A Walk in the Woods, Spain

Joanna and I were so excited to go adventuring in the forest of Barcelona and try to find some boulders to climb. We were lucky to come across some sweet rock formations, boulders, and beautiful trees, but that was not all that was in store for us! We ended up walking through the woods on paths carved by nature and came across a man made trail we thought led back to the city. Upon walking up this hilly trail we ran into a large dog that was aggressively barking at us. I kept walking and just stayed calm saying “you are a good dog, what a good dog,” and then we heard someone speaking to us in Catalan. We ended up walking up someone’s driveway to their house in the middle of the woods and it turned out to be one of the sweetest ladies we met on our trip. She invited us into her house, introduced us to her grandson, and later showed us her beautiful horses. She spoke only Catalan, so how do we know all this you wonder, her son, who spoke English as well, showed up.

The father of her grandson walked in and saw two strangers with his son and spoke to his mother in Catalan. After much discussion, he came and spoke with us. He was worried of course about who was around his child. A very good father. After he explained everything and we explained who we were, what we were doing in the woods, and how we found the house, he was very excited to tell us the history of the house. He also told us about the land and the three beautiful white horses that came up to say hello to us. We drank a coke each and talked for hours, then left to be on our way. As we headed back on the correct trail, we found some lovely trees and a shrine to the Madonna, Mary. It was beautiful and people had brought her offerings. Joanna and I kept exploring and found a tree to sit and ponder on. We love how nature keeps frowning around man-made structures. Nature never ceases to amaze us.

We ended up finding one boulder to climb and it was very slippery with sloping holds. Open handed holds that took a lot of body positioning and repositioning to climb successfully. We both made it to the top and laid on our backs to rest. Our view looking up through the trees was beautiful and we fell asleep for a little while. We woke up in the woods and made it back safely before it got dark. I love that anywhere in the world there is exploration to do off the beaten path. Always remember to be safe and ask locals for advice on where to go. Also, be careful who you ask and give information of where you are going to. My next blog will venture back into the city and I will walk you through the Sagrada Familia. Until then, take care and thank you for reading!

-Karen Hilliard

Also, if you would like to show support, I recently joined “buy me a coffee” which is a way for anyone to contribute to the creative process behind the paintings. Fuel the artist so to speak. Here is the link if you are interested and I truly appreciate the support and the fact that you are liking these blogs, as well as my art posts. I am working hard to bring you all fresh content! Here is the link to my Instagram where I try to post daily. You can also find me on Facebook at my art page Karen Hilliard Art.
Thank you again for all of your support!