Where's Bertie? He's in a Municipal Aire, with free electricity and free wifi in the town of Higuera de la Sierra. Exact location: 37.83635, -6.45187.
Weather: Overcast with rain this afternoon. Cooler.
I said yesterday that I'd downloaded the gpx files for two 10km circuits from Aracena, the first of which we did yesterday morning. I was intent on doing the second this morning, but came to realise that whilst the start point wasn't too far away from where we were parked as the crow flies, it was the other side of a ridge. I didn't really have time for the extra distance and ascent to get there on foot, but it didn't take much thought to realise that we could drive around the hill to the retail park we'd visited for a grocery shop a few days ago. Being Sunday the shops weren't open, so we weren't going to be in the way in their car park.
Mick opted to sit out today, so it was just me for this circuit, which proved to be another good and varied one - completely different in feel from yesterdays and much more runnable.
Cows encountered. I had to get pretty close to go through a gate before walking through another herd. They paid me almost no attention, but even so I talked to them the whole time and thanked them for not goring me with their vicious looking horns.
View
Unhelpful map, and key stats.
Back at Bertie and we were soon on the road, although only for 14km to Higuera de la Sierra - just enough time to get the engine heat to warm up Bertie's interior. The outside temperature at that point was just 11 degrees, and I don't think it got much warmer for the rest of the day. We've seen no sunshine all day.
We weren't overly optimistic about getting a space at the Aire on a Sunday morning, and sure enough, it was full on arrival, but no sooner than we'd parked next door and a space opened up. It turned out that the electricity point for that space was duff, but as I'm generally of the opinion that towns shouldn't offer free electricity, and as we would have come here even without that offering, we couldn't complain. We were happy just to have a space.
Not long after, the forecast rain came and stayed for the next few hours, whilst we entertained ourselves with maps of Scotland and a few other things, with a pause at noon to test out yesterday's local cheese and ham purchases.
We tried doing a blind taste test with the ham (€8.50 per 80g from a ham shop vs €1 per 80g from the supermarket), but it didn't really work out as the texture of the good stuff is so far removed from the cheap stuff that it was immediately apparent which was which. The ham got a thumbs up from both of us. Mick also liked the sheep's cheese with truffles; I didn't actively dislike it, but with a really strong taste of truffle, I thought it was a good sheep's cheese ruined. The wine we bought at the same time also got a thumbs up from Mick (I don't drink, so it got no sort of a thumb from me).
It was approaching teatime when we saw a van leave and Mick went and checked out the space they'd vacated. Armed with our electric hook up cable, he checked that it would plug in to the socket there, and then we moved. No, I don't think towns should offer free electricity, but that doesn't mean I'm not happy to use it when available!
As I type this at 8pm, two vans have left in the last five minutes (presumably Spanish people on a weekend trip, needing to go home this evening ready for work tomorrow). I think there are now five of the 11 spaces here free. It does seem that inland (where there is a much higher number of Spanish tourists, versus Northern European visitors), Sunday evening is the time people move.
We've not investigated the town (village?) yet, but hopefully the weather tomorrow will be more suited to that activity.
Weather: Overcast with rain this afternoon. Cooler.
I said yesterday that I'd downloaded the gpx files for two 10km circuits from Aracena, the first of which we did yesterday morning. I was intent on doing the second this morning, but came to realise that whilst the start point wasn't too far away from where we were parked as the crow flies, it was the other side of a ridge. I didn't really have time for the extra distance and ascent to get there on foot, but it didn't take much thought to realise that we could drive around the hill to the retail park we'd visited for a grocery shop a few days ago. Being Sunday the shops weren't open, so we weren't going to be in the way in their car park.
Mick opted to sit out today, so it was just me for this circuit, which proved to be another good and varied one - completely different in feel from yesterdays and much more runnable.
Paths encountered
Back at Bertie and we were soon on the road, although only for 14km to Higuera de la Sierra - just enough time to get the engine heat to warm up Bertie's interior. The outside temperature at that point was just 11 degrees, and I don't think it got much warmer for the rest of the day. We've seen no sunshine all day.
We weren't overly optimistic about getting a space at the Aire on a Sunday morning, and sure enough, it was full on arrival, but no sooner than we'd parked next door and a space opened up. It turned out that the electricity point for that space was duff, but as I'm generally of the opinion that towns shouldn't offer free electricity, and as we would have come here even without that offering, we couldn't complain. We were happy just to have a space.
Not long after, the forecast rain came and stayed for the next few hours, whilst we entertained ourselves with maps of Scotland and a few other things, with a pause at noon to test out yesterday's local cheese and ham purchases.
We tried doing a blind taste test with the ham (€8.50 per 80g from a ham shop vs €1 per 80g from the supermarket), but it didn't really work out as the texture of the good stuff is so far removed from the cheap stuff that it was immediately apparent which was which. The ham got a thumbs up from both of us. Mick also liked the sheep's cheese with truffles; I didn't actively dislike it, but with a really strong taste of truffle, I thought it was a good sheep's cheese ruined. The wine we bought at the same time also got a thumbs up from Mick (I don't drink, so it got no sort of a thumb from me).
It was approaching teatime when we saw a van leave and Mick went and checked out the space they'd vacated. Armed with our electric hook up cable, he checked that it would plug in to the socket there, and then we moved. No, I don't think towns should offer free electricity, but that doesn't mean I'm not happy to use it when available!
As I type this at 8pm, two vans have left in the last five minutes (presumably Spanish people on a weekend trip, needing to go home this evening ready for work tomorrow). I think there are now five of the 11 spaces here free. It does seem that inland (where there is a much higher number of Spanish tourists, versus Northern European visitors), Sunday evening is the time people move.
We've not investigated the town (village?) yet, but hopefully the weather tomorrow will be more suited to that activity.
Your unilluminating map: i'm ever thankful for Ordnance Survey.
ReplyDelete