Just a quick update on what's happening near home. Yesterday I cycled up near Andilla (where you may reacll the fires started) to see the state of the mountains. Having already seen the mountains around Alcublas (see blog dated 9th July) I had a pretty good idea what I was expecting. That said, when you get there the shock is just as real. The devastation just as unremitting. Words fail me and even photos just don't show the scale of the disaster in anything like it appears to the naked eye.
Time is short now and tomorrow I shall upload a couple of short video clips, but for now here's what I saw.
Figure 1. Above: The area surrounding me is rich in agriculture, particularly viniculture, much of wwhich goes on at slightly higher altitudes than where we live. This is approaching the pueblo of Bodegas del Pardanchinos...a small collection of ancient stone houses which are, I believe, largely uninhabitated now. I guess I was at between 750 and 800m above sea level and this blackened mountain top provided a sharp contrast to the vines that continue to flourish lower down..
Figure 2. Bodegas del Pardanchinos. The house in the background in the middle of the shot must have had flames licking at its' threshold. But from here on in everything ws black. Not a single piece of greenery at all. Perhaps the strongest sensation was the smell which was almost overwhelming.
Figure 3. Shot standing at the point where the road dips down the hill in the photo above (Figure 2). The whole valley was charred. Such a shame! This was, still is I suppose, one of my favourite riding routes largely because of the beautiful forest where I regularly saw red squirrels, grouse and many birds of prey.
Figure 4. In some places near Alcublas the higher branches of trees had escaped the fire and so may well regenerate, but here the fire must have been beyond imagining, the flames having consumed even the tallest trees.
Figure 5. Protected pines black from root to tip.
Figure 6. From valley floor to ridgetop everything had been destroyed.
Figure 7. Amazingly this bridge and the road survived!
Figure 8. Looking in the direction of Andilla to where I shall venture over the next few days.
Back soon with more....
P XX
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