The wild flowers are as high as my knees as I cycle through olive groves in the rolling hills of the Sierra de Aracena and Picos de Aroche natural park in south-west Spain. I follow paths shaded by oak canopies, whiz across streams, weave along cobbled lanes in sleepy villages and stop often to gawp at the views. There are steep, gnarly ascents at times, but I just flick the ebike control to turbo and fly up the eucalyptus-lined slopes.
This is Andalucía, but not as I know it. The sparsely populated pocket in westernmost Huelva province, close to the Portuguese border, has its own microclimate and feels different from the busier, more arid east. The topography means Atlantic winds bring more rain to the area, greening the valleys and meadows.
It’s late spring and the lush landscape is spattered with multicoloured blooms, while summers are cooler and more verdant than elsewhere in the region, and autumn is a bewitching time of russet hues and plentiful mushrooms and chestnuts to harvest. I’m exploring by electric mountain bike from my base at delightful , near the small hilltop town of Fuenteheridos, an hour and a half from Seville. Its new e-biking packages take guests out for several hours each day, diving into the countryside on circular routes to taste a wonderfully untouched part of Spain.
El Moro was abandoned during the civil war, like many farms here, and brought back to life by Brits Nick and Hermione Tudor. Having lived and worked in Africa and the Scottish Hig.