About a week before we left the Alpujarra we spent a truly fabulous day high up in the Sierra with our friends Birgit and Jane. It was a day which I will never forget. We met up just after 10 am and set off in the X-Trail. Birgit was our guide for the day as she knows the Sierra like the back of her hand, having ridden her horse up and around there for several years now. Ian was the designated driver, I was the caterer (having prepared a vegetarian picnic for us all) and Jane provided the en route entertainment, chatting away merrily throughout the journey. It was a beautifully sunny day and as the car steadily wound its way up into the mountains to a maximum height of about 2000 m, the views were simply breathtaking. We could see right down to the invernaderos (greenhouses) in El Ejido (not so nice actually but it gives you an idea how high up we were and how far the vista stretched as a consequence). Had it been a clear day, we would have been able to see the African coastline (a line which estate agents like to trot out).
After about a thirty minute drive, we got out of the car to take a walk and bumped into a group of mountain bikers out on a tour. Jenny, their guide, looked as fresh as if she´d just stepped out of the shower but one older gentleman seemed decidedly knackered. I really was glad it wasn´t me on that bike – I wouldn´t have lasted five seconds.
Birgit had planned a visit to some German friends of hers who live in a little cortijo somewhere in the mountains, so eventually, we turned off the main track and descended towards the valley. We parked the car (next to theirs) and climbed down further on foot until we got to a verdant valley and walked along the riverbed, the chuckle of running water and birdsong being the only sounds you could hear (apart from Jane who was still nattering away). We walked for a good 15 minutes and I kept wondering just how they cope schlepping things like butane gas bottles down from where they have to leave the car to the house (it made our journey from the flat in Bérchules to the main square seem quite a doddle). We finally caught sight of a little stone cortijo and we also spotted Birgit´s friends who were working in their vegetable patch. We received a warm welcome (they had no idea we were coming) and were invited for coffee. The casita they lived in was tiny (one room with a bed in one corner, a bookshelf in the other, the kitchen and storage shelves in the middle and a table and chairs at the far end). There was no bathroom, only a compost loo and a water tank on the roof - which also doubled up as a shower - outside. There was also no electricity. Could you imagine living without it? (Back in Norfolk we once had a power cut which lasted six days. At first it was quite romantic to eat bread and cheese and drink red wine by candlelight but life soon became quite miserable after day one.) So these guys can´t simply get a cold one out of the fridge after a day´s grafting outside, chuck their dirty dungarees in the washing machine, switch on the television and enjoy a long soak in the bath tub. They get up at first light, go to bed at sunset, wash their clothes in the river and spend their days working the land, reading and looking after their many animals. They had no previous knowledge of how to lead a fairly self-sufficient life but have learned a lot from books and by talking to the locals. Once a week they come down into Bérchules where they charge up their mobile phone at Birgit´s and buy vital supplies for themselves and the animals.
And believe it or not – they are happy. They couldn´t give a monkey´s about not buying the latest fashion accessory or gadget, nor do they miss watching the box. In fact, whilst we were with them, their sheep Dörte gave birth to twin lambs and as we all were admiring the new babies, still quite wobbly on their feet, and trying to work out how to help themselves to their mother´s milk, the couple turned to us with a big grin on their delighted faces: “See, this is why we don´t miss the television. This is far more exciting.” Fair point. I must say, though, for me personally the lifestyle would not suit. Even if I find myself moving further and further away from linking material things to my own personal happiness, I have to admit that I do like my creature comforts. Nevertheless, I do admire this brave couple and I think that we could all learn something from them. I wish them well and hope that all their dreams will come true. They deserve it.
Dörte and her newborn lambs