As I drive up the valley towards home the wind is blowing so strongly that leaves are pelting the car with a force that makes me fear for the windscreen. The trees that line the road bend forward, prostrating themselves before the force of this autumn dervish and shake their leaf-laden branches like over-enthusiastic cheerleaders shaking pompoms. The road, which was clear this morning, is now carpeted with golden leaves and nuts, interspersed with varying sizes of branches that clatter as the car drives over them. It is wild out there and I am keen to get home without incident.
Every autumn the arrival of this southerly ‘aire de les castañes’ (wind of the chestnuts as it is known in Asturias) somehow catches me by surprise. This hot air, sweeping up from the south will deposit heaps of cherished sweet chestnuts to be gathered for roasting in amaguestu, earning the wind its local name. It is a dramatic and reliable marker of the changing of the season.
I still clearly remember the first autumn day that I awoke to one of these winds, way back in 2006. It confused and discombobulated me. The glass in my single-glazed window rattled warningly and peering out I saw stormy nature at work so I wrapped myself up in a coat before daring to set foot outside. But when I opened the front door I found myself stepping out into warmth, as if I was stepping off a plane just landed in the Caribbean. It did not compute. Every autumn since I have experienced this same confusion of the senses. Where I grew up, in the west of Ireland, storms could certainly be wild but were invariably also cold. Today, a cloudy day in late September, the thermometer has gusted up to a balmy 28º celsius (82 Fahrenheit).
Tomorrow rains will arrive in force. Here in the mountains they will cause fleeting but powerful waterfalls to spurt dramatically from the rock that lines the gorge at the bottom of the valley and almost inevitably some rockfall will occur overnight. Early morning drives in mountain areas, like our daily school run, need to be undertaken with caution (and coffee!), alert to the possibility of a lump or two of rock lying in the road.
Then comes the calm. After a stormy arrival autumn often has the most settled weather of the year coupled with an exquisite clarity to the light that renders the landscape more spectacular than ever. Cooler, crisper days can be a relief after the mugginess of summer and make it the perfect season for all kinds of outdoor activities. If you’re visiting or new to Asturias then a hike through a beech wood, for example, is a perfect autumn activity in Asturias, followed of course by some roasted chestnuts and local cider to complete the day.
A couple of great options for autumnal walks are to be found in Redes Natural Park or through the Montegrande beech forest in Teverga to Xiblu waterfall. If you have a favourite autumn hike or activity then let me know below in the comments!
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