Bedrock

One again we find ourselves at our home in sunny Spain. This time just for a short, 2-week break minus the kitties.

This could possibly be the last time we get to use my favourite airport at San Javier is it is about to be replaced by a new airport (Corvera) which is nearer to our home in Galera.

Read the rest of this entry »

Maureen has been up at the cave for a few days this month with her friend Helen and aside from a little damage to a pipe on the outside shower, all is ok. The cave is in good condition, everything works and it is pretty much ready for the summer. We’re both planning to return soon for a short trip.

It is very quiet here right now, all the holiday makers have long since gone, the village is much quieter except on market day and yet the weather is still holding out, cool in the mornings up but up to 30c late afternoon and still warm enough to sit outside at the pub.

I’ve just been sitting here putting together a series of photos to take down to the local council office to try to get them to come fix our road. As is the case with most things – if you want something doing…  I’d do the repairs myself but in a couple of cases the damage is extensive including a manhole cover on our roundabout.

The lakes have been well down this year, hoping for some snow over the winter to replenish them – but they’re still a sight to behold and we’ve spent a fair bit of time enjoying the scenery.

We’ll soon be spending some time in the UK (as little as possible) and we’re going to miss the area.

In recent months due to changes of people in the area, it has been incredibly peaceful (funny old thing – we have neighbours the likes of which you could not ask for better – and at the same time we had in the past for a time some of the worst people you could possibly come across – but that’s all history and things are definitely on the up and up)– the one remaining “odd” couple are at least quiet when they’re here, which is a blessing, though they did leave the most laughable attempt at a barrier in front of their property when they left after not saying a word. They put a chain in front of their Pergola for a time to tell everyone to stay away – but the Pergola fell down. Oh well, that’s for others to worry about – I should imagine the winds will sort that out over the winter.

Meanwhile the cars have been in for a valet at the local garage – good job too and we’ve generally had a marvellous summer – probably the best yet and we’ve made lots of friends.

I can’t believe how quickly the hot months have gone by, we came here in April and yet it seems like only a short time ago  A great time of year here in Galera as the trees start to change colour quite spectacularly – not wet and miserable like most of the UK – still a little summery.  I’m taking the opportunity to monitor my solar setup to see how it will cope with the sun at a lower angle. It’s all being recorded so I can view at my leisure.

After a very pleasant day yesterday which saw Simon, Maureen and I travel around the back of mount Sagra (the 5th largest mountain in Spain) and then onto the sadly depleted San Clemente, today, Maureen is planning a quiet day as Simon and I head off to Castril to check out the walk along the gorge.

I’ve been to Castril many times of course but Simon hasn’t so this should be interesting for him. The weather here is settling down now, starting to get cool at night but still very pleasant at 25+ during the day.

And off we go – leaving you with a photo I took looking down at the village of Galera just a couple of nights ago near sunset.

Last year we took several trips to San Clemente – water levels already down – but we’ve had a very busy year this year and so this was our first visit visit – and something of a shocker – as the water levels have dropped markedly.

The photo above shows San Clemente last year mid-summer.

This year, the levels are notably lower and areas we would have popped in for a swim previously are now dry land. Here’s hoping there’s some snow over the winter to help replenish this excellent lake.

I’m sitting here getting side-tracked reading all about Cascamorras on the excellent One Foot in the Grave blog. Over in Baza the “Festival of Cascamorras” is an interesting fiesta – but I won’t ruin it, go check out the above blog as there’s a full description therein.

So I had this brilliant idea of using a little cheap Chinese power convertor  – to take stored solar power at 24v down to 3.5v to power a set of otherwise defunct (B&M) solar butterflies. One tends not to throw them away un-necessarily here in Spain as for reasons beyond me – despite numerous Chinese stores, solar lights of any description are more expensive here than in the UK!

Well, that didn’t go so well and resulted in 4 dead lights. I’ve since realised why but the answer is a tad technical for here! I’m spending part of my Sunday afternoon fixing this lot while Maureen gets on with various tasks around the house. The sun is out but it feels significantly cooler today.

Not a lot has happened since our mini-trip to Mojacar. We popped down to the village last night and met up with friends for a while. There was some music playing in the town square but the place was generally quiet quiet. We will soon have a friend stopping over for a week.

Meanwhile on 23rd of September there’s a Craft Fair at Velez Rubo (Velez Stores, Pologono Industrial). Looks like it might be interesting – “Indian Curry Tasters” caught my eye.