Category: Travel

Little Max

Well, it’s been awhile!

I had a bit of an adventure going up to Madrid to pick someone up from the airport – hope I never have to do that again! It’s quite a long drive so I opted to stay at a hotel before making the pickup and returning back the next day. I ended up getting help three times along the way – all at Repsol gas stations. The first time was just outside Lorca when the dash display indicated that one of the tires was low, and the other two times when, despite using GPS, I got mixed up in the maze of motorways around Madrid. I eventually made it and was very glad to book in and relax.

The drive back the next day was much better – at least I only got turned around once but basically knew where I was going.

Despite ongoing water issues, and another plumbing problem things were pretty good over the next couple of months. The pellet burner was great, until it conked out with an ‘auger motor’ problem. The weather is generally very lovely during the day – lots of sunshine and very little rain – but it does get very pretty cold at night so having a heat source is nice. A couple of small electric heaters just doesn’t provide enough warmth for the whole house.

Colin picked up an adorable little rescue dog that came from North Macedonia and they arrived back at the house right before Christmas. Max is wonderful – he seems very well trained and is fairly young with lots of energy. He’s a good jumper so the walls around the back terrace don’t keep him in, and he can run like a greyhound when off the lead.

We headed back to France the third week of January and took it easy, making the journey in three days rather than two. We chose a different route than usual since we both agree that the part between the border and Bordeaux is incredibly boring, and getting around Bordeaux is usually a pain.

The choice had mixed results – the countryside was more interesting but the road wasn’t as good. As soon as you left Spain – going into a tunnel and coming out in France – the road deteriorated (might as well have been in Italy!). Also we had to try to avoid road blocks from the farmers – they’re out in force with their tractors blocking every second motorway in protest.

They’ve also turned many of the road signs upside down. We got diverted a couple of times, and always just said to each other ‘follow the big trucks – they always know an alternate route’. We were delayed a bit, but made it back in the early afternoon.

Since our arrival we’ve had an excellent fish-and-chips lunch at the NutHouse and Colin has had a very positive blood test. Max has settled in quite nicely and seems to know we are now his family. I’m missing the weather in southern Spain – not much rain here but lots of low cloud and mist.

Stray Cats, Hunting Dog, and New Kitchen!

We’ve had a few nice bike rides…

…always with a good cup of coffee at the halfway point.

There was a beautiful full moon that set just as the sun was rising…

We made another trip to Vera for a couple more plants…

I always drive with a bag of cat food in the car to feed the strays in Las Pocicas – one time I stopped there were at least 13 of the poor little things.

I joined another local facebook group that has some members that also like cats – apparently one of the local vets gives a discount for neutering feral animals but there are also a lot of rules that make it somewhat complicated. I’d like to help somehow, though.

We took a nice day trip down to the coast to the village of La Isleta Del Moro which was very lovely.

We had an excellent coffee at one place then walked around and picked a nice restaurant for lunch.

There are lots of date palms in the area, and now that I know what they look like compared to all of the other palms I see them everywhere.

…

There’s a hunting dog across the way that we always hear barking and recently she’s begun to come over to visit us. They keep her very hungry so we’ve been feeding her – she loves the food but loves the attention at least as much. Colin has named her Jayne, but I call her Lady J. She’s very affectionate and just adorable.

Our kitchen renovation was started!! Neil arrived and the transformation was made from:

..to:

…to:

I love it so much! Colin had to return to France for some appointments so he hasn’t seen the end result yet other than what I’ve been able to show him via facetime.

In addition Neil solved a major electric problem that happened the morning he was planning to leave – it took two days to solve and if it wasn’t for him I would have been totally hooped. The house is fairly old and the electrics are crap, to put it nicely. Luckily Neil’s an expert and after tracking things down like a detective all seems ok now.

The last few days we’ve had some extremely fierce winds – one of the jacarandas has been torn apart as has one of the potted yuccas. Neither one seems to be dead as there’s some growth at the bottom of each so hopefully we won’t completely lose either – we’ll see.

Jumbo Rules

After a very long night we got up to a cloudy and partly rainy day. Two cars joined us in our pull-out spot. I took a walk down to the bottom of the hill and the parking area there was completely full.

I believe they are mostly hikers rather than cycling fans as this seems to be an area that’s part of a system with many walking trails.

We spent a quiet morning waiting for the race to arrive for the first pass.

A couple of motorcycles joined our group at the side of the road, and the race arrived for the first time just after lunch around 2:14.

The breakaway was fairly large, with Remco tucked in the middle.

The peloton arrived about 5 minutes later with Jumbo at the front.

More fans arrived as we waited for the second pass.

We once again saw our ‘hairy friend’ (as we call him) on his photo-moto just before the breakaway arrived for the second time.

We’ve met him several times now over the last years, starting at the Tour of Burgos in 2018. We’ve seen him at the world championship in Harrogate, and several other times since, sometimes having brief conversations or at least a quick wave as he goes by.

After the breakaway and the peloton had gone by for the second time we took down the flags and got on our way. We weren’t slowed down much by the ‘after race’ traffic and made it to a nice aire in the town of Valdepeñas for the night. Coincidentally it was the same town that we stopped at on the way north to get some groceries.

An early start the next morning allowed us to get home in the early afternoon in time for lunch – it’s great to be home!

Oh – Jumbo Visma swept the podium in the end, with Sepp Kuss taking the top spot (well deserved) and his teammates Jonas Vingegaard and Primoz Roglic joining him. Jumbo have won all three grand tours this year – a major feat.

On the Bear Trail Again!

Leaving the Angliru as soon as it got light the morning following the last stage we went the short drive north to Oviedo to do some grocery shopping.

After stocking up we headed to the spot we’d chosen for this day’s stage – a place they pass thru twice. As we neared the road Colin said ‘this looks familiar’ – it was the ‘bear trail’ road! We’d been on it a few times in past years so knew of more than one place that might be great to stop in.

However the best place was already taken over by the ‘VIP’ tents so we had to back-track a bit to another spot that was actually perfect. The race splits off the main road on the first pass and goes up a small mountain before circling around and going past us again on the road back north.

For the first pass I walked a very short way up the ‘mountain’ road – it was quite steep and the sun was actually getting very hot…

…but that didn’t deter the fans, both young…

…and old.

The breakaway arrived just before four…

…with Remco once again in the lead…

…about ten minutes ahead of the peloton, with Jumbo all together at the front.

As usual the helicopters let us know as the race approached again.

They arrived for the second time at 5:14, this time Remco alone in the lead…

…with the rest of the breakaway in pieces behind him.

Rather than stay the night after the race was done we drove for a couple of hours, stopping at an aire in the village of La Magdalena a bit south of the Luna reservoir – it was very quiet and peaceful.

Getting started the next morning at a decent time we continued south, skirting Leon and Benavente where the road veers a bit to the southeast and onwards almost to Madrid. We’d already decided to skip Friday’s stage and headed instead to the route of Saturday’s stage that looked more interesting.

There are at least three climbs on the stage that they go up twice so we just went along the route and picked a nice spot at the side of the road not far from the bottom between two climbs.

We are in a rare place that we just can’t get the internet in – I realize how much I use it and have resorted to reading my book instead.

There are a couple of cattle ranches in the valley below with a lovely river running through. In the evening there was a spectacular lightening show with sheets lighting up the sky one after another, followed of course by the thunder. Then the rain arrived – just torrential but thankfully not all night long.

Off to the Races Again!

After corresponding with his oncologist back in France who told Colin that his most recent blood test wasn’t that bad we decided to go ahead on our planned road trip up north to see some of the Vuelta.

On the first day we made it a fair distance – past Toledo and on to the shores of a reservoir/lake. We were looking for a park-4-night place but ended up just pulling over on a very wide spot with a lovely view.

The second day’s travel was much shorter as we stopped in the hilltop village of Portillo – you could actually see Valladolid in the distance to the north.

We stayed at the park-4-night for two very rainy, stormy nights, emerging from the campervan during one break in the rain to walk to a local restaurant for lunch.

Along the way we noticed many gray gates that we could see weren’t made to keep people out, and realized after awhile that they were for the bulls.

Before leaving on the second morning I took a walk to a nearby viewpoint – there were wonderful views in all directions.

The trip to Valladolid was quick and easy – we knew exactly where we wanted to go and for once the GPS took us right there. It’s just to the south of the city in a large nature park with plenty of excellent places to spend a couple of nights, and most importantly it’s right on the Time Trial route for Tuesday’s Vuelta stage.

On the Sunday afternoon there was a huge group of motorcycles that rode past, accompanied by police – not sure what that was about but it was kind of impressive.

With Monday being the first rest day of the Vuelta we got to see many of the riders doing a re-con of the course. We were joined at our chosen spot by a couple of campervans from Belgium, one of whom had a Giro wolf and a Vuelta bull in his front window – also a moose from a race in Norway.

In addition on race day they put out a large teddy bear in Jumbo kit that they called ‘Wout van Aert’ – since he’s not riding in the Vuelta I guess he’s just hanging out enjoying the sun and watching.

As usual on race day more and more folks arrived to watch – we’re just before the 8 km to go marker and at the top of a very small hill.

Throughout the morning most of the racers did a lap or two of the course…

…as current world TT champion Remco was in the rainbow jersey.

I got a decent photo of Ganna approaching us with the photo-moto right behind him – he ended up winning the stage. If only he was on a different team I would be a huge cheerleader for him.

The crowds at our place got so big we even got our own police guards.

Remco flew by…

…and shortly after the current leader Sepp Kuss, who managed to keep his overall lead. Remco did make up a bit of time on his main GC rivals so it was a good day overall.

As per usual within a very short time almost everyone had left the site…

…and another quiet night was had.

To the Sea, Wasp Killing, Stray Dogs Rescued

We decided to take an overnight trip to the coast, heading first to the town of Carboneras. It seemed very pretty, and not too touristy but there was nowhere to park so we just kept driving north along the coast.

We stopped for lunch at the village of Sopalmo that was a bit away from the sea but seemed quite nice. It had lots of pretty white houses with lovely blue flower pots everywhere.

Henry had his first ride in his pram – he seemed to like it alright and we definitely made better time from where we parked to the bar/restaurant we went to for lunch.

We both ordered well-done hamburgers and ended up with almost raw meat. The potatoes were excellent, and the rest of what was in the burgers was tasty but Henry got most of the meat.

After lunch we drove a bit further north and stopped at a really nice looking beach with ample parking as well as a fort. This spot was used as a port hundreds of years ago as the water gets deep very quickly.

There was a placque giving the history of the place and part of it was in english – we just weren’t sure why it would have been manned by four people, three of whom were bullfighters.

You could see Mojacar in the distance to the north and we knew it would be very crowded, but there were very few folks at this beach.

We had intended to stay for the night but it was beastly hot, so almost at the same time we asked each other ‘should we just go home’? And so we did.

We got back to going for bike rides every second morning, one day making it to Taberno for coffee. On another day we rode down to the cafe at Llanos de Los Alleros.

After our coffee we explored the village a little bit – we’ve passed by it many times as it’s right on the way to Albox but we’ve never left the main road before to see the actual village. It was quite nice, with a lovely church and another cafe.

We had some company for lunch last week – we made good use of the sunroom, and their kids enjoyed the pool.

We are once again having water issues – this time we know the water is flowing in the channel but we can’t get hold of anyone to ask for it. That’s one of the more frustrating things about living here – we know we can call the tanker guy but we do belong to a ‘co-op’ that currently isn’t responding. We’ve now contacted the local facebook group to ask for advice – hopefully someone will have a different phone number or something so we can get the water we need.

We’ve discovered a couple more wasp nests and are pleased with the dozens of dead wasps, although there are obviously more nests to find as there are still a few that dip into the pool for water in the evening when we swim.

The birds are emptying the feeder almost as quickly as we fill it – we’ve also made a water bath for them and they seem to like it.

We found out on the local facebook group page today that the two dogs we feed in Las Pocicas have been taken into someone’s care. Last year’s puppy (who is named Chica) has been taken to the vet’s and has been ‘fixed’ and is doing very well. Mama Luna and her six new puppies are all in a couple of homes now and will be well cared for – we were so happy to read that as we look for them every time we pass through. We think they were rescued by a couple of brits we spoke with one day, along with help from a ‘sweet little spanish woman’.

(Photo from facebook group post)

Haircuts and Artwork in Chirivel, Agave Blooms

Progress on the garden is moving along – our wonderful gardeners come about once a week and we just keep getting more oleanders and geraniums and having the watering system extended.

We both got haircuts again in Chirivel – mine is the shortest it’s ever been and I love it! The park across from the hairdressers is actually very lovely and has lots of interesting sculptures, including a carving in a large dead tree.

We’ve gone out for lunch a couple of times – the last time in Los Cericos I got the grilled calamari and was it ever delicious. I fed little bits of it to one of the bar cats – they’re usually kept outside but the small female snuck in and mooched off me. She’s just a kitty herself but is already pregnant so I figured she could use some extra protein.

Work on the house is also progressing – our carpenter has done some work on the doors to prevent wind and rain from getting in, and also has painted the french doors. Things are looking good.

Water is, as usual, a bit of a challenge. We ended up once again getting the tanker truck to deliver the other day – he topped up the pool and filled up the bottom tank in no time. Not cheap, but at least when we turn a tap on or flush a toilet water comes out – seems like a luxury!

Our agave flower is nearing its end – the ‘trunk’ is starting to bend a bit and sometime soon it’s going to break and the main plant will die. At least we’ll get a lot of seeds for replanting.

The cherry tomato plants are going crazy, and it looks like they’re all different – nice round orange ones (that might turn red) as well as oblong ones that look slightly striped (kind of like miniature watermelons).

The main part of the centre of Albox has become car-free and it’s lovely to walk around – the fountain is very pretty and it’s much more relaxing not having to dodge cars.

There have been several unfortunate accidents with the little birds. We’ve found at least four of the poor things on the terrace – they likely fell out by mistake as they had not got their feathers yet so couldn’t have been learning to fly.

We’ve located and destroyed three wasp nests so far – not huge ones but they seem to be very aggressive. They like to get water from the pool so they’re very annoying in the evening when we go for a swim.

We had a nice day trip to Villaricos on the coast to visit Ann and Ernie. Having lunch at the restaurant next to the pool was excellent – I had homemade Thai fish cakes along with a roasted goat cheese salad – very tasty.

Racing in France, Colin Returns, More Racing in France (a different kind), Garden Flourishes

Colin got back from France as scheduled, and all of his tests were ok. While there he helped the cycling club with their annual youth races in Angeau – the kids are so cute.

And the winning team was – the local organizing club Guidon Manslois (Colin’s club)!

I’m glad for many reasons that Colin is back but a big one is that I really don’t like being alone in the house at night. It’s frequently windy and things blow around and make noise – kind of freaked me out a couple of times.

The garden is coming along nicely – the weeds are tenacious, but so are the gardeners!

The Tour de France has started – the first three stages were in northern Spain and now they’re working their way north, then east. We’re both very sad that Mark Cavendish has crashed out as we were sure he would break the stage-win record in this, his last Tour. I was somewhat cheered up yesterday, however, when Michael Woods won on the Puy de Dome.

We’re trying to find a used pram or stroller for Henry – he can’t walk as fast or as far as he used to and Colin often ends up having to pick him up. In search of one we drove south yesterday to see if we could find one at a large second-hand furniture place but she didn’t have anything appropriate. She did have a beautiful german shepherd guard dog and a black cat with orange eyes.

We’ve put up a fly screen on the french doors so we can now have them open in the early part of the day – nice breezes come through. But all windows and shutters get closed by noon or so to keep the heat out. Our swims are later now also – usually around 7:30 or 8:00 in the evening because of the heat, and also the angle of the sun.

My arm rash has come back and I’m treating it with apricot kernel oil so I don’t end up looking like a leper. As long as I stay out of the direct sun it subsides and isn’t itchy so mostly I’m staying inside during the day and doing any of the outside stuff in early morning or late evening.

The herb garden is doing very well, especially the basil. I’ve made pesto twice now (for pizza) and it’s awesome to be able to go out and pick it, then crush it. I don’t have any pine nuts so have been using almonds – but what else would I use in almond-growing heaven?

We’ll be having fresh cherry tomatoes soon as one of the plants has gone crazy and already has fruit on it – small and green now but in a week or two…

Most mornings I do a bit of tai chi and chi gong on either the front terrace or the side terrace – it’s so peaceful and quiet and I get to see the sun come up over the hill to the east.

The birds have finally discovered the bird feeder and we now have to fill it every couple of days.

We had a nice lunch out at the bar in Los Cerricos – once again the cats were hiding from the heat.

The Ikea delivery arrived! We met the truck down at the restaurant/gas station and they followed us up to the house – now the office is full of the new kitchen in boxes.

Henry tried to walk on the pool cover again – luckily I spotted him right away. It was ok when he got out on the winter cover as it was tied to the sides, but the summer cover just floats and even a smallish dog like Henry caused it to start sinking. Fortunately he was near the shallow end so I just went down the stairs and fished him out – wet shorts was a small price to pay.

I finally went for a bike ride – not long but getting hot by the time I got home – I’ll have to leave earlier next time.

Housework Progresses

We’ve taken a couple more trips – the first was back to Ikea in Murcia to meet with the ‘kitchen planner’. As we had done a lot of measuring and looking at their choices online we were very prepared and the meeting went well. It is going to be beautiful and I’m very excited.

The second trip was to the coast and the peninsula of Cabo de Gato which we’d read about and seen on a couple of cycling videos that went through the area. Once we passed Vera most of the drive was past mile after mile of tattered plastic greenhouses so we were quite disappointed – it looked like a moonscape.

But the town of Cabo de Gato wasn’t bad – we found a nice bar that had excellent tapas and wine, and then drove a short way to a lovely beach.

There’s also a bird sanctuary in the salt marshes.

We’ve had more work completed – Steve (our carpenter) has done a bunch more stuff, including installing a door between the guest bedroom and it’s bathroom. Carlos has added three more outdoor taps as well as fixed the outdoor shower near the pool, and our wonderful gardener and her husband have planted the jacarandas, oleanders and cedars.

They also gave some advice on the cleaning of the pool – I need ‘shock’ and ‘floculant’ and then some vacuuming – hope to be able to use it soon as the weather is finally turning hot and sunny.

Our solar panels have been installed! Our roof is now covered with them – we don’t have batteries to store the energy but are going to be feeding it to the grid when we have excess – I’m so happy!

The summer pool cover has been fitted and installed – it will help a lot to reduce the evaporation rate, and also keep it warmer.

I finally had my first swim of the year! Our ducky thermometer says the water is 30 degrees – it was very refreshing and just what was needed on a hot, muggy day.

For the second time I had a couple of unexpected visitors – two larks (I think that’s what they were) were suddenly in the lounge flying about. They got in through the front door which we like to leave open for the breeze. The first time they found their own way out, and today I managed to get the french doors open to release them.

I didn’t have my camera handy but did manage to get a quick photo with my ipad – as usual the quality is a bit disappointing to me.

We now have a beautiful herb garden…

…the potted tomatoes are doing great…

…the oleanders are finally flowering…

…and while other plants and flowers are showing off their beauty…

…the agave is still working on it’s one-and-only blossoming before it dies…

Water is still sometimes an issue – the ‘canal’ that belongs to the co-op that we’re a part of is being repaired at the moment and the tanker truck can’t deliver to us until next week. I’m using as little as possible but have stocked-up on large jugs of water from the store – enough to keep the garden and new trees alive, and make a cup or two of tea in the mornings. The quantity of water available at this time isn’t an issue here – it’s just the delivery of it that is a challenge!

The Rambla Rages, and Finding Jacarandas

We’ve had some fierce storms in the last few weeks, and twice our normally dry rambla…

…became a raging river.

As far as the raging rambla was concerned it didn’t affect us that much – not like the folks who use the rambla to access their driveways. They were unable to leave their houses for a day or two each time as the rambla is the ‘road’ that leads to their driveways.

The torrential rains did do a number on our driveway, though. We already knew we needed to get it fixed up a bit but now it’s got huge ruts from where the water washed down.

The day after the first big washout I drove down to Albox to do some grocery shopping. As I went down our driveway it was very rutted but as I turned left to enter the ‘road’ we share with our neighbour-across-the-way I almost stopped and turned back. The dirt/mud road was so deeply rutted I wondered if I would get stuck but I made it down. Then all the way into town I was wondering if I was actually going to make it back up to the house. When I was finished the shopping and was back at the bottom of the shared drive I just put it in first and gunned it, barely slowing down for the sharp right-turn onto our driveway. I fish-tailed a bit but made it!

We also encountered a couple of other issues – we had small floods from both the front door and the french doors as they don’t have proper weatherproofing on the bottoms. I spent some time mopping and laid down some towels to prevent more seepage.

And another problem we had was a drip into the kitchen very near the fridge. It wasn’t from the rain but from a backup between my shower and the toilet in the guest bedroom.

Carlos – when he was able to get out of his house from the flooded rambla – came over and unplugged it, and is partway through re-caulking my shower as that’s where the backup was going, and from there down into the kitchen.

We’ve been out for lunch a few times – at the bar in Chirivel and also at the bar in Los Cerricos. The bar cats are still there, and there are a couple of new babies that are very cute. They hung around our table and got lots of little nibbles.

The second time we went there the bar cats weren’t around, but the ‘dumpster’ cats were. I, as usual, had leftovers of my pork tenderloin so ended up giving it in little bite sized pieces to the many stray cats as well as one very cute little dog. I wish I could help all of them but the best you can do is catch them and take them to the local vets to have them ‘fixed’. Apparently the vets do this for free and all you have to do is catch them, take them in, then return them to the street they came from. They’ll still be scrounging for food but at least they won’t be having six kittens four times a year…so sad.

Colin and I both got haircuts – mine is the shortest it’s been since the cut I got in Navarrete in Sept of 2018 – I love it!

We took a trip to Ikea in Murcia almost two weeks ago to have a look at kitchens. Looking in the online catalogue is one thing but we both like seeing something in person to really get a feel for what it will be like. We did pick up a book shelf for the snug and have since rearranged the furniture.

All around the area are beautiful flowering trees with lavender coloured blossoms. We found out what they are – jacaranda – and the local plant store finally got a delivery in – they’re very hard to get.

We picked three of them up this morning along with four more oleanders and I can’t wait for them to be planted. The jacarandas are very tall, but of course won’t flower until next year.

The winter pool cover has been removed but we’re having a heck of a time drying it out to put away – it rains at least a bit almost every day so it’s been impossible.

We’re having solar panels for electricity installed – hopefully next week right before Colin returns to France for some medical appointments.

The ‘giant asparagus’ hasn’t changed much – we’ve been told it will be a few weeks before anything happens. And it’s not a yucca (as I called it previously) but an agave and once it’s done flowering it will die.

They’ve completed a new display at the south end of Albox and it’s a very good one – showing the story of the area and the people.