We’ve gone on a few more nice, slightly longer rides. A couple of times to Taberno for coffee, also to Los Cerricos, again for coffee. The little bar cat has had her kittens but we’re not sure how many – she looks like a baby herself but apparently this is her second litter.
Another ride was to Chirival, and it ended up taking much more time than expected as there was a diversion just before the town that sent us west. We knew we were going a bit far out of our way when Colin hit a large, unexpected pot-hole and got a flat!
Even the smaller roads here are in so much better condition than almost all the roads in Italy that perhaps we weren’t being as careful as usual. In any case we made our way to a nice cafe on the ‘main’ east-west road through the town and had a nice coffee. Then Colin hopped on my bike and rode back to the house to pick up the car and return to retrieve me and his bike. The wait wasn’t too bad – I had one of his phones so was able to read the news, etc, and also they had a very nice red wine.
A few days later we rode towards Albox and stopped for a coffee – we were halfway back when two things happened. The first was seeing an old woman hand-washing her laundry in the water channel. My first thought was ‘oh, she’s getting free water’ – then Colin mentioned that if we were downstream from her we could be brushing our teeth in water she’d used to wash her knickers in – yuck!
We were a few km further on when once again Colin had a flat – this time the front tire went. Luckily we weren’t too far from Las Pocicas, where once again he rode my bike home while I sat and enjoyed another nice red wine. I especially like it when it’s chilled, and it’s always served chilled in Spain.
We’ve been out for lunch a few times now – twice to the restaurant in Los Cerricos. We’re usually one of the first tables to order food as they eat so late here. The last time we went the place ended up being totally packed – I had a delicious pork loin dish with fries, with enough left over for at least one more meal at home.
We’ve been watching the Vuelta on tv rather than going to the north coast as we normally would. They moved down to our area on the rest-day and young Remco is still in the overall lead. He rode a blistering time-trial yesterday and we just hope he can hold on for another 10 or 11 stages. There are others I would cheer for as well if he cracks in the mountains, though.
Finally we had some deliveries get to us – IKEA met us at the restaurant/gas station and we exchanged one of our light fixtures that had been missing a piece for another that was complete. Then a couple of days later the bathtub finally arrived – the delivery company had it for 3 weeks and it finally took Carlos (our plumber) to speak with them for them to bother finding us.
Another thing that got completed was the metal gate being installed for the french doors – it was the only really vulnerable entrance to the house so now we feel a bit better about our security. They also fixed a metal plate to the bottom of the new gate in the back wall so Henry can’t squeeze through any more – he seems a little confused that he can’t get out now.
I’ve still been swimming almost every day, although it got very stormy yesterday so I gave it a pass. The wind overnight was fierce – it blew a couple of my shutters back and forth so bad I had to close them and I haven’t done that since we were here back in frigid May. The storm was worse in other areas, though, as I read about hail the size of tennis balls.
Sally McKenzie's European Adventures 
You certainly seem to be settling in well
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