Segovia: Tour of beauty

I am glad to report that it had not. But ten minutes later, I nearly skidded on a snake. The Spanish province of Segovia is a wild and natural place, though little over an hour from Madrid. My Vespa tour there was organised by Away From the Crowds, a small company set up and run by two Segovian brothers with a mission to show visitors the real Spain.

They met me at Madrid airport and drove me north across the Castilian plain and over the Guadarrama mountains to their delightfully rustic HQ. They gave me a map, some good advice, a bottle of water and basic training on my Vespa. Both speak excellent English – Edinburgh graduate Jaime with a slight Scottish accent, as he lived in the Highlands for years. I wouldn't hear any English until I saw them again.

Riding a Vespa is easy: no gears, and brakes like a bicycle's. And you can have it in any colour you like so long as it's in the Spanish flag. I chose red over yellow, passion over the fear that I was beginning to feel. Jaime rode with me for a few miles, then waved me on my way.

The landscape was extraordinarily varied. My tour took me through forests of oak, juniper, beech and pine; over mountain passes, by streams and lakes. I met hardly a soul. The only traffic I ran in to had hooves. A wild boar grunted and snuffled across my path. Poppies were all over Segovia like a rash of botanical beauty. There were wild flowers everywhere, thistle and heather to make a Scot feel at home. The aroma of a pinewood I rode through was so wholesome, earthy and clean I realised why someone once thought pine-scented air-freshener a good idea. From the trees came the singing and chatter of colourful birds to mingle with the burr of my Vespa.

My first lunch stop was in Pedraza, a walled medieval town so Spanish it has horns. Segovia is the true Castilian heartland, and it's all there – storks nesting in bell-towers, old boys puffing cigars by news kiosks, tiny widows creeping along with their sticks, dusty dogs under cars, grandmothers scolding their charges, workers in blue overalls, gruff drunks in bars, framed football photos, bullfights on television, bronzed farmers in berets and espadrilles shoving fat-bottomed cows, fiercely chilled drinks, the mighty menu del da and long afternoons spent sleeping it off. A deep Spanish sleep from which many parts of the country seem long since to have woken.

The Guadarrama mountains saw some of the worst fighting of the Spanish Civil War, but whatever ghosts stalk the region's memory, the impression now is of exceptional rural peace.

Riding Vespas is exhilarating, and Top Gear types might be tempted to burn up the empty, winding tarmac ribbons. But that would be missing the point, which is to meander and be effortless. Your suggested route is planned so that you have plenty of time to go exploring, get lost or sleep under a tree. To scooter through a landscape is not to scoot through it. In some places grass does literally grow under your wheels.

The dots that you join as you complete your circular tour are small rural hotels and guest houses booked by the brothers. I stayed at a spa hotel with a plunge-pool overlooking the hills, a family-run guest house at the end of a remote village and a 16th-century townhouse with courtyard and wooden upper gallery. All en-suite and half-board, with the "continental" breakfast meaning considerably more than coffee and a roll.

You eat well in Segovia: fresh produce, robust flavours, generous portions. The brothers warn visitors that this is no country for vegetarians, though I had some sublime vegetable combinations for starters. Veggies would just have to skip the main and eat bread (while others silently recite The Selkirk Grace). At the most rural stopover, I was served cutting-edge fare worthy of the sharpest kitchen knives of Madrid or Barcelona. Astounded, I went "backstage" to thank the cook, a self-taught mother of two, and found the whole extended family digging in to altogether more traditional cuisine. It was somehow a beautifully Spanish moment.

There was so much to see and to savour, but my one truly unforgettable experience was a visit to the Chapel of San Frutos. Seated on a dramatic crag at the centre of a great sunken rock basin miles from anywhere, it has vultures wheeling and a broad green river looping far below. You reach it via a really long dirt track, descending the last kilometre or so on foot and making your final approach along a stony ledge. I was quite alone in the ghostly canyon. There was just the ruined chapel, scattered poppies, a tomb of the saints, utter silence and an almighty sense of awe.

Who would enjoy such a holiday? It's a Hispanophile's delight. Any stressed professional needing to get away from it all would love it. Couples and small groups of friends could have a wonderful time. Children over seven can travel as passengers on the Vespas, so family groups are also possible.

Some might complain there was no nightlife, but those who like to contrast a bit of urban buzz with their rural solitude could easily tack time in Madrid and/or Segovia on to this remarkable tour. Segovia, a Unesco World Heritage city, has an astonishing Roman aqueduct, Spain's last great gothic cathedral and plenty of laid-back charm. Oh yes, and it's twinned with a town they call Edimburgo.

Fact file: Segovia

A five-day tour, including airport transfers, Vespa hire and half-board accommodation costs 895 for one person through Away From the Crowds (00 34 648 206 608, www.awayfromthecrowds.com). The price for two people sharing a Vespa and a room is 1,090, or 1,490 if you want a scooter each.

Getting there

EasyJet (www.easyjet.com) flies direct from Edinburgh to Madrid from around 110.

Accommodation

Centro de Turismo Rural El Chorro (www.guiarural.com)

La Era de la Tia Donata, Campillo de Ranas (www.laeradelatiadonata.com)

Posada de San Milln, Seplveda (www.posadasanmillan.es)

Riverside Holiday Village (www.riversideholidayvillage.com).