Tapp's Travels

We were happy to leave the “snow” in Segovia.  It was two inches deep in places under the poplar trees – which should be renamed un-poplar at this time of year.  The stuff gets everywhere and is very sticky when wet.  So Segovia gets positive scores for the Roman structures, cathedral, the churches and the town in general.  It loses marks for the campsite and the snow!

The drive to Plasencia is easy.  Find the N110 and follow it.  The first part presents no problems.  The road is straight and wide.  Until about 15 kms beyond El Barco de Ávila.  As the road enters the province of Extramadura it dives over the mountains and into the Jerte Valley.  It becomes a tortuous, narrow, mountain byway.  Fortunately we are going down hill.  Gradually (I’m going pretty slowly) the mountain scrubs bushes and holm oak trees give way to cherry orchards.

The valley is plastered with them.  It must be fabulous at blossom time – normally in the second fortnight of March.  The flowering period only lasts around ten days, while its start and duration can vary according to the previous winter’s weather.  The lower mountain slopes are covered in swathes of white “snow”.  Apparently fabulous!  Not my picture (obviously!).

The Cherry Blossom Fiesta is held in the valley during the flowering time to celebrate this spectacular event. During the fiesta there are exhibitions, tasting sessions for typical produce, music performances and guided routes exploring the Los Infiernos Nature Reserve (you can read a bit about our (un-guided) visit to this reserve below!) and the Cherry Museum.

We were lucky to get the last available pitch at Camping Monfragüe with a view out over the field with horses.  We had to manoeuvre under one of the permanent sun shades.  There was so little space that I had to remove the radio aerial!

One day – it was a Saturday – we decided to visit Los Infiernos Reserve.  We have already discovered what happens on campsites at weekends – now we were reminded about restaurants and tourist attractions on the Spaniards’ days off.  The locals (and, indeed, the not-so-locals) all get in their cars or on buses and coaches and head for the hills.  They jam the car parks, they crowd out the attractions and they saturate the restaurants.  One look at the park’s carpark was enough.  We are off to find a peaceful walk in the cherry orchards.  We parked in the back streets of Jerte next to a target lunch spot.  Confirmed we couldn’t get a meal there till the following Monday, and went for our walk.  The area is covered with a network of “vias pecuarias” – old drovers trails.  These are generally wide pathways which meander through the countryside.  And, of course there’s one leading up the valley.  All we had to do was find a bridge and turn left.  We followed the trail, past a shady riverside rest …

… past thousands of cherry trees (some of which just had to be scrumped – if that’s a word – delicious!), past a trout hatchery and on up into the hills.  In fact we only turned round when the path took a sudden and severe downward turn.  We decided the return up hill later would be a bit of a challenge in the heat.

In this area at this time of year every man, woman, child and dog are picking cherries – or sorting them – or packing them or transporting them or selling them!  Every white-van-man has a set of steps on the roof rack – or has them deployed under a tree.  Often, apparently, very precariously!

It’s a mono-culture area and a huge percentage of business premises are linked to the cherry crop.  The vast majority of the cash flow must occur during a five or six week period.  There can only be a small amount of money to be made mending step ladders and such like out of season.

After our walk, we found a couple of ladies sorting tons of cherries by hand in their garage.  I decided to help the economy and asked to buy a kilo of fruit.  At least that’s what I thought I’d requested.  Lots of fluent jabbering seemed to indicate that their smallest, standard offering was a two kilo box.  Glenda doesn’t like cherries so I’m on my own here – so I hold out for a one kilo purchase.   Bagged up and weighed for €3.  Bargain!  Except I didn’t have enough shrapnel and they couldn’t change a €20 note.  In the end with much laughter, they accepted all my change – €1.65 – in payment.  A REAL  bargain!  I later discovered just how many cherries you get in a kilo!!!

So, the Saturday expedition to the park and restaurant failed on both counts.

On Monday we try again.  Lunch first at the Hospederia del Valle Jerte – just a couple of days later than planned…

Very civilised.  This is the fourth in a chain of eight such rural hotels we have visited – and indeed the third at which we eaten their €15 lunches!

Now for the Garganta de Los Infiernos Actividades.  Just a few kms back down the N110 from Jerte.  We hadn’t much clue about the place but we parked outside the “carpark payant” and walked to the Interpretation Centre – which was conveniently closed for their long lunch/siesta.  The map indicated that we had a 3 km walk to Los Pilones.  It was less clear about the topography of the expedition.  However, this became rapidly apparent as we climbed 150 or so uneven steps in the first 250 metres of the path.

We should have given up at this point and gone looking for the 4×4 taxis which are supposed to be available for the sensible seniors.  But Glenda is nothing if not a little “determined” (some might say “stubborn”) – so we did a lot of this…

… while admiring (in a concerned sort of way) the view of our target area…

But persistence paid off and we were pleased to find these Pilones.  Quite remarkable.  A long series of rock pools carved out of the granite bedrock with the river cascading down through them.

Weird and wonderful!

We chose to walk back down the 4×4 track which was a few hundred metres longer but much easier underfoot!

We went to Plasencia for four days and stayed twelve!  So there are more adventures to be reported …