1. Bringing The Shepherds Leap to Portugal?
It must have been early 2003 when I first got to experience the Salto del Pastor. I had finished school and took a ‘gap year’ so I was staying with my dads side of the family – he’s from Gran Canaria. The boyfriend of a cousin took me out with a group of friends, probably a Jurria now I think of it, to mountains around eastern Gran Canaria. I remember being slightly intimidated by the size of the garrote and was worried I would hold the group back by being a novice. However, as I was an athletic 18 year old, I picked up the techniques quite fast and it was probably the most enjoyable day I had on my ‘gap year’ in Gran Canaria. I remember getting back to London, and friends were asking me how many girls I shagged, how was the nightlife, hash, beaches etc but I just couldn’t stop talking about the Shepherds Leap!
Mapa de Gran Canaria. Autor Dámaso Quesada y Cháves, año entre 1770-1780. Biblioteca Digital Hispánica Biblioteca Nacional de España
20 years later and I managed to escape London, living in Central Portugal, the Viseu region. It’s an area surrounded by mountains and one night the idea popped into my head, I should try to practice the Shepherds Leap here too. Now the idea won’t leave me, when I’m bored trying to work on my laptop or driving past mountains, looking out the window and I visualise myself with a garrote leaping from one rock to another.
However the type of terrain in the Canary Islands is completely different to the mountains of Central Portugal so I would have to adapt the stick to the type of travelling I’d be doing. Also, the plants that grow on the mountains of Canarias as small, succulents type plants due to the year-round warm climate – they are located near the Sahara after-all! Central Portugal is different, the summers are long and dry but there is significant rainfall in the winter and spring, so trees, plants and especially shrubbery grow large. I’ve seen mountains covered in shrubbery over three metres high and it would certainly be hard to move amongst them.
However I’ve driven past mountain sides and imagined myself with a garrote hiking around mountains, and the idea won’t leave my mind. I’m certain there are pockets of places nearby to me where I could climb or descend some great areas, that would be impossible to do without a garrote.
The first major hurdle, especially for someone like myself who is DIY useless, with soft hands, is how the hell do I get a garotte in the first place? I can’t have it sent to Portugal as the stick can be between 3-4 metres long so how would that be transported, and how much would it cost?
Can I find one in the Iberian peninsula, that could be easier to send, or perhaps I would pick it up?
I also don’t think I could bring it in a plane back after a visit, it wouldn’t be allowed to travel in a planes hold I’m sure, as well as the risk of breaking surrounded by heavy loads.
Anyways, all options for me to explore over the coming months.