Today we travelled the road to Oria, then continued on up to Barranco de Quiles, a village nestling on the side of the valley, at just under 1000m asl, in the range of the Sierra de las Estancias. The village was celebrating a fiesta, which included a paella, dancing and music into the small hours.
An area had been set aside, in the shade, for a bar so we made a circle awaiting instructions from the hares.
The route was marked with salt, rumours of false trails abounded,as we set off along the track. The terrain was steep, the valley looked verdant and fertile, we noted this fuente, a means of collecting the water for use by the villagers, The flowers
perhaps a sign of their appreciation.
One of the harriets was fascinated by the shape of this cactus for some reason, anyway this is for Bog Trotter.
We walked, checking we were following the route, as we began to descend onto the valley floor, the runners much more active and noisier met up with us, they are easily confused and distracted, especially when a certain Dorothy was obscuring the trail marker.
As we headed back towards the village, I noticed this lady channelling the irrigation water on to the plants taking advantage of an age – old system, a Moorish tradition.
The climb back up out of the valley was quite difficult, especially in the heat of the day, fortunately there was another watering hole, where cans of drink had been kindly deposited. The dog enjoyed his dip, not so
sure about Puff.
We eventually made it back to the start, the circle and the on after, we didn’t stay for the fiesta, but I am sorry I missed the dancers.