservoirs.

I (we) must admit that we really enjoyed the drive. The scenery was, again, lovely, the villages and surroundings pristine, and green.

The reservoir water levels are low. The cows are on the bare ground normally under water. No vegetation for them, are they finding minerals?

We stopped at one mirador and watched some kids carrying a dinghy down to the water. Swallows and Amazons came to mind!!!

Some of these small hamlets/villages still have the feeling of the lifestyle of times gone by.

 

[DBK]

Water levels are down. They need more rain even if you don't.

 

[jumartoo]

Water levels are down. They need more rain even if you don't.

When we were passing the reservoirs in the torrential rain we had to keep reminding ourselves that it WAS summer! And that water levels, being low, wasn't that usual.

 

[jumartoo]

I've got us a mountainbike ride to do from Cervera de Pisuerga but no parking there was suitable. We've driven some 10 to 12 km back west to a small church, with trees with shade. And here we'll stay for the night!

We MAY drive back to Cervera tomorrow to do the ride.

The notice on the church door says that masks MUST be worn when entering the church.

It's closed on Mondays!

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[jumartoo]

On the drive round we stopped at this small hamlet (La Lastra) with very nicely renovated houses, and a church with a very big bell!! It had an outside rope. Martin was very tempted

The church step had this stone. This is the right way to use it. No idea what it says.

 

[Robert Clark]

On the drive round we stopped at this small hamlet (La Lastra) with very nicely renovated houses, and a church with a very big bell!! It had an outside rope. Martin was very tempted

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The church step had this stone. This is the right way to use it. No idea what it says.
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Fantastic door !

 

[gus-lopez]

It's still mid 30s in Murcia

& a bit more some days.

We stopped at one mirador and watched some kids carrying a dinghy down to the water. Swallows and Amazons came to mind!!!

Pity that they do not allow anything like that ,or even swimming ,in the one above Lorca.

Lovely to see the scenery & green vegetation

 

[jumartoo]

& a bit more some days.

Pity that they do not allow anything like that ,or even swimming ,in the one above Lorca.

Lovely to see the scenery & green vegetation

We were intending coming back early September but we're watching the temperatures closely. We'll probably give it a couple more weeks.

If the nights cool down, it's not so bad.

 

[jumartoo]

Last nights idyllic stop was rudely interrupted by a couple arguing in the church porch just in front of us. Not known how long they'd be there we decided to leave and go to the parking for todays ride. There wasn't any shade there so that's why we hadn't gone during the day.

A photo of the church lock.

We're parked there again, just for the shade, but we're not risking staying, so in about an hour's time well be back on the road. (When cricket has finished!!!)

Today's ride, courtesy of Wikiloc, was, again another lovely one. A little bit tougher than the last few and we can feel it. (Even using ebikes!)

Tomorrow is a knee resting day, so we think we may drive back to Riaño for a better look around in the dry.

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[DBK]

I wonder what the story is behind the two chillies and a third in the middle exploding?

 

[bigtree]

Totally loving your trip and if you don't mind me contacting you later for all your stops as it's an area i want to do and ride all the trails you have.

 

[jumartoo]

Totally loving your trip and if you don't mind me contacting you later for all your stops as it's an area i want to do and ride all the trails you have.

I'm going to write up all our stops, with coordinates and what we did at each place. And I'll either post it on here or send it to anyone interested.

 

[jumartoo]

Yesterday evening

I wonder what the story is behind the two chillies and a third in the middle exploding?

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Too late we've left now.

Yesterday evening there were locals sitting there opening the church for visitors. We could have asked them that very question

 

[jumartoo]

Yesterday afternoon we sat under the shade of the big tree near the very same church, and we fully intended leaving because of the arguing couple (not Spanish speaking) the night before.

However, once Martin had watched the, very short, cricket, we decided to just move across the grass to the other side of the picnic area.

We had a lovely sunset. I went to take a photo and Martin spotted a cyclist at the church, examining his bike. Thinking he might have a problem he went across to ask.

He turned out to be a local, just finishing a long training ride, and pausing to watch the same sunset.

The funny thing was, he thought Martin was French

The sunset

We had an exceptionally quiet night.

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[jumartoo]

This morning dawned with us watching a lovely sunrise, but the mist we could see below eventually rose and enveloped us.

We took the chance to fire up the generator and charge the bike batteries for tomorrow's ride.

We had made the (loose) decision to drive back to Riaño to see what we missed before.

We stopped in Guardo to do the services.

"Do you need to use the service point"??????

Well yes, that was the intention....

From there we drove over to Riaño, passing through an area where we'd orienteered some (?) years previously.

We'd parked on that hillside, with friends parked on the level above!

We watched deer coming down to drink in the morning.

 

[jumartoo]

We arrived at Riaño in the sun. And just as we arrived at the shadiest parking, a van pulled out. We had the perfect spot!

We went for a walk around, and then called into the restaurant we used last time, but they were FULL!

Sooo, we've eaten "en van" and very nice it turned out to be!!!

 

[jumartoo]

We got the only noisy peeps on the parking. Two small campervans next to each other, and next to us. They were "only" talking until 12.30 am but they were talking next to our van. And then, of course, they hadn't prepared their sleeping area, so plastic boxes were in and out, and then we had the sliding and slamming of the door.

Anyhooo... we left this morning to drive back to Boñar (the place we were at in the peeing rain before) to do an ride I'd found then. We didn't make it to Boñar because the ride went through the small village of Grandoso, so we parked up there and, again, started the ride part way round.

It was a lovely, challenging, "proper" mountain bike route, especially at the end of summer, with summer vegetation.

We had rocky tracks, a climb up and over the shoulder of a mountain (with previously mentioned vegetation) some water washed descents (I descended and came to an abrupt halt on one of them, when a bush stopped my forward motion), a climb through an old mining area, a single track through a forest, and then a lovely, newly laid tarmac road that led us to our present parking . Keeping this in mind we did the last few kilometres back to the van, loaded up the bikes and drove back here. we had a much needed cold beer, then a shower. I prepared, and Martin cooked Chicken Fajitas, washed down with some Solaz "Red".

Now chillin'

We're in the small hamlet of La Losilla y San Adrian, parked under shady trees, 'twixt a stream and a cemetery. No noisy neighbours tonight

 

[jumar]

Its been very hot here... around the 30°c mark...too hot to be inside a Hymer tin.
Well its all about to change, overnight we expect very autumnal conditions...some rain and a severe drop in temperature..
We think a drive just a few kms south should reduce the chance of rain, however the temperature will be remarkably lower than the past few days..perhaps a jacket (Light) may be needed to maintain one's bodyheat...winter is just around the corner..
Seen lots of village houses that are in receipt of there winter fuel allowance..ready cut..needed to be put into dry storage.

 

[DBK]

Looking on the map you are close to the southern edge of "Green Spain" so it might get hotter as you go south.

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