A few days ago I enjoyed this NYT article about how intelligent vultures are, speculating that they’re perhaps the smartest of the Aves class.  In reading up on vultures I was surprised to learn that there are two groups, belonging to different evolutionary families.  The Old World Vultures (the ones from Eurasia) are accipiters, the same family that includes the hawks and eagles; while the New World Vultures are found in the Americas.  Our primary example is the turkey vulture, and Europe’s is the Griffon.  The fact that the two birds have such similar characteristics even though they have different ancestry is an example of convergent evolution, with the two groups evolving to acquire traits of value to their unique evolutionary niche.

One fact I particularly like knowing is that the new world vultures locate their rotting prey from thousands of feet above by their exceptional sense of smell, while the old world ones locate it by their keen eyesight.  So if I were a vulture, I’d be an Old World one, since I have no sense of smell.  Maybe that’s why I like Europe so much.

Reflecting on this reminds me of my favorite vulture memory, sneaking up on a sleeping Griffon vulture perched on the ramparts of the castle of Mertola, Portugal four years ago.  It was a precarious, probably unwise hunt, me trying to keep from tumbling down the steep, rocky slope I was balancing on while trying to hold the camera steady.  Risky, but I got my shot.

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Bruce LellmanWhat a great shot!
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1 year ago

Patrick O'HaraI remember that shot.
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1 year ago

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So vultures are apparently smart, ranking right up there with the parrots and corvids (crows, ravens and magpies).  Even the dimmer avian species are smart though in another way - they know when it’s time to move on.  If it’s getting too warm or too cold for your liking, go somewhere else.  Good thinking, birds!

There’s a lot Team Anderson likes about our chosen lifestyle, but this one ranks way up near the top.  When it’s too cold and wet, or too hot, we move on too.  It’s time.  We don’t head south for a week yet, but it was chilly and drizzly this morning and we’d both rather be in California or Arizona.

So we’ll stop here, and open another chapter in a few days.  In the meantime, without spending much time or thought on it we’ll reflect briefly on this autumn’s experience.  In short, our tour through Spain was exceptional, and even better than we’d hoped or imagined it could be.  Looking back through the photos in the slideshow below together, we were reminded of how much we loved the country we biked through, much of it new to us.  Spain is so astonishingly diverse!

Several things in particular come to mind in thinking back on this tour.  First, even though it was only a little over six weeks long - only half or less the length of our ‘normal’ tours in recent years - it felt like a much larger experience than that.  We left some Schengen time on the table by leaving early to return for my ablation procedure, but we don’t feel short-changed.

Second, it by design was about the simplest north-south trip down Spain that you can do without just staying next to the Ebro the whole way down.  Even though most of our days were quite short and there weren’t any significant passes or great heights to surmount, we felt like we enjoyed our full share of dramatic, memorable terrain.  The mountains are great, but you don’t really need to have an arduous tour to have a first-class experience - a nice thing to be reminded of as a pair of aging bike travelers.

And my health was a welcome, pleasant surprise.  It’s surprising to think back now to the planning and onset of this journey and remember how anxious I was about whether this would even work.  We planned the itinerary so that we’d never be too far from the nearest bus or train station in case we needed to bail out, and I was quite apprehensive about the first few climbs wondering if the trip would be aborted from an arrythmia episode that wouldn’t quit.  None of that happened, and even though there were a few minor episodes along the way and I kept a slow, conservative pace most of the time, it didn’t spoil the trip for us.

Favorite places?  Too many to list, but virtually everything from Tudela south to the coast was exceptional.  Calatuyud, Albarracin, Teruel, Daroca, the two Rubielos, even tiny Malanquilla were all extraordinary, in their own totally unique way.

Favorite lodging?  Probably the colorful B&B in Malanquilla, with our view to the windmill on the opposite ridge and the sound of a huge sheep drive greeting us the next morning.

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Favorite moment?  Wow, that’s really a tough one - but maybe it’s that time in Daroca, looking up and see a radiant Rachael beaming down on me from above.  Favorite moment, and also Rachael’s favorite hike.

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Jen RahnRadiant Rachael, indeed!
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1 year ago

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As always, thanks to all of you for following along and offering encouragement and support along the way.  And please do come back and join us as we emulate the wisdom of the birds and head south for the winter.  And before we go, you might enjoy reliving the trip through the slideshow, as we did.  It might tempt you to check out the same region yourselves some spring or fall.

Video sound track: No Regrets, by Tom Rush