Al-Andalus Day 5: One of Those Days - to Ronda

Wednesday April 2 2008

You get to the mid-point of the ride - and it all happens at once. Steph's phone rings at 3 AM. A car wreck. Truck containing the quads and motorcycles that lead the ride gets the keys locked inside. An SUV gives up the ghost, blows up. Horse is forgotten in stables. The wind is blowing a gale, and the trail for horses very rocky, technical, challenging, and tiring today. We lose the course at times. Nacho drives slow. Slow??

The ride starts at 10:30 once the quad truck arrives. 18 horses and riders started up the road into Parque Natural Alcornocales. Today, Nacho's car was at the front of the field, leading them up and up and up the logging roads - slowly! He even told me in Spanish he would be driving slowly. "Merri! Hoy conducir despacio! No tienes miedo hoy!" (Today driving slowly! You don't have fear today!) Well, I certainly had a new sensation of bafflement! I still held on for dear life out of habit. I got a tranquil look at the scenery, layers of mountain forests falling below us as we climbed ever higher.

The Parque Natural Alcornocales is a 400,000-acre nature reserve, named after the cork oak trees, the largest grove of cork oaks in the Iberian Peninsula. While it is a nature reserve, it is "devoted to exploitation of the forest's resources" - for hunting, for gathering wild mushrooms, gathering tree heath (used in making tobacco pipes), and harvesting the cork trees for their bark. We saw one fellow with his 3 pack mules laden with the rounds of bark from cork trees, and a huge pile yet to transport. There are extensive hiking trails in the park, with signs indicating not the kilometers to a destination, but the hiking times.

At the highest point of the trail, a cold gale was blowing over the ridge, kicking eye-grating dust about. I was particularly glad not to be on a 4-wheeler this morning. Miguel the camera man attempted to stand up with his video camera to get some shots, but it was too windy to hold still. We continued on from this high point near 700m, staying in front of the horses, and headed downhill to a sheltered flat on a ridge, where we set up an Assistencia point.


Here we met two charming ponies, one very friendly rotund paint who really wanted to help with the assistance, and got quite excited (or offended) when his offers were turned down. Once the Arabians started passing through, the paint decided he wanted to be an endurance horse (trotting and cantering around in shared excitement), or maybe a rodeo horse (leaping and bucking), or maybe a dressage horse (showing off his extended trot). There was also one FAT chestnut who observed the shenanigans from a little further away. After the last rider got their water and disappeared into the forest again, and the humans packed up to leave, the ponies looked quite forlorn that their unexpected entertainment was gone.

Most of the rest of the day consisted of an awful lot of driving on high mountain roads, confusion on when and where the horses would cross, and lots of wind. At the lunch vet check, Steph and I climbed in the car with Luis, who promised to take us over the horse trail for the last 9 km.

Just as we pulled away from the last Assistance point (where the horses travelled over an original Roman road, the same stony path from 2000 years ago), Luis asked Antonio out the window, "Can we make it?" Antonio answered, "No se..." He didn't know. Luis said, "Well, we try." Wait - that didn't sound too good - had this been my idea?

The last 9 km to the finish was over trails made for horses, tough horses, and not for vehicles. But we wanted to see the trail? Luis got us over the trail in his vehicle. I am here to tell you, nothing stops these crazy Andalucíans from going over, under, or through, any trail or route.

From a wide path to a narrow path to single file hiking trail where we really couldn't have fit, through an impassible ditch, back onto the road, back onto a nice 2-track road, to a 1-track road, which disintegrated to a rocky trail up into the hills, to not much of a trail at all (but great scenery), to nothing but motorcycle ruts, to an eye-widening bank to make it over, to a steep, don't-know-where-or-how-it-ends (and I sure hope we don't have to back up this!!) trail descent to the Ronda valley below, we made it. Really, I've learned driving is all in your perspective, and my perspective, which was narrow, has been greatly broadened!

At the bottom of this amazing (by vehicle or by horse) route, Luis' boss Alexis was relaxing on a 4-wheeler, shoes off, feet up on the dash, waiting for horses to pass. We left him in a cloud of dust and drove to the finish line, where a stunning view awaited finishers: across the valley the old city of Ronda, hanging off a cliff above the El Tajo gorge, with the dramatic 18th century Puente Nuevo ("new bridge") accentuating the vista. Wow.

Ronda is Andalucía's fastest growing town, but still retains its old charm. In the historic center of the town, you can see ruins of an old Moorish palace from the 1200's, a 16th century convent, cobbled streets. Bullfighting on foot originated here; Ernest Hemingway's ashes are scattered here. Alas, we did not have time (or energy) to tour the old town, other than the two blocks we walked to a restaurant at 9 PM. Ronda is just one more place on a growing list to re-visit as a tourist in Andalucia.


More stories and photos at www.endurance.net/merri

Al-Andalus Day 4: Sea to Mountains to Sea - to Algeciras

Tuesday April 1 2008

"I mean - I saw the Rock of Freakin' Gibraltar today!" was how Steph described the end of another great day of riding in Al-Andalus. What more need be said to sum it up?

Stunning photos in the morning sunrise, of horses riding through cows gamboling in green fields and yellow flowers, as riders made their way up into the hills and orchards of alcornoque, or cork oak trees. They are used for just that - cork. The soft bark is harvested by hand from the ground up the trunk every 10 to 12 years; this doesn't hurt the tree, and the bark regrows and can be harvested in another 10 years. The trees live for 150 to 250 years... apparently it's a very profitable business - and 15% of the bark use goes into making wine corks, and it produces over 2/3 of the profits.

Lunch was near a little white village towered over by wind turbines. Steph thinks they are cool and "elegant." I think they are freaky! But they make interesting backdrops for photos.

Afterwards, Nacho drove his car like a demon up into the mountains - where we passed some real Spanish vaqueros on their beautiful, composed Andalusians - up to a scenic Assistance point for the endurance riders and horses, overlooking the canyon from where they'd climbed. Steph was still grinning from ear to ear, about her ride, the scenery, the privilege of just being here on a horse.

Then it was truly an insane, reckless drive to the finish at Algeciras. I think today there was perhaps a car race going on down the one-lane narrow winding mountain road with thousand foot drops off the edge, and I do think we were winning. These southern Spanish, they take their fast driving very seriously. I looked out the side window so as to not see exactly when or how we were going to die, and not worry about it (a technique I used once in Sri Lanka, where the taxi driver had a serious death wish).

We did make a quick stop at a high viewpoint to see the Rock of Gibraltar in Algeciras, with the mountains of north Africa just on the horizon. Algeciras was founded in 713 AD by the Moors, probably over an earlier Roman town. The Rock of Gibraltar, 426 meters in height, is actually part of the United Kingdom. Most of the top of it is a nature reserve, home to Europe's only wild monkeys, Barbary Macaques.

In Greek mythology, the rock was known as one of the Pillars of Hercules. And more fuel to fire the Atlantis myth: Plato said Atlantis was somewhere beyond the Pillars of Hercules. Perhaps we were looking down on Atlantis from our viewpoint.


More stories and photos at: www.endurance.net/merri

Al-Andalus Day 3: Stuck - to Montenmedio

Monday March 31 2008

It wasn't a great day photo-wise - some days you get lucky, and some days you don't - and our biggest excitement was that we got stuck in a mud hole. Nacho put the front wheels into too deep a ditch, and there we stayed for a while, till some 4-wheelers came along and pulled us out. We found one nice spot for photos, with horses coming up out of a green valley of wheat, lined by yellow flowers. The Raven frolicked in them while we waited for horses to pass.

The finish line was at Montenmedio Golf and Country club, also a world class horse facility with 1500 stables and 8 grass show rings - one of which the Raven and I fell asleep on in the sunshine, the lack of sleep catching up with us.

A great dinner was had by all on the show grounds, then we were taken to the best hotel of the ride in the little beach town of Zahara de los Atunes. Steph and I managed to be 30-minute tourists, taking a quick walk to the beach and into the village before getting back to work on our photos.

Nothing extraordinary (besides our lovely hotel) today, but still a great day in Al-Andalus.


More at www.endurance.net/merri

Al-Andalus Day 2: The Beach to Sanlucar de Barrameda

Sunday March 30 2008

Today's ride: sand, sun, beach, fun!

Leaving El Rocío in the dawn...


...trails through pine trees into Parque Nacional de Doñana, one of Europe's most important wetland reserves. Doñana is formed by the delta of the great Guadalquivir river. Unlike most deltas, this one has only one outlet at Sanlucar de Barrameda (today's destination), and a great windbreak sandbar on one side of it, allowing the natural creation of dunes and marshlands - which kept centuries of invading people uninterested in it, and allowed wildlife to thrive here. It is still a major reserve for migrating birds. Access is very limited - our vehicles would be unable to follow the entire trail to the beach, and only official ride cars were allowed on the beach, with buses shuttling crew to the final vet gate.


That meant us, and after a vet gate at Matalascañas on the beach, we rocketed off down the beach, ... and I mean Rocketed Off. Our tires may have left the earth at times. I think the speedometer arrow shot off its rotator. Nacho truly took devilish delight in skillfully swerving, sliding, bogging, and skimming along, aiming for the birds in hub-deep ocean, inundating the car once with water that poured through an open window. I learned some new Spanish words today in attempted conversation with Nacho and Luís and Carmen, although I think "AHHHH!" is pronounced the same in Spanish as in English. Later, at the finish vet gate, someone found Nacho a leather helmet with devil horns - perfectly suited to his driving and his impish grin!


It was a beautiful quiet 30-km stretch of beach to Sanlucar de Barrameda. Some riders stayed out of the water, where the sand tended to become a little soft; some riders stayed just in the shallow water, where the sand was harder packed and the going a little easier. The beach was littered with beautiful shells of all colors under the sun - good thing I don't collect shells because I would have gone mad. And my suitcase is already too heavy. I did take pick up a little shell, however, for the Raven.

After the official finish of the ride, horses loaded on a car ferry to cross to Sanlucar de Barrameda, and had a final gallop along the beach for show, along a 1500m stretch of sand that is Spain's oldest racecourse, dating back to 1845, where every summer horses still gather on weekends for races along the beach just before sunset. There a gypsy woman serving manzanilla sherry, a specialty of the area, awaited people.

Dinner, hotel, skipped the party at the Bodega, little sleep... a pattern of Al-Andalus.

More details and photos...

www.endurance.net/merri

Al-Andalus Day 1: The Pilgrimage to El Rocío

Saturday March 29 2008

Since these blogs aren't meant to be race recaps, here I'll just put the highlights of the days of the Al-Andalus ride. At the bottom if you're dying to read the whole shebang, follow the link to enduranceeurope.net.

Highlights of Day 1's 60-km ride:

Not enough sleep! This was to become the norm of the ride! There just wasn't enough time to do everything, and sleep was the first thing to be sacrificed.


Jose Soto got to meet the Raven! I think he was pretty excited about it.


Truly wild driving! I rode with Carmen and Luis in the car with course director Nacho Pena: various versions of creeping behind horses, then hurtling past them; waiting, leap-frogging, shooting by, squeezing by, rocketing ahead; dropping back, racing beside, on four wheels or two or one, it didn't matter, squeaking past, whipping around the horses over the entire course of Al-Andalus (except for only one cliff the cars couldn't squeeze through, and one area of roof-deep sand, I think). You might think that it would be easier to just drive on the roads and meet the riders at assistance points, and then just drive on to the next crew point via roads, meeting them again easily and in advance. Well, yes, of course that would be EASIEST, but that's not the POINT. Driving over every inch of the course was the point, and passing as many horses between assistance points was the point. Letting the horses pass us, and then us passing them again was the best! (Not to mention it's a great way to break your horse to cars and quads and motorcycles passing within inches.) The extreme driving (which can accurately be described as 'frenzied') was truly as much a part of Al-Andalus as the horse ride itself! In America, you're usually on your own from vet check to vet check, even if it's 40 km in between. But here in Europe, horses and riders get assistance every 10 km or so. That's part of the rides and part of the fun.


After lunch we stopped to set up an assistance point for the riders at Palacio Del Rey after 12 km, a lovely old home surrounded by a herd of cattle, fields of yellow daisies and a colony of storks that were flying around, sitting on nests, and clicking their beaks in avian conversation about the horses passing through. The horses had a long old stone water trough to drink from, and Nacho and Luís and Carmen handed cold drinks to the riders and poured water on the horses as they took a quick refreshing break after that stretch of sand. We attempted to chat/handspeak in Spanish while we waited for more riders. My Spanish can be quite amusing, but the southern Spaniards enjoy helping me learn to speak it properly. It was a lovely spot in the Spanish countryside - perfect weather of warm sun, and 23*.


Finish was in the little town of El Rocío. For most of the year, El Rocío is a quiet little village of 800 people, with all sand streets, and hitching rails for horses in front of every building. But once a year, on the 7th Sunday after Easter, El Rocío comes alive with up to a million people, during the Romería Del Rocío, Spain's largest romería festival (pilgrimages so named because pilgrims traditionally walked to Rome, and became known as "romeros"). Pilgrims have come here every year since 1280 AD to worship the statue of the "Madonna of the Dew," the Virgen Del Rocío. It is believed that she can cure disease, infertility, and mental disorders.


The massive white Santuario de Neustra Señora de El Rocío dominates the center of town. It was destroyed in an earthquake in 1755, and rebuilt in the 1960's. Inside is an ornate gold altar, and you may light electric candles in a little room on the side of the church. Smoke from years of real candles is blown out of a high window via a fan, where black smoke residue stains the white outer wall.

On this first Saturday after Easter, to El Rocío came the Al-Andalus equestrian pilgrims - roaming in from 50 km away for a festival of our own.

El Rocío has been named as an international equestrian village, and we could see why. There were horses everywhere when we arrived - in addition to the endurance horses coming and going, there were horses pulling carriages, horses and ponies giving rides, bitted up prancing Andalusians, and even wild horses roaming the marshlands of the Guadalquivir River delta. The finish line arch had been set up in the middle of the square beside the church. Ladies in traditional flamenco dress and high heels wobbled through the sandy streets in front of a smart pair of draft horses - showing off their pompoms by shaking their heads at each other - pulling a carriage, their drivers dressed in Andalucian hats and fine long-tailed coats. There were souvenirs, stores selling carriage harnesses and flamenco dresses side by side, and the smell of freshly harvested strawberries in the air.


Many spectators strolled among the horses and on the promenade along the lake. The lunch/dinner was served under a big temporary tent (this was put up nearly every day for the lunches, then taken down and transported to the next day's ride end). Riders and crew packed the tables and chairs, and spilled out onto the lake walk, devouring plates filled with garbanzo beans and cooked beef, vegetables, and apples and oranges. It was pleasantly cool in the shade under the blooming jacaranda-like purple trees.

We stayed in little bungalows at a camping place for the evening, plain and very comfortable. Late to bed, with alarms set early for the next morning - AND we lose an hour of sleep tonight!

For more details and pictures, see www.endurance.net/merri

III Raid Kaliber Tierras de Al-Andalus: Prologue

Friday March 28 2008

The Prologue takes place in Dos Hermanas outside of Seville, at the Gran Hipódromo de Andalucía. Dos Hermanas, founded in 1248 by King Ferdinand III is so named "Two Sisters" after the sisters of his lieutenant, Gonzalo Nazareno. This is why you might hear Dos Hermanas natives referred to as nazareños or nazareñas.

At our hotel, Steph and I met up with Paul Jeffrey and Madonna Harris of New Zealand. I met Paul and Madonna and Paco Maeso at last year's Horse of the Year endurance ride in New Zealand - Paul and Madonna's company Fisiocrem is a sponsor of Enduranceurope.net and we went to cover the HOY endurance ride that Paul and Paco were participating in; Paco of Spain graciously invited Steph to participate in the Al-Andalus ride here, and I very fortunately got to tag along (again) as photographer. Paul and Madonna are here to closely watch and study this ride, as they plan to put on an Al-Andalus sister ride in New Zealand (!), possibly by this year's end.

We piled in a taxi together to the Hipódromo. The backside stables of the grand old racecourse were busy with horse vans coming and going, people and horses and gear moving into the permanent box stalls, vans and trailers and assistance vehicles getting repacked, saddles and bridles and boots being readied for the morning, horses warming up, camera crews roaming, horns honking, horses neighing, shod hooves clattering on pavement, shouted human greetings, and José Manuel Soto cruising around on his motorbike, keeping an eye on the progress and welcoming returning and new riders to the event.

I asked José about this enormous event he conjured up, namely - Why? "To show off my beautiful countryside by horseback," he said, to show what wonderful hosts the Andalucians are, to provide a fun, challenging adventure for endurance riders. But thinking of the incredible logistics of moving a huge circus of people and horses around the state for 8 days, I asked Why 8 days? Why not start off with an easier 4 or 5? "Because even 8 days is not enough to see Andalucía. Eight days will give you only a taste of my country." José knows Al-Andalus is no cushy vacation, it is hard work: people have to take off 2-3 weeks of work, they still have their families to take care of - either here at the ride or at home, and this adventure will permit little rest - you will be on the go from early in the mornings to late at nights... but it is worth it. "You will enjoy the country, the new friends, the food, the drink, the horses." José does ride Arabians, but for pleasure. Why not endurance? "I am not a good jockey!" Will you sing for everybody? I asked - I am very much looking forward to hearing not only some indigenous flamenco music, but José Soto's voice also. He smiled with a sparkle in his eye as he said, "Maybe." A treat to look forward to.

Steph was waiting on Paco to arrive - Paco had been busy driving all over Spain the last day or two, taking Paul and Madonna to pick up a caravan that they will travel in during the ride, picking up his new Remolquest Tamame 2-horse trailer, and shuttling his white stallion Ibor, who he will ride, and his friend Fernando Uriartes' mare Arenal, who Steph will ride. The two can't travel together in his 2-horse trailer, so that made for a lot of extra work throughout the ride, especially on days when they both did not ride! When Paco finally arrived on his last trip to the track with the mare, he was quite worn out, and still had a busy day of settling in the horses, registration, vetting in, and taking his horse for a ride with Steph and her mare; but he still had time to ask about the Raven, his good-luck charm. Did I bring the Raven along? Of course I did! Paco would get to see him tomorrow.


Meanwhile, on the frontside of the racetrack, there is a crush of people at the Organization desks - the Al-Andalus staff dealing with innumerable members of the press, riders and crew; computers are working overtime, riders are weighing in; there are bags getting filled with (depending on which category - or in Steph's case, categories - you fall into) of books, schedules, instructions, color-coded vests, passes, ride clothing (polo shirt, jacket, vest, cap), assistance car and van placards, coupons for petrol, hay, straw. Here we very briefly met a few of the beating hearts of the Organization: Inés de Albert, Gabriel and Rosa, all working madly doing ten things at once with twenty different people at once in at least Spanish and English, with the same smiles on their faces that would still be there 10 days later.

Vet inspections began at 11 AM in the paddock area, and the Prologue ride of 5 laps around the 2000m racecourse was to begin at 4:30. There were signs of a big party starting: the Tierras de al-Andalus truck was unloading on the frontside - it is a travelling stage from which the inflatable finish line, sponsor flags and banners are unloaded and set up each day (and taken down), and from which, when opened up, the awards will be presented each night on the inside of a truck as a stage; booths with free drinks from sponsors Coca-cola and Kaliber were setting up, and a ride several times around the track for the local endurance riding club was underway - they will participate in tomorrow's 61-km stage to El Rocío. The camera/helicopter guys from last year were testing their equipment (this is a little remote controlled helicopter, about 2' by 1' by 1' that carries a remote controlled camera - 1 man controls the helicopter and the other mans the camera); the vet staff was busy inspecting horses; the TV camera crew was popping up everywhere; a hot-air balloon was inflating right by the finish line of the inner track where the local ride/race was taking place, spooking some of the horses all the way to the outer rail when it belched fire.

It seemed rather overwhelming to Steph, as she checked in as press, then as a rider, to be attempting to do both - ride every other day as part of her team, and be press every other day. But once she met her team partner, José León Cuevas, she got caught up in the excitement. José and his mare Bulería were the winners of the first Al-Andalus ride (Bulería is, quite appropriately, actually owned by José Manuel Soto). José León felt the tremendous pressure as the returning binomial champion last year; this year he decided to enjoy the ride as a holiday, and to compete in the Equipos (teams) competition - which is why he did not mind Steph as his partner, since she is riding a less seasoned mare who would be going slower. Steph was hoping to ride on the beach and in the mountains - and these just happened to be the days on which she would indeed be riding - galloping over the beaches and mountains of Andalucia, Spain - what a dream!

Since Steph's mare didn't arrive till 4 PM, she and Paco skipped the ride around the racecourse, and instead vetted in and took their two horses out after the rest of the horses were done. I had expected mass mayhem and bedlam from some 45 horses starting a gallop around the racetrack together - I come from the racetrack, so I know how horses are at a starting gate; and I come from endurance, so I know how Arabian horses are at the start of an endurance ride! - but it was a quite calm, orderly start as the horses cantered and trotted under the inflated starting balloon, proud, bright-eyed Arabians, Anglo Arabs, at least one extraordinarily handsome Spanish warmblood, an appaloosa (returning from a third-place teams finish last year) and a few paints, stretching their legs on the lush turf.

There were a few horses happily racing each other, with their riders pulling ineffectually on the reins for a while; one of the horses worked himself into quite a lather. Bulería was one of the mighty ones, pulling hard on the reins, shaking her head with eagerness, ready to get on with her third ride across Andalucía.

Back at the stables, Paco's helpers/drivers/friends/crew - Paul and Madonna, Tejano, and Fernando - were busy about the business of packing for tomorrow. The ride would start at some stables at 9 AM in another town 30 minutes away; horses were to leave the track here in their vans at 7:30 AM. It looked like the pack job for the beginning of a months-long boy-scout road trip - and we dubbed the whole thing Paco's Locuro team - "everything is chaos! Loco!"

The press meeting didn't seem to actually happen on the frontside at 12:30 PM, or 2 PM, or at all, and the very brief technical meeting was all in Spanish - Kristian Fenaux (Spanish photographer) interpreted for us, though it didn't have anything to do with Steph and me. At 8 PM (or thereabouts) the boisterous rider meeting began. It was all in Spanish - and Steph and I couldn't understand a word. Even if it had been in English, and the microphone clearer, we would have probably missed it all anyway, because the meeting was very upbeat and lively, indicating the mood of the adventurers ready to embark on their excursion across Andalucía. We were unclear on how we and our luggage would get to the ride start in the morning, or how we would get around the course, or how we and our luggage would get to the next hotel next evening... but that was all part of the adventure, right? Here in Andalucía, you just go with the flow, and things will probably work out, one way or the other. And if they don't... well, not to worry.

And they did work out this evening; after grabbing some quick tapas and beer provided for all, Inés arranged our rides in the morning, and rides for our luggage, and then took us to our hotel. It was the first of what would become a regular late night to bed - around midnight - and an early wake up call at 5:30 AM, for the official start of the 2008 Raid Kaliber Tierras de Al-Andalus.

III Raid Kaliber Tierras de Al-Andalus: And So It Begins

Thursday March 27 2008

ANDALUCÍA is an autonomous community in the south of Spain, touching both the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean, and encompassing the highest point in continental Spain (Mulhacén, at 3,479m, in the Sierra Nevada range). It is a land of romance and passion: it is the birthplace of bullfighting and flamenco dancing and the Andalusian horse; it is the home of the legendary Don Juan; it is where Columbus and Ferdinand Magellan began their voyages; there are fiestas, celebrations, ferias, romerías (pilgrimages), and world class horse competitions.


Being rich in history with cultural relics and traditions from the times of the successive invaders - the Moors, Arabs, Christians, and Europeans - you can visit ancient mosques and churches, castles and towers, and you can still travel over the original archaic Roman roads. You can park your car below modern skyscrapers in Granada and sip coffee with half a million people, or you can park your horse at a hitching rail next to the Santuario de Nuestra Señora de el Rocío - where the statue of the "Madonna of the Dew" has been worshipped since 1280 - in El Rocío, a town of 800 people, and sip coffee in a cafe on the dirt streets.

You can taste food and drink unique to or originating in Andalucía: olive oil (Andalucía is the world's largest producer), iberican ham (from a special iberican breed of pig that feeds on the acorns from the scrub oaks and cork trees, producing a healthy, omega-3-fat-rich ham), sherry (almost all genuine sherry is produced here), and gazpacho soup, a heavenly cold soup made from ripe tomatoes, garlic and olive oil.

As much an integral part of Andalucía as the scenery and land and food and drinks, are the wonderful people: people quick to smile and laugh, and with a deep, proud love of their part of Spain and a great desire to share it with others. One can only imagine the pressure they were under, but even when they were falling-over-beyond-tired, they would stay to talk with you, make one more phone call for you, drive to Antarctica to pick you up if necessary, and it was "No pasa nada" - no problem - and they always looked like they really enjoyed it.

You can encounter some of these perks of Andalucía as a tourista; but if you are an endurance rider, then you have a unique chance to truly experience this part of Spain intensely, on horseback, with special horse people, in "the tough and exciting Kaliber Tierras de al-Andalus endurance trial."


I have found in my travels that when you are in exceptional situations - like travelling with a backpack in another part of the world, or working on a show together, or doing an adventurous endurance ride somewhere in the world - many of your friendship bonds are quicker to form and more intense than they are when you meet someone on your home turf. You are stronger friends faster the first time; and the second time you see them, they are your extended family. Already I was by good fortune delightedly reuniting with extended families - Paul and Madonna from New Zealand, and Paco from Spain - and immediately I was forming new ones. The Andalucian people were special from the very first day, even through the chaos. Now add the horse into this extraordinary adventure - paradise!


José Manuel Soto, himself an Andalucian and one of Spain's great flamenco singers and television stars, has combined his great passion for his land, his people, and the horse, with his great desire to share it with the world, and created Tierras de Al-Andalus, an 8-day endurance ride across Andalucía, now in its third year.

For the third year, riders, crews, press, and officials from around the world - Spain, Germany, France, Italy, New Zealand, the US - converged on Andalucía to experience the joys, trials, excitement, and great challenges of this special 8 days and 500 km on horseback (and in cars and horse caravans), of scenic country, rugged trails, top-class hotels, great food and wine, and lasting, special friendships.

With the help of major sponsors and a crew of dedicated, hard-working people, this tremendous event unfolded, mostly smoothly, occasionally not, but it always progressed successfully. Major sponsors were Kaliber (non-alcoholic) beer, Andalucía Tourism, ABC, Ideal, Sur, La Voz, Coca-Cola, and a slew of others (the long list can be seen at www.tierrasdeal-andalus.com).

Many of the villages, towns and provinces we traversed and the hotels we stayed in provided food, drink, and housing for the riders and crews and the large number of employees of Tierras de al-Andalus. Volunteers were also indispensable, as were the work-horse rental cars supplied by Fualsa, which I can firmly attest first-hand were kept extremely busy and put to the work test!

This year's entries are: 19 Equipos (Teams) entries - fourteen 2-riders-2-horses, and five 1-rider-2-horses teams; and five 1-rider-2-horses teams. There are 13 Binomios entries - 1-rider-1-horse. (A total of 51 horses and 46 riders).

A very quick glance at, and a very simplified view of the rules are: each day is approximately 60 km and has two or three stages; for every stage not completed, the rider/team will receive a time penalty, and for each stage not started, the rider/team will receive a greater time penalty. Riders and gear must weigh a minimum of 70 kg. Horses have to be at least 6 years old, with a valid passport. Heartrate at vetgates - 56 bpm. Upon completion of a day's ride (passing the vet inspection), there will be another vet inspection of the horse for the next day's ride, at approximately 7 PM. Competition is against the clock - riders with the shortest overall time in the Equipos and Binomial categories each day will be declared the winners; riders in each category with the shortest overall time over the 8 days will be the overall winners, with a Best Conditioned horse being named. Cash prizes will be given to the overall first 3 places in each category at the end of the ride, with, additionally, a purebred Arabian colt going to the binomial winner, given by La Beata Stud.