Christy
Angel Diva
I’m back! Thanks again to all that gave me advice here. The ride was great. It was definitely intense (our guide compared one day in particular to endurance riding) and I was intimidated the first day. I couldn’t believe the steep, rocky trails we were going up and down. And leading a horse down a steep, rocky trail, it’s really easy to imagine how they could slip and knock you down (or off the mountain!). But on day 2, when I realized my horse was a mountain goat disguised as an Andalusian gelding, I relaxed. Galloping as a herd through these mountains, or down dry riverbeds, was phenomenal. I’ve never done anything like it. The horses would get SO excited when they knew a gallop was coming up! Prancing, bucking in place--oh it was so cute.
We covered an average of 30 km a day. We started and ended in the same village (Bubion), and we trekked from village to village during the middle of the week, staying in comfortable 2 star hotels and one nicer "agritourismo" (really it was a hotel with vineyards and stables). The towns were beautiful--whitewashed, Moorish style villages, not touristy at all--it’s just mostly walkers from Northern Europe, or Spaniards from the coast, that visit the area. The food was good but not great—Spanish mountain food is meat (tons of pork/ham), potatoes, sheep cheese and bread, and the portions were huge. There was always salad but by the time I’d gotten through the big communal salads they’d bring out, then the starter, I could barely eat my main course (there was usually a fish option, like Hake or trout, which I usually got). All meals were included in the price and dinners were 3 course. Wine was supposedly not included but our guide treated us 3 times, restaurants threw it in another 2 times, so that left only 2 days where I spend a whole 5E for wine. The picnics made by our guide were fantastic—roast chickens or roast pork, cream cheese spreads or hummus, always a great salad with veggies from her garden, hard boiled eggs from her chickens, Serrano ham, local cheese, wine, and bread. The horses always got bread as a treat—I’ve never seen that in the US.
The scenery was very interesting and dramatic half the time, but kind of blah the other half. There were beautiful villages, snow capped peaks, views to the Mediterranean, old Moorish irrigation channels and farm terraces, Roman paths and roads, and remnants of the Civil War (ie blown up mines, trenches, walls). The highest slopes of the Sierra Nevada range have been planted with Scotch Pine, which they harvest even in the national park, so that was like riding in a tree farm. On the plus side, these areas had wide forestry tracks for galloping. And there were catastrophic floods this spring, so in the valleys we saw lots of flood damage—eroded river banks, that kind of thing. A lot of trails were wiped out so we had to detour on lightly traveled mountain roads some of the time. In spring the lower hills are covered with wildflowers and flowering thyme, lavender and rosemary, but these areas were pretty brown when I rode through.
I took a lot of ibuprofen! My seat bones really felt it, and my back was really sore for a couple days, but that went away. I’d been warned that my calves and hamstrings would hurt, but those were fine (maybe Pilates prevented that?). All of my new gear worked perfectly and in fact everyone was wearing pretty much the same things as me (Ariat paddock boots and half chaps were the norm). The horses were top notch and our guide was fantastic. She was originally from England but her family moved to the stable (originally a pig farm) when she was 8.
I think I am hooked. I already emailed Equitours and asked what they considered to be their most scenic rides, and they sent me itineraries for rides in Chile and Argentina. I don’t think I can do it next year but maybe in 2012…
If anyone finds themselves in Andalucia and wants to ride I'd highly recommend the outfit--they'll do rides as short as half a day.
https://www.spain-horse-riding.com/
I have more pictures on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1418514061#!/album.php?aid=96295&id=1418514061
My prince:
Bubion, where we started and ended:
The snowcapped Sierra Nevada, the highest mountains in Spain:
Break time:
At least once a day, we'd go through towns on foot:
We covered an average of 30 km a day. We started and ended in the same village (Bubion), and we trekked from village to village during the middle of the week, staying in comfortable 2 star hotels and one nicer "agritourismo" (really it was a hotel with vineyards and stables). The towns were beautiful--whitewashed, Moorish style villages, not touristy at all--it’s just mostly walkers from Northern Europe, or Spaniards from the coast, that visit the area. The food was good but not great—Spanish mountain food is meat (tons of pork/ham), potatoes, sheep cheese and bread, and the portions were huge. There was always salad but by the time I’d gotten through the big communal salads they’d bring out, then the starter, I could barely eat my main course (there was usually a fish option, like Hake or trout, which I usually got). All meals were included in the price and dinners were 3 course. Wine was supposedly not included but our guide treated us 3 times, restaurants threw it in another 2 times, so that left only 2 days where I spend a whole 5E for wine. The picnics made by our guide were fantastic—roast chickens or roast pork, cream cheese spreads or hummus, always a great salad with veggies from her garden, hard boiled eggs from her chickens, Serrano ham, local cheese, wine, and bread. The horses always got bread as a treat—I’ve never seen that in the US.
The scenery was very interesting and dramatic half the time, but kind of blah the other half. There were beautiful villages, snow capped peaks, views to the Mediterranean, old Moorish irrigation channels and farm terraces, Roman paths and roads, and remnants of the Civil War (ie blown up mines, trenches, walls). The highest slopes of the Sierra Nevada range have been planted with Scotch Pine, which they harvest even in the national park, so that was like riding in a tree farm. On the plus side, these areas had wide forestry tracks for galloping. And there were catastrophic floods this spring, so in the valleys we saw lots of flood damage—eroded river banks, that kind of thing. A lot of trails were wiped out so we had to detour on lightly traveled mountain roads some of the time. In spring the lower hills are covered with wildflowers and flowering thyme, lavender and rosemary, but these areas were pretty brown when I rode through.
I took a lot of ibuprofen! My seat bones really felt it, and my back was really sore for a couple days, but that went away. I’d been warned that my calves and hamstrings would hurt, but those were fine (maybe Pilates prevented that?). All of my new gear worked perfectly and in fact everyone was wearing pretty much the same things as me (Ariat paddock boots and half chaps were the norm). The horses were top notch and our guide was fantastic. She was originally from England but her family moved to the stable (originally a pig farm) when she was 8.
I think I am hooked. I already emailed Equitours and asked what they considered to be their most scenic rides, and they sent me itineraries for rides in Chile and Argentina. I don’t think I can do it next year but maybe in 2012…
If anyone finds themselves in Andalucia and wants to ride I'd highly recommend the outfit--they'll do rides as short as half a day.
https://www.spain-horse-riding.com/
I have more pictures on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1418514061#!/album.php?aid=96295&id=1418514061
My prince:
Bubion, where we started and ended:
The snowcapped Sierra Nevada, the highest mountains in Spain:
Break time:
At least once a day, we'd go through towns on foot:
