Our final stop on our tour of Spain was Sierra de Gredos - after all the historic sights and monuments plus of course fabulous food and drink we were ready for a change of scene. Serious mountains, a basic cottage in a the scenic village of Hoyas del Espino was our destination. Challenge number one was find food on a Sunday in Spain - we drove way out of our way to a Carrefour that the mean internet said was open on Sunday only to find a 24hour petrol station alongside a completely shut supermarket. Andrew and Lee had picked up their own car in Merida so went off on a mission while we went to meet the cottage owner. She did not speak a word of English, didn't have her glasses to use google translate and I'm not even sure she spoke Spanish but she had a big smile, had filled the place with roses and cheerfully introduced us to the neighbours.
We had 5 days at Hoyas, did some fabulous walking and became quite at home in this village of only about 500 people; it got to the point that we knew who owned which cars. The old men of the village walked around the streets in the same route every night and often walked with flowers - Lee caught them on camera one night and they just loved it. There was a great bakery in someones house, several bars and a small supermarket but not much else. The nights were cool; we lit a fire one night; Andrew had to use a real BBQ. A perfect break before we headed back to Portugal.
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| Plaza de Espana, Hoyas del Espino |
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| Day 1 walking to a Moutain Lake |
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| Laguna Grande with Almanzor behind at 2592m |
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| Goat friend |
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| Can I help you? |
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| Patatas Revolconas |
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| A real BBQ |
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| We had this mountain all to ourselves |
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| On top of Los Campanarios at 2,165 metres |
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| These horses were taking beer to the mountain lodge |
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| Beautiful river walk |
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| Hoyas from across the valley |
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| Busy outside our cottage |
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| Heading back to Askari |
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