Reflections on a Year's Walks - 2012

I've had an amazing year. Eight walking trips, 95 days of full- on walking and loads of adventures.   At the moment, as well as trying to keep fit on the South Downs, I'm busy working out a schedule for 2013 and reflecting on the lessons I've learnt this year.

The lessons with hindsight seem blindingly obvious.

The first - already having an impact on plans for next year - is that you can't have too much of a good thing.  I had thought that 7 weeks in Nepal would satiate my appetite for the Himalayas but it had the opposite effect.

Although I didn't get to the top of Mera Peak (the weather was exceptionally bad this spring and very few groups did),  I had an amazing adventure.  The memories of the night at high camp (perched on a 5,400m cliff on the edge of a glacier in a ferocious storm), the attempt on the summit next day (a fall into a crevasse followed by an agonising trudge through fresh snow a metre deep) and the descent the following day with arguably the best mountain view in the world (clear sight of five 8,000 m plus summits including Everest) will stay with me forever.

The view to Everest from Mera

GR 48 - Sendero de Sierra Morena

When Juan Holgado suggested we go for a walk along the GR 48 I jumped at the opportunity. Although it's been a mild winter in the UK it felt like a long time since I had done any serious walking.  I was ready for sun and some long days on the trail with Juan felt like ideal preparation for my six week trip to Nepal which starts in March.  Better still Juan was doing all the hard work, putting together the itinerary and booking the accommodation, all I had to do was turn up and keep up.

The only downside of letting Juan do the planning was that he determined how long the days were.  Juan is a serious dawn to dusk walker and the schedule he put together involved walking 160 kilometres in four days.  Despite all my best intentions I had not kept up anything like the level of fitness I had acquired on the E4 last year and keeping up with Juan, who runs/walks 20 kilometres every day he is not on the trail, was always going to be a challenge.

Still the GR 48 was a great choice.  It's easy walking, generally between 300 and 800 metres, along excellent trails through really interesting countryside.  It's a relatively new trail, going, west to east through a series of natural parks, from just inside the Portugese border for 550 kilometres through the Sierra Morena in the north of Andalucia. Clearly part of an initiative to promote walking it is supported by one of the best web-sites I have seen with guides and GPS trails available for download.  The guides on the web-site are in Spanish but English language versions were forwarded to me by a very friendly help desk, via their Facebook page.

Day 4 GR 48 - Almaden de la Plata to Cazalla de la Sierra

There is nowhere to stop between Almaden de la Plata and Cazalla de la Sierra and Juan's original plan involved walking for 40 kilometres and then getting a taxi for the last 10 or so in time to catch the bus or train to Seville.   In the end we walked 30, got to the town early, and had a splendid late lunch - good decision and the perfect way to end a such a lovely walk.

Leaving Almaden de la Plata

After brilliant walking along ancient caminos for the first three days, today's trail was just a bit boring following an un-metalled open road all the way.  Not unpleasant, just a bit monotonous.

Day 3 GR 48 - Cala to Almaden de la Plata

Really interesting walk today, three very distinct sections with pretty historic towns at the end of each.

Early morning leaving Cala

Cow Heaven

Day 2 GR48 - Hinojales to Cala

Day 1 was a brilliant walk but if anything Day 2 was even better. The landscape the route takes you through was similar to the first day, with the same wonderful trees and brilliant paths, but if anything opens up a bit with the views just a bit bigger.

The day started particularly well with the bill for the accommodation - 32 euros all in, fantastic value - and Juan confessing that his legs ached a bit after yesterday's 44 kilometres. I told him mine were fine which was not quite true but made me feel better.

Leaving Hinojales as the sun comes up

We were also out in time to see the sun come up through a red sky, excellent start to the day. The sun seemed to trigger of a Hooper bird whose distinct clacking song is, Juan tells me, a harbinger for spring in Spain.

Day 1 - GR 48, Encinasola to Hinolajes

Huge walk today, 44 kilometres, knackered but feeling good, very close to getting blisters on the my first day but after a soak in cold water my feet have stopped cooking and now feel fine.

So where am I and what's the walking like?

Well I'm in Huelva which is the most westerly province in Andalucia, on the border with Portugal, and I'm walking, with Juan Holgado, directly east through the Sierra Morena. It's fairly gentle walking, hilly (we're at an average altitude of around 500 metres) and although the route takes you through a series of small villages, the countryside feels empty.

We are walking through the Sierra de Arecena y Picos de Aroche Natural Park and the landscape is lovely. Most of countryside is used for low intensity animal grazing with the animals sheltering under trees. We have seen the whole range of farm animals: sheep; the famous black Iberian pigs (this is an area famous for the quality of its ham); cattle (supposed to an area where fighting bulls are bred); and even a few goats.

Iberian Pigs