Day 17 – to Zafrilla

There are more than 138,000 bars in Spain, as many as the rest of Europe put together.

So says Giles Tremlett in the book of his I finished today, Ghosts of Spain, which concerns the country’s modern history, post-Franco.

Indeed, I was to end up in one of them this evening.

A day that began in Uña, with a visit to its ‘supermarket’, which had practically nothing fresh, just tinned stuff, and was generously staffed to deal with what must be an expected can-rush later in the morning. Onwards though. The small roads are a delight to drive, with pretty much no other traffic, and a necessary 20 mph or less, due to the curves, the gradient, and the many potholes. My ‘all-terrain’ tyres have proved invaluable.

I stopped in the Plaza of the village of Valdemoro Sierra as it had a fountain, which all the villages do, but a fast-flowing one, which all of the villages don’t. I filled up in water just as the truck with the mobile shop arrived. Again though, it had very little fresh.

From there we curved, climbed and descended, then the same over again many times, to just above Zafrilla, which was an attractive spot to take an hour on the hill and lunch.

I’m still nursing the heel problem I’ve had for months now, so the day after a longer hike I try to rest it as much as possible. It’s getting there, but so incredibly slowly..

We descended into Zafrilla to find a typical attractive village of these Montanas Vacias. There are so few young people around, and that was the case on investigating the bar. At first I couldn’t find it, and just happened to ask a guy who was headed there himself. The place was extremely friendly, and though the food and beer was fairly standard, chorizo, salad and fritas, with Tostado beer, it was a memorable and entertaining experience. We moved just a mile or so out of town to park up for the night.