Wednesday 20th April Montanejos to Villahermosa del Rio

Quite a tough walk today, about 30 kilometres and about 1500 metres of climb, Christine has sore feet. One of the things I have to remember is that I'm now ultra acclimatised, have got skin on my feet that a rhinoceros would proud of, but people joining me will not be as toughened up.

Climbing up out of Montanejos

Left Montanejos at about 8.30 fully loaded, too much water and enough food for days. The first thing we had to do was climb out of the valley, up, along and then up again, 500 metres in the first 90 minutes or so. We were surrounded by some dramatic scenery but it was difficult to see through the trees and the low clouds. Having got to the top it was straight back down to the dry river bed just below the village of La Artejuala. We were there by 11 o'clock, and partly to lighten the load, and partly because we were already hungry, we had a huge early lunch. Two lots of salami and tomato sandwiches.

La Artejuela

Forest over abandoned terraces

After that it was along walk up out of the valley still through trees until we hit the road which took us into the small town of San Vicente de Piedrahita. Time to join the locals in the bar and watch some quiz show on the television. After a couple of coffees we decided to leave, we were in danger of getting addicted. Very risqué adverts on Spanish television which English people, in a pub at lunchtime, would find embarrassing but no one blinks here.

Cheered up by the sign that said 2 hours 30 minutes to Villermosa del Rio, the quality of the walking declined dramatically. Although the path was trying to avoid the road the local farmers clearly thought that was where you should be. I was happy to accept the farmers wishes but Christine, whose feet were getting painful, resisted. She was not at all sympathetic when I tripped over an electric fence and fell in a gorse bush.

After the Ermita de San Bartomolome everything improved and although it was getting colder the last hour of the walk was really nice. Lots of Juniper bushes, flowers and a lovely old mule track which contoured around the mountain before the final descent into Villahermosa del Rio. Even saw some wildlife in the shape of circling eagle type things.

Villahermosa del Rio

Staying at the Hostal Ruta Aragon and will watch some of the replay between Real Madrid and Barcelona for the Copa del Rey which everyone is going nuts about here.

Saturday April 16th Chelva to Andilla

Not sure what happened to my first version of the diary entry for April the 16th, it literally went missing between sending it from my IPad and arriving as a blog. It left without leaving a trace and didn't turn up. Really annoying.

Anyway my birthday walk was a bit of a rushed affair as I wanted to make sure I arrived at Andilla before Christine who was flying out from the UK on the same day. Left Chelva at 7 in the morning and although it was starting to get light the sun had still to rise. Managed to get an early morning coffee and a piece of cake in a bar opposite the hotel.

Heading east out of Chelva early in the morning

My recollection of the walk now is that it was pleasant but not breathtaking. Long steady walk through a valley where the path varied from a forest trail to seriously overgrown. Seriously overgrown means scratched legs and slow progress as you keep loosing the route.

On an ancient camino near Caserio de Alcotas

The first major milestone was the little village of Caserio de Alcotas but there was nothing there to make you hang about. After dropping down a bit you walked along another overgrown valley path before emerging on a hill side which was overgrown with wind turbines. The wind had actually got up a bit and they were spinning around and creaking, can't say I'm a major fan, no pun intended.

Arrived at Andilla and it's twin village of La Pobletta at about 3.30, taking roughly 8 hours to cover the 28 kilometres. Andilla is a really nice little mountain town. For the first time on this trip I saw a large number of serious looking Spanish walkers who were eating lunch when I arrived. They had a good look at my ruck sack and footwear just to see if I meant business, I think I passed muster.

The church in Andilla

The casa rural I'm staying in is very close to the church which like most churches around chimes the time all night and does the hours twice. Sure I'll be used to it by the time I have left Spain.

Apart from my birthday and Christine's arrival the really big news is that I have worn out my first pair of walking shoes. The soles of the right shoe have completely split and there is a gash in the left shoe. Although they were showing other signs of wear and tear there was nothing as terminal as a split sole. My feet by the way are now totally acclimatised and pain free. I am absolutely sure that I made the right choice with as light as possible and I'm really pleased with the Inov8 Terrocs I've been wearing. For the record they lasted 47 days during which time I have walked around 1400 kilometres. The timing is perfect as Christine is bringing out another pair, same a before but not Gortex, given the weather I don't think they need to be waterproof and should be cooler.

Shoes on last legs

Monday April 18th Bejis to Montan

Didn't get quite get as far as I had planned today but then perhaps the plan was just a bit too ambitious. Had originally hoped to get to Montanejos, which is at least 40 kilometres from Bejis, but at 5.30, the sign said we still had another two hours walking to do. Christine was accusing me of trying to finish her off, so I decided to cut things short and head for Montan which is just off the GR7. This seems to have worked out well and after two beers Christine has cheered up.

Tried to get a really early start from Bejis but a nice breakfast slowed things up a bit (delicious home made pots of semi jam-like fruit puree with butter, toast and lots of steaming cafe con leche). Great value hotel, nice dinner last night, and as well as breakfast they made us a packed lunch.

Really nice crisp weather this morning, actually a bit cold, the route took you across the valley on a track through terraced fields of almonds which have now set - you can see the green almond fruit growing. The views back to Bejis were good, apart from the blots on the landscape here and there caused by the Spanish tendency to fly tip.

Bejis

Fly tipping near Bejis

Turning east we followed a disused railway track which had been converted into an 130 kilometres long cycle route, the Vio Verde (the route of GR7 almost follows this for about 7 kilometres and leaves it just on the other side of the motorway). The most exciting thing was an E4 sign saying that it was 2,132 kilometres to Tarifa. More than happy to claim I have walked this far but don't think it's true, I'm sure its nearly 800 kilometres too much.

I don't believe it

After going underneath a motorway you start to travel in a more northerly direction. We got lost briefly then rejoined the way marked route, over rough fields and terraces and past sad looking abandoned farmhouses. We continued and annoyingly the path turned southeast for a while before going north again. A couple of miles later we discovered we'd been on a long detour off piste. It was hot and we were getting tired but we now had a long trek up a narrow valley, over a brow, down the other side then up a very steep mountain side through the gorse scrub on a tiny steep path. We finally got to the top and rested on a bed of pine needles and ants.

Rosemary and Cistus

A long descent, part on a dirt track and part bushwhacking through scrub brought us to the Montan sign and we decided enough was enough and walked the 30mins into Montan, a pretty place clinging to wooded hillsides with one bar and one perfectly good Hostal Pilar.

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Sunday April 17th Andilla to Bejis

The final taxi leg of Christine's journey was a bit stressful yesterday, very hard to find anyone to go so far into mountains. As always, or nearly always, someone came up with a solution and an emotional Christine arrived at about 7 o'clock. Lesson for the future is to avoid such remote places for a meet up. Casa Muralla by the way was excellent, lovely room and provided an evening meal as well.

After a cloudy day yesterday it was sunny again today, a bit fresh but perfect for walking. The walk to Bejis was a scheduled 23 kilometres but with a detour we added an unplanned 6 kilometres plus a lot of extra climb.

The source of confusion was a marathon being run along parts of the GR7. Quite a tough run I would have thought, up and down some steep paths. Anyway some of the organisers helpfully sent us down the wrong route and I was so busy lecturing Christine about something, got a whole month of lecturing to catch up on, that I didn't check the route for about half an hour by which time we had climbed unnecessarily way up the mountain, going perilously close to Christine's first beehive gulag.

Marathon runners outside Andilla

First day out for Christine

Not the end of the world and we didn't make any more mistakes. It also means that whenever I'm in full rant about something Christine can break me off by saying "are we going the right way".

As well as the lovely clear weather I guess the highlight of the walk was the broom (could have been gorse) which was everywhere in full flower and smelling wonderful. Having come down from our unnecessary detour, which took us over 1300m, much of the walk was along the bottom of a valley which had a stream in it. At times the stream formed pools which looked perfect for some wild water swimming, just the slight chill in the air put us off from going in, honestly.

Swimming pools along the Rio Canales

The other highlight was a wonderful highly calorific birthday cake which Christine had bought all the way from the UK. Just the job, should last for least three days.

After going through a couple of pretty little villages, Arteas de Arriba and Arteas de Abajo, it was a contour walk to the ancient town of Bejis, another settlement defensively positioned on the side of a hill. Staying in the Hostal Restuarant El Pita which seems fine, although frustratingly no wifi.

When we arrived at 4.30pm the last Sunday lunchers were just finishing what looked like a splendid meal, and we sat and had a beer while the patron and his family cleared up the debris. There were huge jars of local honey on the bar which I have to confess sent shivers down my spine.

One of the things I was ranting about today was the difference between the UK and Spanish housing markets. Even in Bejis, really a village in UK terms (although as always much denser than in the UK) there is a large empty new block of flats on the edge. I'm trying to my head around the fact that the UK housing boom produced such a huge hike in prices but only limited increase in supply whereas here the boom generated a massive over supply.

Bejis

Christine adds:
It's good to see John looking so well. He's has clearly got into the rhythm of this thing and is very relaxed, enjoying every adventure.
Since I was last here the weather has got much better and the vegetation has completely changed. It's now true Mediterranean aromatic scrubland, maquis and garrigue I think tho I can't remember the difference. All I do know is wearing shorts carries the risk of very scratched legs by the end of the day.

Friday 15th April Benageber to Chelva

Well it was a good job I got lost a couple of times yesterday and didn't attempt to walk all the way to Chelva. It would have been too far and I would have rushed a good walk. Anyway stopping at Benageber worked out really well.

Left at 8 this morning, no one about in any of the 2 bars, so no coffee. Spotted the owner of the supermercado arriving with provisions and persuaded her to open up and sell me a stick of frozen bread and a tomato. I think she might have given me the tomato, could be a developing trend.

For the first time in a couple of weeks it's been a bit cloudy today which was a shame because there were some great views. Without doubt the star of the show was the scenery just below Benageber and crossing the Rio Turia. Really dramatic sandstone gorge, the deepest I have been in so far. Getting down involved a really steep path. Some amazing waterfalls not something you associate with this corner of Spain. Once at the bottom it wasn't long before you had to recover all the altitude you had just lost with a steep climb up the other side.

Rio Turin gorge with some early morning light

Waterfalls down to the Rio Turin

Once on top it was easier, walking through olive groves and almond trees, and after yesterday's excursions I kept a close eye on the GPS track and was in sight of Chelva by one o'clock. The final walk into town was marked by another gorge, but on a smaller scale, including a lovely and well restored old bridge.

                          Puente de la Mozaira 

After really small places for the last two nights Chelva is a metropolis by comparison.  Still has its ancient Arab quarter with a dense and bewildering street pattern.  Stayed at the Hotel La Pasada, very nice, and the manager help sort out my accommodation for tomorrow night in Andilla which was just as well as it turns out there is marathon there and it's very full.

Might wander out later and see if I can get my hair cut, supertramp to supersharp, although of course anything could happen. Just had a very nice lunch with red wine and I'm feeling very relaxed. Christine (my wife) joins me tomorrow and I can't wait to see her.

By the way the GPS clocked me at 20 kilometres today which seems about right so maybe I did 54 yesterday after all.

Thursday 14th April Chera to Benageber

According to my GPS I did 54 kilometres and over 2000 metres of climb. As much as I would like to believe this I'm not sure if it can be true. I had the route down as 38 kilometres although I don't think that includes the bit at the beginning when you supposed to walk down the road from Chera to join the walk. It certainly didn't include my cock-ups.

I started very early. There was nothing to stay for in Chera and I was a bit worried about accommodation in Banageber and wanted to give myself time to find alternatives to sleeping rough. So I was on the road before seven with enough provisions to eat many times on the route.

My first cock-up was to attempt a short cut that would avoid repeating the road walk at the end of yesterday's trip and allow me to miss a huge concentration of bee hives. After about 30 minutes it became clear that my short cut was a long cut and I had to retrace my steps. The benefit of my early start was largely lost.

The bees of course were still asleep when I went past, it was a really nice morning and there were great views of the sandstone massif that towers over Chera. Then cock-up number two.

Bee hives near Chera

Pico Rope

To be fair it wasn't altogether my fault, I just followed the GR signs, if I had checked my GPS I would have discovered however that this was an example of more than one set of GR signs. It is confusing but there are definitely variants, usually to take you to a special feature and they are usually specifically signed. This unsigned variant was for people who wanted to practice their jungle warfare technique and went deeper and deeper into the undergrowth. I was able to follow the signs for about 30 minutes but then lost them so had to just bashed my way down to a road which led me to my GPS trail (hope your following this). Along the road the GR signs turned up again and by the time I got to the junction with the GPS trail there were GR signs coming from three directions.

So after such an early start it felt like I was well of the pace but from then the track was easy to walk on and I cracked along. Most of it was through trees and a bit dull but there was a section, low down and along a long gorge. There was water at the bottom and hundreds of frogs which, despite being very small were able to generate a huge noise with the cliffs of gorge acting like a sound box.

Wooded countryside on the way to Benageber

At about 12.45 I saw a sign saying Benageber 4 hours 45 minutes. Shortly after that I saw a group of people planting a field of potatoes by hand. They were just finishing to escape the heat but after my third lunch I pressed on.

Without the cock-ups I think of could have made Chelva, tomorrow's destination today, I could have put in a 12 hour shift and got there by 7. My range has definitely got longer since I started. As it was it was 4.30 when I went past the Chelva sign so it would have been 8 before I got there. It would also be a shame to rush as the scenery picked up again towards the end of the walk.

I was right to be nervous about Benageber accommodation. It's a very small town, only got two bars, and I couldn't find the place I had got listed. There was no one about. I wandered up the road towards a building that looked likely. It wasn't but there was a man there to ask. He pointed back towards the town but I had no idea whether he was pointing back to or beyond the town. Slightly encouraged I returned but still not really knowing where to look. Then behind me, on a scooter, the man I asked directions had arrived and then escorted me to two different places that do accommodation. The best was Bar Benageber which had apartments but of course nothing was happening for an hour until the bar opened. Twice the man came to make sure I was OK and in the end helped me with the discussions with the landlord. What a star.

As it is I'm really well set, great apartment and a good price particularly compared to the dump I was in last night.

Wednesday 13th April El Rebollar to Chera

Mi hija Hannah described me as supertramp in a tweet with reference to my all night walk, slightly double edged to say the least but it did set me thinking. My head teacher at junior school, Miss Gledhill, had a slightly unhealthy obsession with the poet John Masefield, who before George Orwell, hit the road and wrote Diaries of a Supertramp. Perhaps being bombarded with Masefield has lead me to this. In addition as a teenager I had an obsession with the pre-electric Bob Dylan (what a sell-out he proved to be) who of course modelled himself on Woody Guthrie (check the picture on first album cover) who of course, possibly not out of choice, was a famous hobo. It all fits.

To be honest the all night walk has left a bit of mark. Although it was fine at the time the memory of it is disturbing. Particularly this morning I really felt that I needed to get back from Supertramp to well resourced walker. Maybe the totally wrecked sleep pattern has given me a bit of a jet lag sensation, I'm "Lost in Translation" (which for some reason is a favourite film) and quickly need to get from Woody Guthrie to Bill Murray.

Today provided the antidote opportunity, short 20 kilometre walk to Chera with accommodation booked at other end. Had a double breakfast and got a taxi to El Rebollar. There is a public transport option but I wasn't messing about.

Not long after the start I had to cross a railway line. This can't be happening, John Masefield gets his foot stuck on a railway line and looses it and boxcar Guthrie's railway connections are just too obvious to mention. Manage to walk across it safely when just for a few seconds I think the route takes me across the High Speed Route as well, then I see a bridge and start to calm down.

After that things get better. The route takes me across fields of vines which happily are starting to sprout leaves and then through a valley into hillier country. Essentially you're contouring around the Sierra de Tejo which at the top is over 1100 metres. The route is well marked and looks used. All of a sudden in runs into a two metre deer fence. Just to get the message across the deer fence has panels of steel reinforcing laced into it, the stuff they use in concrete.

To the north of El Rebollar

Block Trail

Hidden Waymarks

Approaching Chera

Now I don't want go anywhere if I'm not welcome but after going up and down the fence looking for the please come through gate, I realise that the only way to get to Chera is once again to climb a deer fence. The absence of "welcome walker" signs are reinforced inside when I realise that someone has gone the trouble of painting over all the GR signs. Not sure but I suspect that this has something to do with hunting. Although, given the almost total absence of anyone on the walk so far, the chances of suddenly bumping into a hunter was virtually zero, the clear inference that I wasn't welcome did spoil an otherwise nice walk. I did see three captive deer but they failed to realise that I was on their side and shot up the mountain.

The deer San Quentin must have been 10 kilometres across and finally emerged about 5 kilometres before Chera. There was a open gate across a cattle grid, the gate was open because a satellite dish installer was visiting a house and had to get access. Either side of the gate were turnstiles to let pedestrians through. On the other side the GR signs started again and shortly after there was a sign pointing me down this route to El Rebollar. No idea what's going on.

In Chera the municipal auberge I had a room booked in was closed until tomorrow but fortunately there was another one in this very small town.

Chera is an interesting little town, population about 2,000 I guess. Have seen 5 bars, a baker, 2 little "supermecados" one selling meat as well, and a chemist. Non of the above look prosperous. On the other hand the road to the town has been completely reconstructed, not a dual carriageway, but high quality non-the-less. In addition to the road the immediate approach to the town has a new street lighting scheme, parking bays, bus shelter etc etc. Neither the road or the new facilities seem to get any use.

Missing my water reservoir. Particularly miss the fact that the pipe which goes over your shoulder and connects to a strap on your bag made you look you look like a serious walker and less like a tramp. Also had a certain ghostbuster, Bill Murray, look to it.