February frolics

[Bierzo Baggie]

I’ll avoid it if I can, and yesterday I avoided it. Went out at a more runner-friendly hour and managed to avoid that noisy all-bird band they call “the dawn chorus”. Crossed the river, followed the Toral track for 5 minutes and then took a trail to the left which rose steeply at first and then climbed more gently behind Monte Pajariel, eventually taking me to the radio mast on the summit. From river to summit there’s a vertical distance of about 300m. Then, a fell runner’s descent down a fire-break on Pajariel’s steep northern flank, followed by a zig-zag that takes you back to the river. Going down is always the tricky bit. You’re supposed to disengage your brain and let gravity engage your legs but I always end up bottling it and applying the brakes. Patches of ice and snow remain but less than the day before.

On this route there’s a big contrast between the two sides of Pajariel. On the Ponferrada side the hum of traffic from below is constant and the power station belches out sulphuric smoke which paints a dirty, yellowish streak across the skyline. But all this is very soon out of sight and out of mind. Around the back there’s another, far quieter world of conifer plantations, baby oaks and the more mediterranean holm oaks, bushes of the sticky “jara” plant (white rockrose...I looked it up!) which gives a riot of colour to the hillside in May and there's even a scattering of eucalyptus trees. Meanwhile across the other side of a valley the village of Ozuela clings to a mountainside.

Didn’t see anybody until I stumbled across “the lord of the paths” near the top, walking his bulldog. Eduardo is a mountaineer who since retiring has tried to clear,tidy up,classify and signpost a network of paths in the area (perhaps similar to the public footpaths and bridleways in the UK). In this task he has dedicated an enormous amount of time, almost single-handedly. Some of his work will go to waste as the encroaching city gobbles up narrow country paths and converts them into tracks for the 4 by 4s and the quad bikes. I tell Eduardo that I’d seen a couple of JCBs in the vicinity of one of his paths and he’s immediately on his mobile phone to the Town Hall. Bierzo needs characters like Eduardo and I don’t fancy the chances of the JCBs against him and his bulldog at this moment....or perhaps I’m being too optimistic.

Monte Pajariel “round the back” Route: 77 Minutes. (About 45 minutes gentle climbing and 10 minutes crazy descent).