A friend phoned me for a day out, and I gladly agreed. Their idea was to check out the small forest Bosque de Valdenazar, in Yebes. We were hopeful for some nice autumn colours, but as it turned out, we were a tad bit too early for them.

We both had done the route before, myself back in May. The forest is supposed to be astonishing in fall, with plenty of gold and red leaves. Unfortunately, weather in 2025 has been crazy, with summer-like temperatures right up to late October, so most trees were still green, and they would probably just lose their leaves before they could turn gold. I am not a fan of autumn weather, but the colours are pretty – I ended up taking another go later, even.

The route Ruta SPG-24 has recently gained traction as a pretty spot since the town hall fitted it around the neighbourhood called Ciudad Valdeluz. The population of the area has been steadily growing lately due to lower housing prices and an increase of services offered. But maybe, the biggest impulse that the Route had might have been that the local park has been quarantined due to an avian flu outbreak – everything was cordoned off.

During the walk, which takes less than an hour, we spotted some red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris). These rodents live on trees and enjoy nuts. In Spain, it is said that they love acorns – or at least, hoard them in autumn so they can feed through the winter. As a good part of the forest is composed of oaks, these two have a good chance to survive. We thought they might be a couple, but it turns out that squirrels just mate sporadically when they’re in season, so they were just neighbours, as red squirrels are not territorial.

We did not let the lack of autumn disappoint us, and grabbed the car to go back to town and enjoy some pancakes in a local café.