21st December 2001 - 10.15 GMT

Sierra de Gredos - Central Spain

F1000005. El Escorial

12th until 18th of August 2001

The basic idea was to take advantage of the holiday on 15th and leave town for a week, a good break at the right time for Ros in the middle of her exam preparations. Soon we were clear about the general direction:

-no beach, but mountains

- no Portugal, but Spain

- not too far away

An obvious choice was a mountain range near Madrid, called the Sierra dos Gredos. Easy walks on one day and some culture on the other. "Culture" is not really appropriate, during our trip we would see at least one or two "Monuments of humanity" a day. Central and southern Spain has it literally at every corner.

12th August 2001 - 0th day

Leave home around 11 am, passing Evora, Badajoz Caceres, Plasencia and arriving in Avila in the evening, a pleasant 600 km ride. We find a room, with 35 US-$ not what I call cheap, but it's high season and we have no big choice, as it is already dark. Have a late beer at the town wall.

13th August 2001 - 1st day

Gonna explore the old part, quiet amazing. The old town walls are huge and in an amazing state of preservation, the first of many "Monuments of humanity" declared by the UN. The city is full of life, and we get some maps about the mountains. We leave the city around midday and get on the road heading for El Escorial (Monuments of humanity). It's Monday and it's closed. Saves us some money :).

F1000001 El Escorial	F1000002 El Escorial	F1000003 Velazquez	F1000004 Velazquez

Nice sculpture of a famous Velasquez painting. We continue to Cercedilla, have a coffee break and then leave the car at the train station to Madrid. The Lonely planet describes on walk from here, so it's an obvious choice. We follow the trail for 1 hour or so and reach a heli pad of the fire brigade, return to the car, drive up again, hang around reading and pitch up our tent. Around midnight we awake by thunder, which is nearer then I consider comfortable. We pack our stuff in a hurry, get into the car and sleep there.

F1000006. Hotel Clio

14th August 2001 - 2nd day

Finally, time to do some hiking. We get up early, and get on the road. Following a dirt track through the woods, we reach a hospital, ask some very nice bikers for the way and reach a large rest area, where the walk actually begins.

F1000007. Roman walk

Starting on a beautiful path along a small river, we choose to continue the "roman walk", a cobbled path not very comfortable to walk on. After reaching the ridge, we turn right to go further to "Siete picos". We cross pine woods with refreshing shade and smooth walking until we reach the saddle.

F1000008. La Mira walk	F1000009. La Mira walk	F1000010. La Mira walk	F1000011. La Mira walk

There we met a sympatic family, 3 kids, ask for the way and see 2 big eagles. ........ Back in the car we drive back to Cercedilla, where we check in the hotel at the train station. The rooms are small, but a fair price for 4000 Pts. After a shower we have a beer outside and later get a "rico lomito" with another beer.

15th August 2001 - 3rd day

Breakfast and then a drive to Segovia. We park at the beginning of the aqueduct and follow it's course, the final view of the dozen of arcs 40 or 50 meters above the ground is impressing.

F1000012. Segovia

After 2 or 3 hours walking we have enough and heap for the "sierra de gredos". The lonely Planet is not very clear, where is the best place for us to start so we decide to just wait and see. Right in the small village of Hoyos de Espino is the entrance to the National park, indicated by a statue of an Ibex and an information boot. Here starts a 12 km road, which leads to the so-called "Plataforma", a parking lot and the head of the trail.

16th August 2001 - 4th day

The night is rather cold with a great sky full of stars. As the morning comes, the plataforma starts to fill up again with cars coming form the valley, especially from the camping. We get our stuff together and move out, the first 20 min on a roughly cobbled, steep trail, but then comes our crossing and we leave everybody behind, as they go to the main attraction "Circo de Gredos". A beautiful meadow opens in front of us, grass as smooth as a mattress, cows and bulls and calves and butterflies. We are using our walking sticks to pick up these huge balls of dry cow shit and throw it in each other's direction, good fun. Walk to La mira and sleep in Hoyos de Espino

F1000014. La Mira walk	F1000015. La Mira walk	F1000016. La Mira walk

F1000017. La Mira walk	F1000018. La Mira walk	F1000019. La Mira walk	F1000020. La Mira walk
F1000021. La Mira walk	F1000022. La Mira walk	F1000023. La Mira walk	F1000024. La Mira walk

F1000025. La Mira summit	F1000026. La Mira summit

17th August 2001 - 5th day

Churros and hot chocolate for breakfast and ready to go! Drove up to plataforma again, as it was predictable it was really full (120 - 150 cars). Most of the walk was not very pleasant, too many people; families, mountaineers, couples, most of the time we tried to stay on the "fast lane" to pass. After 90 min or so we reached a pass, then a light descent and a map of the "Circo de los Gredos". Hmm.... Sincerely, we were disappointed. We had higher expectations. It's nice, but not that great. We didn't descended to the lake, but turned around and reached the car around 1 p.m., packed up and arrived in the late evening in Caceres. By some kind of luck we were swamped in the right part of the town and find a decent room, the last one. Had a big sandwich battle on the room, watched some TV ("las chicas controlan, los chicos no molan") and didn't leave to room again. A pity as we wanted to spent a night on the town.

F1000027. Circo de Gredos	F1000028. Circo de Gredos	F1000029. Circo de Gredos	F1000030. Circo de Gredos

F1000031. Caceres	F1000032. Caceres

18th August 2001 - 6th day

Had a nice walk to the very impressing old part of the city, a rich breakfast with nice view at the market place ("Tortitas de manzana y café com leche"). Then we left Caceres, had no problems on the highway and arrived at home around 4 p.m.

F1000033. Caceres	F1000034. Caceres

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- I