Sierra de Guadarrama

Sierra de La Cabrera, below Cancho Largo.

Sierra de La Cabrera

In the distance the Sierra de Guadarrama. The Roman road probably passed slightly to the right of here; the modern path goes straight ahead as you see at the left of the shot.

Wild flowers (including poppies) and fence by a country lane near Valdemanco, Sierra de La Cabrera, Madrid Province.

The main path through the Sierra only touches the crest of the ridge on a couple of occasions such as here. I prefer to keep to the actual ridge and scramble along the rocky crest, wherever possible!

Sierra de La Cabrera, granite country, lookng north towards the valley of the Lozoya.

Castle walls and gateway.

It's a touristy place but eerily empty midweek in September.

Granite scenery. The eastern half of the sierra from the summit of Cancho Gordo. Sight and sound, Sorry - it is 13 minutes long. But it is a real fave of mine. www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLD8yMjVvkI after you get past the 5 minute pretentious intro.

This spelt POWER, added to Religious fundamentalism, 16th century style. And the nerve centre of the greatest world empire seen up to that time.

One of the many royal palaces scattered around the centre of Spain but no longer used as such.

The monastery / palace of San Lorenzo de El Escorial from the summit of La Machota Chica (a.k.a La Machota Baja). The central peaks of La Sierra de Guadarrama are seen on the horizon

Backround; The Mondalindo block partially in cloud. Mid distance; the granite forms of Peña del Tejo. Absolutely superb walking country and only a stone's throw from Madrid.

Granite country. Mount Abantos in the background. San Lorenzo de El Escorial just out of sight to the right.

Madrid Province. La Sierra de Giadarrama is on the skyline. The village you see is Fuente El Saz and I guess this path was the old route beween it and Algete as it is almost as the crow flies - the road today goes some way out to join the main road before doubling back. Sight and Sound; An old favourite; a decent cover of a Van Morrison classic by Johnny Rivers. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn4pTmYFs3Y

The western facade of the monastery / palace. The central building is square, so all sides are equal, giving an idea of the enormousness of the conception and implementation. Nothing like it had been seen in Europe before. The outlying complexes as seen here add even more grandeur to the whole thing. The skyline is one of my favourite walks from La Machota Chica at the left to El Fraile on La Machota Alta at the right.

The summit of Cancho Gordo looking out over a foggy Lozoya Valley. In fact the whole of Central Spain was in thick fog that day. Leaving Madrid on the bus that morning and I had no idea if I would be able to get above the clouds! Here is the answer!

After rain, and a pretty little rock pool with a cute granite arch linking it to a second mini rock pool. Scale? Well I could probably just about soak my feet in it!