EL TIETAR  

Date of Visit = July 1998

Pilot: = Chris Belton

e-mail = chris@yarboo.freeserve.co.uk

Field Report = Radio frequency:129.85 (July 1998) Field elevation: 410 feet This was the nearest field we could find, on the minor aerodromes page of the AIP, to Talavera, where I was supposed to be visiting a friend. On the ICAO chart it is called “Iglesuela”. We had no contact number, and did not know exactly where it was. We flew in to Casarrubios nearby to ask for details. The instructor, up in a microlight, apparently knew it, and a message was relayed back to us that we would easily find it, and the owner would not mind. (He did mind, as it turned out: he would have liked to be informed. Don’t believe everything people tell you!). Since it was a private field, apparently I did not even need to file a flightplan. Still I fussed: the airfield looked to be in a valley, and it was hotter than hell... Would we ever get out again? The message which came back translated roughly as: “There’s miles of runway and bags of room around it. Tell her that nothing untoward will befall her!” He was right as it turned out. The valley was miles wide.

The aerodrome in the valley of the river Tietar, 50 miles north-west of Madrid, is used in the summer as a base for a fire-fighting operation, and was home to two PZL Dromaders and their crew, the usual motley collection of dogs, and assorted insect-life which included a praying mantis which liked to sit on my tent and slide down onto my head when I opened the door. A huge lizard took up residence in John’s quarters, and an orchestra of frogs struck up every evening when the fishermen had gone home. It’s the perfect place to camp. The river, a few hundred metres away, is paradise, as is the view of the 7,000 foot mountains to the north. The hard runway is old but fairly serviceable, but there’s no fuel, except for the Dromaders. The firefighting team sit around there all day when they’re not working, and have access to some flight planning facilities. A elderly couple run a small cafe specially for them (and for you too if you want), and the toilet facilities are modern and clean. The water is pumped from the river, and it’s not a good idea to drink it the summer because parts of the river upstream are quite touristy, and in the summer there’s not enough flow to keep it clean. The old lady in the cafe will sell orgive you drinking water. If you don’t appreciate the exquisite surroundings and the proximity of the wildlife, you can get digs in a village about 11 kilometers away, which is where the firefighters lodge.

I wanted to get to Talavera eventually, and the fire-fighting pilots said there was an emergency strip somewhere nearby we might use. We set off to do an aerial “recce”, but found only desolate, barren plains criss-crossed with lines of pylons and cables. With no proper runways or parked aircraft to help us locate it, we didn’t stand a chance, and returned to El Tietar. My Spanish friend could not collect us, and cheerfully suggested we hitch-hike. We were still walking two hours later when a passing goat-herd told us there was a bus due to leave from the nearby village of Iglesuela, not mañana but in an hour’s time! After a night on the floor in my friend’s mother’s house (the old lady was so ashamed that she had no bedrooms free that at first she had said we couldn’t come), the bus dumped us back in Iglesuela and we traipsed with all our gear back over the mountain and through the river to the airfield. Iglesuela is set on the edge of an exquisite piece of common land, with threshing circles and stone built animal pens. The river, and one of the bridges over it, would not be out of place in the Welsh mountains. The field is PPR from Sr.Joaquim Zuazo on his mobile: 908-603552, or phone the bar on 91 867 8245. No-one speaks English. Suggest you go to Casarrubios and ask them to do it for you! The more so since these numbers may be out of date by now.

Photos: John Hardy