Overseas Forays

During October 2005, 'fungi to be with' are planning to hold overseas foray's in 'La Barranca', a beautiful, picturesque valley clothed with ancient Scots Pine trees. 'La Barranca' is close to the town of Navacarrada and the village of Mataelpino and is part of the Sierra Guadarrama mountain range. The area is 55km north of Madrid airport about a 40min drive.

The excursions will take place over a long weekend stay, October 20th-24th, in the 3 star, Hotel La Barranca which is situated in the valley. People will arrive on Thursday Oct 2oth, for which a welcome reception will be held in the hotel, there will then be a talk held in one of the boardrooms, with information on fungi in general and the fungi of the area. Following this, participants will be able to take dinner and relax, preparing themselves for the first foray the following day. The forays will be lead by myself Andy Overall and Prof. David Hawksworth OBE, our respective partners Yvette Mayn and Patricia Hawksworth will also be playing a big part in the running of the excursions. We are expecting one or two mycologists from the Madrid Mycological Society to join us at some point during the proceedings to share their charm and invaluable wealth of knowledge in the fungi of this region.

Having visited the area myself in November 2003 as part of the British Mycological Society's overseas foray, I was astounded at the variety and abundance of fungi that I encountered during my week long stay. I have now revisted the area on five separate occassions since that first excursion, during 2004, and the show of spring fungi in particular was impressive. For those of you interested in natural history in general, this area has lot to offer, especially in the birdlife of the area including the rare Azure Winged Magpie (See Pic).

Hotel la Barranca is an old style three star hotel with facilties such as a cafeteria with a terrace, outside swimming pool with a bar, a T.V.room, a billiards room, tennis courts and a garden. You will be staying at the hotel for 4 nights arriving Thursday and departing on Monday. The hotel is a 3km drive or bus ride from the town of Navacerrada. Included in the price will be Breakfast and Dinner from the hotels Traditional and International menu from which we have sampled and were more than satisfied.

Your Excursion
This long weekend of mushroom foraying will begin on the Thursday when you arrive, having sorted out your room, settled and enjoyed a few drinks and nibbles with us at your welcome reception, there will be a short lecture on fungi in our designated workroom. You can then relax for the rest of the evening. The work room will be used throughout the weekend for collection identification, discussions and talks. All edible fungi will be cleaned and prepared for cooking. Patricia Hawksworth who has written a book on cooking with mushrooms will be giving demonstrations. We are open to your mushroom recipes if you have any to offer.

The days foraying will begin at 10am where we will rendezvous with you in the workroom where a packed lunch will be supplied by us. We will foray for around four hours taking a lunch break in situ. We will be foraying in and around 'La Barranca' utilizing the various types of habitat available to us. Following a rest period we will then return to the workshop where the days collections will be dispayed for identification and either a talk or demonstration will take place. We will then finish the day with drinks and dinner in the restaurant.

The estimated cost per person will be around £400 to £450, this includes your 4 night stay in the Hotel la Barranca with breakfast and dinner inclusive, a packed lunch, 3 days foraying, tutorials and lectures and public liability insurance. It excludes flights and car hire. Places are limited to twenty persons per excursion.

For those of you that have taken part in the fungi to be with mushroom forays here in the U.K. this will be an opportunity for you to experience mushroom foraying of a totally different flavour. With the addition of demonstrations and workshops you will learn far more about the fungi you collect. Walking among some of the most beautiful scenery in Europe makes it such a worthwhile experience. For those of you who are total beginners this couldn't be a better introduction to the subject of fungi.

The fungizine will regularly update you on the forays in 'La Barranca' including price and booking details.

If you have any queries, comments or any interesting items to include on this page all you need to do is
get in touch with Andy.