Iona Napier
EVEREST veteran Stephen Venables has swapped his West Country home for a pad in hilly Gaucin.
The intrepid mountaineer, who found fame leading expeditions through the Himalayas, has chosen soaring Andalucian mountains over Somerset countryside.
“It’s a strange irony that though I’ve spent most of my life calling myself a mountaineer, yet this is the first time I’ve actually lived in the mountains,” revealed Venables, 61.
Venables and wife Rosie, from Bath, bought a pair of small, adjacent town houses and have knocked them through to create one larger village home.
“We are reliant on the local expat community because we are only just learning how to speak Spanish,” he said.
Venables found fame forging a new route up Everest’s Kangshung Face and was the first Briton to summit without extra oxygen. He has also explored Antarctica.
That looks like Barrio del Carmen. Beware blacksmiths above lots of noise. Ruined our life when we first came to Spain. Walk up the road an turn left you will se a big sign saying Herreros.