Bonelli's Eagle sighting

A nice autumnal day walking in the Alpujarras; what more could anyone ask for? We set off for a walk on one of our "local patch" circuits on a beautiful clear day, with a brisk breeze blowing in from the east to help keep the temperature down.

The first part of the walk climbs for about a kilometre up the quiet little road to the neighbouring village of Nechite. With binoculars at the ready we scanned the trees and bushes along the way, always on the lookout for any interesting migrants.

Half way up to the village I spotted two large birds circling some distance away. After getting them in my binoculars my initial thought was that they were Honey Buzzards, as they looked quite long tailed and had noticably small heads. Luckily they circled right towards us, and as they got closer I changed my id to Bonelli's Eagles. Although these birds are year round resident in the area, these two looked to be on a mission as they circled around letting the wind carry them swiftly out of view behind the ridge. A lovely sighting, which really made my day!

As we approached Nechite a Kestrel was also making the best of the breeze, and we watched it hanging almost motionless, just making the smallest adjustments of wings and tail to stay in position. I know they're common birds, but I can happily watch them for ages.

We passed up through the village, keeping an unsuccessful eye out for Hawfinches which are often seen in this location, and then cut left onto the famous GR7 footpath to take us along the contour back towards Valor.

Following the acequia (irrigation channel) we commented on how abundant the sweet chestnuts are this year. The trees are just loaded with them. I've never been a great fan of the things, but when you think of how much they charge for these in the UK shops, I will definitely have to find some way of using this free feast!

We picked up a few more nice species along the path, such as Crag Martin, Stonechat, Sardinian Warbler and Bonelli's Warbler, but mostly we just admired the fine views out across the Contraviesa mountain range with glimpses of the distant sea just visible.

After another kilometre or two we reached the road just below the cheese factory that drops back down to Valor, and as the road pops out just next to the bar El Puente, it was too good an opportunity to miss to round off the walk with a drink or two!

Walking in the Alpujarras is always rewarding, this one of our shorter local walks but a favourite since it starts and finishes from our own front door in Valor.

Google Earth Valor

I love messing about with Google Earth. So I've embedded this map centred on Valor. You may need to install the Google Earth plugin to get this to work in your browser, but once done it lets you zoom in or out, and tilt your viewpoint so you can see the outline of the mountains. Then zoom left or right to have your very own virtual sight-seeing flight through the Sierra Nevada!

Hopefully you will also be able to track down and take a look at some of the other locations mentioned elsewhere in my blog.

Have fun!



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Fiesta de Valor!

On any given day, somewhere in Spain, in some town or city or sleepy little village, a fiesta will be going on. The Spanish just love an excuse to throw a party.

In Valor, September is fiesta time, and the locals are rightly proud of the spectacle that overtakes the village on the 13th, 14th and 15th every year.

The Valor fiesta commemorates the final conflicts between the Moors and Christians, in their last Moorish bastion of the Alpujarras during the Morisco revolt of 1568 to 1571. King Philip the second of Spain is alleged to have deliberately provoked the uprising by persecuting the Moors, and the ensuing bloody conflict resulted ultimately, in the death of the Morisco king Aben Humeya, and the deportation of the remaining Moors. The Alpujarras was then repopulated with settlers from other areas of Spain.

The fiesta celebrations start with a procession featuring huge caricatures of Aben Humeya and his wife (or at least one of them!). Musical accompaniment, is supplied by a local brass band (the band are also usefully deployed to walk around the entire village at an ungodly hour in the morning just in case you need waking up after partying too long and hard). As you can imagine, the caricature costumes are very heavy in the Spanish sun, and the local bar owners help to keep the wearers fully hydrated by supplying them with beer. This also helps the caricatures to sway realistically to the music.

Following closely behind Mr & Mrs Humeya is rather bizarrely, a manikin in a blonde wig riding on the back of a green dragon. Don't ask, I've never worked that one out either.



Children are rarely excluded from the proceedings in Spain, and here they take part in the procession dressed in "big head" costumes. Occasionally it seems, having a little difficulty in finding their way!













As with the blonde on the dragon, I've no idea if there is any sort of historical significance to the big heads, but it all adds to the unique charm of this fiesta, which has everything from the slightly tacky and home-made to the superbly professional.


Fireworks play a huge part in Spanish fiestas and the Valor fiesta is no exception to this rule. From the man following the procession setting off rockets from his hand (imagine that getting past health & safety in the UK!), to spontaneous bursts of rockets and large spectacular displays, you are treated to some of the noisiest and most colourful pyrotechnics you could wish for.



The amount spent on fireworks for just this one village fiesta must be phenomenal. On the second evening of the fiesta, the large and heavy crucifix is taken down from the church and carried at shoulder height around the village. At each barrio or neighbourhood, the crucifix stops and hundreds of rockets shoot up into the air from nearby. The entire procession takes around two hours, with possibly a dozen or so of these stops and rocket launches. As the crucifix is returned to the church, the finale is a barrage of rockets and air bombs of truly biblical proportions. I'm lucky enough never to have been in a war zone, but I imagine it must sound something like this. It's not only deafening, you can actually feel it reverberating through your body.

The photo below shows just a small number of the rockets awaiting launch, which might give you some idea of the scale.





On all three nights of the Valor fiesta, bands play on a stage constructed in the church square, and drinks are sold from a temporary bar. The population is swelled by visitors from the surrounding villages and from further afield and the whole place turns into a buzzing dance party until first light. Rather more pasa doble than P Diddy though, if you get the picture, but none the worse for that. For somebody like myself, brought up in the UK, it is certainly an eye opener to see everyone from toddlers, to teenagers, right up to old dodderers all having fun and enjoying themselves at the same time.

The highlight of the Valor fiesta, for me at least, is the battle re-enactment on the final day. This is a spectacular blend of bands, parades, horsemanship, speeches and thunderous battles featuring the men of the village decked out in Moorish and Christian battle dress, and sporting a motley collection of the loudest shotguns and blunderbusses you're ever likely to hear.









A really great spectacle that the people of Valor have every right to be proud of.

And if after three days of noise, booze and partying you're feeling a little jaded, don't turn in too early. Get up on the roof terrace with a nightcap in hand and at about one or one thirty in the morning you will be treated to another truly beautiful display of fireworks to bring proceedings to a close. I'm afraid my poor photograph does not do this any justice at all.



All in all, I can highly recommend Valor fiesta. If you get the chance to visit the Aplujarras at this time of year, try not to miss it.

As you can imagine, with such an influx of visitors, accommodation can be tricky to find and you will need to plan ahead and book early. You could try companies such as Owners Direct, and other local hoteliers and proprietors who often feature in our Google Ads section on this blog. You could also contact Los Arcos, who have a link on this page, however they often close for the fiesta as their location directly in the church square is a little too noisy for most guests during the fiesta.

Wherever you end up staying, before your visit, why not pick up some T-shirts and designer sunglasses from our site sponsor Bullseye Fashion? A great range of on-line fashion at low prices.

Thanks for reading The Road to Valor, and if you have your own favourite Spanish fiesta, why not post a comment below. I'd love to hear about it.

All the best!

Valladolid Come to Town

A little off topic maybe, but a little bit of Spain breezed into my home town of Stockport last night when my team Stockport County took on the might of Real Valladolid in a pre-season friendly.

The La Liga team from Castille y Leon in central Spain gave County a "real" good workout (groan!), eventually running out 3-1 winners. First division County did provide the visitors with a run for their money in the first half though, when they went into a one goal lead after 20 minutes. The scorer was Havern, who powered in a header at the far post from a free kick taken by Rose. As I wasn't really expecting us to get much out of this game the goal was a bonus, and along with a few other good chances and some good passing play, I reckon it was a good first half performance from County. Valladolid took until 8 minutes before half time to equalise through Nivaldo and both sides went in on equal terms at the break.

The second half was a different story. As it was a friendly, Valladolid changed their entire team at half time and the new arrivals led County a merry dance. The home side from then on struggled to keep any kind of possession with the La Liga team really showing their class. It was no surprise when Gonzalez added a second goal after some sustained pressure on the County defence. One slightly familiar face was the ex Man United player Manucho (pictured below on a loan spell at Hull City) who came on amongst the half time changes. He gave the County defence plenty to think about before finally deciding it with a third goal from a delicious strike.



Never nice to see your team get beaten, but all in all it was a good night out and a chance to see how we matched up to some superior opposition.

A fleeting week.

Well we're back in the UK already, and a week seems to have just flown past. It hardly seems like five minutes since we booked the flights. Still it was a nice break with lovely weather and temperatures in the mid to high thirties. Most days had at least a little bit of breeze to stop us getting too overheated.

Unfortunately, Maria tore a muscle in her right calf on only our second day. This put paid to us getting out for any more serious walks as she was hobbling round on a stick for the remainder of the trip. I still managed to get a few birding trips in below Valor and we had a drive through the Contraviesa which added a few different bird species.

But even a quiet beer or two in one of the village bars gives great views and allowed us to watch Spotted Flycatchers hunting and returning to a nearby nest.


At this time of year to get the best from a birding walk means a fairly early, but not ridiculously early start, and since I'm onto my local patch in about thirty seconds from leaving the front door seven am or so was just about right. The extra hour of darkness due to the local time difference compared to the UK also helps.

With the sun rising in the east, the valley below Valor remains mostly in shade until about nine. This not only keeps it nice and cool, but also allows you to see the lovely shadows and colours cast by the the early morning sun across the lower valley and the more distant Contraviesa range.



My usual circuit below the village is only about three or four kilometres (depending on my chosen return route), but it usually takes me three or four hours, with many stops at promising birding spots.

The small farms below Valor are a mixture of almond and olive trees, mixed with various vegetable and fruit crops such as tomatoes, peppers, onions, beans etc. There are stands of poplars which are grown for use as roof beams and joists in the traditional houses of the area. These are where you will often spot the many Golden Orioles that are present in spring and summer here. They blend well into the light green foliage, so often their gorgeous fluting song is heard well before you get a glimpse of one.



Amongst the other species spotted on the couple of walks I had last week were Cetti's Warbler, Olivaceous Warbler, Sardinian Warbler, Common Whitethroat, Turtle Dove, Red-rumped Swallow, Crag Martin, Cirl Bunting, Rock Bunting, Serin, Bee Eater, Spotted Flycatcher, Woodchat Shrike. Plenty of other birdlife too of course, and also some notable absences. I didn't hear or see any Wrynecks this trip, and would usually expect to see one or two overflying eagles, particularly Booted Eagle, but no luck.

A drive out in the car was a welcome break for Maria, who had been pretty much housebound on her new walking stick. We did a long circuit heading towards Cadiar via Yegen and Mecina Bombaron, stopping at the various viewing areas to admire the scenery and have a scan around with binoculars for any birdlife.

This picture below is of the valley just below Mecina Bombaron, always a nice place to stop and admire the lovely farm buildings nestling into the steep rock face, and watch the circling Crag Martins and Red-rumped Swallows.



On reaching Cadiar, we took the road towards Albunol before turning left onto the road through the Contraviesa range. Although almond and olive trees still feature, this area is more well known for its wine making, and you pass several large wineries and bodegas along the way.
We then headed down towards the man-made Embalsa de Beninar and stopped to take a few photos. The terrain is drier and more rugged at this end of the Contravieasa, and we saw a few Thekla Larks and Black Wheatears which are typical of the area.



Birdlife on the reservoir appeared to be limited to a few Great Crested Grebes, so we headed back for the return leg through the intriguing villages of Darrical and Lucainena. These villages were almost ghost towns until recently, with many ruined and empty buildings. Several initiatives have taken place to revitalise them, and now there are many restorations and rebuilds underway. It is very isolated, but whoever lives here will enjoy beautiful surroundings. One word of warning, the road along the valley here is very narrow, and its often loose surface has not been improved by the wagons serving the building that is now going on. Drive carefully, and perhaps give it a miss if you don't like heights, as there is often a sheer drop for many metres right at your elbow!

The home leg of the drive takes us back via Cherin and Ugijar back to our start at Valor. A very pleasant and interesting few hours drive, do give it a go if you're in the area.

Next trip booked for July.

We do find it difficult to stay away from Valor for too long, and since work has been so hectic recently we thought we'd treat ourselves to a quick week in Spain before the schools break up and the flight prices double!

It is usually getting up to some pretty fierce temperatures by this time of year, so any walking or bird watching will mean getting up at the crack of dawn. Although it is past the best time of year for birding (at least until Autumn arrives), there is still plenty to see even locally. Golden Orioles flit between the trees, usually only giving a brief flash of colour before blending back into the foliage. Strangely well camouflaged for such a brightly coloured bird. European Bee Eaters (as in the painting below), and the occasional Roller add another dash of the exotic.


Sometimes the best approach is just to let the wildlife come to you. Scops Owls are common in the area, but devilishly difficult to see. The best view of a Scops I ever had was whilst sitting outside a local bar having an early evening beer, and watching one hunting and returning to its nest in a hole in the wall just feet away from me. Great stuff (I'm easily pleased!).

So maybe we'll just go along with that. Chill out, watch the world go slowly by and see whatever we happen to see.

Accommodation in the Alpujarras

If you're planning to visit this very beautiful area of Southern Spain, a whole host of accommodation options are available to you, from hotels and hostels of varying degrees of luxury, to bed and breakfasts, or self catering houses and apartments. All of these, you will need to check out in detail, either on the internet if they have a website, or in person before you check in. The reason for this is that the Spanish rating system and the way in which accommodation is described does not always give you the best indication of what is on offer. For example a simple B&B may have more comfortable and better fitted and decorated rooms than a two or three star hotel. It pays to try before you buy!

Which of the above accommodation types suits you best will obviously depend on personal taste and budget, but also on how you are actually travelling.

Nowadays it is easily possible to drive the entire length of the Alpujarras in well under two hours; even making allowances for stopping off to admire the views. So if you have a hire car, then booking a hotel or renting a house in any of the Alpujarran villages or towns such as Valor, Ugijar, Yegen, Mecina Bombaron or Cadiar would provide you with a good touring base to easily visit all the sights of the area (even as far afield as Granada and the Alhambra Palace).

On the other hand, for back packers and cyclists, more careful planning of routes and distances will be required. However, even in this case, with regular and generally reliable buses along the main route through the Alpujarras, backpackers should easily be able to reach their chosen destination should the planning go awry.

By carefully searching the internet it should be easily possible to piece together suitably placed cheap hotels along your walking route, but another good idea is to contact the chosen accommodation at your starting point and ask for suggestions and advice for the remainder of the route from them.

I would also recommend that walkers and backpackers search out accommodation run by like-minded proprietors. They will in most cases be only too willing to help fellow walking enthusiasts with route planning, logistics and possibly travel.
On that note, one business we would definitely recommend is run by our good friends David and Jill Drummie of Los Arcos.

http://www.losarcosholidays.com/

In addition to full guided walking holidays they also offer a B&B service from their fabulously restored property in the church square of Valor. They of course, have an in-depth knowledge of the area and its many walking possibilities, which should help you to get the most out of your walking holiday.

Hopefully, it won’t be too long now before we ourselves make our permanent move to Valor, and can offer our own bed and breakfast service. Until then, we hope this article has helped a little in planning your visit to Southern Spain, and if you already have your own favourite recommendations for accommodation in the Alpujarras, please post a comment below. We’d love to here from you.

First visit 2009

Mid March gave my first opportunity this year to get out to Spain. And as I was using up a few spare days of annual leave (Maria having used all her supply), managed to make it a "boy's week" in the company of my mate Dave.

We travelled over on the 14th March, and found all was shipshape in the house after being closed up for three months. Always a minor relief! Apart from sampling the local tapas and cerveza, our main plan for the week was to get some good walks under our belts. The weather certainly looked as if it was going to be in our favour, with no more than the odd cloud, but not getting too hot to make walking a chore.

Our first outing for the week was a short walk starting out above the pretty village of Mecina Bombaron. Only about 7km in total, but with the first half being a steady climb, was just what we needed to break ourselves in. Starting from a small plaza at the top of the village, you first climb up steep narrow streets, passing ancient white houses typical of the area, then exit the upper limit of the village on a narrow climbing path.

From here on the path is a mixture of cobbled traders paths, or narrow tracks following the acequias or irrigation channels. Several small farms, dot the landscape, with well tended terraces and almond and olive trees. Gnarled and twisted sweet chestnut trees are also a striking feature of the landscape.

After steadily climbing for roughly half the walk, the marked path drops down to pick up the main acequia for the return leg. Passing a couple of old eras or threshing circles you pick up the acequia path and gently descend through more dense and mature woodland until arriving back at the village for a well earned beer.

I've done this walk a few times now, and always enjoy the fantastic views, both within the valley itself, and up towards the snowy peaks of the Sierra Nevadas. Due to the ample tree covering for much of the walk, it also remains pleasant when the hotter weather arrives.

Welcome to The Road to Valor!

Hello and welcome to my blog. Have you ever dreamed of just packing it all in and trying to lead a simpler and more hassle free existence? My name is Des, and I'm currently living in the UK and pursuing just this sort of dream along with my wife Maria.

We’ve been renovating a typical village house in a little whitewashed pueblo called Valor. High up in the Alpujarras mountains in Southern Spain, at an altitude of about 850m above sea level, Valor is surrounded by beautiful countryside and some stunning views. Some day we would just love to book those one way tickets and settle down there for good.



I know that many people would just throw caution to the wind and jet off into the sunset to see what fate has in store for them, but I’m afraid it’s in my own nature to take a more considered approach. The downside of this however, is that it can lose you valuable momentum. We bought the property back in 2004, and our initial five year plan is just about to run out of time. So, are we ever going make it?

Well, we have completed most of what I thought would be the trickiest bits. Buying a house in Spain in itself is an interesting process, which I’ll hopefully expand on in a future post; and we have also managed to get the house renovated “long distance” whilst still living in the UK. But the one missing piece in the jigsaw, and the one that is ultimately proving the most difficult, is how to provide ourselves with a sustainable income.

Guided bird watching holidays were always going to be our main thread of business, but we knew this was probably going to need supplementing. The current recession has only served to underline that. But rest assured we are working on it, and who knows? One of these days we may just get there!