Rocking Your World 2017: Week 35

Well, what a week we have had. I promised you a shorter post this week and that is what you will have, mainly because not a lot has happened in it. After a fine weekend, Monday was our son's last day and it was quite cloudy and several degrees cooler. He didn't mind and still went down to the playa, did some last minute shopping of things to take home, and had a final swim. The cloud had thinned during the afternoon and there was quite a nice sunset, though the purple haze over it was a warning of a storm to come.

We decided to sit up late as Tom had to leave for the airport at 2.30am, so it wasn't worth going to bed. By the time he left, there were a few drops of rain, and his road to Alicante was lit by frequent flashes of lightning, but there was little thunder nor any real rain.

However, we had been warned that an unseasonal storm was on its way, and by Tuesday the rain had started in earnest. It continued with heavy showers all day, but as darkness fell we had an almighty storm. The lightning lit the sky up like it was daytime, and the flashes were almost continuous. It was mostly sheet lightning, but later there were a few forks as well and I did my best to capture them on camera. It is almost impossible to time it right but I did manage a few.

The thunder eventually rumbled away, but the rain was heavy all night and the next day.

We were really sad about this because we had been looking forward to Wednesday. Remember I said last week we had one more event to look forward to. On Wednesday the big cycle race La Vuelta, (like Tour de France, but it takes a different route through Spain each time), was passing across the top of our village, coming up through Turre and on to Sorbas, and we were all set to watch it. However there had been so much rain all over Spain that there was talk of cancelling this leg. In the end it went ahead, but because they took advantage of the best conditions as they occurred, the timing was not exactly to plan. 

Chris was unwilling to stand around in the rain for too long, so we didn't go out for the promotions caravan that normally passes two hours before the actual race. But we did drive to Turre for the race, but got stuck in a line of traffic because the road had already been closed. I got out and walked the last bit but I was too late. It had gone through about half an hour ahead of schedule, and I just saw the last of the support vehicles that follow the cyclists! I was disappointed, but some things are not meant to be.

As I walked over the bridge at Turre, the rambla was filling up with water, and was already like a muddy river. In the winter storms it was a raging torrent for a short while, washing debris and even cars before it. The rain eased a bit that afternoon so it probably didn't get any higher this time, but normally it is a dry, sandy bed all summer.

Anyway some stalwart friends who did arrive early despite the weather, posted some good photos of the cyclists, so here are just a few.

Team Sky as they left Turre towards Los Gallardos.

The conditions were horrible for the riders, but brightly clad road marshals kept them on the right track.

They were followed by the support vehicles who all had their lights on although this was only around 3.00pm.

The weather has caused quite a few accidents. Chris Froome crashed yesterday, changed his bike and immediately crashed again, but he is just hanging on to his lead by a few seconds, and there is still a long way to go.

Today the sun has been out for a while though it is cloudy again now, but it is still very warm - in the upper twenties. The first rain was filled with sand and made everything so dirty - also leaving a fine layer of slippery mud on the roads! We have seen storms like this before, but never in August. I feel so sorry for all the folk who came over for a week of Spanish sunshine before school starts again. They really have had a bad week. This was a page of the local newspaper this week.

It is referring to the Almeria province as shown in the map, and the headline says "More rain in three days in August, than in the last fifty years"!! 

There is no doubt that the ground was ready for a good soak, and the plants have enjoyed an unexpected drink, but they will all be ten foot tall by next week.

This is a photo from last week that I didn't have space to add then. It is rare for us to see a butterfly out here. I am not sure why as there are beautiful ones in other hot countries. Maybe it is too dry for them here. Anyway, we saw this one fly over our yard, but then, I am not sure whether it wanted a drink, or whether the wind blew it off course, but it landed straight in the pool. We rescued it as fast as we could, and I put it in the sun to dry. It had some damage to its wings, but later I moved it onto a plant and eventually it did fly away, so I was happy that we saw it in time to give it another chance. Isn't it lovely?

This may not sound like such a happy week, but everything has a silver lining.

1. The change in the weather has caused the temperature to drop just enough to be more comfortable. It is destined to go up again next week, but this has been a nice respite.

2.The plants have had an unexpected watering which has saved me getting the hose out every couple of days to keep the plant pots hydrated. It has also saved the local agricultural workers who pay for the water for their crops, and has refilled the reservoirs.

3. I have had more 'home-time' than usual so I soon got the rooms put straight after all our visitors. I even got most of the bedding and towels washed and dried before the rain came.

3. I spent a full day sorting out my craft room which is now much cleaner and tidier. I am an untidy worker and sometimes I almost lose my desk under piles of paper, rubber stamps etc. etc. Now it is all put away and looks much better again.

4. A tidy craft room inspired me to get some work done and I have finished off all those images I showed you a couple of weeks ago, and turned them all into Christmas cards. This week I have made sixteen which has bumped up my total considerably.

5. I found time to play with some new scrapbook layout templates. There is a lady called Annette Coriale who has an etsy shop to sell her digital template designs. I follow her on facebook and have recently bought several of her templates but never seem to have time to use them. Annette and other users of her Fbook page, have given me some helpful hints on one point that I was having difficulty with, so now I want to make time to try that out. But in the meantime I used one of her more simple templates that was a free gift last week, to record Kim's meeting with my visitors. And here it is.

Maybe I will have tried a more complex one by next week.

One other little item that has made me smile this week is that I have a new vacuum cleaner. That may not sound very exciting but I have been without one since our previous one died about six months ago when Chris washed the filters and put them back before they were quite dry! Replacing it seemed a bit unnecessary as we have all stone floors with just a few rugs in the bedrooms, but now all the animals are in full moult and every day is a battle against balls of fur in every corner, we decided that we did need one after all. So Chris splurged out and bought the new GTech one (as seen on TV!), that is specifically designed to cope with animal hair and it arrived on Wednesday afternoon. I have to say I give it five stars. It is by far the best one I have had, and worth every penny. Anything that makes housework faster and easier gets my vote, but this really is better than I had hoped for.

Now I will link up with Annie's Friday Smiles and Rocking Your World, as I am in danger of rambling again. 

Thank you to all who read last week's marathon and left lovely comments. I do enjoy hearing from you all.

Rocking Your World 2017: Week 34

I am not highlighting anything specific this week. I have had a lovely week, and have taken so many photos that it has been hard to bring them down to a manageable set for this post. So I hope you are sitting comfortably and that you enjoy travelling through my corner of beautiful Spain with me. 

You will know that we have had a fair number of visitors this year, and now just our son Tom is with us for a few more days. But we have had other visitors as well, from the noisy cicadas to the little, vivid darter dragonflies that bring a flash of bright red or blue to the pool. But one visitor was less welcome when he came to our patio late one evening. The dogs suddenly started barking furiously, and when we went to see what had disturbed them, this fellow was coiled there. He doesn't bother me too much as we rarely see a dangerous snake out here. This is a ladder snake and it is not venomous. Just look at the way his eyes have picked up our light.

When we opened the fly-free door, to turn the hose on him, he quickly uncoiled and slithered away.

But now onto happier things. For Tom's first week he mainly wanted to get away from office business, and just relax, dipping in the pool and soaking up the sun, while enjoying some Spanish food and wine. He usually has a hire car and takes himself off to the beach or to explore, and sometimes goes out on dad's bike for a cycle ride, but this week we have had a couple of nice days out together as well. The following a photos are a mixture of mine and Tom's.
On Tuesday we drove over to a beach on the nature reserve Cabo de Gato which is the land that forms the bulge at the base of the Andalucia region. It was not a beach we had been to before but we had been told about it. It is called Playazo do Rodalquilar. The road takes you through the nature reserve where there is mostly brown rocky promontories and sparse scrub land with a few palm trees.

It was a very hot day and we were glad we had taken our old parasol as, like most of the beaches in C de G, there are no amenities, sunbeds, parasols etc, so it pays to take your own. 

Parking is anywhere on a sandy area near the beach and it was very crowded that day, but we were happy to spot a space right by the beach.

The beach itself is a wide sandy bay surrounded by sandy cliffs. To the right is the Battery of San Ramón, part of the ancient row of fortresses that protected all along the coast. 

When we had had enough of swimming and lying in the sun, we packed up and walked up to this ancient building. From the pathway to it, we had a good view of the beach where we had been.

After the walk we were glad enough to get into an air-conditioned car to drive back home.

Yesterday we had our second excursion and this time we drove inland for two hours to the mountain town of Castril. As we left the motorway and headed in towards the mountains, the roads were lined with fields and fields of olive and almond trees. The olives are not harvested until around November, but the almonds were ready and the trees were laden with them. Most farmers pick them and take them to special almond presses that only open for a month or two, where the nuts are shelled, and the shells are sold on for fuel.

As our journey came to an end, we rounded a bend, and there just below us was the lovely town of Castril, a collection of white houses with two rocky peaks towering above it. Between these is the ruins of the old castle, Castril de la Peña.

We drove in through winding streets and decided to follow a car, hoping it knew where it was going better than we did. Mistake! It was two inhabitants of the upper town who were driving as close as they could get to their house to off-load their shopping. We were in fact at a dead end with one of the rocky towers directly in front of is. You can just see a statue at the top of the rock. The drivers of the car we had followed directed us to where we could turn around and go back down and we soon found a suitable parking place.

Our aim was to do a circular walk that would take us down into the gorge, along by the river and back up to the town again. Tom found a map online and we soon found where it started. As we walked down the first sloping path we could look back at the pretty white houses and the statue keeping watch over them.

Ahead of us the vegetation was lush and green so we knew we were on the right track to find the water.

There were clearly marked signs showing the way and they led us down a shady, tree-lined path.

Then we followed the sound of rushing water and soon came to the river.

There was a suspended board-walk (know as La Pasarela) that overhung the river and we followed that, stopping frequently to take more photos.

It looks very peaceful, and we were happy that it was not full of chattering tourists, but the sound of the rushing water was immense. 

We could hear birds twittering ahead, and round the corner, the opposite rock face was full of holes, both large and small, and they were all home to a flock of pigeons.

The boards we were walking on were smooth and fairly even though there were gaps big enough for a small child to put their foot through. But they felt sturdy enough.

Less sturdy was a suspension bridge that we had to use to cross the river. It was made of plates of metal mesh and swayed on its cables, so I got over as fast as I could while Tom was laughing at me and taking a video!

He was much braver than me, and stopped in the middle to take more photos.

On the other side was very dark tunnel, that went round a bend so there was no light at the other end. Here I am braving the entrance.

Half way along it there was a passage off to the side that led back out to the river and gave a wonderful view of the waterfall. On our left, look how the sun is turning the top pool golden.

As it slid over the stones at the top, it made lovely swirly patterns and looked like polished glass.

Directly ahead of us, water from another source also pounded over the rocks to join the main flow.

Then together they flowed on down almost like a gentle river. It was strange to see it so loud and forceful one moment, and quiet the next.

Our path then left the river and we walked through rocks and quite fertile ground. It was good to see a chumba, looking very healthy and covered in prickly pear fruits. The white fly that has wiped out most of them around us, doesn't seem to have penetrated this far inland.

I love this tree. It probably fell over with the rock it is growing on, many years ago, and has gradually found its way skywards again.

We came to the site of the old mill, now a bar/restaurant, so we had a cool drink and then set out on the last stretch of our walk. So far it had been relatively flat and easy, but the web page had warned that the last part was difficult. It was quite short but very steep! Made up of steep gravel slopes and uneven stone steps, it was a challenge, but we were equal to it. We stopped every time a tree offered a patch of shade, to drink some water and get our breath back, and then it was onward and upwards again. I was too busy looking where my feet were going to see much of the view but I had to take a photo of these two rocks. To me they both have ancient faces looking down on anyone mad enough to do the climb! 

Zooming in on the right hand one, you can see two buildings clinging to the rock face. It makes you wonder how they even got building materials up there, let alone lived in them.

As I finally reached the top and sank onto the final step, Tom took this very unflattering photo of me. I have to say, he didn't look that much better himself!

We were now back in the village, and we made our way back round to the centre, stopping at a pretty fuente outside someone's house, to splash cool water on our faces.

We walked on passed narrow streets, steep enough to need a handrail, but not wide enough to take a car (I am glad I don't have to carry my shopping up there!).

We came to a patio where we could sit and rest, enjoying the breeze, and the shade provided by tall trees sporting colourful lanterns.
Tom really wanted to climb up to the statue but it looked too high and steep for me after our last haul, so I said I would sit at the bottom and wait for him. As it turned out, the road has been recently renovated and it was a series of smooth modern steps that I could have managed, but Chris has promised to bring me back when the weather is a little cooler, and I can try it then.
But Tom made it, and I used my zoom lens to catch this picture of him up at the statue.

He doesn't use a zoom, but if you look carefully, or maybe click on the photo below to enlarge it, you will just see me in the centre, looking up at him.

This is the best photo we have of the statue of Christ.

Tom took some amazing photos from the top and I am sharing just three. The first is the view over the village below.

The second is looking away from the village, where the swathe of green vegetation clearly shows the path of the river through the gorge.

And finally this one which he didn't even realise showed a bird of prey (I think it may even be an eagle) soaring between the two rocky towers. The right hand tower goes even higher to the place where the statue is sited. On the left hand tower you can just see a simple cross and this is where the statue was originally placed when Franco gifted it to the town in 1951.

Then it was time for the drive back home. As we reached the motorway, the sun was setting and we took lots of photos to try to capture it. We even stopped at a garage to get a better view. Out of the many we took, I have chosen this one. Before long it had changed to this...

 And as we got back home this was all that was left.

And so it was the end of a lovely day.

I am adding the link to short video that Tom took as we walked along la Pasarela. It will give you a much better idea of the surroundings and the noise of the water. I hope it plays OK for you. I photo-bombed it, waving my camera around as usual! To see it click HERE. It is a high resolution video so it may take a while to open and play.

A big thank you to those who have stayed to the end. I hope you have enjoyed  looking through this window into my world. Those of you who think I write too much, I am sorry, but please remember this blog started as a diary for my family to see what our new life is like, and the habit has stuck!  I promise that next week's post will be shorter, though we do have one event to look forward to. I wonder if you know what it is?

I will leave you wondering and go to link this with Annie's Friday Smiles, and Rocking Your World.