El Colmenar to Gaucin, May 23 +24

 The walks I had planned for El Colmenar were segments of sections I had already done—I sort of suspected that—so I decided I would walk, rather than taxi, to Gaucin, where I will be staying for three nights.  I will be returning to El Colmenar for a night, rather unfortunately, because the hotel is the worst so far!  Utterly dreary, with those awful sticks in the room that emit odors that many people enjoy, but I find, shall we say, noxious.  

Back to the walk:  I wasn't too excited about it, thinking it would be too short and not very interesting.  It was only about seven miles, but it was varied, and extremely pleasant except for all the gates you have to open and close.  This operation often requires more height and strength than I have, so it is a struggle almost every time.  But, being a good citizen, I persist! I took my time because why not and besides, I didn't really have a choice!  The first part was through fields:

where you could not see the path, so navigating was time consuming.  (I wish the voice for OutdoorActive articulated her Ts: "You are off the rou+glottal stop.  The rou+glottal stop is 150 feet behind you.")  If the  issue wasn't directional, then you simply had to watch your step because of the rockiness.  ALSO, it was almost all uphill, but on the other hand, downhill can be even slower when there is a lot of scree and there was!

This is a Quercus Suber (Cork Oak).  

Read all about it here:

https://www.andalucia.com/environment/cork.htm

It is super interesting!

Gaucin is a pretty little town, and the B and B is pleasingly upscale.  I am loving it here!!  The wife—Catherine Hunter—of the couple who run(s) it is an artist whose work is an utter delight.  Take a look!

http://artgaucin.com/en/artists/catherine-hunter/

May 24.  Did Guy's northern circuit of Gaucin.  It was OK and sometimes OK is good enough!

There was this ant city:

But the best part was a section through a Quercus Suber forest:

Don't the trees looks as if they are half undressed?!

Here is one close up that shows how many inches of bark are allowed to be cut at one harvest:

Most that I saw are not marked this way.

On returning to town I stopped in at the Tienda Verde because Daniel, husband of Catherine, told me I might be able to get peanut butter there.  All the grocery stores seem to be out of it. There was one jar:

You can take your pound and a half of peanut butter or leave it.  I took it.  Of course, being super-organic, it is saltless and separates really fast, so I will have to be stirring every day or two

In the afternoon I did a walk of the pueblo.  There was a dolly hanging on a fence, losing her underpants, but waving anyway: