2 month walk across Sierra Nevada mountains south Spain, 2 adults, 3 kids, 2 horses and 1 dog! to raise money for Syrian refugees and our free school

This is the story of how me and my friend Aishlinn (@trucklife-family) spent 2 months walking with our 3 kids through the mountains, helped along by two noble horses, helpful people and luckily great weather, what an experience it was! so much so that when my baby reaches 4 years I will be on another hopefully longer trek! towards the Pyrenees from here in South Spain.

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The plan was to post photos every day and blog and try to raise as much money as possible for a project run by a friend supporting women and children just landed into Greece from Syria, also to raise some funds for our free school 'Kids Space'We planned to walk with our kids and horses along the GR7 walking route (mostly) for as long as we could! I was lucky to meet Antonia Largo in Llaroles (a genuine Spanish cowboy) who found for us our two great mares Columbiana and Solais.

A mutual 3 way back scratch with the two ladies! Solais never needed to be tied up, she followed us around like a dog and was a terror for stealing our veg and fruit from the kitchen saddle bags!

We planned to travel with no back up, the horses would carry about 40 kilo each (includes saddle weight) so that if the kids got tired they could ride. As it was after the first two weeks the kids found that they had more fun running along the trail together. Aishlinn was very brave in that she had no previous experience with horses, but she was a natural immediately, and so after some walks around our local area with the kids and horses we set off....with way to much gear! after a week a friends drove out to meet us for the day and we sent back half the equipment with them!

We carried 2 lightweight tents, mini air mattresses, sleeping bags, 1 alcohol burner cooker, 1 steel twig mini rocket stove burner and a couple of 5 liter water bottles, along with the kitchen bag and a tarp in case of rain/sun. Also a small pick for digging mini compost toilets, a mini saw and 2 collapsible water buckets.
The first two weeks were sometimes hard as we adjusted ourselves to this new rhythm of life, but it got easier, we managed to find grazing for the horses each night and sometimes we stayed a few nights in one place if the grass was really good, below is photo of one of our favorite camp spots right by the river in the Poquiera valley near Pampineira

Sometimes the GR7 walking route was too narrow for our horses and so we had to move on up to the trans Nevada route which runs up at near 2000m around the Sierra Nevada mountains and is an easy wide dirt track, up here we found beautiful waterfalls.

We dropped down into ancient small Alpujarra whitewashed villages every 3 days or so to buy fruit n veg and stock up on anything available that wasn't jamon (Ham) or white bread!. The kids picked Mulberries from the saddle and we stuck our heads in water fountains after the horses had had their fill, it was still quite hot even up at that elevation. Our days consisted of oats n fruit breakfast then trying to get organized to be up and leave our camp spot at 10am, sometimes we did manage this!, We would then walk at the kids pace for between 5-10km a day and stop when we found a good patch of mountain grazing with water nearby, we tried to make camp before 3pm as after that it was too hot.
Sometimes we had to cut our way through branches that hung low and overgrown over the path, sometimes Solais decided she didn't like the look of 'it' and would try to bolt through narrow tunnels of trees or to charge as fast as she could up hill, dragging us with her, in time we learned to prevent this, but i still have the bramble scratch scars to remember the first week!

Lunch was many times veg with eggs, rice or noodles, quick cook foods like polenta were popular and also white pre-cooked maize flour that made tasty Arepas (how do i spell that!) I'm gluten free, (my son not) and Aishlinns family are vegetarian, so it was quite a challenge for us due to what was available to buy in the tiny shops we came across, but luckily Aishlinn was very organized with the tasty condiments that she somehow brought and magically made appear out of her kitchen bag of wonders! Below photo of the kids taking a break, they enjoyed so much the adventure, and keep asking 'when are we going back on the trek?!'. I believe it was an amazing adventure and important education for them and us also! It gave them more confidence and strength, and that we could raise nearly 1000 Euro for good causes while doing it really made it feel a very worthwhile.

Sometimes the day would be getting on and we wouldn't yet have found somewhere to camp, but then some kind soul would happen along and offer us a field, this happened quite a few times and we met some lovely people.

Above photo, the horses grazing way down below our steep mountainside camp spot,
My son having a bucket bath in the home of a friend we passed on the way :-)

After nearly 2 months we would be crossing the Ruagua Pass down into Almeria province, but the summer was coming on stronger and the land was drier, and we heard it would be very dry on the north side of the mountains, so we decided to call it a day, and to continue another time, it was an amazing adventure, and a big thank you to Aishlinn and family , Antonio Largo and to our two noble steeds!

Also....There are so many photos from this trek, maybe I do a part two!