The Road to Valor

Alpujarras Weather Conditions

2010-01-08T09:50:00.005Z

For most people who dream of relocating to Spain, the beautiful year round climate is one of the major factors. So it's easy to forget that particularly in higher altitude areas like the Alpujarras, weather conditions can vary dramatically both day to day, and also from what you might expect for the time of year.

For a number of different reasons we decided not to spend Christmas in Valor this year, choosing to remain at home in the UK instead. So since we have been languishing under the six inches of snow that is covering everything at present and can't get out to do very much, I thought I'd drop an e-mail to one of our friends in Valor who needed some help with his website. In his reply he surprised me by saying that they have had almost non-stop torrential rain for the past three weeks, which has caused chaos with landslides and washed out roads amongst other things.

At this time of year we are used to experiencing weather conditions in the Alpujarras which we find are ideal for walking. Although cool at night, clear weather conditions with a sun on your back that never gets too hot to be uncomfortable are my idea of heaven when out walking or birdwatching.

But the current unusual weather does serve to illustrate one thing. If you are planning to visit the Alpujarras or Sierra Nevada region for a walking or other activity holiday, do be prepared, with good wet and cold weather gear so you're not caught off guard.

In the Alpujarras, weather conditions can easily catch you off guard, and higher up into the Sierra Nevadas can be positively deadly, but the upside is that the winter air is cool and clear and it is possible to see some really amazing weather formations in addition to the already spectacular scenery.

Las Norias and Salinas Roquetas - A birding trip to the coast

2009-11-05T16:44:00.010Z

On every visit to Valor we always like to venture back down from the hills for at least one trip to some of Southern Spain's birding sites nearer the coast. This is often Cabo de Gata or as in this case a combined trip to the Salinas near Roquetas du Mar and the reserve at Las Norias.

En route I picked up a Southern Grey Shrike just before Cherin and not too far down the road from where we started. This same area is also good for Rollers. We often pick up Black Wheatear and Little Owl on the drive down, but we didn't see anything more of note during the drive.

It usually takes us about three quarters of an hour to get down to Roquetas, and as usual decided to visit the western end of the site first.

Although there was a fair bit of water in the pools at this end (they are sometimes completely dry after the Summer), waders were almost totally absent. In fact we only picked up a single Redshank. Most odd, as there is usually plenty of other stuff about.

Plenty of Barn Swallows were still present, and the scrub carried good numbers of Willow Warblers, Stonechats and more Robins than I think I've ever seen before in one place. People often don't think of Robins as migratory, but there is a fair chance that the ones you see in your garden during the Winter are not the same individuals that were present all Summer.

Apart from the usual Serins, Sardinian Warblers and Zitting Cisticolas, things were a bit quiet, so we decided to drive around to the Eastern end of the site to see what was on the larger pools.

Scanning across the main pool from the road (where there has recently been a lot of new property development) we could see the usual large numbers of Greater Flamingos along with a few Little Egret. There was also a good sized group of Black-necked Grebe and a smaller number of Great Crested Grebe. Large numbers of coot were present, but I couldn't pick out any of the Red-knobbed species (difficult from distance at this time of year anyway). There has been a re-introduction programme in this area so it is usually a good place to find them.

Gulls were represented by Black-headed, Yellow-legged, Audouin's and Lesser Black-backed. Both the main pool at the Eastern end and the far pools up past the old lighthouse are good for gulls.

Raptors we spotted were Kestrel, Hen Harrier and Marsh Harrier.

After having a good look around at Roquetas, we drove the few kilometres back to Las Norias. This site always fascinates me. It's not the prettiest by any means, being smack bang in the middle of Almeria province's plastic greenhouse nightmare. These invernaderos cover a huge amount of the area and apparently can be seen from the moon (check them out on Google Earth). However the birds don't seem to mind and the two man made pools here are teeming with birds.

In addition to other species already seen at Roquetas, we saw Hoopoe, Little Gull, Great Reed Warbler, White-headed Duck, Black-winged Stilt, Pochard, Purple Gallinule, Kingfisher and best of all a beautiful Marbled Duck. Another Marsh Harrier also gaves some spectacular close fly pasts as it hunted over the reserve.

With that it was time to head back home to the Alpujarras. Overall 43 species for the day, which I have to say is far below what I would usually expect given the quality of Southern Spain birding, but it was a very pleasant day out none the less.

Bonelli's Eagle sighting

2009-10-29T12:28:00.009Z

A nice autumnal day walking in the Alpujarras; what more could anyone ask for? We set off for a walk on one of our "local patch" circuits on a beautiful clear day, with a brisk breeze blowing in from the east to help keep the temperature down.

The first part of the walk climbs for about a kilometre up the quiet little road to the neighbouring village of Nechite. With binoculars at the ready we scanned the trees and bushes along the way, always on the lookout for any interesting migrants.

Half way up to the village I spotted two large birds circling some distance away. After getting them in my binoculars my initial thought was that they were Honey Buzzards, as they looked quite long tailed and had noticably small heads. Luckily they circled right towards us, and as they got closer I changed my id to Bonelli's Eagles. Although these birds are year round resident in the area, these two looked to be on a mission as they circled around letting the wind carry them swiftly out of view behind the ridge. A lovely sighting, which really made my day!

As we approached Nechite a Kestrel was also making the best of the breeze, and we watched it hanging almost motionless, just making the smallest adjustments of wings and tail to stay in position. I know they're common birds, but I can happily watch them for ages.

We passed up through the village, keeping an unsuccessful eye out for Hawfinches which are often seen in this location, and then cut left onto the famous GR7 footpath to take us along the contour back towards Valor.

Following the acequia (irrigation channel) we commented on how abundant the sweet chestnuts are this year. The trees are just loaded with them. I've never been a great fan of the things, but when you think of how much they charge for these in the UK shops, I will definitely have to find some way of using this free feast!

We picked up a few more nice species along the path, such as Crag Martin, Stonechat, Sardinian Warbler and Bonelli's Warbler, but mostly we just admired the fine views out across the Contraviesa mountain range with glimpses of the distant sea just visible.

After another kilometre or two we reached the road just below the cheese factory that drops back down to Valor, and as the road pops out just next to the bar El Puente, it was too good an opportunity to miss to round off the walk with a drink or two!

Walking in the Alpujarras is always rewarding, this one of our shorter local walks but a favourite since it starts and finishes from our own front door in Valor.

Financial Crisis in Spain

2009-10-26T20:30:00.007Z

One thing clearly evident on our recent visit to La Alpujarra was the increasing effect of the current financial crisis on rural Spain. In some ways, such as the busy stalls and fairground at the Ugijar fiesta taking place just down the road, it seemed like business as usual. However, after a couple of days of closer inspection and talking to friends and locals, a different picture can be glimpsed.

Farmers are struggling with ever falling prices (hard to believe when you see the retail price of olive oil in the UK), and the knock on effect can be seen with normally lively bars and restaurants shutting earlier in the evening.

Many locals and expats earn a living from the property industry, both as agents and in the building and property renovation trade. Although I have heard of some properties changing hands, there is still currently an awful lot of property for sale in andalucia. I'm not sure whether inland spanish property sales are fairing better than on the costas, but if your own finances are weathering the storm you may never have a better chance again to pick up a cheap spanish property.

Aside from the financial crisis, one of the main reasons for the property downturn here is because of a loss of confidence in the market due to corrupt officialdom and some legal practises that can only be described as bizarre! This shouldn't necessarily put you off from buying in what is after all a beautiful country, but do be warned, read up as much as you can about the process involved and do seek out expert help.

La Alpujarra in October

2009-10-23T12:10:00.004+01:00

We were lucky enough to get over to Valor for a week's visit last week. I can never quite decide whether spring or autumn in the Alpujarras is my favourite season here, both are beautiful, but it was great to recharge our batteries, meet up with friends and also provide some much needed fuel for this blog!

As we still live in the UK it's not always easy to keep coming up with fresh blogging material unless we are actually visiting Spain or have made some sort of progress with our plans to move permanently.

Anyway, hopefully over the next few days I can find time to add a few posts on our wanderings and wildlife sightings during a week of lovely autumn weather in the Alpujarras with temperatures regularly into the mid thirties C.

All the best!

Move to Spain – Getting Closer?

2009-09-26T14:49:00.003+01:00

When we made the decision to relocate to Spain, I honestly believed that the major difficulties would be learning a new language, buying a property, renovating a property etc. Whilst, learning Spanish is still a work in progress, these other elements, have on the whole, proved to be far less troublesome than I had envisaged.

Now that I am more certain that I can successfully scrape together a viable on-line income to supplement our other business ideas, our move to Spain definitely looks like becoming a reality. However as it gets closer all the other issues to be dealt with are looming large in my mind. All the more boring things to deal with, such as getting our house in a condition to attract a buyer, investigating shipping to Spain for our belongings, sorting out banks and finances; the list keeps growing the more you think about it. It is all of these things which now seem to be the biggest hurdles in successfully emigrating.

I really think we need to get organized now, and logically list out all these items that we need to deal with and decide in what order they need to happen. Picking them off one by one will no doubt ease the pain. None of it sounds like much fun, but if we don’t make a start it will never happen.

Wish us luck!

Google Earth Valor

2009-09-16T10:10:00.005+01:00

I love messing about with Google Earth. So I've embedded this map centred on Valor. You may need to install the Google Earth plugin to get this to work in your browser, but once done it lets you zoom in or out, and tilt your viewpoint so you can see the outline of the mountains. Then zoom left or right to have your very own virtual sight-seeing flight through the Sierra Nevada!

Hopefully you will also be able to track down and take a look at some of the other locations mentioned elsewhere in my blog.

Have fun!

Powered by Google Earth Hacks | Map Details | Create your own!

Fiesta de Valor!

2009-08-24T14:48:00.041+01:00

On any given day, somewhere in Spain, in some town or city or sleepy little village, a fiesta will be going on. The Spanish just love an excuse to throw a party.

In Valor, September is fiesta time, and the locals are rightly proud of the spectacle that overtakes the village on the 13th, 14th and 15th every year.

The Valor fiesta commemorates the final conflicts between the Moors and Christians, in their last Moorish bastion of the Alpujarras during the Morisco revolt of 1568 to 1571. King Philip the second of Spain is alleged to have deliberately provoked the uprising by persecuting the Moors, and the ensuing bloody conflict resulted ultimately, in the death of the Morisco king Aben Humeya, and the deportation of the remaining Moors. The Alpujarras was then repopulated with settlers from other areas of Spain.

The fiesta celebrations start with a procession featuring huge caricatures of Aben Humeya and his wife (or at least one of them!). Musical accompaniment, is supplied by a local brass band (the band are also usefully deployed to walk around the entire village at an ungodly hour in the morning just in case you need waking up after partying too long and hard). As you can imagine, the caricature costumes are very heavy in the Spanish sun, and the local bar owners help to keep the wearers fully hydrated by supplying them with beer. This also helps the caricatures to sway realistically to the music.

Following closely behind Mr & Mrs Humeya is rather bizarrely, a manikin in a blonde wig riding on the back of a green dragon. Don't ask, I've never worked that one out either.

Children are rarely excluded from the proceedings in Spain, and here they take part in the procession dressed in "big head" costumes. Occasionally it seems, having a little difficulty in finding their way!

As with the blonde on the dragon, I've no idea if there is any sort of historical significance to the big heads, but it all adds to the unique charm of this fiesta, which has everything from the slightly tacky and home-made to the superbly professional.

Fireworks play a huge part in Spanish fiestas and the Valor fiesta is no exception to this rule. From the man following the procession setting off rockets from his hand (imagine that getting past health & safety in the UK!), to spontaneous bursts of rockets and large spectacular displays, you are treated to some of the noisiest and most colourful pyrotechnics you could wish for.

The amount spent on fireworks for just this one village fiesta must be phenomenal. On the second evening of the fiesta, the large and heavy crucifix is taken down from the church and carried at shoulder height around the village. At each barrio or neighbourhood, the crucifix stops and hundreds of rockets shoot up into the air from nearby. The entire procession takes around two hours, with possibly a dozen or so of these stops and rocket launches. As the crucifix is returned to the church, the finale is a barrage of rockets and air bombs of truly biblical proportions. I'm lucky enough never to have been in a war zone, but I imagine it must sound something like this. It's not only deafening, you can actually feel it reverberating through your body.

The photo below shows just a small number of the rockets awaiting launch, which might give you some idea of the scale.

On all three nights of the Valor fiesta, bands play on a stage constructed in the church square, and drinks are sold from a temporary bar. The population is swelled by visitors from the surrounding villages and from further afield and the whole place turns into a buzzing dance party until first light. Rather more pasa doble than P Diddy though, if you get the picture, but none the worse for that. For somebody like myself, brought up in the UK, it is certainly an eye opener to see everyone from toddlers, to teenagers, right up to old dodderers all having fun and enjoying themselves at the same time.

The highlight of the Valor fiesta, for me at least, is the battle re-enactment on the final day. This is a spectacular blend of bands, parades, horsemanship, speeches and thunderous battles featuring the men of the village decked out in Moorish and Christian battle dress, and sporting a motley collection of the loudest shotguns and blunderbusses you're ever likely to hear.

A really great spectacle that the people of Valor have every right to be proud of.

And if after three days of noise, booze and partying you're feeling a little jaded, don't turn in too early. Get up on the roof terrace with a nightcap in hand and at about one or one thirty in the morning you will be treated to another truly beautiful display of fireworks to bring proceedings to a close. I'm afraid my poor photograph does not do this any justice at all.

All in all, I can highly recommend Valor fiesta. If you get the chance to visit the Aplujarras at this time of year, try not to miss it.

As you can imagine, with such an influx of visitors, accommodation can be tricky to find and you will need to plan ahead and book early. You could try companies such as Owners Direct, and other local hoteliers and proprietors who often feature in our Google Ads section on this blog. You could also contact Los Arcos, who have a link on this page, however they often close for the fiesta as their location directly in the church square is a little too noisy for most guests during the fiesta.

Wherever you end up staying, before your visit, why not pick up some T-shirts and designer sunglasses from our site sponsor Bullseye Fashion? A great range of on-line fashion at low prices.

Thanks for reading The Road to Valor, and if you have your own favourite Spanish fiesta, why not post a comment below. I'd love to hear about it.

All the best!

Valladolid Come to Town

2009-08-05T14:59:00.007+01:00

A little off topic maybe, but a little bit of Spain breezed into my home town of Stockport last night when my team Stockport County took on the might of Real Valladolid in a pre-season friendly.

The La Liga team from Castille y Leon in central Spain gave County a "real" good workout (groan!), eventually running out 3-1 winners. First division County did provide the visitors with a run for their money in the first half though, when they went into a one goal lead after 20 minutes. The scorer was Havern, who powered in a header at the far post from a free kick taken by Rose. As I wasn't really expecting us to get much out of this game the goal was a bonus, and along with a few other good chances and some good passing play, I reckon it was a good first half performance from County. Valladolid took until 8 minutes before half time to equalise through Nivaldo and both sides went in on equal terms at the break.

The second half was a different story. As it was a friendly, Valladolid changed their entire team at half time and the new arrivals led County a merry dance. The home side from then on struggled to keep any kind of possession with the La Liga team really showing their class. It was no surprise when Gonzalez added a second goal after some sustained pressure on the County defence. One slightly familiar face was the ex Man United player Manucho (pictured below on a loan spell at Hull City) who came on amongst the half time changes. He gave the County defence plenty to think about before finally deciding it with a third goal from a delicious strike.

Never nice to see your team get beaten, but all in all it was a good night out and a chance to see how we matched up to some superior opposition.

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2009-08-03T16:53:00.006+01:00

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The Road to Valor

My Adventures in Click Land

A fleeting week.

2009-07-21T09:57:00.019+01:00

Well we're back in the UK already, and a week seems to have just flown past. It hardly seems like five minutes since we booked the flights. Still it was a nice break with lovely weather and temperatures in the mid to high thirties. Most days had at least a little bit of breeze to stop us getting too overheated.

Unfortunately, Maria tore a muscle in her right calf on only our second day. This put paid to us getting out for any more serious walks as she was hobbling round on a stick for the remainder of the trip. I still managed to get a few birding trips in below Valor and we had a drive through the Contraviesa which added a few different bird species.

But even a quiet beer or two in one of the village bars gives great views and allowed us to watch Spotted Flycatchers hunting and returning to a nearby nest.

At this time of year to get the best from a birding walk means a fairly early, but not ridiculously early start, and since I'm onto my local patch in about thirty seconds from leaving the front door seven am or so was just about right. The extra hour of darkness due to the local time difference compared to the UK also helps.

With the sun rising in the east, the valley below Valor remains mostly in shade until about nine. This not only keeps it nice and cool, but also allows you to see the lovely shadows and colours cast by the the early morning sun across the lower valley and the more distant Contraviesa range.

My usual circuit below the village is only about three or four kilometres (depending on my chosen return route), but it usually takes me three or four hours, with many stops at promising birding spots.

The small farms below Valor are a mixture of almond and olive trees, mixed with various vegetable and fruit crops such as tomatoes, peppers, onions, beans etc. There are stands of poplars which are grown for use as roof beams and joists in the traditional houses of the area. These are where you will often spot the many Golden Orioles that are present in spring and summer here. They blend well into the light green foliage, so often their gorgeous fluting song is heard well before you get a glimpse of one.

Amongst the other species spotted on the couple of walks I had last week were Cetti's Warbler, Olivaceous Warbler, Sardinian Warbler, Common Whitethroat, Turtle Dove, Red-rumped Swallow, Crag Martin, Cirl Bunting, Rock Bunting, Serin, Bee Eater, Spotted Flycatcher, Woodchat Shrike. Plenty of other birdlife too of course, and also some notable absences. I didn't hear or see any Wrynecks this trip, and would usually expect to see one or two overflying eagles, particularly Booted Eagle, but no luck.

A drive out in the car was a welcome break for Maria, who had been pretty much housebound on her new walking stick. We did a long circuit heading towards Cadiar via Yegen and Mecina Bombaron, stopping at the various viewing areas to admire the scenery and have a scan around with binoculars for any birdlife.

This picture below is of the valley just below Mecina Bombaron, always a nice place to stop and admire the lovely farm buildings nestling into the steep rock face, and watch the circling Crag Martins and Red-rumped Swallows.

On reaching Cadiar, we took the road towards Albunol before turning left onto the road through the Contraviesa range. Although almond and olive trees still feature, this area is more well known for its wine making, and you pass several large wineries and bodegas along the way.
We then headed down towards the man-made Embalsa de Beninar and stopped to take a few photos. The terrain is drier and more rugged at this end of the Contravieasa, and we saw a few Thekla Larks and Black Wheatears which are typical of the area.

Birdlife on the reservoir appeared to be limited to a few Great Crested Grebes, so we headed back for the return leg through the intriguing villages of Darrical and Lucainena. These villages were almost ghost towns until recently, with many ruined and empty buildings. Several initiatives have taken place to revitalise them, and now there are many restorations and rebuilds underway. It is very isolated, but whoever lives here will enjoy beautiful surroundings. One word of warning, the road along the valley here is very narrow, and its often loose surface has not been improved by the wagons serving the building that is now going on. Drive carefully, and perhaps give it a miss if you don't like heights, as there is often a sheer drop for many metres right at your elbow!

The home leg of the drive takes us back via Cherin and Ugijar back to our start at Valor. A very pleasant and interesting few hours drive, do give it a go if you're in the area.

Next trip booked for July.

2009-06-30T14:21:00.006+01:00

We do find it difficult to stay away from Valor for too long, and since work has been so hectic recently we thought we'd treat ourselves to a quick week in Spain before the schools break up and the flight prices double!

It is usually getting up to some pretty fierce temperatures by this time of year, so any walking or bird watching will mean getting up at the crack of dawn. Although it is past the best time of year for birding (at least until Autumn arrives), there is still plenty to see even locally. Golden Orioles flit between the trees, usually only giving a brief flash of colour before blending back into the foliage. Strangely well camouflaged for such a brightly coloured bird. European Bee Eaters (as in the painting below), and the occasional Roller add another dash of the exotic.

Sometimes the best approach is just to let the wildlife come to you. Scops Owls are common in the area, but devilishly difficult to see. The best view of a Scops I ever had was whilst sitting outside a local bar having an early evening beer, and watching one hunting and returning to its nest in a hole in the wall just feet away from me. Great stuff (I'm easily pleased!).

So maybe we'll just go along with that. Chill out, watch the world go slowly by and see whatever we happen to see.

Mediterranean Chameleon

2009-06-10T10:54:00.003+01:00

Here's another nice find from a recent visit. I spotted this chameleon in the thorny undergrowth, whilst on a birding trip down on the coast near Roquetas.

It was somewhere in the region of a foot long, nose to tail, which I believe is about the maximum size for an adult. I'm not sure how scarce these are in the region, but I've not seen one since.

An interesting and almost pre-historic looking creature.

Accommodation in the Alpujarras

2009-06-04T17:44:00.011+01:00

If you're planning to visit this very beautiful area of Southern Spain, a whole host of accommodation options are available to you, from hotels and hostels of varying degrees of luxury, to bed and breakfasts, or self catering houses and apartments. All of these, you will need to check out in detail, either on the internet if they have a website, or in person before you check in. The reason for this is that the Spanish rating system and the way in which accommodation is described does not always give you the best indication of what is on offer. For example a simple B&B may have more comfortable and better fitted and decorated rooms than a two or three star hotel. It pays to try before you buy!

Which of the above accommodation types suits you best will obviously depend on personal taste and budget, but also on how you are actually travelling.

Nowadays it is easily possible to drive the entire length of the Alpujarras in well under two hours; even making allowances for stopping off to admire the views. So if you have a hire car, then booking a hotel or renting a house in any of the Alpujarran villages or towns such as Valor, Ugijar, Yegen, Mecina Bombaron or Cadiar would provide you with a good touring base to easily visit all the sights of the area (even as far afield as Granada and the Alhambra Palace).

On the other hand, for back packers and cyclists, more careful planning of routes and distances will be required. However, even in this case, with regular and generally reliable buses along the main route through the Alpujarras, backpackers should easily be able to reach their chosen destination should the planning go awry.

By carefully searching the internet it should be easily possible to piece together suitably placed cheap hotels along your walking route, but another good idea is to contact the chosen accommodation at your starting point and ask for suggestions and advice for the remainder of the route from them.

I would also recommend that walkers and backpackers search out accommodation run by like-minded proprietors. They will in most cases be only too willing to help fellow walking enthusiasts with route planning, logistics and possibly travel.
On that note, one business we would definitely recommend is run by our good friends David and Jill Drummie of Los Arcos.

http://www.losarcosholidays.com/

In addition to full guided walking holidays they also offer a B&B service from their fabulously restored property in the church square of Valor. They of course, have an in-depth knowledge of the area and its many walking possibilities, which should help you to get the most out of your walking holiday.

Hopefully, it won’t be too long now before we ourselves make our permanent move to Valor, and can offer our own bed and breakfast service. Until then, we hope this article has helped a little in planning your visit to Southern Spain, and if you already have your own favourite recommendations for accommodation in the Alpujarras, please post a comment below. We’d love to here from you.

A Garden Visitor

2009-06-04T13:49:00.007+01:00

A friend of ours who lives just outside Valor e-mailed me this picture of a garden visitor hoping I could identify it. After a bit of head scratching and research I reckon it's a Montpellier Snake.

She was clearing weeds at the base of the yucca plant and was only alerted to the snake when the dog started barking. She estimates it was between 5 and 6 feet in length, and rather aggressive.

Good job she and the dog kept their distance as these snakes are venomous.

Chullo - Walking in the Sierra Nevada

2009-04-28T18:00:00.010+01:00

After breaking ourselves in gently on the walk above Mecina Bombaron, myself and Dave decided to go for something a bit more ambitious for our next hike and tackle a walk in the Sierra Nevada proper.

A short drive from Valor up into the Sierra Nevada, and you arrive at Puerto de la Ragua. At 2000m above sea level, this is the highest point on the pass across the eastern end of the sierras. Parking up at the visitor centre here gives you access to a whole host of walks for all abilities.

Rising up ominously behind the visitor centre is Chullo, a grand total of 2600 of your European metres high! That's 8,530 feet in real money. A bit more than a nice stroll, but we were up for it.

The photo above was taken Christmas 2007 from the opposite side of the valley, and shows the snow clad summit of Chullo in the background. At the time of our walk in mid March, drifts of snow still clung onto more sheltered parts of the mountain and down into the treeline.

Gently climbing on a zigzag path up through the managed pine forest, the path was treacherous with icy impacted snow. This eased a little as we exited above the trees and followed the path along the contour around to the southern face of the mountain. Having reached this point, we began the ascent proper, heading up what was only a vague pathway. Walking at this altitude really does take the wind out of your sails, so we set targets of each rocky outcrop and took plenty of rests and water stops.

The sparse and scraggy vegetation up here was regularly dotted with beautiful little wild crocus flowers. As for wildlife, lower down amongst the trees, Serins, Chaffinches, Coal, Blue and Great Tits were abundant, and a brief view of a red squirrel scampering across the path was a treat.. Higher up above the tree line, only the odd Skylark and Black Redstart were there to distract us from the climb.

Finally reaching the summit, the views truly are breathtaking. Roughly south-east, the Sierra de Gador rises to a slightly greater altitude than where we stood, whilst to the west a series of still fully snow clad peaks rises to the magestic Mulhacen at around 3500m.

At the summit, we were now exposed to the full force of the wind having been sheltered for most of the ascent. You could feel the wind chill starting to quickly take effect, so we decided not to hang around.

We descended via the main path that most use to reach the summit. Passing by a stone emergency shelter (which was packed to the roof with drifted snow!), we continued down the fairly gentle but knee jarring path. Eventually, arriving back at the visitor centre tired but with a sense of having achieved something, it was good to look back up to the summit and think "we were up there an hour and a half ago!".

All in all a great day out walking in the Sierra Nevada, with great company, great views and as always a great appetite to return again for more!

First visit 2009

2009-04-25T18:00:00.003+01:00

Mid March gave my first opportunity this year to get out to Spain. And as I was using up a few spare days of annual leave (Maria having used all her supply), managed to make it a "boy's week" in the company of my mate Dave.

We travelled over on the 14th March, and found all was shipshape in the house after being closed up for three months. Always a minor relief! Apart from sampling the local tapas and cerveza, our main plan for the week was to get some good walks under our belts. The weather certainly looked as if it was going to be in our favour, with no more than the odd cloud, but not getting too hot to make walking a chore.

Our first outing for the week was a short walk starting out above the pretty village of Mecina Bombaron. Only about 7km in total, but with the first half being a steady climb, was just what we needed to break ourselves in. Starting from a small plaza at the top of the village, you first climb up steep narrow streets, passing ancient white houses typical of the area, then exit the upper limit of the village on a narrow climbing path.

From here on the path is a mixture of cobbled traders paths, or narrow tracks following the acequias or irrigation channels. Several small farms, dot the landscape, with well tended terraces and almond and olive trees. Gnarled and twisted sweet chestnut trees are also a striking feature of the landscape.

After steadily climbing for roughly half the walk, the marked path drops down to pick up the main acequia for the return leg. Passing a couple of old eras or threshing circles you pick up the acequia path and gently descend through more dense and mature woodland until arriving back at the village for a well earned beer.

I've done this walk a few times now, and always enjoy the fantastic views, both within the valley itself, and up towards the snowy peaks of the Sierra Nevadas. Due to the ample tree covering for much of the walk, it also remains pleasant when the hotter weather arrives.

Welcome to The Road to Valor!

2009-04-22T14:24:00.009+01:00

Hello and welcome to my blog. Have you ever dreamed of just packing it all in and trying to lead a simpler and more hassle free existence? My name is Des, and I'm currently living in the UK and pursuing just this sort of dream along with my wife Maria.

We’ve been renovating a typical village house in a little whitewashed pueblo called Valor. High up in the Alpujarras mountains in Southern Spain, at an altitude of about 850m above sea level, Valor is surrounded by beautiful countryside and some stunning views. Some day we would just love to book those one way tickets and settle down there for good.

I know that many people would just throw caution to the wind and jet off into the sunset to see what fate has in store for them, but I’m afraid it’s in my own nature to take a more considered approach. The downside of this however, is that it can lose you valuable momentum. We bought the property back in 2004, and our initial five year plan is just about to run out of time. So, are we ever going make it?

Well, we have completed most of what I thought would be the trickiest bits. Buying a house in Spain in itself is an interesting process, which I’ll hopefully expand on in a future post; and we have also managed to get the house renovated “long distance” whilst still living in the UK. But the one missing piece in the jigsaw, and the one that is ultimately proving the most difficult, is how to provide ourselves with a sustainable income.

Guided bird watching holidays were always going to be our main thread of business, but we knew this was probably going to need supplementing. The current recession has only served to underline that. But rest assured we are working on it, and who knows? One of these days we may just get there!