Until yesterday, when we’ve gone into a Tourist Office and asked for information about local walking trails we have been given either a high-level map (sometimes very high level, just showing the area where walks are available) or a page of route details, often photocopied. One office could only sell us a map for €5, which didn’t quite cover the area in which we were interested (an information sign outside was much more useful and I just photographed that instead). So, when the assistant in the Tourist Office in Fregenal rummaged under her desk and came up with a glossy cardboard envelope containing six glossy route cards, I expected there to be a charge. Nope; our good friend “EU Funding” has been in play again, resulting in the creation of the routes and of the (full-colour, high-gloss) information about them.
I selected two circular routes out of the six as contenders for this morning. Mick’s choice was a third, a lollipop-shaped trail, which also happened to have the start point nearest to Colin and that’s the one that won the toss.
A cloudy start saw us exit the bus station (where the motorhome Aire in Fregenal is located) and wander a few hundred metres up the road, where our way lay up a dirt road (when I say ‘dirt road’ I mean a public road, complete with sign posts, but unsurfaced; it wasn’t busy with traffic). By the time we got to the point where we left the road to take to a track running adjacent to the railway, the sun had won through:
Another track took us back to the dirt road, which formed our return route. As the route card had suggested, it was a fast-going trail, with the 7.9 miles taking us just two and a quarter hours. As with yesterday’s outing, it was a perfectly pleasant countryside walk and a good stretch of the legs (and with much greenery and dry-stone walls it was, again, reminiscent of home), but it wasn’t spectacular. I suspect we would need to be a bit further east, into the Sierra Morena, to obtain more noteworthy walking.
We won’t, however, be heading east. With our time in Spain drawing to a close, and with a couple more towns/cities we want to visit lying between us and home (not to mention an awful lot of driving), today’s was probably the last walk of this trip which will qualify for a mention on this blog. I will, of course, continue wittering away about our other doings on thegateposts.blogspot.com.
I selected two circular routes out of the six as contenders for this morning. Mick’s choice was a third, a lollipop-shaped trail, which also happened to have the start point nearest to Colin and that’s the one that won the toss.
A cloudy start saw us exit the bus station (where the motorhome Aire in Fregenal is located) and wander a few hundred metres up the road, where our way lay up a dirt road (when I say ‘dirt road’ I mean a public road, complete with sign posts, but unsurfaced; it wasn’t busy with traffic). By the time we got to the point where we left the road to take to a track running adjacent to the railway, the sun had won through:
Another track took us back to the dirt road, which formed our return route. As the route card had suggested, it was a fast-going trail, with the 7.9 miles taking us just two and a quarter hours. As with yesterday’s outing, it was a perfectly pleasant countryside walk and a good stretch of the legs (and with much greenery and dry-stone walls it was, again, reminiscent of home), but it wasn’t spectacular. I suspect we would need to be a bit further east, into the Sierra Morena, to obtain more noteworthy walking.
We won’t, however, be heading east. With our time in Spain drawing to a close, and with a couple more towns/cities we want to visit lying between us and home (not to mention an awful lot of driving), today’s was probably the last walk of this trip which will qualify for a mention on this blog. I will, of course, continue wittering away about our other doings on thegateposts.blogspot.com.
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