I briefly mentioned to my granddaughter that I’d like to go up Abantos the next day and she quickly asked me if she could come with me.
Abantos is 1750m and dominates the town of El Escorial once the summer residence of past Spanish kings. Their enormous palace still overlooks the town. It makes Buckingham Palace look rather modest.
She suggested an early start to avoid the heat. “7 o’clock ok?” 
We’d need to drive the few miles to the town and probably find it difficult to find suitable parking before the steep long ascent from the town.
“Theres a better place Dave and it avoids the town all together. I’ll ask dad where it is”. Dad looked at my maps appearing rather baffled and said it would be easier to take us there anyway . “I’d enjoy the walk too”. He added. A few minutes later Sonia came to me and said her brother David would like to come. “Have you told them I’d be sat on top for an hour?” I asked. She declared no one would mind.
And so at 7am we set off in the car for the short drive to El Escorial. Except we didn’t. We drove for miles along twisting mountain roads and passes. I hadn’t a clue where we were going as I’d left our maps at my step daughter’s house. ……..Some time later after travelling through woods of Scots Pine and juniper we arrived at a large car park on the edge the pines. A rough sign pointed to Abantos. 45 minutes of gentle walking up easy paths/tracks we arrived on top.**
And far below us is El Escorial. My team leave me to play with my radio. We see several large - well, enormous Griffon Vultures followed by a couple of booted eagles do a fly & glide pass.
I find a suitable office , post a self spot on 7mhz and call CQ and am quickly answered by G0HRT/Rob, followed by OT5Q Then it went quiet A change to 10mhz got me another S2s into Switzerland. For some reason I could no longer post a self spot and it took another 40 minutes to get another 3 QSOs
I’d been there the hour I told them I’d be activating , so I packed up and we made our way back to the car.
0n the way to the car we passed this drystone wall marking the boundary between Avila & Madrid which runs along the mountain ridges for miles.
And the seemingly long drive back to their house near Valdemorillo. 10 points in the middle of a Spanish summer and I’d not even broken into a sweat.
A good day out.
A look on the data base to see who’s activated before and this summit appears to have had only Spanish hams activate . Until today 
** I later discovered we’d gone up a minor road a little to the west of the summit but Carlos drove the longest way there so I could enjoy the views. 
