Rides bikes, paddles sea kayaks, takes pictures. Life on the road & my home in Cornwall.
Sierra de Gredos
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Quiet trails from Avila through the Sierra de Gredos mountains .
The Sierra de Gredos mountains, about 100km west of Madrid, had been on my radar, kind of, ever since I stumbled across a trail (hiking) guide in a bookshop in Montreal some time at the end of the 90s. It made sense to head there for a few days, making a 350km loop (with around 7000m of climbing), from Avila, of the range.
…found myself a nice warm village bar where a bunch of tipsy old men enjoying afternoon drinks made sure I was well fed and watered, while I dripped all over the floor..
Leaving town I was still feeling somewhat fragile and a bit under the weather, nothing in the tank so to speak, and feeling as if my legs belonged to someone else… I hoped to be able to ride through it and by day 3 was feeling much better, so well worth the effort. It’s a beautiful area, so as you might expect I’m just going sling some photos at you by way of telling the story…
Views trundling south from AvilaThe Burguillo reservoir in the Iruelas Valley. The valley is known in particular for its bird life, and I did enjoy the sight of enormous European Vultures circling above my tent of an evening… It was a lovely trail along this stretch, a mix of dirt double-track and rocky, loose singletrack far from any motor traffic.A well hidden spot for the night… camping is prohibited inside the park, but it’s prohibited outside anyway, so same kind of common sense rules as anywhere applied… be discreet, pitch late, bugger off early, leave not a trace.I liked the grasses here…Heading towards the north-west corner of the range.A few old stone barns and cottages.. like this one.... and this one.Some wonderful old-growth deciduous woodland in the valley bottoms. Carrying two baguettes, in theory there were shops in most villages, open in the mornings as usual, but with the end of the season I found a number had closed up for holidays so I developed the habit of stocking up at every opportunity. It did pay off.Trails like these…This stretch, climbing above the Rio Alberche turned out to be somewhat more challenging than expected… with large trees down across the trail, some almost house-sized boulders to negotiate, and generally being in a terribly overgrown state, by the time I’d bushwhacked, climbed, and hiked my way through I’d had to make a number of running repairs to my arms and legs with gaffer tape, and was sporting some matching bloodstains on my shorts. Trail conditions do change over time in the mountains, and this I think is a lightly used stretch, and no doubt there had been landslides and storms to account for the obstacles. All good type-2 fun on a beautiful bit of trail. I treated myself to a lunchtime beer in the next village…Bridge near NavalosaFine views looking west...and some fine old bridge-flavoured architecture..Bumped into some locals…Another fine camp spot. There had been a lot of park authority helicopter activity the day before and that morning. I assumed keeping an eye for forest fires, the whole area was a tinderbox and there were many burned stretches… I was quite keen not to be spotted, this lovely ancient terrace amongst the oaks provided a peaceful, secluded spot.. Incidentally the fire risk being so high I stuck to cold food, mostly bread and cheese, and no camp coffee while in the park.. no matter how careful, accidents can still happen with a stove… I had passed a couple of formal campsites near villages but they were horrid resort-type affairs, deeply unappealing…Textures and stuff…The wind during the night rose to gale force and the dawn heralded something a bit different weather-wise..The early morning was bright but tendrils of cloud were forming around the peaks..With some dramatic lightingThe morning was spent mostly on forest trails which became fragrant as a light rain set in around 11am..Random bike pic for the folk that like bike pics.. also just before the light rain turned into a raging downpour. That rear saddlebag is a prototype I nailed together for myself before heading this way.. so far so good, I’m really very happy with it. I’ll write about it one of these days, and the hybrid waist-pack/shoulder-bag/handlebar bag camera bag I put together too.Also before the rain, but by 3pm the rain was torrential, the wind was howling, and I was barely making 5-6km/hr as the track turned to a soft waterlogged sand/mud mix… it looked like it was going to be a miserable night so when an opportunity to fork off the trail and plummet 1000m or so to the valley below arrived.. I took it, found myself a nice warm village bar where a bunch of tipsy old men enjoying afternoon drinks made sure I was well fed and watered, while I dripped all over the floor, before pointing me to somewhere to stay for the night. It was a super afternoon in that bar. The storm raged until the early hours of the morning so I was quite comfortable with my decision to drop down from the heights and seek shelter… there’s a time and a place for suffering, that wasn’t it :-)Village signpostOne of the problems I have, perhaps as a consequence of having spent so much time in deserts or remote mountains or whatnot, is that I am in the habit of just riding from breakfast till bedtime pretty much without really stopping during the day… after all there’s often nothing else to do in those empty places. I’ve noticed however that as I get older I cannot sustain that for more than a few days at a time so I’ve been experimenting with a more relaxed approach, something that Spain is perfect for…. especially when it comes to a leisurely lunch; tempting to empty the bottle but I’d have never have made it over the next mountain…Wildfires this summer have been devastating…I’d been looking for a spot to spend the night.. prospects were looking poor, just km after km of barbed wire and/or fire ravaged woodland… Eventually I spotted a faded yellow arrow on a granite post in the middle of a field… yet another of Spain’s spiderweb of pilgrim routes.. until then I’d been nervous about hopping over a fence as there seemed to be a lot of farmer activity around, but with a defined route, albeit on a “barely there” path there was a legit opening in the fence…Following the arrow and a faint depression in the grass I stumbled across the best camp spot for a while… a flat patch of grass, completely hidden in a depression but with booming views over the valley and mountains to the southwest. A stream would have made it an 11.A crescent moon at dusk.. it was a chilly night. Such a profound change from the sweaty nights of just a couple of weeks ago.Wonderful pre-dawn glow. With grass damp from the storms I did make a brew. It was heavenly.I had to look it up, turns out I’d stumbled upon the Camino de Levante.. it runs 1200km-ish from Valencia in the southeast to Santiago de Compostela in the northwest… I had the impression it is not a particularly well-trodden path. Could quite easily spend a decent chunk of a lifetime exploring these trails I think.
That’ll do for that, but while I’m on.. another couple of snapshots from Avila that didn’t make it into the last post.
Avila, the city walls.Avila
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5 thoughts on “Sierra de Gredos”
Hey Mike, Great to be tagging along with you via this post on the ride. It looks amazing and such a contrast to a couple of weeks ago in landscape and temperatures. I know what you mean about the hospitality of locals in remote villages like the ones you describe. Passing thru’s like we are a curiosity just begging to be explored, and what better way than over a beer, a wine, home-made fare and a good yarn as we say here in Aus. Amazing photos. I’m looking forward to some winter UK riding this year but then exploring more southern areas, perhaps even Spain, from April > June next year. Thanks for sharing Mike, oh and, I like the look of that rear bag. Talking of bags, I still haven’t found the best solution for a bag for my X100V. I have a restrap from handlebar bag with pouch, but it doesn’t quite sit right on my Jones bar. So……still looking.
All the best
Dave
cheers Dave!
Winter UK riding… are you sure?! all that drizzle and mud, I’d be inclined to stay in Aus, hehe ;-)
As for x100v bag, I made a modified version of the waist pack in this post such that the waist belt detaches fully, and a shoulder strap goes on (the same strap as used by the rear bag when in airport/ferry hand luggage mode). removing the waist belt also reveals attachments such that it goes on my bars, with or without the dry bag there. So far so good, I need to make a few changes but I think it has a future. Because it’s stitched rather than welded it’s not 100% waterproof, but the padded liner is made from waterproof materials too and nothing got damp during the downpours. I keep an emergency plastic bag stuff somewhere but thinking the next version could have a little fold out rain cover, bit like an old Lowepro bag I used to own did.
hey, too kind sir… ! and yep x100f only. This trip went a little pear-shaped thanks to work, it turned into a bit of a race between towns where I could get a room, log-on and work, and found myself answering emails from my tent… not very healthy. I’m very much looking forward to getting back there on my own terms.. and there’s still Montañas Vacias…!
Hey Mike, Great to be tagging along with you via this post on the ride. It looks amazing and such a contrast to a couple of weeks ago in landscape and temperatures. I know what you mean about the hospitality of locals in remote villages like the ones you describe. Passing thru’s like we are a curiosity just begging to be explored, and what better way than over a beer, a wine, home-made fare and a good yarn as we say here in Aus. Amazing photos. I’m looking forward to some winter UK riding this year but then exploring more southern areas, perhaps even Spain, from April > June next year. Thanks for sharing Mike, oh and, I like the look of that rear bag. Talking of bags, I still haven’t found the best solution for a bag for my X100V. I have a restrap from handlebar bag with pouch, but it doesn’t quite sit right on my Jones bar. So……still looking.
All the best
Dave
cheers Dave!
Winter UK riding… are you sure?! all that drizzle and mud, I’d be inclined to stay in Aus, hehe ;-)
As for x100v bag, I made a modified version of the waist pack in this post such that the waist belt detaches fully, and a shoulder strap goes on (the same strap as used by the rear bag when in airport/ferry hand luggage mode). removing the waist belt also reveals attachments such that it goes on my bars, with or without the dry bag there. So far so good, I need to make a few changes but I think it has a future. Because it’s stitched rather than welded it’s not 100% waterproof, but the padded liner is made from waterproof materials too and nothing got damp during the downpours. I keep an emergency plastic bag stuff somewhere but thinking the next version could have a little fold out rain cover, bit like an old Lowepro bag I used to own did.
p.s. I hope you’re enjoying that x100v!
Wow, this makes me want to get to Spain asap! Hopefully next spring… Beautiful collection of images, Mike.
Am I right in thinking you only brought your x100 on this trip? You’ll really getting the most out of it!
hey, too kind sir… ! and yep x100f only. This trip went a little pear-shaped thanks to work, it turned into a bit of a race between towns where I could get a room, log-on and work, and found myself answering emails from my tent… not very healthy. I’m very much looking forward to getting back there on my own terms.. and there’s still Montañas Vacias…!