Tubs’ Travels

We stayed a week in Gaucin, a wonderful little Andalucían white village, built into the mountains, and complete with a dinky castle at the top of the hill. Mrs K had stayed here 14 years ago, and she was determined to return!

The village itself is pretty special, nestled nicely in the mountains but with fantastic views of the Straits of Gibraltar, the Rock, and on a good day, the mountains of Morocco.

We drove there with the aid of our ‘Garmin Navigator’, which sent us along miles of unpaved roads though local cork forests. We heard varying accounts, but apparently these forests are controlled and farmed by the local ayuntamientos (town halls), regardless of who owns the land. Private land owners with land in these areas are not allowed to cull the trees, but are paid a share of the revenue.

We pitched up shortly before the weekend commemorating the 30^th Anniversary of the Spanish Constitution. As luck would have it, to celebrate the weekend, there were a series of free walking tours run by the welcoming and very knowledgeable Jorrian van der Schaaf who runs a local walking tour company ‘Walking Wild Andalucia’. Jorrian’s walks were fantastic, and I’d recommend contacting him if you are interested in walking in the area.

Locally are many birds of prey, none of which I spotted. However, there are also many vultures which I did see circling overhead (well, I was looking pretty weak and pasty!). These huge birds are very impressive, and some of the walkers recommended visiting the ‘Vultures Restaurant’, a special field where local farmers leave their dead cattle for the Vultures to feast on. This allows the birds to thrive whilst offering a cost effective way to prevent the spread of disease from rotting carcasses. Apparently the birds gorge so much that they cannot take off without the aid of thermal winds!

We stayed in the Courtyard House, but unfortunately this was run down as well as inappropriate for the winter months, despite assurances from the owner that it would be warm!

On the up side we had some great evenings at ‘La Casita’, a decent eatery run by a lovely English couple, Jules and Darren.

Overall, Gaucin was lovely, and this is the kind of place I could settle in.