[Hugh]

Thinking of combining the family holiday with a bouldering trip to Spain in early June. Presumably Albarracin will be fairly toasty by then and have been somewhat put off by reports of shit decorating the area (will have a nearly-3-yr-old in tow), so considering Santa Gadea/Resconorio as an alternative. Anyone been/got any recommendations for places to stay/etc? Family friendly-ish?

[mrjonathanr]

I wonder if Hoya Moros is high enough for summer bouldering? Not been, just like the look of it.

[Hugh]

I wonder if Hoya Moros is high enough for summer bouldering? Not been, just like the look of it.

Yeah, it does look good and is likely to be decent temps. As far as I'm aware the walk in is a bit of an epic though, and I'd be likely to face a mutiny halfway up...

[i.munro]

I was in Santa Gadea a few years back end of July and it was cooold! Think Scotland but not in a good way.
The locals said that this was unusual but the vegetation looked scottish as well - Heather Moorland.
We stayed at the nearest campsite in Arrija (sp ?)  which might be family friendly in good weather as there's a lake.
The local town was dead though and industrial.

In the end we started going  to Las Tuerces (same guide) as it was a lot sunnier.
So last summer we went back, this time staying near Las Tuerces and it was Hot!! Again the locals said we'd hit freak weather. Climbed every day though but the crag is on top of a hill and the shadeless walk in perhaps not so family friendly. Local town Aguilar del campoo had a lot more going on though. and we liked it.

So basically I guess I'm saying despite two weeks in the area I don't know what weather you'll get - Useful eh ?

[Hugh]

I was in Santa Gadea a few years back end of July and it was cooold! Think Scotland but not in a good way.
The locals said that this was unusual but the vegetation looked scottish as well - Heather Moorland.
We stayed at the nearest campsite in Arrija (sp ?)  which might be family friendly in good weather as there's a lake.
The local town was dead though and industrial.

In the end we started going  to Las Tuerces (same guide) as it was a lot sunnier.
So last summer we went back, this time staying near Las Tuerces and it was Hot!! Again the locals said we'd hit freak weather. Climbed every day though but the crag is on top of a hill and the shadeless walk in perhaps not so family friendly. Local town Aguilar del campoo had a lot more going on though. and we liked it.

So basically I guess I'm saying despite two weeks in the area I don't know what weather you'll get - Useful eh ?

Cheers, useful stuff. Weather sounds like a total lottery though! At least there are options available for one or the other extreme.

[i.munro]

Walk in (or rather up) apart Las Tuerces is pretty good in hot weather as a lot of stuff is in caves - assuming you like climbing roofs on monos in a grubby cave that is. ( I sort of do). There were a lot of flies in still weather though - so again family friendly ??

Maybe I was just unlucky in both cases - after all who would build a huge campsite by a lake if it's generally cold and drizzly.

[Hugh]

Have posted in Power Club, but a rundown for those who may be interested in going to Santa Gadea:

TLDR: Great climbing and hospitality and pretty good for kids. Not a huge area, but quiet and landscape around is great (better than e.g. Font).



Bouldering: Sandstone, good quality, coarser grain than e.g. Font, can be scrittly on tops. The actual climbing is technical body position dependent stuff. Get good at using slopers. Mono-slopers. Slopey slopers. The most developed area (Mordor) is pretty highball, although with good landings. Ideal for kids too as it's fairly compact with plenty of cleared grassy areas. When you've worked out how best to access (the paths can get fairly choked with ankle height gorse) it's a nice walk-in. Don't go expecting the new Font, but there's a decent variety of problems, with muchos potential for further development - rock is absolutely bloody everywhere and we found a bunch of uncleaned lines a few hundred metres from well trodden sectors.

Accommodation: We stayed at Casa Druna (see here). Great place, fairly cheap, and wonderful owner (Marta) who was happy to show us where to find the climbing and swimming spots. Highly recommended, especially with kids (Duncan loved the menagerie outside - everything from horses and dogs to lizards and tadpoles).

Other stuff to do: Down the road (5km ish) is the Embalse del Ebro (massive reservior). It's got some decent sandy beaches, along with a smaller sub-lake next to the campsite at Arija. Ideal for swimming. Landscape around Santa Gadea is fairly open moorland, with some woods, and would offer good opportunities for a stomp although we felt that it wouldn't really suit D. Further East (20mins - 1hr drive) becomes a morass of stunning vertiginous limestone cliffs, gorges and plateaus. Some great walks and wildlife (salamanders!) that were pretty accessible, plus waterfalls, rivers, caves etc.

Other info: Watch out for ticks (I was fine but my tick-magnet mate definitely was not) and the flies can get quite annoying when there's no wind. Definitely worth at least having a little basic Spanish - there were very few English speakers around.