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Switched from Mint Mobile to Tello. If Tello works acceptably, convert permanent USA mobile line from Ultramobile PayGo to Tello next year. Tello allows easily switching from minimal to full service.
Másmóvil website shows phone number from last year as invalid. So need to buy new SIM. If kiosk at bus station closed, then Másmóvil stores:
UK ETA Visa required for transit through London. Online application took about 15 minutes and cost $13, valid for 2 years. [ETA was not necessary,because transit without going through UK immigration.]
Blood donation, to ensure ferritin level stays low. Previous donation was Nov 2023, or about 15 months ago. Blood pressure was 113/77 and hemoglobin 16.1, both in good range.
Bought Alsa bus ticket, Madrid->Granada, $28.
Applied for another credit card, because problems using CapitolOne Mastercard with Alsa purchase. BankOfAmerica Visa worked, but I want spare in case BankOfAmerica fails at some point (canceled, lost, stolen, damaged). Had to unfreeze at 3 credit bureaus to allow application to proceed. [Application rejected due to using new residence address that is not yet in credit report.]
Paid Kyiv storage locker via PayPal since bank transfer didn't work last year. Had mixed feelings prior to paying, but no regrets after. So apparently, I'm still long-term committed to making Ukraine my permanent home once war ends.
AxosBank sent me paper mail notice that account inactive for 12 months, despite me logging on several times during past year. Smartphone app has always been troublesome. Decided to close account and replace with unlocked debit card from another bank. AxosBank is also deeply involved with crypto, so will likely go bankrupt or be shut down at some point.
Bought round-trip Madrid-Buenos Aires, $1231, and one-way Madrid-Belgrade, $148. Purchasing difficulties with both tickets: Buenos Aires ticket required 2FA sent to spare smartphone SIM, Belgrade ticket required Mastercard instead of Visa. Leave Madrid 8:45 on Thursday, so Mon-Wed of that week to buy winter coat and city shoes and take bus from Teruel to Madrid. Overnight in airport. Arrive in Buenos Aires 16:20 on Thursday, check into hotel, buy SIM on Friday if not possible at airport. Leave Buenos Aires 18:10 on Sunday, arrive in Madrid 10:55 on Monday. Flight to Belgrade at 17:50, arrive 20:55. Two weeks in Serbia, then bus to Sofia.
Early morning wakeup (3:00). Skipped exercises other than pushups and calf stretches. Flight departing 06:40 from Reno to Oakland on Southwest. BART between OAK and SFO airports. Evening flight San Francisco to London on British Airlines.
No passage through British immigration, so ETA visa was unnecessary. Flight from London to Madrid on British Airlines, arriving 18:00. Able to buy Másmóvil SIM at airport, so no need to visit store: €20 activation fee, €10 every 30 days for 60GB days, 400 minutes. Added another €20 to balance, enough for 2 renewals. Withdrew cash from ATM. RENFE Cercanías train to Méndez Álvaro / Estación Sur de Autobuses.
Early morning Alsa bus to Granada. Pullup bar on south side of river Genil, about 500m southeast of Mercadona (across from Plaza del Humilladero, opens 9:00). Bus to Dúrcal departing from Plaza del Violón at 10:10 Festijos, 10:40 Saturdays. Camp in mountains at usual spot. Very light drizzle in evening.
Felt depressed during long trip from Reno, but mood lifted and doubts about lifestyle disappeared as soon as I got off bus in Granada, then lifted further upon leaving Nigüelas and ascending into the mountains. Main problem with current lifestyle is need to travel between Europe and USA each year. Once Ukraine war resolved, make Kyiv permanent winter/summer home, thus greatly reducing travel.
€60 for 2 nights at Hotel Lanjarón. Booking.com failed during reservation attempt so made reservation by telephone. Pullup bars at newly built calisthenics park next to soccer field at top of town.
Terrible headache that persisted all day plus some sort of skin rash on neck that started several days ago but is gradually healing.
Headache gone in morning. No soreness in back and shoulder muscles from carrying pack, whereas legs felt weak. Possibly lungs never fully recovered from covid and thus less oxygen available than in past years. Back and shoulder muscles are pure endurance, so oxygen deficit not an issue. Or maybe muscles weakened in 3 months since hiking in Bulgaria. Bulky muscles definitely decay much faster now that I'm in my 60's. Back and shoulder muscles used for carrying backpack are not bulky and thus don't decay quickly.
Right foot, which had plantar fascia problems in Bulgaria, is working better than ever. Fascia problems might have been result of improvements to gait to correct tendency towards bunion. Improvements forced fascia on inside of foot (controlling big toe) to work much harder and fascia wasn't strong enough and so tore. Evidently, fascia healed and became stronger than previously during 3 months of limited hiking. Improvements to gait of right foot also seem to be fixing problem with underactive gluteus medius in left hip.
€35 at Hostal Atalaya in Capileira.
Bought food in town, pullups at calisthenics park on highway just above town, ate at picnic area near calisthenics park Drizzling off and on all day. Legs felt stronger than yesterday. €30 at Casa Fermina in Trevélez.
Occasional drizzle. Legs feeling much stronger. So maybe problem on Tuesday was simply that muscles needed a few days to get into hiking condition, and not long-term covid damage. €30 at Pensión El Montoro in Cádiar. Pullups using children's soccer goal in central park.
Paid for 2 more nights in Cádiar, to avoid rain and also rest right foot, in case plantar fascia that tore in Bulgaria not yet full strength.
Raining off and on all day. Poncho worked to keep everything dry. €45 at Pensión El Tinao in Yegen.
Raining off and on all day. Pullups using bus shelter in Bayárcal. Camped on abandoned road, just off highway, about 1.2km north (as crow flies) of Bayárcal. Made reservation for tomorrow. Location of tarp appeared okay upon pitching tarp, but flooded when rain increased during night. Just to the side was a location which did not flood. Quilt and pullover both soaked.
Packed up during lull in rain, skipping exercises and breakfast. Accumulation of water had disappeared by then. Campsite not obvious depression and ground porous, however compacted ground. Need to be very careful about camping on compacted ground. Drizzled continued for several hours, then stopped and sun emerged just as I reached Puerto de la Ragua about noon. Lots of snow above 1700m, but road itself completely clear. Picked up additional water at Fuente de la Yeguas, which was running strong. Dried most gear upon descending past snow line. Trail more overgrown than ever. €37 for single occupancy at Hostal Labella in La Calahorra. Gear finished drying during night.
Partly cloudy, windy, cool, dry air. Ground dries quickly in weather like this. Bought 2.5 days food at store. Pullups using tennis court gate in Charches. Fuente de la Fraguara running normally. Camped at usual spot at 1800m. Long day hiking was good test for full healing of plantar fascia of right foot, but maybe split into two short days in future. Very cold sleeping initially due to wind, then wind slowed and rain began and continued all night.
Did rowing and pushup exercises and ate breakfast during lull in rain in morning. Rain resumed later, turning to snow above 1900m. Ate lunch in hut near pass. About 10cm snow accumulation at 2000m and above. Picked up water at Canaleja Alta. Setup camp in light rain at usual spot. Rain and wind picked up later.
Drizzling in early morning, then stopped and sun came out enough to dry gear, eat breakfast and pack up. Rain resumed later. €70 for 2 nights at Hostal Casa Grande in Baza. Pullups using children's play equipment in Alameda de Cervantes or soccer goal in Parque de la Constitución.
Nasty sinus infection upon waking in middle of night. More susceptible to such minor illnesses since covid. Supposedly, covid eats away at immune system, T-cells in particular. Sinuses felt okay after morning exercises. Skin issue on right side of nose also resolving. Bought food for tomorrow and also Monday, so as to be able eat Monday morning before leaving camp. Recent rain marks end of severe four year drought here in Spain, so welcome, though inconvenient for hiking.
Drizzling off and on all day. Carried 2L out of Zújar, after fully hydrating there. Camped at usual spot.
Starting raining in morning, after breaking camp, then off and on drizzle remainder of day. €30 at Hostal Montecarlo in Cúllar.
Rain in morning, then alternating showers and sun in afternoon. Crossed paths with older German woman hiker headed towards Cúllar. I suggested some campsites for next few days. She started GR7 in Tarifa on Feb 10, but cold and wind in mountains past Ronda was too much, so she took bus to Elda and is now hiking GR7 south, then will flip-flop back to Elda. Camped at usual spot just before Orce.
Partly cloudy, mild temperature, low humidity, overall very nice day. Hostal Ruta del Sur in Huéscar had no vacancies when I called to inquire. €45 at Hotel Patri instead (€60 if using booking.com versus direct). Pullups in nearby Parque Manuel Rodríguez Penalva.
Made reservation for tomorrow. Carried 4L out of town. Camped at usual spot. Rained during night.
Sunny, breezy, mild temperature. €30 at Hostal Puerta de Andalucía.
Camped at usual site. Some drizzle during night. Temperature near freezing.
Fuente La Rogativa dripping slowly, so obtained water from pool above fuente, whose gate was unlocked. Water had slight algae taste but otherwise seemed okay. Chinups at fuente picnic area using old swingset frame. €25 at Pensión El Nevazo in El Sabinar. Rain started soon after arriving at Pensión.
While packing up in morning, discovered pillow/pullover stuff sack (with sleep hat inside) was missing. Maybe left at Saturday night campsite. Need to store inside miscellaneous clothing stuff sack in future. Will use one of silnylon clothing stuff sacks as pillow stuff sack for remainder of trip. [Later: found pillow stuff sack in bottom of backpack while setting up camp. Because hotel room was small, I had put various items back into backpack to organize them, after removing ground pad for morning exercises. When I then dumped backpack after exercises, pillow stuff sack somehow got stuck inside. Storing pillow stuff sack inside miscellaneous clothing stuff sack should prevent this sort of thing in the future.]
Chinups using bus shelter next to El Sabinar park. Beautiful day: cool dry air, sunny. Camped at usual site.
Occasional rain. Made reservation for tomorrow. Camped at usual spot.
Some drizzle during night. Sun in morning. Very nice weather. €45 at Hotel Primavera in Calaspara.
After eating big meal and drinking 2.5L, left town with 6L and 1.5 days food. Made reservation for Saturday. Chinups using old football goal outside town. Partly cloudy and mild temperature. Camped 6km outside town.
Short day. Camped at usual site. Spotted adult tick on bugbivy while setting up camp, where I had been sitting and reading for about an hour previously. Crushed tick between rocks then did quick self-inspection but found nothing.
Chinups using football goal in riverside Parque Municipal of Abarán. Bought food for next 2 days. €38 at Hotel Mesón del Moro, 4km east of town on highway.
Sunny and mild. Camped 10km from Torre del Rico.
€36 at Hostal La Cañada in Pinoso.
Pullups using outdoor stairs behind stage building in park. Camped at usual spot. While sitting at campsite, waiting for sun to set, noticed adult tick crawling on pants. Found another adult tick crawling on gear later. Crushed both ticks between rocks. Did self-inspection but found nothing.
During rest stop, spotted nymph tick on hand. Location was sun baked bare ground, so not prime tick territory, however rabbit droppings under nearby pine tree. Pullups at calisthenics park on way into Elda. €40 for single room at Hostal Carrizo. No ticks on body during self-inspection at hotel. Horribly body plumbing in this hodstal: need to find alternative.
Pullups in park using children's play equipment. Camped at usual spot.
Pullups using children's play equipment in Castalla park. €36 at Caseta Nova 5km outside of town, payment by BofA credit card using automatic check-in system.
Camped at usual site.
€50 at Hostal Savoy in Alcoy. Met in evening with Englishman named Keith who lives in Alcoy, is also hiker, read my website.
Pullups in calisthenics park near Pont de Maria Cristina. Camped at usual spot.
Spotted tick on gear in morning: crushed between rocks. Resupply in Bocairent. Made reservation for tomorrow. Camped at usual spot.
Tucked pants into socks and shirt before steep descent to Vallada, in case of ticks (none encountered). Descent trail cleaner of overgrowth than in previous years. €45 at Casa Rural Peseta in Vallada.
Morning pullups using swing set at children's playground just east of Casa Rural, and at bus shelter across from park where I ate breakfast. Carrying lunch snack plus 3 full days food and 4L water out of town. Overcast and cool. Camped at usual spot.
Fuente de Benalí running moderately: picked up 4L. Camped at usual spot. Light rain in the evening.
Fuente Collado Carroche running strong: drank 1L at fuente, picked up 4L. Camped at usual spot.
Finished reading The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, which I downloaded Thursday morning in Vallada after reading a recommendation in some forum regarding it's relevance to current era of plutocracy and rampant financial shenanigans (asset bubbles, crypto, etc) reminiscent of roaring 1920's. Most of my reading nowadays is online: short articles, blog posts, comments on internet forums. Occasionally downloaded book length PDFs on non-fiction topics (science, technology economics, geopolitics, etc) which I hurriedly skim for essential information. Almost never novels, history, biography or other genres of literature that suggests leisurely reading an entire book from start to finish. Up until maybe two years ago, I made an effort to read novels and short stories in Russian, so as to improve my language skills, but finally gave up out of boredom. My mind just doesn't want to focus anymore, though it did focus well enough on The Great Gatsby, for whatever reason.
My life as a financially independent vagabond is a rare exception. For most people, life today is depressingly similar to life in Fitzgerald's time 100 years ago, or 50 years ago when I was a teenager growing up and unsure of my future. Then as now, life revolves around the struggle to prepare for a career, then find a job or start a business, followed by tedious working at that job or business, with fear of losing job or business constantly hovering overhead, maybe some love affairs for adventure, then the age of love affairs comes to an end and now it's just tedium and money worries until eventually health worries replace money worries and finally the end in some dismal nursing home. People sometimes wonder how Russia gets so many 30-45 year old men to sign military contracts (Ukraine uses press gang methods, whereas enlistment truly is voluntary in Russia, which has higher morale and far lower death and injury rates, and where the state reliably fulfills its monetary promises): that's about the age when many men cease seeing love affairs as exciting adventures and instead start to tire of women, when job tedium often becomes unbearable, when money becomes more important than ever (maybe due to children from previous love affairs), but before health worries have appeared. Preceding remarks obviously do not apply to Gatsby at the time the novel begins, or to Tom and Daisy Buchanan, who led the life of idle hereditary rich. But they do apply to Gatsby's childhood, and to his parents, and to most other characters in the novel.
Camped in olive grove about 3km before Cortes de Pallás. Back in Vallada, I had called Casa Rural Las Aras, but no vacancies for today. No answer at Casa Fortunada. Then remembered that stores would be closed Sunday, so didn't try Ca' La Conchin, but rather planned for camping. Did make booking.com reservation in Requena for Wednesday, since coming week is Semana Santa. Rained in evening, with the occasional distant thunder and lightning.
Limited selection of food at store in Cortes de Pallás, but enough pan de molde and cheese to get me to Requena. Carry more dark chocolate and peanuts from Vallada in the future, and try to arrive Tuesday-Saturday, when other store open. Camped at usual spot before Venta Gaeta. Light rain during night.
Cool and windy. Río Magro apparently flooded past autumn/winter and washed away bridge and much of banks at Campamento Tabarla. To avoid clambering over knocked down trees to find GR7, waded across river on other side of camp and followed road route until it joined GR7. Bridge over Río Mijares badly damaged and under reconstruction, so left road and followed GR7 to hamlet of Mijares. Flood has made GR7 much easier to follow here than previously, by washing away all vegetation and leaving just rocks. Ascent trail after Mijares heavily eroded from rain, but easily passable on foot. Camped on descent from ridge, about an hour past usual campsite.
Road along bottom of barranco leading to Río Fresnal completely washed out by autumn/winter flooding. Fortunately for me, trail crew has rerouted GR7 out of barranco up to road leading to Las Moratillas rest stop (restaurant and snack store) along autoroute, with clean new trail and clear red/white waymarks. From there, follow autoroute service road to Requena. Started from campsite at 10:00, took hour rest break, arrived at Requena supermarket at 16:00. €71 at Apartment Ksota through booking.com. Decided to camp near Requena for next few days and check into hotel on Sunday, partly to get past Semana Santa and avoid store closures and partly to rethink plans, because GR7 runs through several barrancos north of here and possibly trail will be impassable.
Woke up in middle of night and couldn't get back to sleep, probably due to worrying about trail conditions ahead, so slept poorly. Bought food for 2 days and camped at usual spot outside town.
Good Friday. Need rest to recover from shock of seeing flood devastation Tuesday and Wednesday and realizing, once again, how fragile my lifestyle is. Even nature itself can be literally washed away, plus potential problems with air travel, hotels, passports and other legal issues, food supply, money, etc. Plan to continue on GR7 as usual, if possible, but always carrying extra food and water in case necessary to detour or switch to other trail system.
Hiked into town to resupply then back to campsite.
Easter Sunday. €88 for 2 nights at Hotel Avenida through booking.com.
Easter Monday, so many stores closed. Charter store open (and crowded).
GR7 has been moved and now runs through Siete Aguas and Chera then northwest until it connects to old GR7. Should have researched this back in Reno or at least in Requena. Instead, followed roads towards Las Nogueras and camped same place as last year. Ate in Requena and carrying 2 days food out of town, enough to get to Chelva. Rained in early afternoon while hiking and then rain and hail with thunder in late afternoon, just after setting up tarp.
Clear sky in morning. Used highway to get to Villar de Tejas and picked up water there. Camped in forest, same spot as last year.
Fuente de Chelva running strong. Finally found some information regarding footbridge over Turia: namely, washed away, along with trail on either side. So followed paved road to Benagéber and camped on way. "Paved" is actually freshly coated with tar which melted in sun of afternoon, so soles both boots caked with thick mixture of tar, pebbles and mud. Had to spend an hour cleaning them.
Tar on road cool enough in morning not to stick to boots. Hopefully, they will eventually cover tar with rocks or sand. Picked up water and bought food in Benagéber. Pullup bars along highway on way out of town. About 3 hours tiresome highway walking, though at least quiet highway, plus 1 hour on dirt roads. €50 at Hotel Álvarez in Tuéjar.
Hotel wonderfully quiet last night. However, woke up with feeling of pulled muscle in right chest muscle. Not sure how that happened. Drank 2L and ate in town, left town with 3L and 3 days food. Follow road along Río Tuéjar/Chelva, fork left to road along Rambla de Arquela. No signs of flood damage from last year. Exposed soles of feet to sun during rest break because noticed some fungus smell recently. Camped about 2km past Fuente de Arquela, which was running strong.
tbc Intersect with GR37 southeast of Alpuente. Roads to Yesa, La Cuevarruz, Arcos de las Salinas.
84th day in Schengen. Fly to Buenos Aires.
Total of ?? nights in Spain: initial night on bus, final night in airport, ?? nights camping, ?? nights in hotels. €?? total hotel expenses, or average of €??/night.
tbc