Where's Bertie? He's still at the roadside in Aracena.
Weather: light cloud for most of the day, but with some sun. Becoming hazy as the day has gone on.
What an excellent morning! Last night I downloaded two walking routes, both approximately 10km (although neither conveniently starting from Bertie's door), and we opted for the one that performed a circuit via the nearby village of Linares de la Sierra.
Almost entirely offroad, it gave a good mix of mildly technical terrain and easy dirt tracks through undulating and varied countryside. Not knowing how Mick's lungs were going to fare, he had the option to take a short cut part way through, but he opted against - and I don't think the fact that the turn was being guarded by a Patou (a dog that blends in nicely with a flock of sheep and whose job it is to protect them from predators) was the reason. It was, however, a relief to realise that we didn't need to negotiate our way straight past the dog.
After about 7.5k we reached Linares...
...where the official route skirted the edge before heading back to Aracena. Here we veered off for a detour, climbed up some steep streets to the church, and located what we were looking for: the village square, home to a bar where we could stop for café y tostada.
I imagine there were three things about us that caused all the locals present to stare at length as we arrived: 1) I was the only female in a gathering of men; 2) we were dressed somewhat differently from everyone else; 3) we stand out as foreign and I don't imagine they get many foreign tourists. We weren't put off, and soon were sitting down with our order:
Segundo Desayuno
A couple of dogs were interested in what we were eating. We didn't oblige their requests for scraps, but both got some fuss from Mick.
Sitting there, I pointed out the banks of benches built into two sides of the square, and assumed that the area was also used as an open air theatre. Mick said maybe a bullring, whereupon I spotted the three concrete half-walls behind which people could hide from bulls. Then we noticed the sturdy shutters across the front of the bar next door. The final confirmation was when I saw the information sign in the corner, entitled 'Plaza de Torros'.
Plaza de Torros
The return leg took a more direct route, but was also mainly uphill, which was unsurprising as our outward leg had been mainly downhill (turns out Linares sits about 250m lower in altitude than Aracena).
A pig. The write-up I'd read about this route said we would see goats, sheep, horses and pigs. This was the only pig, although I'm sure in summer the oak orchards would be full of them.
It's a lovely area and based on the number of finger posts we saw, it's littered with walking route options.
Back at Bertie at lunchtime, showers were the first priority, followed by some chores, followed by lunch, followed by more chores (I even got the vacuum cleaner out for the first time in an unacceptably long time).
It was coming up to tea time when we headed out to tick the penultimate item off the list of things we wanted to do before leaving: go and buy some local ham. (I fear the final item will be left undone, but it's a morning activity and we've been otherwise engaged.)
We came away with more than just ham.
The most expensive leg of ham we spotted in the shop was €300, but a whole leg would be a bit excessive, so we just bought 80g, for €8.50. A bit of a splurge by our usual grocery standards; we'll report back tomorrow as to what it's like (along with the truffle cheese).
We could easily entertain ourselves here for another day yet, but due to our three night limit we'll be moving on tomorrow (I'm sure there are locals wondering what we're up to; other vans have come and gone after a maximum of one night).
Weather: light cloud for most of the day, but with some sun. Becoming hazy as the day has gone on.
What an excellent morning! Last night I downloaded two walking routes, both approximately 10km (although neither conveniently starting from Bertie's door), and we opted for the one that performed a circuit via the nearby village of Linares de la Sierra.
Almost entirely offroad, it gave a good mix of mildly technical terrain and easy dirt tracks through undulating and varied countryside. Not knowing how Mick's lungs were going to fare, he had the option to take a short cut part way through, but he opted against - and I don't think the fact that the turn was being guarded by a Patou (a dog that blends in nicely with a flock of sheep and whose job it is to protect them from predators) was the reason. It was, however, a relief to realise that we didn't need to negotiate our way straight past the dog.
Snaps from the outward leg
Linares de la Sierra, as seen through some trees.
I imagine there were three things about us that caused all the locals present to stare at length as we arrived: 1) I was the only female in a gathering of men; 2) we were dressed somewhat differently from everyone else; 3) we stand out as foreign and I don't imagine they get many foreign tourists. We weren't put off, and soon were sitting down with our order:
Sitting there, I pointed out the banks of benches built into two sides of the square, and assumed that the area was also used as an open air theatre. Mick said maybe a bullring, whereupon I spotted the three concrete half-walls behind which people could hide from bulls. Then we noticed the sturdy shutters across the front of the bar next door. The final confirmation was when I saw the information sign in the corner, entitled 'Plaza de Torros'.
The return leg took a more direct route, but was also mainly uphill, which was unsurprising as our outward leg had been mainly downhill (turns out Linares sits about 250m lower in altitude than Aracena).
It's a lovely area and based on the number of finger posts we saw, it's littered with walking route options.
Route and key stats, as recorded
It was coming up to tea time when we headed out to tick the penultimate item off the list of things we wanted to do before leaving: go and buy some local ham. (I fear the final item will be left undone, but it's a morning activity and we've been otherwise engaged.)
The most expensive leg of ham we spotted in the shop was €300, but a whole leg would be a bit excessive, so we just bought 80g, for €8.50. A bit of a splurge by our usual grocery standards; we'll report back tomorrow as to what it's like (along with the truffle cheese).
We could easily entertain ourselves here for another day yet, but due to our three night limit we'll be moving on tomorrow (I'm sure there are locals wondering what we're up to; other vans have come and gone after a maximum of one night).
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