La lucha continua becomes La lluita continua

Posted on 05/09/2012 by Michael

Activists at the Dia supermarket, Vilafranca del Penedes

Activists celebrate

La lucha continua becomes La lluita continua

The practice of storming supermarkets, filling trolleys with the basic necessities of life and then leaving without paying is spreading. After starting in a couple of places in Andalusia groups with a similar agenda have carried such activities in Merida, Extremadura and most recently in a town in Catalonia.

I’ve written a couple of times about the groups of people who have invaded supermarkets and taken food without paying in order to then give it to people who haven’t any resources whatsoever and depend upon charity to survive. This in a country that is part of what is supposed to be one of the biggest economic players on the planet.

This is now starting to spread.

On August 24^th 50 or so people invaded a Carrefour supermarket in Merida, Extremadura. They were stopped from taking anything away as the police arrived before they could do so but whether actually taking the goods was the aim of the action is not important. The main reason is to bring to a greater public attention the severe difficulties in which some people are living. All these actions are taken in the full light of day and they often film themselves. If you are interested in seeing a short video of the action follow this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1748bdwTgY8

One of the things I found interesting about the particular case in Merida was that although the police wanted to arrest one of the leaders this did not happen as Carrefour didn’t make any accusation against him. This, I’m sure, is a directive from up on high in Carrefour as the company wants to avoid any sort of reprisals such as those called for in the boycott of Mercadona who DID make accusations against those who invaded one of their supermarkets in Andalusia.

Not an expert on law but don’t think that would be the case in the UK. If I understand it correctly in UK law it is not for the ‘victim’ to decide whether a crime has been committed, but things might be different in Spain.

What’s important to remember here is that Andalusia and Extremadura are, and have been historically, two of the poorest regions of Spain, not least as there is little industry and the majority of the population depend upon agriculture or tourism for their living.

In the video you can hear the slogan of ‘The people united will never be defeated’ and they also shouted ‘If there’s no bread for the poor then there will be no peace for the rich’.

In a press conference one of the leaders said that there was ‘no Urdangarin here’ (a reference to the husband of one of the princesses of the Spanish Royal family who is currently under investigation for corruption and dipping into the public purse) and ‘no hunter of elephants here’ (in reference to a picture of the King of Spain, Juan Carlos Borbon, standing, gun in hand, beside a dead African elephant). So no royalists in this demonstration.

Earlier this week, on Monday afternoon, September 3^rd, things spread further afield and a similar action took place in the town of Vilafranca del Penedes, close to Tarragona, in Catalonia.

Another of the big supermarket chains in Spain/Catalonia, this one called Dia, was invaded by a group of people who got away with food to the value of €241.45. This time they attempted to pay with a card that had no credit but took the food anyway. The manager tried to lock everyone in until the police arrived but they found a way out and got the food taken away, only to then wait for the police to arrive outside.

The group in Vilafranca was started in order to assist those people whose homes were being repossessed after they had fallen victims ‘in the good times’ to something similar to the sub-prime mortgage scheme that started the whole house of cards falling in the US. However, they see that homelessness, poverty and hunger go hand in hand and see no contradiction in their previous stated aim and what they did yesterday.

There’s never any attempt to do things surreptitiously as they are all wearing t-shirts saying who they are and what their aim is. It seems the only growth industry in the country is that which produces t-shirts with slogans against the rich and powerful. Some of those present were arrested and they will face the courts on Wednesday of this week but they have already planned a press conference and demonstration before they enter the courtroom.

A couple of thoughts come to mind following this latest event. The first is that some employees of the supermarkets are still putting themselves forward as defenders of their company, its shareholders and their millionaire owners. In my first post about these events I made reference to an open letter sent by an activist to the woman who was so upset about the supermarket raid in Andalusia.

Secondly, I have been told by a number of people I’ve spoken to here in Catalonia over the last few weeks that this region is one of the richest in Spain and, in fact, gives more to the Spanish state than it receives. If this is true (and I don’t have the figures to hand to say one way or the other) then why are the people of Catalonia allowing their own citizens to fall into such a desperate economic situation that they feel they have to take food from the groaning shelves of the supermarkets?

The welfare state in Britain has been under attack since the moment it was established and has been chipped away at in the intervening years. However, although some would like to go even further with more cuts in such spending, in theory, at least, people in Britain should never be allowed to get into such desperate straits.

For more information;

This is a link to the blog of the organisation that organised the ‘attack’ on Monday. It’s a bit confusing, I think, but the ‘Los Videos’ link at the top takes you to a page where there are a number of YouTube videos showing what they have been involved in in the past.

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Four days of Els Tres Monts

Posted on 05/09/2012 by Michael

Monestir de Sant Llorenc del Munt i lÓbac

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Four days of Els Tres Monts

Els tres monts long distance walk starts in the village of Montseny and over a (suggested) period of six days arrives at the mountain top Monastery of Montserrat, 110 kilometres away. On the way you pass through a varied countryside and after some steep climbs you arrive at other sanctuaries seemingly stuck on to hill tops, offering views of the natural parks and as far as the Pyrenees.

I finally managed to complete 4 of the six stages in the walk from Montseny and Montserrat. (Stage 5 would have been a long day, with quite a considerable change in height, but stage 6 is just a steady hike up to the Monastery from the valley below.) But I don’t consider the exercise a failure.

On the contrary it was a worthwhile experience and was a walk in some very impressive countryside.

I’ve mentioned before that when you look at these hills you wouldn’t think there are any paths at all but the opposite is the truth, there are so many paths that it can, at times, make route finding difficult.

There’s also a mixture of terrain.

For an hour or two you can be happily walking along a wide, drivable track and the next you are faced with a steep, rugged, seemingly never-ending, climb which takes all your reserves and shocks the heart into working at full blast. No doubt one day it will have enough and pack in. After feeling relaxed and moving quite quickly along the flat the climb, even though you know it’s coming, is still a shock.

Walking along the tracks you clock up the kilometres (after all we are supposed to be in Europe) but on every day of the four any height is gained in a very short distance and although not on all fours or in any way climbing, there is a certain of scrambling involved to pull yourself up the steep slopes.

And during these climbs the ground under foot changes. This whole area was once under the sea and is made up with the conglomerate that looks like it has been man-made. Rocks and pebbles seem as if they have been set in concrete but time and the weather breaks this down and these individual stones once again have a life of their own, separate from the great land mass.

This, potentially, makes for a dangerous scenario. It’s very easy to fall into a false sense of security on the tracks and then lose concentration and go over on an ankle. (I think all the, small, number of accidents I had to deal with when leading groups in the hills and mountains were on such terrain.)

Here the problem is exacerbated on the final stages of the downward stretch coming into the village at the end of the day. These are often wide and very steep and the small stones are like walking on marbles and this puts a strain on the body as you’ re quite tired and the muscles are starting to scream out that enough is enough.

But after the effort of the steep climb it was always worth it. Once the blue sky is seen through the trees ahead you know you’re getting close to the top (although it always takes a bit longer to reach than first expected!). Maybe in a lather of sweat, maybe the legs a bit wobbly from taking the strain of such an incline (and with a bit of two steps forward, one step back), and maybe wondering if the heart will regain its normal rhythm but as always in the mountains that all comes with a sense of achievement.

After the steep climb on the first day the next stage was on a relatively flat plateau. Earlier in the day it had looked ominous up here from down below in Montseny but when I arrived it was perfect, weather wise that is. The sun was shining and the sky was blue and there was a strong breeze blowing which took away some of the harshness of the afternoon heat but at the same time made for pleasant walking conditions. On this plateau (known as La Calma) I’m sure this wind is blowing much of the time but wouldn’t like to be there when it might be coming from the direction of the snow-capped Pyrenees in the early spring.

After the steepest and highest climb (on day 4) there was an optional diversion off the route of 8km (four there and four back). Well it wasn’t really an option as after making all the effort to get there it would have been foolish NOT to have made it, unless the weather was so atrocious it would have been foolish to stay up so high for any longer than necessary.

Anyway, that diversion (which added 2 hours to the walk) was mainly along tracks which were shaded by the holm oaks which predominate in the area. Yes there was some dropping down and then a bit of steep final stage to get to the goal, the Monastery of Sant Llorenç del Munt on La Mola, but in general it was a very gentle and easy path – which meant it was the busiest section I encountered over the four stages. Not meeting people in any great numbers for most of my time walking was one of the joys of doing this route and this section was a bit of a culture shock.

There is a problem with this route, and the way it is described, in the fact that there are some dodgy sections which are not really advertised. Apart from the steepness of some of the sections I’ve already mentioned there were a number of occasions on the walk up La Mola that some would find too challenging.

The paths are, generally, in a good condition but some of them came out into the open and the rocks then fall away very steeply on one side – and it’s a long, long way down. Not recommended for those with a lack of confidence in heights and definitely not a place to be if there are strong and/or gusting winds.

The reason for not finishing the whole route? A mixture of time and decrepitude.

Although here for a month time seems to have just disappeared. Also this is the time of the Festa Major in the village I’m staying and in many others around and so wanted to be around to see what was happening. As it so happened I missed out on some things for reasons I’ll explain in another post but at least that was my original plan and the reason I decided that I would cut things short on the Friday.

The decrepitude comes from the knee – and age. I was passed by someone as I was following the route of the second day. That didn’t use to happen very often, but then I could still give him at least 25 years. Climbing over a thousand metres was hard enough, coming down a thousand metres played havoc with the knee. Injured years ago when not really thinking about the future and now age is only making matters worse. Like most people as they get older I’m in denial and don’t carry a stick, that’s becoming a foolish attitude.

The route down on my last day took over two hours and there was a constant pounding on the knees, although protected with a support bandage. As I’ve mentioned above the little stones on descents can be a killer and that extra breaking needed puts even more strain on already tired and aching muscles. Also at the back of my mind is the fact that after being on my feet for 8 hours, having climbed over a thousand metres and walked a distance of 26 kilometres it would feel a right fool to be crying for help within shouting distance of the final destination for that day.

If I had planned to walk on the Saturday I would not have been able to do it, getting off the stool in the bar in Mura was bad enough and will now have to see how long things take to get back to some sort of normality. I’ll do the final sections another time.

The negative from all this is that it’s going to make me alter my plans for the near future as this was meant to be a bit of a taster for an even longer walk back in Britain.

But I might take George W’s solution to everything – deny there’s a problem and just trust that technology will be able to come up with a solution.

Or I could get a stick, all depends if I remain in denial.

The slideshow is a selection of pictures from the 4 days of walking.

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Els Tres Monts – Stage 1 – Montseny-Tagamanent

Posted on 29/08/2012 by Michael

Montseny-Tagamanent

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Els Tres Monts – Stage 1 – Montseny-Tagamanent

Els Tres Monts (The Three Mountains) is a waymarked route from the village Montseny (in the Natural Park of the same name) to the hilltop Monastery of Montserrat. In the process it passes through the Sant Llorenç del Munt i L’Obac Natural Park affording an opportunity to experience the diverse landscape in this part of Catalonia, from soaring peaks to sheer cliff faces, from Romanesque churches to Modernist extravagance, from large farmhouses to peasant cottages.

Yesterday I started what is planned to be a five-day journey along a path that’s just under 110km in length. This is Els Tres Monts path, yet another one of the so-called Pilgrim’s Routes, as its final destination is the Monastery of Montserrat, famous for its location (the rock formations in the area are quite impressive), being the place of many Catalan nationalist events and for its Madonna, a small, black wooden statue that sits behind the altar which has an almost constant queue of people going past whenever the basilica is open.

I’ve been putting off this trip due to the weather. To walk during the recent heat wave, that made it even hotter here than when I first arrived, seemed to be pushing things too far. The climb each day varies from 672 – 1706m, the smallest being the one I did yesterday – and that was a bit of a shock to the system as most of it came in one sharp burst at midday according to the sun. Got to the top because I didn’t fancy going down again on what was a very tricky, and at times rough, path.

If the total is just under 110km I did 24 of those in about 7 hours. The problem, however, with this route is not just the distance and height climbed (and come down again) it’s the logistics.

To get to the start yesterday morning I had to catch a bus just after 07.00, and then 2 more to arrive at the start just before 10.00, that’s really the latest you would want to start on these routes and I suffered for it with the climb. These problems will only become worse as the route goes through sparsely populated and quite wild and desolate countryside after day 2.

It also presents the problem of where to stay and after my next nights stay (where I am staying with friends of friends). I have no idea what will come up, just have to ask if anyone knows where I can rest my head, as I’m not particularly keen on sleeping under a hedge. If all else fails this might mean trying to hitch out in the afternoon and doing the same to get back the following morning. A bit messy and puts into doubt an early start but it might be the only way around the lack of accommodation.

This problem of logistics was something I’ve known about for a while, ever since I started researching the route, but another problem (or possible problem) has arisen – the uncertainty of the weather.

Yesterday was the first time in three weeks when it was cloudy in the morning and looked threatening at times. These routes are not what you call busy. The only people I saw walking stage one were those on the look-out for forest fires, and that was in the latter part of the day on the way down. Any building I passed was either derelict or seemingly deserted, so there’s nowhere to shelter in case of a sudden change for the worse in the weather and I expect that to be the case, more or less, for the rest of the route.

I didn’t start stage 2 as planned this morning as I couldn’t really read the weather on the hills at the start of the days walk. In Britain I would have said it was about to turn into a thunder-storm but that’s not necessarily the case here. A storm has been predicted for a few days but so far nothing has happened.

I prevaricated, it got later and then it cleared up but by then it was getting hotter and not the best time to climb, and then clouded over again so don’t know what might be happening on the tops.

Tomorrow, if faced with a similar situation, I will still leave early and if I get in wrong and the weather turns nasty I know the first section well enough to be able to get down by a number of routes. I was expecting hot but the uncertainty has come as a bit of a nasty surprise.

So a rest day after one day.

But there are some interesting places along the way, from pictures I’ve seen in researching the path, so hope to do it all by the end of the coming weekend.

One characteristic of this area is the number of churches, many Romanesque and dating from the 11^th/12^th centuries, which are perched on the top of some of the highest or most distinctive peaks. The one yesterday was Santa Maria on the Turo of Tagamanent. This is no longer used as a church on any regular basis but isn’t a total ruin.

Another architectural style common in this area are the very large farm complexes, the Massias. It gives you an idea of the wealth that must at one time been in the area but many of these farm complexes are either in ruins or have been taken over by the natural parks organisation.

Now I’m going to be away for a few days I have a problem of what to take with me. As I’ve no idea where I will be spending the night until that night arrives I really have to plan for an excursion away until Saturday. If there is reasonable transport I might be coming back to ‘base’ on some occasions and leaving at the crack of dawn the next day.

There is a slight complication with this week in that this is now the time of the Festa Major (the main annual festival) and although I was here during that time last year, and many of the events are repeated, it would be good to be back in town for some of them. This being southern Europe everything happens at night so it might be possible to do both.

It was a bit of a strange day for pictures yesterday and there is always a problem with the haze at this time of year but I have included some pictures from stage one.

Information: Cingles de Bertí

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