Best of both worlds!

We’ve had the best of both worlds lately. Some lovely warm sunny days with endless blue sky, but on the very top of the Sierra Espuna, snow! And plenty of it. The down side of this is some additional “road walking” to get to the start of some routes, but think of the calories burnt hey!? The weekends can get quite busy when there is snow as many Spaniards come up with family to get a chance to show the kids the snow.
This weekend the hills were also busy (in the Spanish - Sierra Espuna terms anyway) we actually saw other walkers! We also came across a  chap who accompanied by his two dogs had been down hill skiing - not sure I would have taken my ski’s out there! Far to many rocks. He said he had had a fabulous day, so I guess if you know where to go and don’t mind the walk back up.
Back below the snowline, we almost managed to touch some Muflon (Atlas mountain sheep) before they realised we were behind them and saw my first red squirrel!
Paul is training - just about - for the round Espuna trail in May. Sure he’ll be ready. Me? Well we’ll have to wait and see about that.
A new restaurant has recently opened (in the place of a previous one). Arroceria Gines, it’s situated on the road to Aledo, a fabulous position, overlooking Totana, high up with fabulous views reaching as far as the Mazzaron coast on a clear day. There is a huge outdoor terrace for those balmy nights and the speciality as the name suggests is Rice (paella) all cooked over wood. We look forward to that!

May 1st 2010 - I Vuelta A Sierra Espuna

Walking in Spain…….how about this for an event…..62.5km, 1992m drop/gain.
A circular route around the Sierra Espuna Regional park. It’s the second time the event has taken place. It’s not a competitive event (other than getting round) in fact the only rule seems to be you must not overtake the leader. Starts at 05:30 and finishes between 16:00 & 21:00 - not quite the 3 peaks or Snowdon seven, maybe harder than the London Marathon(?) a challenge anyway!
Paul is up for it!! I’m thinking about it, what about you!? It’s on the 1st May 2010 so there’s still time to train……I think I may need to draw up a training plan!

The captain's House - Sierra de Carrascoy

We’ve had some pretty unsettled weather the last week or so………….nowhere near as unsettled as the UK and sadly, for me, no snow! Well nothing worth writing about and as we have no skiing holiday planned for this year I guess the skis won’t be coming out this season……….although, there’s always  Peru/ New Zealand for summer skiing…looks fabulous!
Today here in my corner of Spain the sky is blue and the temperature a tad higher than it has been at a pleasant 15c. There are some strong winds from time to time, but all in all not bad.
Yesterday we made the most of the weather and headed for the Sierra de Carrascoy, another Regional park in Murcia, just a stones throw from us. We have not ventured over there too much……so much to do in the Sierra Espuna, but we thought we’d give it a go and wow what a start.
We took a circular route of approximately 12km with a minimum height loss/gain (well Christmas isn’t that far behind us!).
The highlights were the Spanish Air Force plane practicing “loop the loops” in the flat lands as we parked the car (Paul was glad not to be near him in his Microlight!), the well at the Captain’s house - not sure why it’s called that, need to find out more - The date inside the well is 1892 it’s still functioning and I’d say in reasonable condition, although I didn’t taste the water!!! We stopped for lunch at Casa Ros. In it’s day this looks like it would have been a huge house, clearly owned by a family of substance. The sun came out and we were able to enjoy a pleasant picnic. On the stroll down back towards the flat lands surrounding Fuente Alamo, we noticed what looked like mine workings. On closer inspection it turned out to be a collection of caves. The entrance to the main cavern was huge, probably 10m high and there were many smaller cave entrances coming off the main one, some had light the other side, some not. We had our dogs with us so did not venture in too far, but who knows, maybe next time!
We then continued down the valley, stopping briefly to chat with a local farmer crop spraying and finally made it back to the car some 4hrs later……very pleasant it was too.

A Happy & Prosperous 2010 to all

Happy new year to all our guests, friends and family, well I thought |I’d wait before posting as we have been having the Spanish Christmas…dia de los Reyes (3 kings) here this week and then in Totana we have another Fiesta day on the 7th Jan. This is when they take the patron Saint of the town 7km back up the hill to her home in the Monesterio de Santa Eulalia. Please see earlier posts for the descent!
So where to start…..well December, here in Spain it is nowhere near as commercial as it is in the UK although that is changing slowly…sadly! In-fact a measure of how unimportant some see the Christmas spending habits is that for almost a week at the beginning of the month of December many of the shops and businesses close to celebrate National Day, 6th December and La Dia de la Immaculada, 8th December (it‘s not worth going back to work they figure as the week has been broken by the holiday!).
On the 8th is when the patron Saint of Totana was brought down from the Monastery to be placed in the main church until her return in January.
Christmas - the 25th December - this was pretty quiet here, the Spanish have a meal traditionally on the 24th some will have present from Papa Noel on the 25th, but most will wait until the 6th January.
Ourselves, we had Turkey….didn’t go for a swim in the pool this year (it was freezing last year). We ventured into the town in the morning and had a look at the Belen (nativity scene) which help feel a little more Christmassy. Then we took the dogs for a nice long walk around by the Bastida, before that more traditional English  past-time “watching the telly”!
On the 28th Totana had a cake fest, the battle for the largest Roscon de Reyes, a most unusual tradition, but fun - they bake this huge long cake and hidden inside are toys donated by the local businesses which symbalise the baby Jesus figure historically hidden in the cake which brought luck to the finder throughout the year. Until a couple of years ago Totana held the world record for length appearing in the Guiness book of records. Again, the whole town it seems, comes out to have a piece of cake and hot chocolate there are now also raffle tickets in parts of the cake and prizes if you get a ticket. All through the evening  Carols were played and it was a lovely way to spend an evening.
New year we decided to go to my sisters house on the coast as we could walk into the town and partake of a few beers and the NY atmosphere.
We decided to venture out at about 10pm, well every bar we past was closed…..What? Closed what’s going on….the place was deserted. We ended up in and Irish bar (not very Spanish, but enjoyable) had a couple of beers and headed for the town square. Although it was quiet when we arrived, it soon started to fill up. Free drinks were being handed out along with party packs. By midnight it was packed, people had their grapes (12 to be eaten on the strokes of midnight are meant to bring good luck for the next year) No one seemed drunk and it was very much a family occasion, we watched a few of the fireworks go off and then we made our way back to the house.
Monday the fourth when the UK is all getting back to normal, well as normal as you can with a foot of snow, we here in Spain are gearing up for the 3 kings, there are parades and the whole place has a carnival atmosphere.  On the night of the 5th most towns have a parade and thousands of sweets are thrown out to children in the crowd. In Totana it looked like presents were being thrown as well! Again the whole town seemed to be in attendance and a real party atmosphere was to be seen.

On the 6th we ventured to Aledo a small medieval town perched on a rocky outcrop below the Sierra Espuna. Here there was to be a reenactment of the arrival of the 3 kings. It was bitterly cold, but that didn’t stop the villagers gathering for hot chocolate (and maybe something a little stronger) and some traditional cake prior to the kings arrival….at about 10:30 they arrived camels an all!!! The enactment which is said to date back to the 17th Centaury then played out on the streets of Aledo, followed by 300 or so. It reached it’s climax in front of the town hall, where Herod and his roman soldiers conversed with the kings. Quite a spectical!
Today, 7th we were supposed to be following the St Eulalia back to the Monesterio (Santa Eulalia), but have awoken to persistent and heavy rain, knowing the Spanish, who don’t even like to go to work in the rain! They will not be walking today, so we will have to find out when that will be rescheduled for. The forecast is better for tomorrow so maybe (as they will all have a Puente day - bridging day, well it’s not worth going back to work for just one day is it?) she will go up tomorrow!
And that as they say is it for another year….Monday will be back to normal….well until the next fiesta, which if memory serves is in another town near by..Alhama de Murcia in mid January.
We hope the snow currently covering the UK is not causing you all too much disruption. I’m a bit jealous really, we had snow here this time last year….you see it’s not all sun and sangria..and it was lovely, it’s getting colder this week, so you never know. The difference here is it generally lasts a week, maybe two and then it’s back to blue sky and sunshine and definitely nicer temperatures than the UK. All good news for the walks we have planned for 2010. We have some new routes ready as well as some of the classics we enjoyed during 2009.
It’s been a very busy year and there’s no reason 2010 shouldn’t be even better, as I hope you can see from my blog there’s plenty of great walking as well as some very enjoyable Spanish traditions to partake of whilst your enjoying your stay, so why not take a look at our website and see for yourselves what you could be doing of a vista verde trails guided walking holiday. Visit us at www.vistaverdetrails.com

Wishing you all a happy and prosperous 2010!

Roscon de Reyes 28th December 2009 - Totana Murcia

Totana's battle of the Roscon De Reyes

Fiesta of Santa Eulalia 8th December 09 - Totana, Murcia

So it’s just over a week to the big day. Not managed to do any Christmas preparation yet, not sure if that’s because we’ve been too busy or because it’s only just dawned on us there’s only a week to go.
I was speaking with my Spanish neighbour at the weekend and when I asked her if she was ready for Christmas, she looked at me as if I was speaking Chinese (I know my Spanish isn’t perfect….) She really didn’t get the question. Christmas i.e. the 25th December really is not a big thing here. The important dates are the 6th December Dia de la Constitution (when Spains constitution was signed following the demise of Franco),  8th December Dia de la Immaculate, when, here in Totana, the statue of the patron saint - Santa Eulalie - is brought down from the Monesterio Santa Eulalia to the town, 6th January The Three Kings and the 7th January  (locally in Totana) When the patron saint is carried back to the Monesterio Santa Eulalia.

So last week having two fiesta’s in it was a major event here in Spain. Locally many shops were closed for the week. YES, the whole week, in December! The carrying down of the patron saint was a  real spectacle. Most of the town had turned out to watch and indeed follow the statue on it’s 8km route down hill from the Monesterio. The whole event started early with churro’s (a doughnut like batter, in sticks) and chocolate melted and served in a cup……lovely if a little dangerous on the hips! Still 7km to go. The procession eventually started and all the participants and various small groups of musicians set off down hill. Several hrs later…….three…….the procession   halted about two km outside the town the lady Eulalia was rested on a plinth and as more people gathered Firecrackers were lit in an area adjoining the road much to the joy of the several thousand people watching, we then all set off again for the final push to the church of San Roque, groups of musicians still cheerfully playing amid plenty of chatter from the many followers. Finally once the statue had entered the church the participants dispersed to eat drink and be merry for the rest of the afternoon with family and friends and prepare themselves for the return trip on the 8th January………..which is ALL UP HILL!

To find out more about walking in the Sierra Espuna, Murcia and visiting this beautiful area of Spain visit www.vistaverdetrails.com

Calblanque natural Park

An African Bee Eater, what colour!





Sorry, it’s been a while since my last post………..we have been keeping very busy!
The weather here is still pretty warm, in fact apart from the torrential rain we had in September for a day or two you’d almost believe it was still summer (well maybe not quite that hot!), very pleasant.
So what have we been up too, well, a little coastal walking as well as the mountains.
There is an area near the La Manga coast called calblanque, a beautiful natural park with stunning views of the hillside and the La Manga strip which divides the Mar Menor (little sea) from the Mediterranean sea.
At this time of the year it is truly quiet, most of the beach visitors having gone back to there city lives until the heat of the sun returns, and beautiful.
There are lots of opportunities to discover the wildlife, the area has been a designated nature reserve since 1992, making it safe from the building boom that has affected many parts of this coast. The park has a variety of wildlife including woodpeckers, eagles, rare eagle-owls - known as Bonelli's eagle. Unfortunately we didn't see any of those on this trip, but above is an African bee eater we caught sight of.
It is also possible to see the remaining evidence of the areas past history in mining - copper, tin and silver although it is not advisable to stray too close to the shafts as the remain unprotected and open. For a few weeks in the summer, in the town of La Union, they open the mine works to the public. Very interesting.
After getting your fill of fresh air and exercise you can adjourn to Los Balones, a busy little village, for a pint and a bite to eat or maybe pop up to La Manga club and do some celebrity spotting or you could just pop along to one of the many golden sandy coves with a good book and enjoy some quiet time.
Next time I’ll tell you about a walk from Alhama de Murcia, a town on the edge of the Sierra Espuna full of history overlooked by the remains of an Arab castle built during the 12th century.
You can find out more about our walking holidays by visiting our website www.vistaverdetrails.com