A walk in the woods

Today we walked from the French border to the capital of Spain. Not bad eh!

Spoiler: actually we walked from las Illas to La Vajol (pop. 94), which for a few days in February 1939 was the capital of Spain in the sense that it was where the government was, along with thousands of other refugees. It also had an internationally renowned art collection, featuring works by Velazquez, Titian and Goya among many others, and bank deposits equivalent to about 500 million dollars.

Like the refugees, the artworks stayed only briefly, hidden in a disused talc mine. Later they were shipped in 71 lorries to the League of Nations in Geneva for safekeeping. Franco complained that the Republicans had "stolen" them, and by September 1939 they had all been returned to the Prado, their original home.

It was a perfect day for a walk: sunny, with a light breeze, and a temperature of about 13C. It was mostly through woods of cork oak and chestnut, not that picturesque at this time of year as the trees are mostly bare, but sheltered and warm. We saw sheep, deer, goats, handsome brown cows, and a shaggy black pony. I don't usually bother with the blip map, but I have today, in case you have no idea where it is.

We set off from Las Illas in France at about 11:30 and got to La Vajol comfortably in time for lunch. S had taken the precaution of calling ahead to one of the three restaurants in the village. It was a great choice: plain, unpretentious and typically Spanish food, cooked with great care by a reassuringly plump chef, who came to greet us personally and shake our hands. We shared a copious goat's cheese salad, followed by perfectly grilled pork (me) and rabbit (S) with very fine home-made chips and the essential Catalan condiment allioli (garlic mayonnaise). The desserts were all mass-produced iced ones, but we succumbed anyway. Then coffee and pungent herb liqueur on the house. More handshakes, and we waddled out into the square at half past three. Slightly concerned about the amount of daylight available and our likely speed, laden down as we were with food and drink. But in fact the route back was shorter and easier and we were back at the car by five, ready to slalom rapidly back down the narrow mountain road to civilisation before it got dark. Home by 6:45; what a very satisfying day!

Statistics, Jamjar style: 11 km, 540 m climbing, about 3.75 hours -- excluding the lunch stop!

Extras: the plaque in La Vajol announcing its status as seat of government, and a commemorative statue based on a very famous photo of refugees.