Above the village are the almost disused buildings known as Teitos. These are buildings in which shepherds lived during the summer, whilst the sheep and cows grazed the high pastures.
There’s a group of these buildings, a Braña, (branyaa) above Valle del Lago and as a morning ‘stroll’, once the temperature started to increase a little, we went up to have a look.
First we climbed to the local chapel, which seemed a little out of sorts with weeds in the wrong places. It has the bell tower so typical of this region, with two bells in an open gable, sometimes with room for a third above the pair of pealers.
As usual it was quite a stretch to get up there but the views were worth it and no one else was around, save for a farmer in the signature small 4x4 found in these parts, (Suzuki Jimny or Mitsubishi), ideally suited for getting around on these narrow tracks.
These are autumn crocuses, apparently known as naked ladies, as they have no leaves to cover their modesty. They are springing up everywhere, no doubt triggered by the recent rain, after weeks of arid conditions.
There are often two doors; one for the animals and the other, slightly grander, for the humans. Several of the Teitos here are still in use but used for what?
After a quick bread and local cheese lunch on a sunny part of the campsite, we left to move a little further north. Hearts sank as we entered another humongous gorge and were again stopped by gorge works. Thankfully we weren’t held up for long.
These gorges never stop in Spain. They seem to be everywhere.
We had an overnight stop at an aire and dinner in a village restaurant where the lady enjoyed waiting for me as I tried to blurt out some Spanish that I’d just tee-d up on Google Translate.
The next morning we had a play in the area just behind the aire. However the Spanish have rules! This is a board we found on a campsite.
We booked a bus ticket, a park and ride up to some mountain lakes. This is what the ticket said.
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