Weekend Warrior- by Amy

Following off of what Phil wrote, a few weekends ago Gabriel and I went to visit Phil in Alcañiz. We had a great time and Phil was a wonderful tour guide. We visited the main plaza where the main church is and had coffee. . . Then we explored underground in some passageways that they used to use for ice-making among other things. . . Here is Phil, Evan, and Gabriel with the church in the background. It was a hot day.

The first night we went to a hill across from the town where there are a bunch of boulder problems. We enjoyed the view of Alcañiz at night.We also went to this wonderful natural park about 45 min. away. This picture is where we are headed to to do some rockclimbing and hiking. Phil is leading the way in his furgoneta (van) Beautiful place to climb, swim, hike, and enjoy the outdoors. . .

Gabriel and I are hanging out, literally, 100 or so meters up a rock wall

Phil, the hardcore rock climber ;)

LAST WEEKEND: Cahorros, Granada

This last weekend Gabriel and I went to the city of Granada to visit our friend Angel who is currently living there. The first night we enjoyed some excellent tapas, which Granada is know for and the next day we went to one of the oldest climbing places in Spain, Cahorros. It was another absolutely beautiful place, not only for climbing but also for the views and for hiking. There was a nice river that ran through this canyon and several suspension bridges to cross. This one was the longest. That´s Gabriel and Angel in the middle and Curo and Juaquin on the other side. . .

We followed this path that is built right along the river and right against the rock wall. Very cool. You can follow it all the way to the top of the Sierras if you want.

We climbed the whole day and were exhausted by the end. Here´s a group pic of us right before we belayed down from where we had been climbing all day to the trail below by the river. Angel is living there until July so we´ll have to go back, it was a lot of fun!

People come visit me!

The past weekend Amy and Gabriel came to visit me in Alcañiz. They also picked up Evan in Madrid, a friend from the Chicago area, who had been spending some time in Spain. They arrived Saturday night and after grabbing some dinner we went to camp out by the resevoir. Sunday morning we went to one of the churches here in Alcañiz. After church I showed my guests the undergound passages/old freezer under the central plaza and the castle. That afternoon we headed to los puertos de Beceite which is the mountain range before you get to the Mediteranean coast. We climbed a 4 pitch route while Evan swam in the river below. Amy and Gabriel were quite impressed with this natural park I have 40 minutes from Alcañiz. We got Evan on the rope after our multipitch climb for a little introduction to the sport. Then we headed to the free camping area in the same area. Evan cooked up a delicious risotto utilizing some wild herbs he found while wandering around with the mountain goats while we were high up on the wall climbing.

Monday morning we did a little hiking, being very unimpressed with Picasso´s cave, we headed up a stream which turned out to be a very beautiful little canyon with some technical rock hopping and manuvuering. Back at the cars we headed back to Alcañiz and bought some pork sandwiches for lunch and the visitors headed home. A good little visit.

It´s been a while. . .

So here are some photos from the past month or so. I went on a long weekend a little over a month ago to La Sierra de Segura. Gabriel and I went as the transfer drivers for Antonio and his mountain biking clients. We would drop them off at a point and then go pick them up somewhere else. In the meantime we went hike. . . first hike was to this big cave that we had tried going to on a previous trip but got lost.

This is from inside, it´s more like a cave/dome.

I am standing on deer poop. It is obviously the home to large amounts of animals since the floors are covered with droppings and it smells pretty bad too :)

Then the next day we saw the where a river begins. Pretty, deep, and so clear. . .

Here we are dropping the group off on the last day and the high parts of the Sierra

This is the group: two clients, Gabriel, a client, Gallardo, and Antonio. Just about to head off for a 6 hour bike ride , leaving Gabriel and I to pick them at on the outskirts of the mountain range we were in.

We didn´t know what we were in for. . . this is a picture of Gabriel when we crossed over from the Sierra de Segura mountian range to the Cazorla mountain range. It ended up taking us 7 hours to get to where we were supposed to pick them up. I think we drove on all the tiny, winding dirt roads that went up one mountain then down again, up then down, up. . . . you get the point:) Very beautiful though.

ABOUT A MONTH AGO. . .

Phil came to visit. It was rainy on Saturday so a bunch of us decided to go to Cueva Negra since we couldn´t climb. We watched this storm move in.

Here´s the cave. And what can you do in a cave?

Climb! of course! :) Here´s Blas doing a little bouldering action.

The next day was sunny so Gabriel, Phil, and I went to Puertollano (45min away) to do some routes. We had a good time and it was fun seeing Phil.

And finally, a cute little duckling that got seperated from his mommy close to where we went climbing this past weekend.

This coming weekend I have Monday off since it is a holiday in Castilla la Mancha. Gabriel and I are planning to drive up to see Phil on Saturday and stay until Monday. Should be fun. . . so stay tuned next week for some more pics from the north of Spain! Love ya all, take care

Amy

P.S. If you want to see some pics of me climbing and where I workout check out http://www.tytoalba.org/ You can brush up on your Spanish too if you want ;)

May travels

The weekend of the 9th and 10th I dropped down to visit Amy in Valdepeñas. A good little visit. I met up with Gonzalo in Zaragoza and road down with him. Amy is doing well. She bought a laptop to manage her photos and communicate with greater ease.



Last weekend I went to see the Basque country. Valentina wanted to go to Salamanca but I convinced her to come along and see the Pyrennes and San Sebastian, she wasn´t disappointed. The mountain towns and valleys were very beautiful and everything was extremely green. We ended up going up through Roncal Valley going through the Piedra de San Martin Pass entering France. Heading west, to reach the next pass, we reached Larrau and hiked to a suspension bridge which was quite impressive. We entered Spain again through Larrau Pass and headed for Pamplona. I´m not sure which is more difficult, the French pronuciation or the Basque, at least reading French I could more or less figure out what it was saying. Next stop was Estella and San Fausto for a little bit of rockclimbing. Sunday evening we ended up in San Sebastian to attend a little evangelical church. We went out to dinner afterward with a friendly group from the church. The beach/bay at San Sebastian gives the city its feel and has the ´wind combs´ sculptures by Chillida.

Plaza del Castillo in Pamplona

Monday we went west along the coast and ended up in Gernika for a menú del dia. We joined tables with a talkative, well-travelled Irish couple in their 70´s. My first plate was a whole pot of red beans with sausage which I had no hope of finishing but which was delicious, next I had the cod in the traditional red sauce, with flan for desert. Next we went to the woods near Oma to see some colorful artwork by Basque artist Agustin Ibarrola. Hiking through the woods I was excited to find a mountain bike trail with jumps and dropoffs. The art is in the middle of a forest and is made up of groups of painted tree trunks. Then we hit the road for Alcañiz stopping briefly in Vitoria and arriving at home at 2:30 in the morning.

Bosque de Oma

On the road

Here are some of the pictures, the trip was a success, we saw a lot of  Northern Spain and crossed the river near Tui into Portugal for a cup of coffee, then we hightailed it for home seeing Zamora, Vallodolid, and Soria along the way, now I'm in Lerida about to head for Alcaniz.

Sanctuary in Pontevedra

La Coruna from the seaside park

Lunch on the side of the road in Las Hoces de Vegacervera

El Naranjo de Bulnes

The Sanctuary at Covadonga

Phil´s travels in the north of Spain

I´m writing from Oviedo, Asturias. We got here last night and are couchsurfing here a couple of nights here with a lady. Last Friday I picked Daniel up in Lerida, Cataluña, and we left early afternoon. We made it to Bilboa, Pais Vasco, that night and stayed with Joe, another language assistant. (On the way, we stopped in Logroño, Rioja and explored the town on bikes, and at a natural park in the Basque country and hiked around a bit). We explored Bilboa a little the next morning in a light mist and headed into Cantabria doing a little climbing at a town called Ramales de la Victoria. We drove into Santander in the dark and parked along the harbor for the night. The coast along this stretch is very beautiful. We visited several towns the next day on the way to the Picos de Europa. It is very, very green up here.

We arrived in Las Arenas de Cabrales in the Picos de Europa and ended up staying in the parking lot there two nights. Day one we drove up to Covadonga and saw a very beautiful santuary where there had been an important battle against the moors. This part of Spain never really fell to the Moors with the natural mountain fortress and was where the reconquest started. In the afternoon we started a hike in the mountains along a canal on the cliffs through the Cares Gorge, a very impressive hike, 3 hours to another little town, where we bought cider and made sandwiches and watched the rain start. When it stopped we headed back and made it halfway before it started raining again, we got back around 9 pm in the last light of the day, completely drenched.

The next day we drove up the to the same place and being a beautiful day we had a wonderful view of the famed Pico Urriello, or Naranjo de Bulnes, a big mountain of steep rock, 2,519 meters at the top. I will have to come back this summer to climb it, it is like El Cap for us in California... (trad climbing and a big commitment, it is about a 3 hour hike in) We then spent a good chunk of the day driving across the mountians to get to another climbing spot, Hoces de Vegacervera, Leon. I am climbing easy routes and the arm is feeling good. We got into Oviedo last night, late. Today we climbed another spot (Concejo de Quiros or El Llano) near here in a beautiful valley and now we are going to check out the city sights. We are fortunate to be having perfect weather at the moment. Next up Galicia. Pictures upon my return.

some March pictures

by Phil steep part going up Alba the group in front of Paco´s company car

Salardú

The bar in Arnés

Moncayo

read below for trip details

by Phillip