late news from Caceres

As I write this blog, partly as my own diary of our trip and partly as information for anyone who wants to know what we’re up to, I don’t know if one or twenty one people are looking at it. Would anyone who is reading just leave a comment to say they are, I’d appreciate it.


Day 48 Wednesday 18 April

Very hot day today as we explored Arecena, the local big town and centre of the oak fed Jamon business. There’s ham everywhere you look hanging in shops. Overlooking the town from the south is a ruined castle and unruined church, as usual for these parts built over a Moorish Mosque and incorporating any useful towers or pieces of wall. Good views over an attractive town with the usual backdrop of cranes on all the building sites.

Drove out of town for lunch which is increasingly Spanish time of about 2.30 to 3.00 for us. Went to yet another reservoir, this one full up but no birds except for one lone Grebe. There are notices at many of the pools and lagoons we’ve visited asking people not to release Terrapins and they are obviously a problem. At today‘s reservoir we saw quite a few as we have done in other places. Clearly a predator free environment for the Terrapins, they’re causing serious ecological damage to the natural wildlife. They will certainly be a serious threat to ground nesting birds and chicks on the water.


Day 49 Thursday 19 April

I don’t think I mentioned that the reason we went into Gibralter some weeks back was to see if I could get a new pair of binoculars. Well I did but fell for the optics and bought a much more expensive pair than I had planned to, so I can now mis-identify birds with a great deal more clarity.

After some night-time rain we decided on a local walk from the nearest village into Arecena and back on a circular route, a distance of about 7 miles. Turned out to be a really good walk, some of which was along what looked like old mule track. Quite a lot of it was paved with stones hammered into the surface. Stopped for a proper lunch in Arecena instead of just a drink. Three courses, a beer, olives and bread for 7.50 Euros (about £5) each. Part way back we had a thunderstorm and just ended up walking 3 miles through the pouring rain to the van without our waterproofs. It was wet but it wasn’t cold so it was fine. As we got back it stopped.


Day 50 Friday 20 April

Andalucia is the heartland of bull fighting and almost every place that could be described as a big village/small town has it’s own Plaza de Toros. We drove to a couple of local towns today to see what they were like and they both had bullrings. Overcast or drizzly so neither looked wonderful.

Back at the campsite, which has turned out to be wonderful for birds we had a flock of Beeaters flying around us and positively identified a Nightingale.

Day 51 Saturday 21 April

Today we’re visiting yet another place mentioned in the Traveller’ Nature Guide - Spain book which has proved to be invaluable. Our plan for this trip was virtually non-existent, relying on a lot of serendipity rather than heavy planning. A bit of spontaneity as a change from my usual style of thinking long and hard before I do anything spontaneous.

So we set off into the Cork Oak and Sweet Chestnut woods which clothe the hills to the west, turn off the main road at Cortegana, where despite the signs implying an outer route, we are directed through the middle of town yet again. No exit signs to anywhere but a compass bearing doubled up with a back reading to the town castle shows that we’re on the right road. Off we set but can’t find the described walk. We’re seen to be on the wrong road but if so, can’t work out which. Perhaps our million mile to the inch map isn’t good enough ? We find a walk anyway and when finished decide to carry on down the road we’re on “to see where it goes”. Well it definitely is a road not on our map as we cross a railway line next to a tunnel and arrive at a hamlet that clearly has a junction because we’re at it, but not on the map. It turns out that we were on the right road but never did find the walk.

This is the day we leave Andalucia and we’ve seen a lot more than many visitors. We’ve spent seven weeks of our twelve here and could easily have made it the whole three months but we do want to see some of the (hopefully) almost tourist free western Extramadura and Castilla y Leon.

We stop a little way across the Extramadura border at Monasterio with views to the under construction motorway linking Madrid and Seville.


Day 52 Sunday 22April

Our route today is roughly north east and we start well by turning onto a road to take us under the new motorway only to be chased by a car with lights flashing and horn blaring because he thought we were planning to drive along the motorway. There were of course no road closed signs as we could see when we drove back along the way we’d come.

Very empty roads and varied scenery on the route from flat apparently empty country then a sudden change to dehesa, rolling hills, mountain and then flat again. Dehesa, which looks like what we would call parkland is wood-pasture, made of partially cleared forest, which is a very good wildlife friendly system (apparently).

We head for La Serena, a flat treeless and virtually bushless area which is particularly good for Steppe birds while hoping that we don’t find eighteen inch grass, which will make it difficult to see nine inch high birds. We’re on a 25 km minor road across it and it really does look like a blank emptiness, so we stop and scan the ground. On our second stop we see a group of 18 male Great Bustards making their stately way across the ground, some making half hearted display attempts. These are birds that weigh 8 - 16 kg. so although a long way off and easily seen with binoculars. Better viewing than we could have hoped for but some Little Bustards would have been good too. Later we saw two Great Bustards landing and ended up seeing 21 altogether, a pretty amazing sighting.

We find our campsite which is 12 miles outside the town it’s listed under by sheer chance, having driven out of town on a different road to the one we thought we were on. It’s the first official campsite since our one last night nearly 150 miles away. It’s in a position near a huge rock face next to a river in a really peaceful location. That’s if you don’t count the royal blue twol lane bridge spanning the river about two hundred feet high above the end of the site. It’s a relatively little used road but the noise of lorries crossing the expansion joints each end of the approx. 400 - 500 yard span can be heard very clearly. So there‘s a wonderful mountainside with a blue slash across it.


Day 53 Monday 23 April

Amused to find that the area we’re in is called La Siberia but the difference is that the pronunciation stresses the penultimate syllable, so it’s SiberIa. Yes, I’m easily amused. It’s odd though that with Iberia, it’s not pronounced IberIa.

Just to the north of the campsite is a dam with to it’s east a huge outcrop of jumbled but sheer rock face looking south west. Soaking up the heat produces lots of thermals and ideal ground for the dozens of vultures who live here. In the morning they can be picked out sitting on the skyline waiting for the thermals to get going and the afternoon is when they really get going. Like some people I could name. There is a route from the north to the top and we decide to climb up in the afternoon when the heat will get the vultures out. It’s a bit of a scramble through the undergrowth and hot and sticky but eventually we get views over south and south west and settle down to watch the birds soaring about. We stayed a good couple of hours because the vultures are just fantastic to watch. These are birds with huge tearing claws and beaks and they are big. The biggest here, Griffon Vultures have a wingspan of up to eight and a half feet, so you don’t feel like staying too still for too long.

The view southwards is over low plain towards distant mountains with La Serena, where we were yesterday in the same direction.

Day 54 Tuesday 24 April

Drove into Tallarubias to the market to get some fruit and veg supplies. Got some strange looks as we were presumably the only non-locals at the market. Perhaps I shouldn’t have worn my red nose and shoes with the bells on.

In the afternoon we decided to re-climb the peak by the campsite and watch vultures again. They are such elegant birds in the sky but they really are big ugly buggers up close. Excellent views from above of lots of Griffon and some Egyptian Vultures and we also saw three Black Storks, which are quite rare except in this area. First sighting of a Rock Bunting, not really the territory as we were only above the tree line because we were right on the top so there could be no trees above us. I understand they’re usually higher than we were at 2,500ft. but I have photographs of it so can check with someone who knows. More strenuous than yesterday but 100 feet or so higher over pretty rough ground, earlier so hotter and no shade.


Day 55 Wednesday 25 April

Planning to drive to Guadalupe today for more walks in mountains so not too upset to wake to cloud and drizzle. Guadalupe is about 80 miles east of Caceres. About a 50 mile drive along a huge reservoir which is only about the third biggest in the area. Stopped on a small country road for a cup of tea and watched a close (30 yards or so) Marsh Harrier circling and calling over a deer fawn. This attracted the adult deer and got rid of the Harrier. It must have been a very optimistic young bird to even seem interested in something as big as a fawn when they only usually eat small mammals, birds and insects. On the other side of the van about the same distance away we watched two Hoopoes digging about for worms. A good tea stop.

Guadalupe has a huge monastery in the middle of town with another miraculous virgin and is clearly a touristy town for Spaniards. We had a wander around and only heard one group who weren’t Spanish, they were French. It does feel like we’re seeing Spain rather than a sort of ersatz Spain for tourists., which was one of the main reasons we kept away from the Mediterranean coast and went for the west inland part of the country. We haven’t seen an English car or heard any other English voices since we left Aracena and we’re sure that they were expats living there.

We checked into the campsite and had to be directed to a bit that we wouldn’t sink into because it’s low lying and very soggy.