Sierra de Aracena and the ham villages

The Sierra de Aracena is Huelva’s best-kept secret and, by extension, that of western Andalusia. Whilst all the motorcyclists from the south make the pilgrimage to Ronda, the Alpujarras or Cazorla, this corner bordering Portugal remains almost untouched by domestic tourism. And yet, it offers one of the most beautiful landscapes in the south of the peninsula: an endless mosaic of pastures dotted with holm oaks and cork oaks, dotted with perfectly preserved white villages and criss-crossed by back roads where it’s perfectly possible to ride for twenty minutes without coming across another vehicle.

The geographical reason for this beauty is the same as that which accounts for its gastronomic fame: the dehesas. The dehesa is a cultural ecosystem unique in the world (UNESCO has been trying for years to have it designated a World Heritage Site), created by humans centuries ago by partially clearing the original Mediterranean woodland to make way for a grassy undergrowth where pigs, sheep and cows can roam freely. The result is a landscape that resembles an English park more than a wild forest, with centuries-old holm oaks spaced thirty or forty metres apart and a ground covered in grass that is green in spring, golden in summer and autumnal brown when the Iberian pig roams freely, feeding on the acorns that give its ham its unique flavour.

And this brings us to the number one reason why any serious motorcyclist should visit the Sierra de Aracena: Jabugo. This little village, tucked away in the heart of the mountains, is the undisputed global capital of acorn-fed Iberian ham. The Jabugo PDO covers just 31 municipalities, all within these two mountain ranges, and produces the most expensive and prestigious hams on the planet. The secret lies in the unique combination of microclimate (humidity, temperature, altitude, aspect), the native Iberian pig breed, and above all the sweet acorns from the local holm oaks, which the animals feed on during the ‘montanera’ from October to March, gaining up to a kilo a day and developing that marbled fat which holds so many secrets.

But Aracena has much more to offer than just ham. The Gruta de las Maravillas, situated just below the castle in the village of Aracena, is one of Spain’s oldest caves open to the public (open to the public since 1914) and one of the most beautiful: 1,200 metres of galleries featuring calcite formations, underground lakes and speleothems reminiscent of the Postojna Caves. Almonaster la Real, another village in the mountains, preserves the only intact rural Al-Andalus mosque on the peninsula, a 10th-century gem built on top of a Visigothic church and later converted into a Christian church without destroying anything. It is a fascinating architectural palimpsest that demonstrates how the towns of Al-Andalus were built.

For motorcyclists, the best thing about the area is the small local roads linking the villages. Neither the N-435 nor the main regional roads are the real gems: you have to take the HU-8112, the HU-9106 or the HU-9118 – single-carriageway roads with gentle bends, no traffic, winding through pastures where you’ll often spot an Iberian pig slowly crossing the road (watch out for that – I’m not joking!). A must-visit: Mesón Sancho in Jabugo, where you can enjoy a platter of acorn-fed Iberian ham at the producer’s price (half of what it would cost in Madrid or Barcelona).