The town of Valverde del Camino is a laid back sort of Spanish town, quite smart, lots of cafes and restaurants and well maintained with a number of interesting rest areas decorated with elaborate fountains. It is also famous for leather work particularly the manufacture of handmade boots and shoes.
We found the camperstop in the north of the town, but the weather was still messing up our plans with regular very heavy cloudbursts, so for our first day we set out on foot heading north on the Via Verde 'Los Molinos del Agua' (our 7th Via verde) The trail was too rugged for our hybrid bikes and we only walked 3 miles before we had a to turn back due to an immense puddle and some very soft sandy mud which we were sinking up to our ankles in, it also started raining again so we weren't too upset to turn back to the van!
Every Via verde has proved to have different scenery and this was no exception- it was almost like being on the Moors with rolling countryside of heather and gorse, when we walked through the cuttings they had been cut through the most amazing coloured slate - I just wanted to collect some up to take home for the garden!
After an evening confined to the van we were were able to set out on on a sunny Tuesday morning on our bikes on the Via Verde heading south through another different landscape.
First through forests of umbrella pine (Pinus Pinea) then eucalyptus, then cork, all growing in an amazing ochre colour sandy soil. It proved to be an incredible sensual journey with the intense menthol smell of the eucalyptus, the hot pines and the wonderful colours with birdsong we had never heard before.
Half of our route was on smooth tarmac and the rest on compacted gravel so we were able to cycle almost 30 miles for the day without too
much difficulty, stopping at our turnaround point for a picnic lunch.
Back at the van we then had to decide where to go next, our time is slowly running out, the weather is getting cooler, the days shorter - another Via Verde or maybe another seaside resort?
First through forests of umbrella pine (Pinus Pinea) then eucalyptus, then cork, all growing in an amazing ochre colour sandy soil. It proved to be an incredible sensual journey with the intense menthol smell of the eucalyptus, the hot pines and the wonderful colours with birdsong we had never heard before.
Half of our route was on smooth tarmac and the rest on compacted gravel so we were able to cycle almost 30 miles for the day without too
much difficulty, stopping at our turnaround point for a picnic lunch.
Back at the van we then had to decide where to go next, our time is slowly running out, the weather is getting cooler, the days shorter - another Via Verde or maybe another seaside resort?
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| Cork trees - stripped bare of their clothes!! |
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