Basic HTML Version
TRAVELLER
IN THEIR FOOTSTEPS
Threemore travelogues for inspiration
“Touring on a horse seems to bring out th
best in the people youmeet”
she planned to visit. Instead, she ended up with a plain
bay mare used for breeding mules who, at 12, was the
equivalent age as herself. She was called La Marquesa
and had been lent to her by the Duke of Wellington,
whose estate at Molino del Rey was originally
presented by Spain to the first Duke of Wellington
(known as the Iron Duke) in gratitude for his driving
Napoleon out of the country. After a large breakfast in
the estate manager’s house, and with her saddlebags
(which I still use on all my long rides) and rucksack
crammed with few clothes and far too many books,
including
Don Quixote – Volume 1
, she set off.
That she was in some kind of heaven during
her month’s ride through Andalusia is evident: her
passions – religion, food, horses and architecture –
were there for the taking. She went to mass almost
every morning and, as a result of her Spanish lessons,
sometimes understood the sermon: certainly she
could discuss religion with the priest afterwards and
often did. She marvelled at the buildings and villages
she came upon – the church and pilgrim’s hostel
at Tiscar on its mountain pinnacles; the Moorish
castle and renaissance church at Huelma among
olive groves; the shrine of the Virgin of Cuadro in the
Sierra de Mágina; the cave dwellings at Jódar and
the 16th-century Palacio de la Rambla at Úbeda. She
learned how to cook proper paella over an open fire
and helped to prepare Sunday feasts, which often
involved skinning and gutting a rabbit (“having killed,
plucked and drawn many hundreds of ducks, geese
and chickens in my time, I did not feel squeamish
about the procedure,” she wrote), frying it with garlic
and parsley before stewing it. Of course, she fed La
Marquesa first thing in the morning before she went to
mass – that goes without saying, for her love of horses
was absolute. She put them before herself at all times
and never stopped learning more about them.
Her enthusiasm was infectious and her fascinati
with the minutiae of life hilarious. She had always
suffered from a weak bladder and her accounts of t
sanitary arrangements, or lack of them, wherever s
stayed (she was frequently reduced to peeing in La
Marquesa’s stable in the middle of the night) are as
natural to her as her descriptions of a fine 17th-cen
façade in a town square. She was often caught shor
for, as she discovered, “You are never alone for long
Spain”. For that reason she felt safe and her long lov
affair with Spain began.
“I had seen human beings as God meant them t
be,” she wrote towards the end of her journey. “Tou
on a horse seems to bring out the best in the charac
of the people you meet… The innkeepers and their
wives and children, the families who put me up,
the parish priests and their curates, even the much
abused Guardia Civil, had all been out to help me;
had enjoyed only the most friendly and unselfish tr
in their characters, which added to the extraordina
beauty of their countryside and made me feel that I
ridden through the garden of Paradise before the F
Faced with the complications of modern life, my
mother’s return to a simple way of doing things, an
to the value of living in harmony with nature, was
the recurring theme in her life and her Andalusian
adventure was an important part of this. As a bols
teenager, I didn’t fully appreciate the magnitude of
what she had achieved back then. I do now.
Two Middle-aged Ladies in Andalusia
is reissue
this month by Eland (£12.99,
travelbooks.co.uk)
AN INLAND VOYAGE
BRUSSELS
In 1876, five years
before he penned
Treasure
Island
, RLStevenson went on
an adventure – a 322km canoe
journey through Belgium and France. Along
with his great friend, SirWalter Simpson, he
paddled fromAntwerp down the Oise River.
ATRAMP ABROAD
MUNICH
Setting out to walk
across mainland Europe, Mark
Twain foundmuch to please
and amuse him in Bavarian life.
His resulting thoughts on these ramblings
were published in 1880 and are still
well-thumbed today.
LOVE ANDWAR IN THE
APENNINES
VERONA
Eric Newby’s 1971 memoir
describes his escape from a
WWII prison camp through the stunning
highlands of northern Italy and his roma
with a local girl who later became his wif
easyJet
flies to...
Malaga from 12 destinations and from Seville from
London. See our insider guides on pages 152 and
175. Book online at easyJet.com
062-065_ej_PenelopeChetwode Andalusia lg.indd 65
08/0