Adventures in Spain and France 2022 - Semi desert Steppe and very high mountains

Monday

Leave Albarracin and go back to Teruel, where we were in episode 2 to get provisions and do a bit of van maintenance (cleaning, tyre pressures etc) before making our way to an area where the habitat is known as Spanish steppe. We are heading for a wildlife reserve of El Planeron where there are Dupont’s Lark and sandgrouse, but before we go to the reserve we stop at the nearby town of Belchite. It is very hot and we are trying to find shade for the afternoon as we know there won’t be any at all out on the reserve which is a very dry, open environment with no trees. We manage to find a place to park under a small tree to stay for a little while. Late afternoon we go for a look around Belchite. It’s an interesting place as it has a ruined town next to the current town. During the Spanish Civil War, the original town was badly damaged and the local community decided to leave the ruins as they were, to remain as a ghost town as a memorial to the people who lost their lives and they built a new town next to it. You can only go around the ruins on a guided tour and unfortunately we had just missed one so had to make do with looking at it from outside the fencing that surrounds it. It has been used as a film location for a range of films, including Guillermo del Toro’s ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ which, as it happens, is one of my top 10 all time favourite films. 

Belchite

Belchite

We make our way to El Planeron – it’s quite an extensive reserve with tracks you can drive along and we park up at what we think looks like an OK spot. Hear various larks and sandgrouse so Geoff is excited. We are aware of a few mosquitoes and get the insect repellent out plus I start burning a nice candle I brought with me that my son had given me as a gift. It is an Adventurine candle for our travels but I’m also hoping it will scare off mosquitoes. We go for a little walk along the track and on our return, as we approach the van we hear the terrifying sound of a huge mosquito swarm surrounding the van (and very soon, us). Decide we need to move to another spot pretty quickly, which we do. Later on there is the most incredible full moon – it is apparently a ‘super flower blood moon’ and it certainly lives up to its name. 

Tuesday 

Geoff spends the early morning recording and photographing including the larks and sandgrouse. The temperature is really starting to rise again - the forecast is for 36 degrees and there is absolutely no shade anywhere so we decide to book a hotel room in the nearest town for the night, as there are no campsites around either. Before going to the accommodation, we eat our lunch by the Ebro river, which is the very same river that flows into the Ebro delta where we were in episode 1, but a hundred miles further up. We get to our room to cool off and nurse our mosquito bites from last night. The room is very basic but clean and there is a nice bar next to it where we have a wonderful cold beer. Later on we have a walk around the village and the temperature is still 38 degrees at 8pm. An old Spanish guy is complaining about the heat and tells me that this temperature is not at all normal for this time of year.

 

Our hotel - not sure why there are legs coming out of the walls!

Wednesday 

Leave our room fairly early to get back to the reserve for the morning. At the reserve get chatting to a young French guy who we had seen staying in our hotel last night. Like Geoff, he is carrying a parabolic reflector (a bit like a satellite dish used by sound recordists) and they chat about the birds that are around, the fierce mosquitoes and French sound recordists that they both know. A bit later on, I’m sitting outside the van and I get excited to hear a Black-bellied Sandgrouse. They are quite rare and make a lovely bubbling-like call. 

Mid morning we leave the reserve for our next destination – the Bardenas Reales natural park which is a Biosphere reserve and also known as ‘the Badlands’. It is an extensive, semi desert like, unpopulated area with really unusual rock formations. It was used as a filming location for Game of Thrones season 6. For any Game of Thrones fans (I am, so I’m excited) the park was used as the location of the Dothraki Sea. There are no campsites in the area, staying out overnight is not allowed in the park (I read online that fines were up to 1,000e if caught), there’s a military base in the centre of the park, it’s still very, very hot and still no shade so - another hotel room it is. 

Before going to our accommodation, we have a little look around the area and it’s certainly quite strange but we are going to have a proper explore tomorrow. Get to our accommodation in the village of Arguedas and it’s really lovely. Very traditional with a shaded patio area we can use and also a lovely communal kitchen. Early evening we go for a walk around and see cave houses built into the rocks above the village. They were lived in up until the 1960’s and in this heat, the idea of a cave house is rather appealing. Go back to the van to get a few more things to take into the hotel and notice a sign on the wall that we missed when we parked up. Basically it says ‘no parking from 12 midnight until 4pm on Thursdays as it’s market day and if you do park then your vehicle will be towed away’. Tomorrow is Thursday – just as well we noticed the sign and moved the van. 

Cave houses

Shaded terrace

Lovely light switches

Thursday  

Have breakfast at our accommodation, on the lovely shaded patio then go for a walk around the market. We had noticed last night that there are large, wooden fences lining some of the streets and wondered what they were for. After reading a couple of notices we realise that they are for the bull running that takes place through the streets sometime in August. Glad we won’t be around then. 

Bull fences

We drive into the Bardenas Reales for an explore. There are only a few tracks you can drive down, they are pretty rough in places and it’s very dusty so we just take out time driving a little way then stopping and getting out for a look around. It’s such a spectacular landscape – how I imagine the Arizona desert to be. In different weather conditions (ie cooler) we would have fancied walking some of the marked footpaths but today we feel we would be fried alive after a short distance. As we are driving slowly along, I see my first snake of the trip – a beautiful long, thin greenish snake going across the road - we think it could be a Montpellier snake. I’m not at all keen on snakes and when I see it I’m torn between fascination and fear. 

Bardenas Reales

    

We exit the park with everything covered in dust – us, the van inside and out and our belongings. Eventually find a shaded spot for a late lunch (we’d almost given up hope of finding anything) then make our way to our campsite destination in the nice village of Ayerbe. The site is basic but clean and very shaded so it is most welcome. The campsite reception has a freezer with various ice creams so we couldn’t resist and tuck into large nutty choc ices before parking up the van. 

Friday 

Start to clean the dust from everything but it’s an ongoing process. Late morning we go into Ayerbe for shopping then take a short drive up the mountain to see Loarre castle. It’s pretty impressive and that’s coming from someone who lives near Dunstanburgh castle (the best castle). Loarre castle is one of the oldest castles in Spain, was built between 11th and 13th centuries as its location was considered to be of strategic importance. After a look around, we drive to a lovely river spot for a while then back to the site to continue with dust removal. 

Loarre Castle

Saturday 

Decide to go a few miles down the road to a campsite overlooking the red rocks of Los Mallos de Riglos. It’s still hot so we walk from the site to a little beach on the side of the river Gallego. Quite a lot of activities – kayaking, canoeing, rafting take place around here and it is a lovely stretch of river. I go in for paddle and it’s cold – the water has a lot of ice melt coming off the Pyrenees but to be honest, it’s nowhere near as cold as the north sea, which I have never swam in despite having lived close to it for 25+ years. Having said that, I don’t swim in this river either but Geoff does as he is much hardier than me when it comes to cold water. After a while we walk back to the site. There is a very hipster bar on the edge of the campsite and we ponder about going in for a drink but it’s full of young, beautiful people lounging about on sofas, which isn’t quite us so we go back to the van and sit outside looking at the red rocks in the fading sunshine, with a glass of wine. 

Los Mallos

Sunday 

We leave the site for the next phase of our trip, into the Pyrenees. The area we have spent the last 3 days in is known as the pre- Pyrenees but now we are going into the full mountains. We travel into the Hecho valley and the Parque Natural de los Valles Occidentales and it’s stunning. Park up and walk along a fairly steep, bouldery track. See other people on the route who are all looking for a very elusive bird called a Wallcreeper. They are rare and difficult to spot but there have been sightings in this area. Apparently they are small and grey (until they open their wings then they have splashes of crimson, black and white) and we are surrounded by very large grey rocks so I’m not surprised they are hard to see. We were planning to stay the night in the car park, but discover that no camping is allowed in the park so go back down the road a few miles to a campsite. It’s really lovely, in a stunning location in the mountains. After a while thunder and lightning echoes around the valley and it starts to rain but it’s pretty short-lived. 

Monday 

Drive to the next valley – Lizara - and go for a walk into the mountains. It’s a valley Geoff has been to before and he named it the Lammergeier (Bearded Vulture) valley as he saw a lot of them last time he visited. The walk is quite hard going as it’s fairly steep with a pretty uneven path but we manage OK and get a fair way up. See lots of lizards, including one bright green one (which is actually very appropriately named the Green Lizard) and hear the incredibly loud screech of a marmot. We stop for a break before walking back and still no Lammergeiers to be seen so we think we may have to rename the valley; however just as we start out on our return they appear and pretty magnificent they are too. They have a wingspan of 2.5 - 3 metres. Early evening, we go down the valley a little way and park up by a river for the night. 

Lizara walk

Tuesday  

It’s a cooler day, with rain forecast so we decide to go back up the Hecho valley as far as we can go as

there’s no through road so it will stop at some point. But before we do, we stop off in the small village of Hecho to see if we can get some fresh bread. Have a look around and can’t see any shops, just a few closed hotels and restaurants, then we see one person, then another, then another, carrying fresh bread so we go in the direction they have come from and hey presto, a Panaderia. Drive up the valley, until the road becomes a track, go a little further and it is amazing but the weather isn’t good and the visibility poor so stop for a while before turning round. Geoff tells me that we are in the area where we might see brown bears – I spend ages staring out of the window, scanning the hillside hoping for a glimpse but no luck -we do see beautiful mountain streams though. We return back to the village of Hecho and a campsite to catch up on work and notes. 

Wednesday 

Decide to stay put for the day as it’s cool, very breezy and rain is forecast. We go for a walk into Hecho for more fresh bread (and wine). It’s a small mountain village with not much happening (so we think) but as we have a wander we come across a magnificent outdoor sculpture park. It was created between 1975 and 1984 when the sculptor Pedro Tramullas had the idea of creating a contemporary art centre in the area. Artists, locals and visitors lived and worked together and they stayed for months, some with their families and created various works of art. What a lovely legacy to leave and a completely unexpected find. 

Thursday 

Leave Hecho and down the valley to Jaca (which is a lovely town) and up another valley to the ski resort of Candanchu (I keep thinking Fu Manchu) which is right on the French border. There’s little snow, just on the very high mountain tops and it is fairly quiet except for various bits of repair/renovation work taking place on cable cars and cafe/accommodation roofs. Find a place to park up for the night which is lovely until the mist descends, envelops the mountains and it gets very cold. Keep warm in the van and as we look out see a marmot very close – they are so cute – and then a lovely fox rummaging around. 

Alpine Marmot - photo by Geoff

Red Fox photo by Geoff

Friday  

Wake to a heavy mist all around – no indication at all that we are surrounded by huge mountains until around 8.30 when it starts to lift, the sun comes through and it’s glorious. I go for a little walk up the hill and I’m on the border – I walk into France and back again. 

After a while, we go down the valley, along a little way then up another valley to Formigal, which also goes up high and to the French border. It’s a much busier road than yesterday and Formigal is a big ski resort which looks rather forlorn out of season but the mountains are incredible. We walk up one of them – well not to the top, just as far as we can go before collapsing. See more marmots and for the first time, Chamois. Park up on a small area under the mountains for the night and the evening light is lovely. 

Saturday 

Start the day with a walk up a different mountain and see yet more marmots, Chamois and lovely alpine flowers. It’s a beautiful day, with a clear light and the mountains seem so unreal – like they are a backdrop for a film rather than something real as the scale of them is hard to comprehend. Leave the valley to head across towards Ainsa and Geoff decides to take a back road as it looks more direct on the map (Geoff does love a back road). Oh my, well it might have been more direct but what a road. Really, really steep mountain roads, lots of bends and sheer drops to the side. At one point we go through a jaw dropping gorge which I really want to look at but at the same time my dislike of heights keeps kicking in – I’m thinking ‘this is totally amazing / totally terrifying’. We arrive at the campsite we are making for and we have descended from the really high tops as we are now in a river valley but it is very nice - green and shaded with a lovely bar and restaurant where we sit with a cold beer to cool off and relive the roads we have just driven along. We know that the site is near the river and as we sit with our drinks we see people walk past with towels who have clearly been swimming, so after we finish our drinks we go for an explore. A really short walk from the site and we are down to rocks on the side of the river - it’s gorgeous and there’s loads of pools to swim in. Will definitely be out there tomorrow. 

Sunday  

Sort out chores (it’s washing day) and work until lunchtime then get our river shoes and snorkel out of the cupboard and head for the river. The water is cold as it’s straight off the mountains and fast flowing in parts but the sun is hot so I do manage a couple of swims, including one down through some rapids. Well, ‘rapids’ is probably a bit of an exaggeration but a fast flowing section that’s pretty deep. At one point during the afternoon around 30-40 Griffon Vultures circle overhead. We decide to eat out in the restaurant as a change from van meals and go for the menu del dia (menu of the day). It was lovely food and such good value. I have goat’s cheese salad then sea bream (only vegetarian option was pizza) and Geoff has peppers stuffed with cod followed by a plate of barbequed meat. We then have cheesecake and ice cream and share a bottle of rose wine. Get chatting to a couple from Yorkshire who were also having a meal and amongst other things, talked about places they had been in their van. They told us how much they loved Slovenia – they had been heading for Croatia but never made it because they didn’t want to leave Slovenia. It’s not a country I know much about but it got me interested to find out more. 

Swimming river

Monday 

We staying in the campsite for another night as it is really very nice, but decide to go for a little drive out to the town of Ainsa which isn’t far and sounds quite an interesting place – it’s a medieval town on a hill high above the river but it is also the location of the Pyrenean bird centre and eco museum. The town is lovely and the eco museum/bird centre is pretty good too. We have a look around the centre, there’s lots of general information about Pyrenean birds, wildlife, flowers but also a lot of information about Lammergeiers. They are the only bird that eats bones and can swallow a bone up to 25cms long. We watch a video and then we are taken to see some birds that are being looked after as they were injured and unable to live in the wild. There were Eagle Owls, a Short-toed Eagle but they also had 2 Lammergeiers - male and female. They are so impressive. One had been injured flying into an electricity wire but the other had been bitten by a mosquito and contracted avian malaria, which we didn’t even know existed. After a little walk around the old town and a delicious homemade ice cream, we head back to the campsite for an afternoon swim in the river. Later on, clouds start to gather and during the night we are woken up by the very loud, deep rumbling of thunder through the valley and heavy rain on the roof of the van. 

Ainsa

Ainsa shop window

Lammergeier photo by Geoff

Tuesday  

Leave the campsite for Benasque, located beside the 2 highest mountains in the Pyrenees - Aneto and Maladeta. Unfortunately the road we want to go down (which is the quickest route) is closed so have to take a detour which adds a fair few miles and time onto our journey. Go through Benasque and up a road into the mountains as far as we can go. It’s teeming with marmots – they are everywhere. Apparently they were extinct in the Pyrenees until 1948 when they were re-introduced and since then the population has exploded. We have a little look around but the weather is cool and overcast and our journey has taken longer than we hoped, so go to a campsite and we will have a proper explore over the next couple of days. Tomorrow we are going up high into the mountains in search of the Alpine Accentor, a bird Geoff has wanted to see and record for a number of years. 

Wednesday 

So, today is the quest for the Alpine Accentor. We leave the campsite for the ski area of Cerler as it is as high as you can drive up into the mountains - at 1912 meters - which is 6272 feet and that makes it the height of 2 scottish munroes on top of each other. The Alpine Accentor lives from 1800 – 3000m so if we walk up the mountain from the car park surely we will come across it. We get to 2,200m and see beautiful alpine flowers – some are not in flower yet but in a couple of weeks should be splendid. We also see 2 Lammergeiers –our closest look yet and a group of at least 20 Chamois but alas no Alpine Accentor. After a fair few hours on the mountain, we go back to the van for food and a relax – the sun has been hot today and although we were covered up and had hats on our faces are beetroot red.

         Small selection of Alpine flowers 

  

Thursday  

Well, if yesterday was the quest for the Alpine Accentor, then today is the quest for Citral Finch and marmot. Go back to the valley we were at on Tuesday (via Benasque for fresh provisions and water). It’s a lovely valley and we park up at various spots. Geoff goes out recording, I go out walking, then reading, then walking but it’s all a bit disappointing wildlife wise. The mountains don’t disappoint though and we walk to the top of the valley and are underneath the mountain of Maladeta and in striking distance of Aneto . On our way out of the valley we stop to look at a huge waterfall then find a place to park up for the night. 

Tomorrow we are moving out of the high Pyrenees, to the Pyrenean foothills. We will make our way back into France, near Perpignan to meet up with an old friend of Geoff's who he hasn’t seen for over 30 years. Then we are going to see if we can find a remote place we visited 37 years ago. Find out how we get on in the next instalment!