A New Adventure in France

Our campervan is a 4×4 vehicle but we’ve never properly tested its off-roading capabilities, apart from engaging the 4-wheel drive option to be more sure-footed when the terrain gets a little tricky. We’ve talked about doing some proper off-roading so our Christmas present to ourselves was a roadbook from a French adventure company that has been documenting off-road routes in Spain, France and Morocco for a number of years. We chose a roadbook covering part of southern Spain between Malaga and Seville so that we could build it into our time away. 

We’ve been towing our scooter on a trailer, which would be impractical for any off-road driving, so we had been thinking about options for leaving it somewhere temporarily. Fortunately our recent stay at the Casa Rural was not far from the start of the off-roading route and an ideal opportunity to see if the owner would be amenable to us leaving the scooter and trailer there for a few days. Joe did the sweet-talking and Mark was very happy to help us out as there was plenty of space on his property to tuck the trailer away. 

The routes were billed as being a mix of small roads and tracks and the off-roading sections were classed as medium difficulty, assuming weather conditions are ok, but we had taken the precaution of bringing some equipment with us, including sand tracks (for mud rather than sand), a shovel, secateurs and a saw to trim tree branches if required. We usually share the driving of the van but Joe did all the off-road driving and I stuck to the navigation. The roadbook shows the GPS co-ordinates for each step and the distance of each route instruction, so we were able to keep on track most of the time without any issues. Having said that, were thwarted not long into the first day when the road we needed to turn into was blocked off due to construction work further along. Fortunately we could rejoin the route a few steps further along by using the GPS co-ordinates. 

Our route started in the hills above Malaga and we were almost immediately on unpaved roads and tracks taking us through what must be the olive-growing heart of Spain as olive trees were all we could see for miles around. The tracks became narrower and steeper and what amazed us was that many of these tracks were the only access to the houses and farms in the area. What a pain it must be every time you need to pop to the shops and there were clear signs of roads having been washed out previously in heavy rain. Our photos give no feel for the scale and diversity of the stunning scenery we drove through at a leisurely pace over the next 4 days. Part of the route went through national parks where we rarely saw another person, vehicle or animal. At El Torcal we drove through kilometres of karst landscape where the rocks have been eroded over millions of years. In the Sierra de Las Nieves, a UNESCO listed Biosphere Reserve, we drove through vegetation and eucalyptus trees reminiscent of Australia.

Two overnight stops were particularly magical – one overlooking the reservoir of Guadalhorce (we do like a reservoir) and the other, perhaps our best stop ever, on an outcrop on the track through the national park of Las Nieves. 

The roadbook takes you close to various villages and towns so there are plenty of places and sights to divert to for a few kilometres if you’re in need of civilisation or supplies. The start of our second day took has to El Chorro, the village where the famed walking route, the Caminito del Rey, begins. We had tried for a few days to get tickets to do the walk but it was fully booked so it will have to stay on the list for another day. However we got a good view of what the walk through the Desfiladero de Los Gaitanes entails, with the walkers on the gantries and walkways clearly visible above us. 

The end of one of the main stages of the route took us to Ronda, a place Joe has visited previously on a motorbike tour and which I wanted to see. Its spectacular location on top of the El Tajo gorge makes it very popular with tourists and, considering its relatively modest size, it felt like one of the most touristy places we have been with large organised tour groups walking around. Modern bullfighting ( the techniques as we know them today) was invented here in the late 18th century, and the town’s fame was spread further by its close association with Ernest Hemingway (a lover of bullfighting) and Orson Welles, whose ashes are buried on a property near the town. However touristy it may see, you certainly cannot deny the dramatic scenery.

With the weather turning, our final day with fewer off-road tracks took us via the interesting village of Setenil de las Bodegas, another of the white villages but probably the steepest streets we’ve seen anywhere. Given that the inhabitants of these villages are mainly of an ‘older demographic’, it’s no wonder they keep fit as they go about daily life. Many of the houses are trogolydyte houses built into the rock but the view the village is most famous for is the street where the rock actually forms the roof of the houses. 

We then headed into the hills via the national park to Grazalema,the highest and most mountainous white village in Andalusia. As we drove higher, we headed into the rain, with sunshine and rainbows below and behind us. As we parked at the top of the village I quickly googled what we should have a look at once it dried up. I discovered thatGrazalema is in fact the wettest place in Andalusiaand it fully lived up to that reputation as it didn’t stop raining before we departed the next day. 

So would we do it the off-roading again? Absolutely! The van performed very well, although we didn’t have to test it under any extreme conditions and fortunately we didn’t need to use any of the kit we had taken. The van might have off-roading tyres and 4-wheel traction but, when it comes down to it, it is built as a campervan, not a rugged vehicle to be thrown about. That said, it stood up well to being shaken around and we didn’t have anything falling out of cupboards, drawers popping open, etc. We know our own limitations and we know that we’re probably a bit ‘namby pamby’ as off-roaders, (Joe doesn’t like the van being dirty!), but we’re already looking at other road books in other countries for another trip.  So an experience to be remembered.