Alfred and I are heading to Spain mid-January. Leo, our elderly dog, is holding down the fort and sleeping in front of the fire.

Our plan is to fly into Madrid then take a train to Toledo then Cordoba. Once there we start walking along the Route of the Caliphate until we get to Granada. After Granada it’s a bus to Tarifa, the southernmost point of Spain, where we  pick up the E4 trail and the walk really starts.

The E4 is one of the longest walking paths in Europe and covers almost 10,000 km total. The portion in Spain is known as the Gran Recorrido 7 or GR7. This route is 1,900 km, (1,180 miles), long and runs from the southern tip of Spain, Tarifa, to the Pyrenees on the border with France. We are still debating whether to take the southern or northern portion; the southern portion is supposed to be more interesting but it’s also higher and we may run into snow.

Alfred would like to summit Mulhacen, Spain’s highest peak; we’ll see if I go with him or not on that particular adventure!

Our plan is to do a combination of camping and staying in small hotels. We’re going to go as light as possible with gear; I’m just bringing my iPhone for photos and we’re downloading maps on our phones.

More on this soon, in the meantime back to studying Spanish with Duolingo!