Spain – the Sierra Espuna Regional Park

The reward after a tough climb: a sweeping descent

The reward after a tough climb: a sweeping descent

We are loving our time here in the Sierra Espuna regional park, staying in a small campsite just outside El Berro.  El Berro is the friendliest village we’ve come across so far and we can understand why people who arrive at the campsite never want to leave: a retired Swedish couple arrived in 2000 and are still here (having never returned to native Sweden) and our campsite neighbours, Jan and Chantal from Belgium, have been back each spring for the past 3 years, staying 3 months this time and planning to return in the Autumn!

Thankfully the cold front moved on and we’ve been out exploring mainly on the bikes as well as doing some great running on the mountain trails and walking paths.  The park is in the Betic mountain range and ranges from 200 to 1500 metres, so both running and cycling involve lots of climbing!  Jan and Chantal are keen cyclists and know the area well, and we were lucky enough to have them take us out on our return from Madrid, climbing into the rocky escarpments and descending into quiet valleys, pointing out various points to enable future navigation along the way.  We’ve since done several other rides all of which have been spectacular: pine forests; rocky escarpments; incredible gorges; spectacular weather (although the weather in camp has been warm and sunny, the mountains have their own microclimate, and the moisture left over from the cold front means that it gets pretty cold on the climbs and we’ve had some amazing thunder storms); encountering a friendly fox in need of food along the way; startling shy barbary sheep grazing along the mountain paths; spotting a breeding pair of eagles; and wild pigs coming right up close to scrounge for leftovers at a restaurant deep in the reserve.  It is really lovely to be here in the spring time, with beautiful wild flowers including poppies in full bloom, flowering thyme and rosemary and of course wonderful lemon and orange blossom.  We have yet to discover the wild asparagus, which all the locals pick while out walking, but having done some google research, we are determined to find our own before we leave!  We have also been totally spoilt by Jan and Chantal, being kept in plentiful supply of oranges and walnuts, given to them daily by locals from the village.

4 thoughts on “Spain – the Sierra Espuna Regional Park

    • You’ll be dismayed to know he was grazing on lemons … Lisky says maybe they’ll add to the flavour!

  1. So – instead of Callie and Bambi – you are now travelling on a bull! What an amazing statue (?) – love to have details of where you saw it.
    Love,
    M and T.

    • We’ve seen these bulls along a lot of the main A roads we’ve driven; they loom in the distance, usually with a clear blue sky behind!

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