This week has been a bright but chilly one. Several days have started out grey but soon the sun is out, and in a sheltered spot with the sun right on you, it is almost warm, but the wind has a nip in it that can take you by surprise. But we have taken the opportunity of any bright ones to have a short walk around the village. We have discovered some side streets that we have never been down before.
But last Friday we went to our new chosen venue for our fish and chips, which is right along the Mojacar sea front. So after our dinner we drove home the long way round, via Garucha, and stopped off at the marina for a walk around the boats. There are always plenty of private yatchs and small craft moored around the walkways, and little silver fish dart in and out of them, easily spotted as the water is quite clear. The larger fishing vessels moor further along on the quayside where they unload their catch each day.
At the end of the marina you are almost at the working port where the barges come to load and reload mostly gravel and yeso (gypsum or plaster). You can tell how full they are by how low they sit in the water.
On Friday the nearest ship to us was a recue vessel, painted bright red, but apparently resting that day.
Just beyond that a huge barge was fully loaded and ready to set off for the open sea again. We watched two little tug boats attatch themselves to the ends of the barge and gradually lead it safely out of the port.
Then they left it to go on its way and came back until they were needed again.
This morning it was brighter but even colder and I decided to go for a bit longer walk than we usually do. Chris wasn't ready to come out as he was working on something on his computer, so I went on my own.
I crossed the main road at the roundabout and went towards the Huerta Nueva urbanisation, but turned right at the first junction. This is a road we often walked our two big dogs along, and they loved it because the surrounding campo was full of rabbits. Not that they ever caught one, but they enjoyed the hunt and chase. Today it was deserted and I enjoyed wandering along with just my own thoughts for company.
At the end of the road you come to the start of the rambla (dry river bed) that runs around the right side of the village. Unlike the green zone that runs behind our house, which is almost left to go wild with a few wizerned orange and almond trees and a few footpaths where the children play, the rambla is quite tidy and organised now. Except for the first little bit which was still wet, the river bed is dry and worn down to a fairly smooth gravel road, wide enough for a vehicle to access the small holdings in the centre. The scrub all around was brown and dusty despite some rain higher up in the hills.
Further along,on either side there are banks of bamboo which should be lush and green at this time of year. But this, also, was brown and almost dead, though it could revive again if we have a lot of rain. Bamboo has quite a strong root so there obviously isn't much water even deep down.
I walked to the end of that part of the rambla where there is a small road up to the top of the village, so just a walk down from there back to our house. At the end of the rambla there are several paddocks with lovely horses in them, and all were contentedly wandering around or nibbling on their hay. But the last paddock has donkeys in it and today one had a dear little foal, standing close to its mother for protection, while the others milled around them.
This sweet soul came over to say 'Hello' and I scratched her head while she laid there on the wall. She was so gentle and friendly. But then a big brown one came over and tried to eat my knitted jacket so I decided to continue on my way home.
It was nice to get back to my sewing group on Wednesday to catch up with everyone's news. We have our own Facebook page and on Tuesday I posted that if anyone brought in enough jam jars, then I would make picallili. You guessed, on Wednesday I was inundated with jam jars, so you know what I will be doing over the weekend!
I had a nice long chat with son Ben about a new song he has written. It is good to see him getting back into his music.
And with that I had better prepare this for posting in the morning and linking up with Annie's Friday Smiles.
P.S. I prepare my posts on Thursaday afternoons, and yesterday I said to Chris, "I didn't have a nice sky picture for this week's post", and then, we had one! So I will leave you with this. So lovely, and a perfect way to end the day.
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