Los Barruecos

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Geo: 39.4891, -6.41294

Yesterday (Thursday) afternoon we drove a few miles in the direction of Portugal, turned off for the town of Malpartida and a small national park by the name of Los Barruecos which we explored by car and the occasional short foray on foot. Here, we found two distinctive features of interest - landscape and wildlife.

The park is littered with huge weather-worn boulders - some lying alone and others in piles with the odd one perched precariously. The sight is quite eerie and so unlike anything we had seen in Spain so far. If anything, it reminded me of the Roaches, just north of Leek in the Staffordshire Moorlands, which I had first encountered on a geography field trip from school.

The park has a number of lakes which are home to numerous species of bird life (sorry, I am no expert) and from which a number of people were fishing, but the nests made of twigs on top of a number of tall poles are signs of the presence of storks. Presumably the breeding season must be at a different time of year as none were in residence for our visit.

After a grocery shop at Carrefour, it was back to the 'van for steak and a glass of red, then bed. Meanwhile, there are quite a number of arrivals and departures at the site - something of a transit camp - with many heading south for the Algarve and the southern Costas having sailed into Santander some days ago.

PS - we are having some great sunsets.

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Photos

Storks nests on poles
National Park of Los Barruecos

Los Barruecos
Cattle grazing in the foreground and not the stork nests on the top of the boulder