Discovering the country we live in involves a constant process of getting lost and finding ourselves some place we have never been before. Over the past eight years I have come to know Spain from as far north as Andorra on the Spanish border, to as far south as Mazzaron.
Spain is so diverse. I am always impressed by the fact that one can be on the ski slopes in the morning, and in the afternoon on the beach in warm sunshine. Also, this country is steeped in history. To particularly study the Civil War period and then to visit Teruel in Aragon Province is to walk reverently through the pages of a terrible chapter in Spain’s history. It is also a popular destination for people in and around Valencia City to ski in Winter. As my habitual home is in the mountains outside Valencia City, we decided one day last Christmas to have a day out skiing. We chose the ski slopes at Javalambre.
There are two ways to approach the area. If one is travelling to or from the direction of Madrid along the N-111, the turnoff is at Utiel where you head in the direction of Teruel along the N-330. If starting the journey somewhere near the A-7 by-pass around Valencia, one would travel north along the A-7 to Sagunto, then head inland along the N-234 towards Teruel. This is the better road, although it generally is much busier than the other route.
We chose to head toward Madrid from our starting point near to the town of Cheste with its famous Formula-One racing circuit. At Utiel, a famous wine producing area, being one half of the Requena-Utiel denominacion de origen, one turns off the motorway and heads inland following the signs for Teruel. However, we were hoping not to have to travel all the way north to Teruel, which would mean actually passing the mountain slopes, because then we would have had to then turn south to travel the considerable distance toward Sagunto to reach the turnoff for the pistas de Javalambre. What we were hoping for was a short-cut across to our destination.
As we drove we realised we were getting very close to the town of Teruel. Our route was beautiful and interesting. We were driving through agricultural areas in the early morning icy mist/fog, and frozen winter scenes. We passed through sleepy pueblos, including Ademuz, which is a little area of land that is separated from the Communidad de Valencia, but in fact is a part of the Community. There is an interesting story here, but for another time.
Finally we spotted the sign we thought we were looking for on the right side of the road and eagerly turned right. The state of the road did not look like one leading to a major ski slope, but we knew we were taking a side entrance. Little did we know what we were letting ourselves in for. The real purpose of this column is to warn others not to make the same mistake. The sign we saw was indicating that the Javalambre zone was in the direction the arrow was pointing, but the correct way to the ski slope was to go through the town of Teruel and then turn south to the turnoff.
Our route took us along narrow ridges, down into deep valleys, alongside a river, around and up many hairpin bends, over what is known as la ruta forestall, which is an unpaved track that was covered in ice and snow in certain places. We were not prepared for this as we were without snow chains, and to make matters worse, at one point the car mysteriously stalled. It was unlikely that Mapfre could have found us in the thick of the forest.
Somewhat amusingly, as we passed a barn we thought we saw a person. By that time we needed to confirm that we were headed in the correct direction, so we stopped and my wife called out to get the person’s attention , who we hoped was in the barn. Every time she called out “Oiga!”, back came the reply “Baaaa!” from the goats. “Oiga!”, “Baaaaaa!”. Finally the person appeared and confirmed that we would get there along the path we were on. What a path! Even a 4x4 might have been challenged but my Chrysler performed well, and in the process we saw some of the most breathtaking scenery, unlike any other we have seen in our experience here.
A final note: although we had not planned on such an adventure, with the exception of snow chains we were well provisioned to keep comfortable including food and drink and blankets.
Death on the roads? It doesn’t have to end like that!
Please don´t overtake on two-way road systems. Save your life for the people who love you.
Copyright (c) 2007 Eugene Carmichael
