Snail Tales
Snail Tales

Aft agley

Seems to me that making plans is a complete waste of time! Once again the weather gods have a different set of plans to our own but hey, ho, we are happy to go where the wind blows… or the tide drifts, or whatever. More like where the wind doesn’t blow, though.

The weather gods urge us ever onward, hither and thither. I begin to feel like Jason and his Argonauts… but, whereas their journeying was constantly delayed, ours seems to be pushed ever forward.

This afternoon we arrived at Santa Elena, where we had planned to stay for two nights before moving on to Olvera but a combination of disappointment with the site and another incoming storm are taking us off again tomorrow. We have to skip Olvera, which I had been looking forward to very much but sitting atop a hill with absolutely no wind shading at all is not the place to be in a gale. Instead, we shall be hugging the rain shadow and taking a more direct route towards Portugal. We have found a potential site just a couple of hours away from here and where the forecast is less poor.

It is grey here and wet. The temperature is better than at Villargordo del Cabriel, with no danger of frost, but it feels very chill without the cheer of the sun during the day.

Yesterday had been a perfect day and I believe that it was one of the best days of my life. I shall always remember the eagles wheeling over my head and I shall forever regret the lack of a camera! Memories will draw us back to that beautiful and peaceful place.

One regret is that I wimped out on the wonderful walk in the scrub. All the more since we realised that we had read the profile incorrectly and that the downhill stretch was the difficult end and that we had not been facing a tougher walk at the far end, but an easier one.

Maybe next time.

Today’s highlights included the sight of a vast murmuration of starlings over the Autovia, and the large flock of Iberian (Azure-Winged) Magpie here – such striking birds with their black caps and blue wings. So cheeky and bold too. They sit on the fence just feet away but every time that I reach for my camera, they fly off! Also… a very hot and powerful shower, in which I lingered for an indecent length of time.

On the matter of Time, and of journeys being pushed forward: this time last year we were arriving in Arcachon, and still not crossed the border into Spain. We should be in Sagres almost a month earlier than last year. At this rate we shall be home before we left.

There and back again

We took Dusty for a walk after lunch, packing him in his backpack carrier until we were off the campsite. He had his jacket on and we attached him to a leash initially. We let him lead us and he took off from the reservoir road and into some waste land. It looked like a safe place to try him off the leash.

Mr Snail got some mountaineering in whilst attempting to retrieve the cat 😃

So, back on the leash once more, and we turned around and crossed the railway line, following the access road for the railway tunnels. This road was almost devoid of both traffic and people, just one car passed us – though in both directions.

Dusty walked really well and we must have done around 4 Km in total. Perhaps he will sleep well tonight.

I do have photos but am disinclined to dig out the laptop at this point. Perhaps when we come to a halt for more than two nights together…

Having taken the big camera out with me it was disappointing, though predictable, that no eagles were about this afternoon.

I think that we should try to get Dusty out for a walk more often, though it is difficult to find places where there are no people or traffic to spook him.

It’s always the same

Up and at ’em this morning. We planned to walk out to town via the blue route and return by the yellow. Blue route turned out to be a terrifying descent into the bottom of the valley, with no doubt a terrifying climb up into town thereafter. It was absolutely fabulous out there in the wild in perfect quiet, save the distant call of a lone eagle. Given my recent fall, ankle strapping and consequent limited mobility, I was (to put it plainly) scared shitless, and so we returned to base and walked out via yellow route instead. I was really disappointed that we could not continue as it had been beautiful indeed.

Yellow route began nicely, with a crossing of the railway followed by a steady incline via a forest track.

The route left the track, went back downhill and cut through olive groves and vineyards. It was very pleasant in the early sun, with frost still on the ground – and the views were lovely.

My camera gave up on me in the first olive grove. Was I mad? You bet, because… /the views were lovely/. I could have taken some great panoramas.

Our path turned upward again and crossed some heavy clay and cut across frightening precipices. I was quite literally hanging on to juniper and rosemary bushes in order to prevent a fall. The views were amazing and … my camera wasn’t working!

It was at about this point when we had a close encounter with the eagles. I was trying to clean my sasquatch feet off when I heard Mr Snail exclaiming. I looked up and we had eight eagles close and overhead. AND MY BLOODY CAMERA WASN’T WORKING!!!!!

Argh!

The path improved as we moved on and approached town. We reached an unsurfaced road and I was not at all surprised to find that it was the track that we had set off on at the start of the yellow route. We could easily have missed out the difficult and scary parts. If we had, we might not have seen the eagles and failed to realise one of my lifelong ambitions so, you know, not all bad.

Anyway, we decided to return down the track and not to bother going into town. We were becoming hungry and the restaurant on site here has a good reputation…

We arrived back a little after midday and found that the "restaurant closed today sign" that had been there yesterday was still on display. I enquired at reception. Yes, the restaurant is open… tonight. They don’t open until 8pm. I was starving after my exercise.

I made risotto in the van.

We are taking Dusty out for a walk now. I will try to rescue some photos from this morning on our return (seeing as we won’t be going out for dinner).

The Strange Case of the Thief in the Nighttime

Brrrrr!

Still, not as bad as it might have been and warmer than forecast, with 1°C at 08:00 rather than the predicted -3°. A bit of a blessing.

We kept the heating on, set at 10°C and it was a comfortable night, the heating quiet enough in this van not to wake us. Dusty was good too and didn’t start his usual nonsense until 6 am. Also luckily, the trains stop overnight.

We may be apparently in the middle of nowhere and it is generally very peaceful but the mainline Madrid/Valencia trains emerge from a tunnel just outside the campsite, and quickly vanish into another. They are fast, quiet electric trains and cause little disturbance during the day – we hear a quick rumble, nothing more – but I am happy that they don’t whoosh past after bedtime. The first train this morning passed at around 7 am.

So, bright and frosty just now. I was dreading my visit to the shower block but it turned out to be closed for cleaning. I had a spit wash in the van, where the side effect of heating in the night had provided hot water. I will shower when the day warms up a little, and after our walk.

Today’s walk looks as though it may be taxing. I have my ankle strapped and think that I had better take my poles with me. I wanted to take my bigger camera and capture some scenery but will need a rucksack for poles and water etc. and that makes slinging a heavy camera quite difficult, so it will be the Olympus in my bum bag again.

We had Dusty tied out on Nell’s lead last evening and left it tied to a tree when we brought him in. This morning the lead had been removed from its handle and was gone. WTF?

I heard a magpie behind the van and wondered if it had stolen the lead for its shiny clip but it didn’t seem feasible that it would have flown away with it and several metres of trailing line.

Mr Snail has now found the remainder of the lead on the adjacent empty pitch. It has been chewed into several pieces. Rats? Why?

A mystery.

Dusty will have to go out on his own, shorter, lead until Nell’s has been replaced (probably when we reach Seville) and we will have to use the now-spare cat lead for Nell.

Anyway, time to go walkies!

Twitter ye not

When Mr Snail saw the weather forecast last night he asked me to add an item to this morning’s shopping list: "something warming". That something warming turned out to be dark rum, a glass of which I am enjoying as I write this post. We also have an electric fan heater going. The forecast is for -3°C by breakfast time… I am currently dressed in joggers and fleece sweater. A bit of a change from shorts and tee shirts.

It’s a shame that Dusty’s misbehaviour means that we cannot shut the blinds against the cold.

We have moved on from Ribamar on the Mediterranean and are part way through our cross country journey to Sagres in Portugal. We are on a campsite outside Villargordo del Cabriel (in Valencia) and are seemingly staying at /The Village/. Except it is far nicer than Portmeirion.

We had a good journey, a bit breezy in parts but mainly sunny. Air Con was deployed at one point.

This afternoon we walked Nell down from the campsite to the nearby reservoir. I regretted not taking the big camera, especially when we saw the eagles circling overhead. Cursed the lack of binoculars too. I do however have some snaps and will get them off the camera when I can get the laptop out.

Tomorrow we hope to do a longer walk, up to the town by footpath and return by minor road. It looks to be around 10k, but a very hilly 10k. The scenery is lovely so I hope to get some more photos taken along the way.

There are a handful of units here tonight and it seems as though half of us are Brits.

Dinner tonight was a cold collation, Spanish style. We have new favourite thing – Lomo de Orza, served with Allioli (Aioli). Delicious! Also some new-to-us cheeses. I wanted to buy a tit but we settled in the end in an array of several smaller wedges and are saving the tit for another day. Yes, I said "tit". If you don’t follow, all will be revealed after our next shopping trip.

Not at all boring

We rode out on the bikes yesterday (to obtain wine for dinner). It’s a pleasant 15 to 20 minute jaunt from the campsite at Ribamar to the Consum in Alcossebre, though the first (and final) mile threatens to shake the fillings loose from one’s teeth.

Wine, beer and nibbles obtained, we cycled home again. Having regained the final mile on dirt track, I was toiling up the gradient when I saw a large black dog lumbering up the way in front of me. I imagined it to be the Newfoundland that is staying on the site here… but it’s owners were nowhere in sight.

It was only as I got closer that the dog turned through 90° and revealed itself to be a wild pig. I think it to have been a Boar sow rather than a Boar boar (confusing, isn’t it?) as it was only large and not enormous. It appeared to be elderly, unhurried and quite confident. Judging by the tunnel under the wire fence that was visible as we passed, this beast was on a regular route.

Sorry no photo but, you know, /on the bike/…

Here’s a link that might be interesting and may go some way towards explaining why we like it so much here, having found those other parts of the Costas that we have passed through to be not in the least to our taste: https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/europe/secret-garden-explore-valencias-sierra-de-irta-1667123.html

The site that we are on is placed within the boundaries of the national park. It’s a fabulous place for a quiet holiday.