Camping Cañadas

On Tuesday we came about fifty miles south to the heart of the Sierra Gredos with a plan to stay put for a few days and enjoy the mountain scenery in crisp dry weather. Camping Cañadas is a site that must be popular in the Summer but at this time of year is quiet and preparing for the new season. It has many facilities including pool, sports facilities, restaurant, children’s playground, crazy golf as well as a small supermarket. The locals are friendly and offer us a wide selection pitches.

To get here we have taken the N630 which was once the Ruta de la Plata, a Roman road and part of the Silver Way and trade route running from Seville in the South to the North coast and the Bay of Biscay. We will follow this route to Seville over the next few weeks.

We settle in and then plan a walk around the reservoir that is adjacent to the site but despite the bright sun the bitter North wind makes us change our minds and instead we head along footpaths towards the mountain village of Hervás. Out of the wind the sun is warm and we pass between olive groves and smallholdings which cover the hillside as we gently climb to village about three kilometres away. Across couple of rivers, one over a bridge with Roman origins, we enter the village and climb through the old Jewish quarter, to reach a picturesque square. The Jews were expelled in 1492 and then sought refuge in Portugal but many of the original buildings remain. The rest of the town is made up of modern developments and provides holiday accommodate for those seeking to walk, climb and ski in the surrounding area. The whole is set beneath high snow covered mountains whose lower slopes are covered in forests of cork oak, sweet chestnut and walnut.

The next day the wind has dropped and we drive back to Hervás and start our planned hike to the waterfall known locally as La Chorrera. Across a disused railway line and through smallholdings we climb steadily towards a hydroelectric power station. Here the next part of the walk is steep pull to the header reservoir using a switchback of twenty or more turns. At four kilometres from the village we reach the top and can look back across the valley to Hervás and our campsite beyond. The next three kilometres are along a “canal” (a narrow man made water channel, a leat on Dartmoor, a levada in Madeira) which snakes around the hillside bring water to the header reservoir. As we approach the La Chorrera we must scramble over some rocks and meet a Spanish couple coming in the opposite direction. They are from Barcelona and work in the tourist business during the season and so have good English.

The waterfall is impressive and since the temperatures have not risen above freezing for some days there vegetation is covered in ice making a picturesque spot for lunch.

Refreshed we descend back to Hervás and arrive after the afternoon siesta as the village awakes and the locals start their promenading. A couple engage us in conversation – we have little or no Spanish, they have no English but we believe they were pleased to see us enjoying their village and fantastic scenery.

Thursday is to be a day of housekeeping – washing and cleaning takes most of the morning but by the middle of day we can enjoy our first tennis match of the trip. Margaret wins 6-2, 6-3 despite being buzzed by a black kite!

The cold wind is back and so the planned bar-b-que is postponed until another day and we repair to the van to write our blog and plan the next few days.