Helen Rose's Outdoor Diary: El Rompido Part 2.

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Helen Rose’s Outdoor Diary: El Rompido Part 2.

March, 2025

In the autumn Bearsden and Milngavie Ramblers arranged a walking trip to El Rompido on Huelva’s Costa De La Luz through Saga Group Holidays This was my sixth trip abroad with the group and as there is so much organisation required, they decided to use the travel company group booking for the flights, transfers, hotel and walking. There is still a lot to arrange for 37 people but thanks to Fiona and Moira, it all went smoothly. The base was El Rompido, a former fishing village in the Province of Huelva in Andalusia, southern Spain very near the Portuguese border. This is Part Two of the adventure.

Almonaster La Real

We had an organised coach to take us to the village of Aquafria for the walk to the town of Almonaster, The walk was through the surrounding hills dotted with farms and villages. In one of the villages we saw a house with a front door and an adjacent very low door beside it. Manu Mojarro, our guide, pointed out this was for the cattle to enter. The walk continued up Cerro San Cristóbal, the second highest point in Huelva Province. However, I opted out at La Canaleta after lunch in the village as it was a hot day and the bus picked us up to take us directly to Almonaster, giving us more time for sightseeing.

Before lunch, we passed an ancient well and stone known as Fuente y pilar Los Pocitos. This ancient fountain is little known by the locals, even the oldest ones. The pillar was rediscovered after years of abandonment, buried under a layer of earth that covered it completely.

Almonaster La Real is a historical gem with cobbled streets and within the remains of its castle a rare 10^th century hilltop mosque. After a wander around the town, we made our way up to the Mezquita.

The Mosque of Almonaster la Real was built between the 9th and 10th centuries. It was built on the remains of a 6th-century Visigoth basilica, whose materials were reused in its construction. After the Reconquista it was converted into a shrine. It is in the Roman, Almohad and Gothic styles and was classified as a historic monument in 1931. This is a site of exceptional historic and artistic value as it is the only mosque in Spain in a rural area which has come down to us practically intact. It has all the characteristics and the intimate atmosphere, of these modest and sober constructions.

Near to the Mezquita and built on the site of the fortress parade ground is the bullring inaugurated in 1821. It has a capacity of a thousand but is also used for community events.

Donana National Park

Donana National Park covers more than 193 square miles and is home to a host of birds and animals including the rare Spanish lynx. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We looked in the Cottage Museum before walking along the boardwalk over the marshlands to a viewing platform. We passed through Eucalyptus groves before reaching the fields where wild horses were grazing.

We continued on to the interesting village of El Rocio within the Donana National Park. Before entering the village, there was an interesting sculpture of a drummer.

There are no cars in the sandy centre of the village, only horses. It is a famous white village and has been used as the set for filming Westerns. ). Another iconic event takes place on 26 June, in a tradition dating back more than 500 years, when the Almonte ranchers organise the Saca de Yeguas, rounding up the wild horses you can see grazing in the National Park. Children were riding on the small horses and it reminded me of donkey rides at the seaside when I was young.

El Rocia is also a meeting point for hundreds of lay brotherhoods during the procession of El Rocío, one of the most famous and popular in Spain (held between May and June). The Madonna who is paraded is kept in a specially built chapel on the Square. The El Rocío pilgrimage is the most famous in the region, attracting nearly a million people from across Andalucia and the entire country, and beyond. Every Andalucian city, town and village has its own pilgrimages for its patron saint, virgin or other much-loved local figure, but the El Rocio has cult status, and is the most important and most colourful.

Huelva Mines

Arising out of the midst of the surrounding greenery, the giant opencast mines of Rio Tinto area in the centre of Huelva Province create a surreal, almost lunar landscape. The removal of layer upon layer of soil and rock, in the search for iron ore, copper, silver and a host of other mineral ores, has tinted this part of the world in hues of dusty pink, brown, yellow, red and grey. So great is the scale of operations, that the depression created resembles a man-made crater that measures several kilometres across. From the edge of the ‘crater’, a giant space opens up before you. The mining has been going on since Roman times when gold and silver were mined.Walls of terraced rock, streaked with the unusual colours of mineral ores create the impression of a natural amphitheatre of gargantuan proportions, that could easily be mistaken for the set of a Star Wars movie. This reminded me of similar rock strata colours in Iceland. The unearthed minerals give the soil and waters of the region odd, otherworldly shades of blue, green, yellow, red and brown.

Our walk started from the former mining town of Calanas and we soon passed through canyons above the very polluted River Odiel. We arrived at a Green Lake coloured by the mining in the area for possibly copper. We continued to the village of Sotiel Coronada where we had a real paella lunch at the open air restaurant.

On the way back to El Rompido on the coach, Manu sang Fandango to us. It is a mix of Spanish and Portugese Fado. Huelva Fandango on YouTube

A huge thank you to Fiona and Moira for arranging this wonderful trip. Thanks to Manu our guide who can be contacted at www.wilddonana.com and manu@wilddonana.com