{"id":3245,"date":"2022-04-06T08:33:28","date_gmt":"2022-04-06T08:33:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=3245"},"modified":"2026-08-16T08:31:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T08:31:10","slug":"spain-16-mountain-villages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=3245","title":{"rendered":"SPAIN 16. MOUNTAIN VILLAGES."},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s my turn to choose the itinerary for the day.\u00a0 I know Glenda wants a scenic walk close to base – so that’s it.\u00a0 Decision made!\u00a0 Just the other side of Malpartida de Plasencia there is a collection of small reservoirs.\u00a0 At the first of these, we\u00a0 headed over the dam and off up the via pecuaria.<\/p>\n

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There are dozens of these VPs about – there must have been a lot of droving in days gone by.\u00a0 To be fair, we saw about a thousand goats being herded by a lonely goat-herd – although he seemed to be using the road, not the adjacent VP.\u00a0 (It sounds like someone should write a song about him!)<\/p>\n

Lovely countryside.\u00a0 Gently rolling hills.\u00a0 Grassy fields with herds of cows and calves.\u00a0 Cows with cow-bells in enclosed fields.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Maybe it’s to help the farmer find his farm after a morning in the caf\u00e9-bar with the boys.<\/p>\n

We met the local outlaw gang making a break on horseback from the local sheriff.\u00a0 But they had time to pose for us!<\/p>\n

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We even got a great view of a passing mongoose.<\/p>\n

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Apparently,\u00a0 Egyptian mongooses, also known as ichneumons, are widespread in this neck of the woods.\u00a0 Probably introduced from Africa – not native.\u00a0 A real pain according to locals.\u00a0 They eat anything and everything on which they can get their sticky paws.\u00a0 I suppose one advantage is that they deal with all the cobras!<\/p>\n

Our picnic stop was a flat-topped, dry stone wall.\u00a0 Our picnic was a bottle of water and two rather disgusting local replicas of Opal Fruits.\u00a0 I must remember to pack food when we go out walking in the country where restaurants are few and far between!<\/p>\n

Talking of forgetting things (and I’m not talking about BBQs here), there is a young couple camping next to us.\u00a0 They seemed to be sleeping in their tiny car last night.\u00a0 It transpires that when they arrived on site and unpacked the car, they discovered they had forgotten to pack their tent!\u00a0 They’ve been into town today and bought a new one!\u00a0 Oh, to be young again!\u00a0 “John, where’s the perishing caravan, didn’t you hitch it on when we left home?”<\/p>\n

Anyway, as I was saying, walk ten out of ten, picnic zero!<\/p>\n

The Jerte Valley runs for some 60 km in a NE-SW direction enclosed on both sides by mountainous ridges over 1000 m high.\u00a0 Our failed picnic was in the next valley, to the SE of the Jerte.\u00a0 A drive into the hills after our walk took us to the village of Arroyomolinos de la Vera.\u00a0 A sleepy looking town, which on closer examination on foot, was actually hibernating, not just napping.\u00a0 It had a deserted air about it\u00a0 and certainly no restaurants or bars.\u00a0 The only thing we found going for it was the stunning view from the mirador at the top of town.<\/p>\n

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And a rather nice (almost totally deserted, of course) square\u00a0with town hall and church (both securely locked up for the winter season).<\/p>\n

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OK, so we’ll try the next place… Paser\u00f3n de la Vera.<\/p>\n

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Villages and towns round here have several things in common:\u00a0 no open shops, bars or caf\u00e9s; no people; narrow streets; an ancient church (usually dedicated to Sainte Maria!); fantastic views and miles of posh street lighting and paved promenades along the approach roads.<\/p>\n

The region has obviously benefitted from bulk purchase of literally thousands of fake gas-lamps.\u00a0 (Good old EU money!)\u00a0 (I didn’t get a photo, so I’ve had to borrow one from Google Street View.)<\/p>\n

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Some enclaves could be reached on well maintained, well illuminated paths from the neighbouring village during the hours of darkness.\u00a0 Except, our evidence suggests, there is no one to make such a journey – and not much reason to do so anyway!\u00a0 But it’s early.\u00a0 It’s only April.\u00a0 And we are here in full daylight!\u00a0 Maybe when the lights come on, the bars open and locals walk to visit their neighbours up the valley.<\/p>\n

Time for home – via Jaraiz de la Vera.\u00a0 We had got stuck in the middle of a procession in the back streets of this town last time we visited.\u00a0 We’re not falling for that trick again, Barry.\u00a0 So we stuck to the main roads as we headed back to camp for a bit of sunbathing.<\/p>\n

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The next day, flushed with the success of yesterday’s walk and with memories of no refreshments carried, we headed for the next reservoir up the valley.\u00a0 But today started coolish at a frisky -2\u00b0C.\u00a0 And by 11 am, the Mercury was still hovering at a challenging 6\u00b0C and there was a significant breeze.\u00a0 Not only that, but we were higher up the valley and the path was much more open.\u00a0 Lucky we brought scarves and winter gloves!<\/p>\n

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After 20 minutes, we gave in and beat a hasty retreat – taking with us the cheese sandwiches, two slices of cake, a tin of biscuits and a can of beer which I had packed.\u00a0 Just can’t win!<\/p>\n

The Jerte Valley is a mere 10 km away as the crow flies, but about 60 km by road.\u00a0 We passed several more “illuminated paths” on the way to the top of the pass at 830 m.\u00a0 (We elected to take the relatively “low” road.)\u00a0 There were plenty more cherry trees this side of the mountains…<\/p>\n

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… but there were no restaurants in sight – anywhere!\u00a0 Certainly no open restaurants!\u00a0 We stopped again in Barrado having been narrowly missed by the mountain bus which appears to terminate here despite having no passengers. (Or maybe because<\/strong> it has no passengers!)\u00a0 Barrado was deserted.\u00a0 Closed up.\u00a0 Another “come-back-in-June” sort of place with great views of distant civilisation.<\/p>\n

Ditto, Cabreo C\u00e1ceres,\u00a0 but at least we are now in the Jerte Valley.\u00a0 The sleepy hamlet of Casas del Casta\u00f1a clings to the mountain side overlooking the valley miles below.\u00a0 Houses around the harbour at home are well known for having at least one extra floor on their downhill side.\u00a0 Here they have three!\u00a0 Houses on the perilous side of the road are not for the faint hearted!\u00a0 However…<\/p>\n

… Glenda spots a blue “knife and fork” sign.\u00a0 An open restaurant with parking for five cars.<\/p>\n

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The Restaurant Garganta had seating for at least 100 guests.\u00a0 I don’t know where they all plan to park!\u00a0 Luckily there were only four of us eating.\u00a0 Eating what turned out to be one of the best meals we have had in Spain!\u00a0 The pork with lemon was particularly memorable, as was the lemon cr\u00e8me desert!\u00a0 Persistence pays off – especially in a country where lunch is served until at least 4 pm!<\/p>\n

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And don’t you just love it when the aseos rooms are clearly labelled!\u00a0 Anyone still not sure, has to go in the long grass out the back!<\/p>\n

So we returned home with our extensive picnic intact!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s my turn to choose the itinerary for the day.\u00a0 I know Glenda wants a scenic walk close to base – so that’s it.\u00a0 Decision made!\u00a0 Just the other side of Malpartida de Plasencia there is a collection of small… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spain-22","category-travels-in-2022"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3245"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8076,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3245\/revisions\/8076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}