Los Alcornocales

Le dimanche, 18 octobre 2009

What’s better than resting the day after a long trek in Los Molinos ? Another long walk in Los Alcornocales! A 4 hour walk this time! Yesssssir, Jenny let me know there was an empty spot in the car if I wanted to join the Pavo Troton group (“The Jogging Turkey”) on their walk in the natural park… which turned out not to be such a “walk in the park”, especially for british niños!

We were a group of 15 some early risers (up at 8am, it’s still dark here at 8am btw…) who drove about fifteen minutes out of Alcalá to start the hike. The weather was gorgeous, not a cloud in the sky, but not too

hot… After walking along a dried-up river, we reached a gate, through which the kids passed easily (not fair!). Our guide, Manolo, cut down the metal wire holding the fence shut with pliers and we passed through. He then explained (in Spanish, so I might have some of it wrong) that the land is NOT private and that the owners should therefore NOT lock visitors out. Hm… not private? But owner? Anywho, he added that were fine because it’s not hunting season. Or maybe he said it was, I didn’t get everything.

The landscape was rather similar to Los Molinos, very dry, argyle and sand colored ground with little vegetation (or so I thought) other than shrubs, alcornocales and olive trees, spiky flowers and scratchy grass that leave… pipicks all over your trousers or whatever you want to call these sticky needle balls of flowers. Africa, a woman who teaches at an elementary colegio in Sevilla, somehow managed to accumulate a bagful of branches and leaves from about 50 different plants and shrubs and trees to show her kids at school.

The walk mostly went up a gentle slope, but near the middle, before the snack break, it became steeper and steeper. Where there was no “defined” path (most of the way), the ground was rather… holey. As in covered in tons of holes big enough to break an ankle holey”, swiss cheese holey, not “holy”. Let’s just say the smallest of the children did a good part of the walk on daddy’s shoulders.

At a great lookout point, Manolo explained that the mountain range we were looking at had some of the most peculiar vegetation in the park (which is a-huuuge btw): a blend of the plants you see only south of these mountains, and the plants you find only north of it, because the climate is an average between the two regions. There was a huge pile of alcornocal tree bark to our left, probably waiting to be loaded on mules and flattened with heat for industrial use… grabbed a little piece of cork as a free souvenir! We arrived to the end point of the walk I did with Claire and Bob the previous day, where many groups were having lunch. Half and hour-ish later we were sitting in the cafeteria of the camping, having a beer and some croquetas (look like big cheese sticks, but with mashed… chicken, I think, inside).

I learned more about the Spanish language than about the natural park that day, as Manolo’s explanations were explained too fast, but I met a lot of interesting folks who were willing to speak slowly for me. Always appreciated! Africa invited me over to her place in Sevilla if I ever want to visit the city with her. I met a guy named Israel who studies in Sevilla but turns up in Alcalá most weekends AND he’s close to my age and has friends my age in Alcalá! Ooh, this is getting somewhere!

In fact, I went for a beer later on at the Siglo XXI, down at the Paseo de la Playa, with Israel and two of his friends (Solema and… Carlos?). Walking back up to my place, we stopped by Israel’s house and I met his sister Alicia and father (whom I realized was with us during the morning’s walk). And even after Israel had gone off to Sevilla with his luggage, I stuck around in their living room, chatting with the sis and dad over a glass of wine and piece of typical local goat cheese (gooood…). Every time I picked up my bag to leave he’d offer me more wine!

Good weekend I say!