A new walk to the castle of Trevejo and a taste of self sufficiency in the Sierra de Gata

A day trip from Finca al-manzil :www.extremadura-rural-retreats.com

A 2 hour drive via Caceres and Coria to Hoyos a village in the Sierra de Gata. An interesting route that crosses the mighty Tajo river and some beautiful dehesa countryside until reaching the green slopes of the Sierra de Gata. 

It is recommended to visit Coria on the way or way back.

Coria and surroundings

We walked on an ancient medieval path from Hoyos to the castle of Trevejo, so much more meaningful than just going to Trevejo by car.

Arriving in Hoyos  at 10.30, there's time for a coffee before setting off on the walk which takes 2 hours, about 9 kms.

Hoyos is an ancient village originally in the lands owned by the Duke of Alba and ruled by the Bishop of Coria.

The walk starts from the main plaza in front of the church, up Calle Alvarez de Castro, turning left at the very top into Calle Cruz which is where the ancient calleja starts, there is a board with the route.

Continue on a charming cobbled track with gardens and orchards on either side and the occasional donkey. As you climb look back at marvellous views of Hoyos.

At one point there is a Y junction, take the right hand path. You will meet a small back road, turn left until you meet a busy tarmac road which connects Cilleros to Trevejo GR10, turn left and keep walking, about 500m until the sign KM 34 on the other side of the road, there is a gate with the green and white stripes indicating the continuation of the walk. Walk through the woods and out though another gate.








Continue until you come to a sign for Trevejo to the right 1.6 kms. Soon you will see the first views of the castle




Just before entering Trevejo there is the small Ermita del Cristo on the left.


Entering the village through narrow paths lines with ancient stone houses.

Here is a link to another visit we made to Trevejo with a full photographic record of the village and castle
https://finca-al-manzil.blogspot.com/2020/03/trip-to-coria-and-castle-of-trevejo-in.html

We were lucky to be picked up in Trevejo by a friend but if you cannot arrange a pickup then you must return to Hoyos on the same route, at least it's mostly downhill on the return walk. Recommended to take a picnic as the times of the bar in Trevejo are intermittent.

We spent the afternoon with our friend Paul Richardson who lives nearby on an idyllic finca blessed with abundant water. Finca El Chabolino

It's a working environment dedicated to self sufficiency; vegetables, fruit trees and vines thrive on the terraced land which includes woods and olive groves. There's also a flock of sheep, coops and hutches for chickens, pigeons and rabbits, last year there were pigs. All this produce is harvested or killed and preserved in various ways, we were to enjoy some delicious examples for lunch.

Paul and his partner Nacho have made a charming farmhouse on the site of an old barn which was integrated into the airy open plan space. In the super efficient kitchen, place of foody miracles, we sat around the table and drank some Pitarra wine made from the grapes of vines planted in the 1930s, a bowl of olives zinged with vivid colour, more like chrome green than the duller olive green. 

We had a peep into Paul's magic larder which contained all manner of wonders; polished cement walls and floor made a cool, semi-subterranean space with a separate bodega for wine making in old tinajas (terracotta wine pots) which had been coated on the inside with a pine resin based gunge giving the wine a tinge of pine nut flavour. Jamons were hanging in a row, various chorizos and other cuts of pork meat from the last matanza had been preserved and then carefully vacuum packed on site; jars and bottles gleaming with jewel colours containing olive oil, fruit and vegetables. On the floor were two wicker baskets full of the most amazing variety of setas, wild fungi in earthy tones of ochre, cream, brown and violet. Paul had been out foraging in the woods that morning, we took the baskets to the kitchen table to sort out a selection for lunch and how delicious they were simply prepared with olive oil, butter, garlic and chives.

One of my favourite parts of the meal was the rye bread, not from Lidl but made from rye, grown, harvested, winnowed and ground on the finca and then made into loaves and baked in the kitchen oven.

Later we had a walk around the finca and saw the ancient winnowing contraption used for the rye grain, a thing of beauty which still works perfectly with a hand operated wheel. There's a lily pond fed by two springs, a shady wood with blue hydrangeas and a plunge pool fed by an icy cold spring used for drinking water.

In the woods is a small casita shaded by oak trees, a most wonderful place of tranquillity where Paul retreats to write his books and journalistic articles concentrating on Spain, especially about food, wine and travel.

You can find his informative and amusing books on Amazon
Paul Richardson -Books

Visit to Sotofermoso Palace of ABADÍA, Ambroz Valley, Extremadura

Abadía is on the river Ambroz, located in the middle of pastures on the upper side of the Ambroz valley with breath taking views of the surrounding mountains.

 It is a village with a rich cultural variety; A medieval bridge, the Sotofermoso Palace (also called the Palace of the Dukes of Alba) and the Bien Parada Convent. 

The Sotofermoso Palace was declared a Historic Artistic Site in 1931.

Originally built as a stronghold during the 12th century, after the triumph of the Christians against the Moors it was given to the Templar order. 

In the 16th century the palace was remodelled by the third Duke of Alba, Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, to include a splendid Mudejar style cloister and  Italianate renaissance gardens including a replica of the principle piazza of Naples no less.

The Alba family were some of the principle members of the Spanish royal court and would entertain various monarchs here throughout the following centuries. Also celebrated writers and artists would be invited to stay e.g. Garcilaso de la Vega and Lope de Vega both great writers during the golden age of Spanish baroque literature. 

 The fabulous cloister in the Mudejar style in an excellent state of conservation.

The elaborate garden is now unfortunately in a state of neglect. 

Six beautiful portals overlooked the Ambroz River, originally with wooden doors that could be opened to enjoy the panorama, they are now cracked and strangled by vegetation, a great pity. 

There are some original statues now moved into the cloisters

Visits on Tuesdays only 10.00 - 14.00

A trip to Las Hurdes and the waterfall of Chorro de la Meancera at El Gasto

We left  the finca early as it's a 2 1/2 hour journey to the tiny pueblo of El Gasto, literally the end of the road, a very winding and steep road.

Our aim was to do the hike between El Gasto and the powerful waterfall known as Chorro de la Meancera.

We were impressed by the effort spent on making the walk along the river accessible and safe, much easier than we imagined to reach such a remote site. We particularly enjoyed the well constructed

boarded walks suspended around the rocks of the river valley.

 

The views down the valley and up to the amazing crags were exciting before getting to the main attraction, the waterfall itself. The water seems to irrupt from a narrow crack in the crag and falls with mighty force for over 100 metres crashing into a pool before tumbling down the river over smooth rocks and ledges.

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The day was sunny and warm, a wonderful place to linger and breathe in the surrounding nature but I would love to come back on a gloomy day with rain and possibly some thunder and lightening for a really gothic romance experience.

We walked back on the same route with fresh perspectives. 

On re-entering the village Manfred and Lucy headed off for a drink while I wanted to find some original primitive dwellings built of dark slate giving these Hurdes villages the name "pueblos negros" notoriously featured in Buñuel's  film "Tierra sin pan". Also wanted to find some natural honey, Las Hurdes has always been famed for its honey, one of the few products the inhabitants could sell for cash.

 When roads were built covering the original mule tracks over Las Hurdes it was possible to bring building materials and modern life invaded these remote villages, buildings were thrown up with hideous results, no reference to the nature of the terrain or natural building materials. But who can blame them?  They had been driven out of their hovels in these wild mountains by the deprivations of extreme poverty and hunger to work in big cities or further afield in France and Germany in the 60s and 70s. They returned with money to improve the dire living conditions but unfortunately they chose to build in an urban style with several floors using cheap materials which have not aged well, a pity. I was hoping to find at least some vestige of old dwellings, an important part of the history of Extremadura when life had been so diverse with traditions, cultural differences, costume and even dialects depending on the area. There were more old houses than I expected, all huddled together at the extreme end of the village next to the river. The alleyways between the ruins filled with weeds and rubble, a mule observed me from a stable that had no doubt once been inhabited by a family.

In the past it was recorded  that not only were the people here were so restricted that they could not make bread but also they built with no chimneys, letting the smoke from cooking fires escape where it could through the rafters and roof of slate slabs. I saw that none of the old houses had chimneys or even windows, just one primitive wooden door. A vision from the past appeared,  a woman sitting at her door with smoke billowing through her roof, she might have been 80 and probably remembers the time before roads, electricity and piped water when the only food was foraged in the woods or from tiny patches of cultivation by the river which were regularly ruined and flooded every winter, when the village was just this collection of old houses with no modern conveniences at all. 

She sat there quietly with memories of a life lived through amazing changes, it was as recent as  her parents generation that the bizarre and mysterious life of the people here inspired real horror stories of disease, incest, mental and physical afflictions and incredible superstitions..... See this post

https://finca-al-manzil.blogspot.com/search?q=las+hurdes  

P.S. Found the honey, bought 500 g of the most wonderful tasting honey for €7.00, no label but straight from the bee keeper.