Trepidatious traveller – camino blog | Camino de Santiago de Compostela – before, during and after

day 1, Sé Cathedral, Lisbon to Parque Nações, 8km

Posted on 02/05/2014 by magwood

2 May 2014

Elly and I had decided to take it easy on our first day. We returned to yesterday’s breakfast scene of the pasteis de nata and then decided to use the remaining credit on our daily travel cards to ride the tram down the very steep hill just along from the cafe, and then back up again.

We returned to the apartment to collect our packs and walked to the tram stop to get a ride to the cathedral to start our camino. We had already walked there twice from the apartment and didn’t feel the need to do it again. But as it happened, the first two trams that arrived were full to the gunnels and we didn’t feel we could squish in with our packs, so set off on foot after all. So our initial day’s walk was between 10-11 km rather than the official 8km.

It was hot. Not much breeze and it took me a while to get used to my pack. The practise walk that I took recently left my collar bone bruised from the pack shoulder straps. I had seen a photo somewhere of a female pilgrim who had placed washing-up sponges under her straps to protect her collar bones, which I thought was a very good idea. But I didn’t think that washing up sponges were so great because I might get lumbered with the washing up in the albergue kitchen. So I purchased a couple of bath sponges and stuffed them inside the feet of a pair of opaque black tights, knotted them off and wore them under my straps. I have to say, it made a lot of difference, so I shall sew them on some time soon. A good idea if you suffer from bruised bones!

We were very glad that we had already visited the cathedral and seen where the first yellow arrow was situated, because when we arrived today, there was a group of people sitting on the ground in front of the arrow and we would not have been able to find it. As it happened, we came across an American couple who are starting their walk tomorrow who had been making an advance recky of the route and they said that they did not find the arrow at the cathedral. We are very grateful to Laurie’s very precise instructions that we had to consult on a couple of occasions when we could not readily see an arrow at a cross-roads.

There is a very insignificant yellow arrow at low level to the right of Elly.
Although I have to say, it is not insignificant to anyone starting the camino from Lisbon!

After about 3km we came to the tile museum (Museu Nacional do Azulejo)
which I was very keen to visit. It is set In a beautiful building that was once a convent and is full of the most wonderful panels of hand painted tiles from over the ages. I took many photos but shall just reproduce a few here.

The museum has a lovely cafe with good reasonably priced food and a pretty covered courtyard garden with a pond that has some very acrobatic turtles. A beautiful place to visit.

The rest of the walk wasn’t so nice, industrial areas with narrow pavements, but mostly with occasional interesting period properties to admire.

We eventually arrived at Parque das Nações, the site of the Expo 98, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expo_’98) and located the youth hostel where we have booked beds for the night (tel 00 351 218 920 890, lisboaparque@movijovem.pt). My first experience of a youth hostel – at age 60! And unfortunately my second experience of the top bunk, hey ho, I shall just have to get on with it. We are sharing the hostel with, well, youths – lots of them – but quite well behaved. And there is dinner for 6 euros which was actually quite good. We are in a female room for four, sharing with one evangelist preacher who is about to spend a few days street preaching (good luck!) and a delightful Portuguese student of wine. The hostel is fairly new, very large, and seems to be well run. The cost for the night 15 euros. Only problem is that the internet connection has just failed so I might not get this post out tonight (and I have still to write yesterday’s post of the wonderful day we had exploring Lisbon).

Here I am showing off my new penknife, complete with attached fork

I seem to have fallen in with an organiser. And I see no point in duplication of effort, so whilst I am walking with Elly I am leaving the route planning to her.

An easy first day – long live the easy days!

Posted in Camino de Santiago de Compostela, Camino Portuguese | Tagged Camino blog, Camino de Santiago blog, camino Portuguese, Expo. 98, Lisbon, Lisbon tile museum, long distance hiking, Museu Nacional do Azulejo, Parque das Nações, Portuguese route, travel | 43 Comments

The new adventure begins

Posted on 01/05/2014 by magwood

30 April 2014

I have been exceptionally laid back about preparations for this new, solo, adventure. Much helped by the fact that I had found another pilgrim who is planning to start from Lisbon on the same day as me. Eli is from Australia and she kindly agreed to me sharing the accommodation she had booked. Unfortunately plans went slightly awry when I realised I didn’t know the number of the street where we are staying and I couldn’t get hold of Eli because she was in transit from Aus. So I made a backup plan and noted some addresses of hostels in the area, and continued to feel un-characteristically unfazed.

As it happened whilst I was waiting to board my flight I received a message from Eli giving me the details I needed, so all was well.

I had booked a direct flight to Lisbon from Málaga operated by TAP airline, which I think is a new service because when I first researched flights this route did not appear as an option. It was cheap and included a piece of checked baggage so I decided to check in my backpack and carefully wrapped it in cling film to keep the straps from getting caught in the rolling mechanism of the baggage carousels. When I checked in it seemed a bit odd that there were very few people at the desk but I guessed I was either a little early or a little late and most passengers had either already gone through or were yet to come. At the boarding gate I counted the passengers to be 18 in number and thought that the plane would be very empty, probably due to it being a new service.

Well, I was wrong. Every seat in the plane was taken – it was an 18 seater, and I couldn’t have been more surprised. I was allocated a front seat which didn’t have a window, although I could have reached out and tapped the pilot on the back through the open entrance to the flight deck.

The last passenger to board was a very disabled woman who could not move unassisted and so I gallantly offered her my seat so that she didn’t have to negotiate the narrow aisle, and I moved back to seat number 6…….where I had a view from a window – so a win/win situation!

It felt rather like a fairground ride and I felt rather like a child in my excitement about this unexpected treat, including a lunchbox of filled roll and water.

When I alighted an hour and a half later I noticed that the passengers who had carried on hand luggage (which was taken from them on boarding because there was absolutely no room in the cabin for anything larger than a small handbag) were reunited with their luggage straight from the hold, whereas those of us who had checked their bags had to go through the normal process of reclaiming at the carousel.

Anyway….I arrived in Portugal at 15:30, and was greeted by blue sky and sunshine with a lovely cooling breeze and I took a taxi to the Bairro Alto area of Lisbon, a characterful quarter of steep hills and narrow roads with buildings dating back to the period after the great earthquake of 1755. We have a very compact and basic apartment booked through AirBandB which is perfectly adequate and very well situated for wandering around this enchanting city.

Eli and I spent the late afternoon and evening discovering some of the charms of the narrow streets and vast plazas, the waterfront views and the beautiful cobbled streets. And as night fell the youth came out to play and the tempo picked up as the city began to party.

Se Cathedral, where the camino Portuguese begins

Dusk at Rossio Square

Through the Triumphal Arch towards Rossio Square

Santa Justa elevator and observation platform

All in all, an excellent start to my new adventure.

Posted in Camino de Santiago de Compostela, Camino Portuguese | Tagged Camino blog, Camino de Santiago blog, Camino de Santiago., camino Portuguese, Lisbon, Portugal, Rossio Square, Santa Justa elevator | 17 Comments

Making my acquaintance with Lisbon

Posted on 01/05/2014 by magwood

1 May 2014

[I have finally found the time to write up my fabulous day sightseeing in Lisbon before setting off on the camino.]

Elly and I left the apartment at about 9:30am in search of some breakfast, which was to be found not too far away in a local cafe. We were both keen to sample the much discussed local delight – pasteis de nata. I ordered a pastry and a couple of coconut goodies and washed them down with a cup of hot water. It was just as difficult as normal to assure the waitress that I simply wanted hot water, no tea bag, no lemon, just hot water. I have this trouble wherever I go. The pasteis was very tasty, a bit too sweet for my taste, but the crispy puff pastry that encased the rich egg custard was delicious.

We wandered towards Comercio Square but the streets were remarkably quiet. It dawned on me that it was mayday and everyone must be having a holiday lie-in. We came across some craft stalls selling really attractive items. Luckily temptation to buy was overcome by the thought of having to carry any purchases on my back for over 600 km.

One guy was selling hand made tiles decorated in the style of the cobbled pavements. The sidewalks are paved in small blocks of cream and black limestone in various designs.

The stallholder spent ages explaining to us what the various designs represented. His tiles were beautiful but not possible for me to buy – except for a tiny tile depicting a scallop shell. As I had forgotten to reattach my last year’s shell to my backpack after removing it when I loaned the pack to a friend, I decided that I could bear the weight of a tiny fridge magnet, with magnets removed and strong double sided tape applied to hold it to my new leather bumbag

I’m not totally convinced it will hold on until Santiago, but I am very pleased with my new shell, for a long as it lasts!

We then went to find the church of ‘Nossa Señora Dos Matires’ to get the first stamp (carimbo) in our pilgrim credencials, and then wandered off to find a Metro station to buy a daily pass for the tram system. Once purchased, we tried them out on one of the two trams we have discovered that solely traipse up and down a couple of very steep hills.

Once at the top of the hill we came across a national police exhibition, displaying uniforms through the ages, police vehicles from way back, and an interesting blow by blow account of the revolution in 1974, in which an army rebellion overthrew the fascist dictatorship. A very interesting hour or so.

We then realised we were close to the top of the intricate steel tower of the Santa Justa Lift, an elevator that was inaugurated in 1902 that takes passengers from the lower to the higher levels of the city. Atop the elevator tower is a viewing platform and I took a great photo of this from a balcony in the police exhibition building.

And as we approached the top of the tower we passed by a very inviting restaurant and shared a dish that we saw the waiter preparing for other diners, and looked too good to resist. A portion of spaghetti was dropped into an enormous scooped out Grana Padano cheese, mixed with shavings of cheese and rich sauce and topped with jamon, and presented in individual turrets. It tasted as good as it looked!

After lunch we took the elevator down to the lower level and were greeted by Aurélio and his wife Rita. Aurélio lives in Lisbon and is a member of a camino forum that I belong to and has been very helpful with suggestions and answering questions. It was lovely to meet him after communicating over the internet. He and Rita took us to a cafe for coffee and another pasteis de nata, this time eaten in the traditional way with a shake of cinnamon and icing sugar, accompanied by the tiniest cup of strong black coffee I have ever seen. Now, I drink hot water because I don’t actually like coffee, but of course I couldn’t refuse, and I was surprised that I actually enjoyed the taste, lno.the bitterness of the coffee being counteracted by the sweetness of the pastry.

Our new friends then spent half a day of their precious mayday holiday showing us around their city and pointing out things of interest that we would never otherwise have known about. They were so kind and patient, answering all our questions and taking us to the cathedral to get our second carimbo on our credencials. We eventually parted from them at 6pm and then we took the number 28 tram for a full ride from one end of the circuit to the other, and then back again.

The trams are all part of the fun of being in Lisbon and can turn up three or four at a time, or leave you waiting for twenty or thirty minutes without appearing.

Elly and I then had a quick bite to eat and found our way back to the apartment via a different route to usual, taking in a different view of the city by night.

Lisbon is a fabulous city, quite compact and easy to negotiate and most of all, great fun. I would love to come back for a more relaxed visit.

Posted in Camino de Santiago de Compostela, Camino Portuguese | Tagged Camino blog, Camino de Santiago blog, Camino de Santiago., camino Portuguese, Lisbon, Santa Justa elevator, se cathedral, sightseeing in Lisbon, trams, travel | 16 Comments

Hung out to dry

Posted on 25/04/2014 by magwood

We took a trip down the mountain to the coast today.

We have been considering a new phone/internet service for some time (months, actually) and finally got around to doing something about it – or not, as it turns out. The tariff that has been on offer for months with Telefonica ended on the very day we decided to go for it. If we had tootled off yesterday, we would have got the deal we wanted. Oh well, that’s what happens to procrastinators!

But seeing as we were by the sea we thought we would stop off at Caleta and give Roly a run on the beach. It was a beautifully sunny but windy morning and there was almost no one to be seen. The sand was pristine and the sea was sparkling. Roly had a wonderful time running in and out of the waves and it was just heavenly to sit on the rocks and watch him having fun.

At the entrance to the beach we saw this peculiar sight – a line of fish fillets hanging out to dry. Not on private property, but alongside the parking area. Very peculiar, but a good photo opportunity.

We wandered along to the marina to the restaurant El Camarote to share a tureen of what is consistently best fish soup you are ever likely to taste. By the time we drove back past the beach, the fish fillets had disappeared – they obviously didn’t take long to dry in the sun and the wind.

Posted in A view of life, Expats in andalucia | Tagged Caleta de Velez, dried fish, el Camarote, Expats in Andalucia, photo opportunity | 5 Comments

If I Had a Hammer

Posted on 25/04/2014 by magwood

If you could learn a trade — say carpentry, electrical work, roofing, landscaping, plumbing, flooring, drywall — you name it — what skill(s) would you love to have in your back pocket?

There are actually loads of new skills I would love to learn. I dabbled with mosaic for the first time this week and although the result did not even remotely represent my intended subject, I am extremely proud of my first effort.

My tile that was intended to represent a scallop shell – the symbol of the camino de Santiago pilgrimage – you might need to use your imagination!

I have in fact taught myself a new skill over the last few years – that of terrace walling, which is a desirable talent when gardening on steeply sloping ground. The thousands of stones of all sizes have been collected from the garden and from the surrounding countryside.

I have in fact just finished rebuilding my terraces, not I hasten to add because they were shoddily built in the first place (they have withstood weeks of heavy rain, and the horse has clambered over them on a couple of occasions) but simply due to inexperience the first time around. They were too narrow and were not very useful. Although David is always ready to respond to a request for help when I need a new supply of stones from wherever I have spied a landslide on my travels by foot or on horseback, I have actually placed every stone and mixed every bucket of mud with my own fair hands (actually not quite so fair after all that rough work!)

But now they are rebuilt and are just awaiting some new plants, before they are covered in weed matting and gravel. I have to say, I am rather proud of my very hard work!

Posted in A view of life, Expats in andalucia | Tagged dry stone terraces, Expats in Andalucia, gardening, Mosaic, new skills, Scallop shell, steeply sloping garden | 16 Comments

Roly saves the day

Posted on 25/03/2014 by magwood

We don’t get much excitement in the Wolfe/Woodward household, and that is just how we like it. We don’t even have the TV to distract us these days, since a new satellite was launched recently and the UK TV beam was narrowed to omit southern Spain. We keep up to date with The Times online and BBC Radio 4, and I manage to record The Good Wife and get a daily dose of The Archers to keep the media withdrawal symptoms at bay.

I’d like to explain the hierarchy amongst our animals.

Sheba (cat), although extremely affectionate with humans, can be a nasty piece of work towards Roly (dog) and will often bat him around the head for absolutely no reason whatsoever, and Roly shows considerable deference to her inside the house, although when they are outside they seem to be on more equal terms.

Meanwhile Roly thinks he has been put on this earth in order to dominate Liana (horse). If ever the horse is showing any sign of bad manners, Roly barks like mad, snaps at her heels and even jumps up to try to bite her nose. I have to say that Liana totally ignores the dog, unless he is bossing her around inside her stable, at which point she lowers her head and moves towards him, whereby Roly very swiftly removes himself from the vicinity.

So back to this evening – I was busy in the kitchen whilst David was reading on his ipad when suddenly the alarm was raised, and all hands (and feet and teeth in Roly’s case) were required to get the situation under control. The cry was ‘she’s got a rat, and I think it’s alive’. Now cat flaps are very convenient accessories in homes where cats, and in our case, dogs reside. Roly being a small terrier is just able to squeeze through the flap. But they are not so convenient when your cat is a champion hunter. My beautiful princess pussycat is back in full warrior mode after spending the winter hibernating on our bed or on her favourite cushion. I woke up last night to the sound of crunching bones outside my bedroom door, and it is always wise to put on my shoes to visit the loo in the middle of the night, just in case she has left us a present in the hallway, although I have to say she usually leaves no trace of her victims.

My immediate reaction on hearing the alarm was to swap my flimsy sandals for my stable boots – I wasn’t planning on ratty running over my bare toes! Then I grabbed a few tools (although I have to admit, not very useful ones, but those closest to hand) a colander, a metal basket and a fly swat, and then I joined David, Roly and Sheba in the hallway and quickly closed the bedroom door to keep our unwanted visitor out.

After moving everything that could trip us up in hand-to-paw combat, David pulled out the bureau that ratty was hiding behind whilst I stood at the ready with my fly swat and colander. He popped up from behind the bureau and then disappeared again. When it was moved sufficiently for Roly and Sheba to get in behind, ratty made a break for it, headed to the lounge and dived under the sofa. I systematically moved all the plants out of the way and David pulled the sofa away from the wall.

There followed a short but frenetic period when ratty darted to and fro along the back wall whilst I made a few girly noises when it came anywhere near me and my fly swat. Sheba was about as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike, whilst Roly was charging up and down after the (not so) little blighter and finally made contact in mid-air, amongst much squealing (from ratty). A quick shake of the head ensued, after which Roly charged across the room with ratty clenched firmly (and by now rather limply) between his teeth and he and ratty flew through the cat flap and out into the garden.

So for once Roly reigned supreme and left Sheba in his wake. But I don’t suppose either of them will remember that in the morning when Roly will go back to giving Sheba a wide berth just in case she feels like swatting him.

Who needs TV when our animals provide such quality entertainment for us?

Posted in A view of life, Animals, Expats in andalucia | Tagged Animal hierarchy, cat flaps, Expats in Andalucia, hunting cats, rats, Spain | 11 Comments

Never miss a photo opportunity

Posted on 17/03/2014 by magwood

My garden was looking so pretty this morning that I took some photos of the irises, osteospermums, and my pride and joy Echium Fastuosum, common name Pride of Madeira (the name of which I have only just this minute looked up in our ever-useful flower book, “Mediterranean Garden Plants” written by our local garden centre owner Lorraine Cavanagh).

Not my photo, but an image of what I might expect in years to come

This plant was given to me as a cutting probably four or five years ago and it sat unloved in a pot for far too long. Then I claimed a bit of waste land to make into a flower bed and planted it smack bang in the middle. It did quite well. Grew into a spherical bush. As it got taller and grew above the wall it was planted against Liana discovered she could reach it from other side of the wall and nibble the leaves as they grew. I eventually got around to putting some chicken wire behind it to block Liana’s constant pruning. But she always remembered her liking for the plant and would make a grab for it as she was led out of her yard for a ride.

I looked on the bright side and decided that all the pruning would make it a more bushy and rounded plant, which is what it has grown to be. It is evergreen and quite un-striking, but nevertheless a useful centrepiece for my flower bed.

And this spring I was absolutely delighted when it put out tall flower spikes for the first time, just green to begin with, but with the promise of a beautiful clear blue, the colour of a brilliant Mediterranean sky. It has taken weeks for the flowers to start to show and I look at them with pride every time I pass.

And then a couple of weeks ago our farrier came to put new shoes on Liana. I love Tony, he is a real bloke, with lots of interesting tales and sometimes a bit of gossip. He brings his 4×4 down our steep drive and then reverses into Liana’s yard so that his furnace and tools are available from the back of his car. And guess what? He reversed straight over my precious Pride of Madeira, ripping off more than a few of the lower branches and leaving them chewed up on the drive. I couldn’t make a fuss because it would have seemed very churlish to a bloke for me to get all stressed over a plant. So I took it in my stride and pruned back the damaged branches and was just glad that the flower spikes were not affected.

Today has been a fabulous day, with a bright blue sky and a gentle breeze to take a little of the heat out of the sun. This morning my Echium looked beautiful, with the flower spikes finally in full bloom, contrasting with the irises and the burnt orange colour of the osteospermums. I am so very pleased I captured the scene this morning.

Because this evening we have just returned from a quick trip to the shops and arrived home to find Liana canoodling with one of Eva’s horses over the ménage gate. She has never previously escaped whilst we have been out. Normally if one of us leaves the gate open (which happens very rarely) we can hear her hooves on the concrete drive, and in any case Roly lets us know in no uncertain terms that something is amiss by barking ferociously until Liana is safely back in her own space.

So I rushed down to fetch a head collar so that I could lead her back home and immediately noticed that her first job on attaining freedom was to demolish my plant.

I am sure I will get over it, but meanwhile I am indulging myself in a very childish sulk, and have broken my diet and am supping a de-stressing glass of cava. It’s not working yet – I may have to repeat the exercise whilst I look at my photos!

Posted in A view of life, Animals | Tagged Andalucia, Echium Fastuosum, ex-pats, farrier, iris, Liana, Osteospermum, pride of Madeira, Roly, Spain | Leave a comment

What is it with men and machines?

Posted on 16/03/2014 by magwood

No sooner had we finished a late breakfast this morning than our spanish friend Paco arrived on the doorstep. Paco is a local guy who does a bit of land clearance for us. What he lacks in stature, he makes up for in the ability to put in a good day’s work on very difficult terrain. He is of indeterminate age, he says he doesn’t know how old he is – could be anywhere between late fifties and mid seventies – it is very difficult to tell with someone who has spent his life in the sun working on the land. He is well under five feet tall and as sure footed as a mountain goat, tackling any slope without fear of slipping or sliding, most often wearing a pair of children’s crocs on his tiny feet in place of sturdy boots.

He has taken to unexpectedly calling at the house, at any time of the day, just to while away some time, I presume. He is not the easiest of visitors, simply because I find it almost impossible to understand what he is saying. Even the most educated local spaniard speaks with a very strong dialect, not pronouncing various consonants and talking at a great rate of knots. I would venture that Paco is not the most educated of locals, added to which he has very few teeth remaining to help him form his words and as a result the conversation does not really flow very well. I am sure he understands what I am saying to him in my rather poor spanish, but once I start a thread of conversation, I am lost as soon as he replies.

This morning I proudly showed him my new toy – not exactly a machine but a long handled pair of shears that I purchased in order to tackle some very long grass growing on a very steep bank above Liana’s stable, and then proceeded to put on my coat and boots and attack said grass. It wasn’t long before Paco came out to join me and he immediately relieved me of my prized new toy and completely took over, scaling the almost vertical bank, snipping at everything in sight, including a few ground cover plants that I had been encouraging to thrive for a few years.

The newly cleared bank and the very happy Liana who ate all the grass cuttings

What I had expected to take me most of the morning, leaning down from the top and climbing a ladder from the bottom, Paco completed in about 30 minutes, and then continued to prune my half dead nectarine tree, re-shape several decorative shrubs and close-shave my beloved (but rather overgrown and very straggly) jasmine back into its original arch. Then he handed me back my shears and was gone, leaving me nothing to prune. Oh well, one thing is certain – it will all grow back again and I will have plenty other opportunities to play with my new toy.

The newly tamed jasmine arch – although I preferred it in its wild form

Posted in A view of life | Tagged garden, Liana | 9 Comments

My space – my rules!

Posted on 01/03/2014 by magwood

I was a little bleary-eyed this morning after a rather good night at Cómpeta’s first hoe-down, which involved much merriment, a few glasses of wine and a bit of a late night. However my animals have no respect for a hangover and Sheba plonked herself on my chest at 7:00 am, followed shortly afterwards by Liana calling from her stable, both animals demanding I attend to their respective breakfasts.

I left David in the land of nod whilst I dealt with the noisiest one first and fed the cat, got dressed and battled through the hurricane force winds to attend to the needs of my horse. Once I had fed and mucked out, Roly and I departed for our customary morning walk. When I reached the top of the steps from the garden to the drive I noticed five or six inactive processionary caterpillars, which I stamped on for good measure and kicked out of the way. I suspected that we had trodden on them in the dark when we returned home last night and that the rest of their creepy-crawly buddies had wriggled off on their way to pastures new.

At the end of our walk, and about to descend the steps, Roly and I both noticed at the exact same moment that we needed to take quick avoiding action, when we suddenly saw that the rest of the procession had arranged itself over the top three steps. Roly jumped smartly to one side whilst I let out a squeal of surprise. They must have been there when we set off on our walk, but I just hadn’t seen them. I was very pleased to note that Roly naturally was aware that these creatures are a real danger – although he always avoids them when we come across them whilst walking in the mountains, I wasn’t sure if this was by good luck or design.

When we see them on the mountain tracks I consider it my responsibility to be vigilant, avoid them and remove myself from their presence as soon as possible. However, when they invade my space I treat them very differently. We have developed a seemingly sure-fired way to deal with them. So I went into the house and boiled a full kettle of water and poured it over the caterpillars which rendered them defenceless for long enough to stamp them into a hairy, squelchy mush and then scrape them with a trowel into a carrier bag for disposal. It is then necessary to make sure that all areas (steps, boots and trowel) are well cleaned so as to be free of the highly irritant hairs.

This done, Roly and I went back in the house for our well-earned breakfast – and all David knew about the episode (when he finally roused from his beauty sleep some time later) was the ‘before the masacre’ photos shown here. And I am sure you will be pleased to know that there are no ‘after the massacre’ photos!

Posted in A view of life, Animals | Tagged Processionary caterpillars, Thaumetopoea pityocampa | 13 Comments

A new experience

Posted on 27/02/2014 by magwood

Well, I had a new experience this week. My good friend Jens Klausen is from Denmark and has recently retired from his spanish veterinary practice. He is a man who likes to keep busy and amongst his passion for gardening, horse riding and creating interesting craftworks, he finds time to present a weekly radio programme. Unfortunately we can't receive Radio Sol de Almijara up here in the mountains, but it is available along the coastline from Almayate to Almuñecar on FM 87,8 with information at http://www.rsafm.org.

Anyway, Jens invited me to be a guest on his show this week, for a presentation along the lines of a mini Desert Island Discs. I was asked to choose five pieces of music and he would ask me questions and chat in between.

As I don't consider myself to be a very interesting person, I was a little anxious, but happy to take on a new challenge. It was not possible to get a recording of the show and I don't know anyone who listened to it, so I shall never know how it went, but Jens is a very easy person to talk to and it was really just like having a chat with a friend – which is exactly what it was.

Here is a list of the music I chose –

Land of Hope and Glory from Edward Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance March – just for a bit of flag-waving patriotism
http://youtu.be/9tLL1Gk4gww

All Right Now by English rock band Free, released in 1970. It takes me back to those care-free mid-teen years and is guaranteed to get me on my feet and dancing (although I resisted the urge during the interview).
http://youtu.be/ny7vW6dgnUY

You'll Never Walk Alone sung by Gerry and the Pacemakers – a song with much emotion attached. My father was a Liverpudlian and a fervent supporter of Liverpool football club, where it is sung by fans as the club anthem. It also reminds me of walking the camino de Santiago across Northern Spain with my daughter, in memory of my parents.
I have only now discovered that it was originally from the 1945 Rogers and Hammerstein musical Carousel.
http://youtu.be/QOXwzvk1WTc

Woman in the Moon by Barbra Streisand from the film A Star is Born (1976) (former versions 1937 and 1954). I love the complete soundtrack from this film and could have chosen any of the tracks. I have sung along to the music since it was released in the mid seventies. I particularly relate to this track which is very empowering for young women.
http://youtu.be/SZ1WjrA5L0s”>http://youtu.be/SZ1WjrA5L0s

Somewhere Over the Rainbow / What a Wonderful World by the Hawaiian musician Israel Kamakawiwo'ole. I have only recently become aware of this artist, who sadly died in 1997 aged 38. He came from a musical family and started performing at the age of 11 with his brother and cousin, going solo in 1990. He has a beautiful, clear voice that gives me goose-bumps. He accompanies himself on the ukulele. Throughout his life Israel was morbidly obese, tipping the scales at 54 stone, which is 384 kilos, and died of respiratory and heart problems. He was so popular in Honolulu that his coffin lay in state in the Capitol building, one of only three people to be awarded this honour.
http://youtu.be/Z26BvHOD_sg”>http://youtu.be/Z26BvHOD_sg
If you don’t check out any of the other tracks, please take time to look at this one – I hope you won’t be disappointed – let me know what you think.

What five tracks would you choose?

Posted with Blogsy

Posted in A view of life | Tagged Barbra Streisand, Desert Island Discs, Edward Elgar, Radio Sol de Almijara | 2 Comments

Long time…….no post!

Posted on 27/02/2014 by magwood

I’ve been putting in some training over the last few weeks, and now have a couple of 25+ km walks under my belt. My new boots (Merrell Moab Ventilators) are bedding in nicely, no sign of any blisters yet – although the phrase ‘don’t speak too soon’ comes to mind. I am enjoying walking solo with just the ever-ready and ever-faithful Roly for company, and am also walking with some friends on a regular basis.

The only problem with walking in the mountains at the moment is the proliferation of the processionary caterpillars (Thaumetopoea pityocampa). There are more nests than I have previously seen in the native pine trees that grow alongside the mountain tracks and the caterpillars are starting to emerge. As I wrote last year these are horrible creatures that are equipped with highly irritating hairs that can cause severe discomfort or worse to humans and pets. The result of coming into contact with the hairs of the caterpillar causes skin rashes and eye irritations and it has been known that if dogs have mouth contact then part of their tongues may need to be removed.

The first signs are the nests that appear in the pine trees over winter looking like candy floss caught up in the branches

During the winter months they leave the nest to feed on the pine needles at night and return to the nest to digest their food during the day. Although there is no mention of it in the Wikipedia entry that I read, I believe the caterpillars are responsible for killing some pine trees which end up looking like this.

When they are ready to pupate the caterpillars leave their nest for good, descend from the tree and go off in a nose-to-tail fashion to find soft ground in which to burrow and form cocoons . It is at this stage that the caterpillars are capable of ejecting their hairs which have a harpoon type barb on the end that penetrate and irritate any exposed skin. If you are walking and see nests in the trees, be very careful to watch where you are walking because at the moment they are processing all over the upper tracks in the natural park – and keep your dogs on a lead. I measured a procession, by striding alongside it, at 11 metres on my last walk!

This procession looks to have been broken up by a vehicle driving through it. They will undoubtedly regroup and continue on their way.

There’s a huge cave up in the mountains, on the other side of the valley from a walk I take. I would love to get a closer look. It has obviously been, or probably still is, used for animals, most likely goats, but I have never seen any herds in this valley. There seem to be troughs inside and some sort of structure slung from the walls, and a wooden door in the rocks below. I shall have to find a track that will lead me there to investigate – watch this space!

Posted in A view of life, Preparations | Tagged Processionary caterpillars, Thaumetopoea pityocampa | 5 Comments

A walk in the park

Posted on 06/02/2014 by magwood

I took advantage of a break in our rather miserable weather today to commence training walks for my next camino. It was deliciously warm and sunny as Roly and I set out along La Turvilla stream, through groves of fruit trees and into the natural park. It was a delightful walk, of almost 13 km and I felt much too tired when I reached home. I definitely need to build up my stamina. Here are some photos I took along the route.

Crossing a fire break

Looking across the valley towards Santa Ana church in Canillas de Albaida

The pretty cemetery in Canillas

Posted in A view of life | Tagged Canillas de Albaida | 2 Comments

Planning the Portuguese

Posted on 02/02/2014 by magwood

I am flying into Lisbon, Portugal, on 30 April 2014 and will be setting off on the camino Portuguese on either the 1st or 2nd of May.

I am travelling alone and don’t expect to see many other pilgrims on this route, until I reach Porto where the majority of people start their pilgrimage on the camino Portuguese.

According to the John Brierly guidebook the distance from Lisbon to Santiago de Compostela in Spain is 615 km (as opposed to 800 km for the camino Frances starting in St Jean Pied de Port in France and crossing Spain from east to west).

I shall be writing a daily post of my challenges and achievements on this lesser walked route. You can read my daily posts here

Posted in Camino de Santiago de Compostela, Camino Portuguese, Preparations | Tagged Camino blog, Camino de Santiago blog, Camino de Santiago., camino Portuguese, John brierly, Lisbon, Porto, Portugal, Portuguese route, travel | 41 Comments

Another week in paradise

Posted on 12/01/2014 by magwood

I am now ten days into the self-imposed alcohol ban and have started on the 5:2 diet – had to wait a few days to get going because for some reason I find myself unable to start a diet on any day other than a Monday, but we are now up and running.

It has been a week of riding and walking. Until today the weather has continued to be stunning with day after day of fabulous blue skies and deliciously warm sunshine. I have been on two lovely long rides this week, the first, on Monday was just Liana, Roly and me trailing down into the valley and high up the other side close to the ‘cueva del agua’. Caves are ok so long as you don’t have to squeeze and crawl to get into them, which is necessary for this one, the largest and best known in the immediate area, which is apparently extremely deep and contains two chambers that are full of water. (Lots of photos of Cueva del Agua here http://www.forospiedrasobrepiedra.com/smf/index.php?topic=12202.0)

I dismount at the highest point of the ride and let Liana nibble on the poor, dried up grass while I feed Roly some biscuits and we both have a drink.

On the return leg of the ride we are lucky enough to see a group of ibex, I count six although there may have been more, they are across the valley on the other side of the river and they keep still enough for me to get a couple of rare photos of these shy creatures.

A couple of days later I do practically the same ride with my friend Kim on her horse Irene.

On this occasion we pass the goat man with his herd that are grazing just above the track. There is always plenty of warning when the goats are in the area because they all wear bells that chime together to create a charming symphony that floats across the valleys. The ‘goat dogs’ show more interest in Roly than he is comfortable with, but these animals – one of which is very big – are not usually aggressive and we pass without incident.

There are many herds of goats in this area, the ones that are kept closer to the villages are walked out each day to find forrage on the hillsides and they are a common sight on the roads, blocking the traffic for a while – not so bad if you are driving against the flow as they find their way around the cars and you are free to drive on as soon as they pass, but if you catch them going in the same direction it can take quite a few minutes to drive through them – the nannies with their teats so full of milk at the end of the day that they almost drag on the ground, the billies that try to do their duty along the way, and the kids jumping and skittering around the adults. It is a charming sight, best viewed through closed car windows as the smell can be a bit challenging!

I have started to use a new app (map-my-walk) on my iPhone to chart my walks (and rides). On Thursday morning I walked a route that I regularly ride up into the natural park just above Canillas de Albaida, emerging at Cruz del Monte and returning home via the upper Cómpeta ring road and the goat track.

The first of the early morning sun hitting Maroma

I started the application as I set off but realised when I was nearly home that I had accidentally paused the programme, so didn’t have accurate data. So I decided yesterday to repeat the walk, and found that I had walked 8.85 km in 1 hr 41 mins with an average pace of 11:27 mins per km (fastest km walked 9:53, slowest 12:44).

Elevation of the walk

On reaching home I had a bite of breakfast and then saddled up Liana and did the same route again as I was interested to see the different data for each journey. We are able to do a few canters and gallops in the park and we trot most of the way back along the road, so the journey feels a lot faster. The second trip took 1 hr 21 mins, average pace 9:25 mins per km ( fastest 5:34, slowest 14:02). Apologies if this is really boring, but I am quite taken by my new toy!

The pace of my walk

Compared to Liana’s more erratic pace

And Friday was the day that I had to say goodbye to my puppies after six weeks of cuddling and cleaning the floor! They have found a new friend recently, a bodeguera – a spanish ratting dog, rather like a long-legged jack russell. He seems to have been abandned at the stables above our property and has been spending a lot of time with us. The puppies love him because he is kind to them (unlike Roly who doesn’t want to be anywhere near them). He is desperate for attention and every time I crouch down to pet the pups he tries to climb on my lap. He is very sweet.

So the boys were collected by their new girls after they had been picked up from school, and the two sisters and two brothers were delighted with eachother.

I am sure they will be very happy together and I can always go to visit them at the Pavo Real (bar/restaurant) where they have gone to live. And it will be a good excuse to sample the Pavo Sunday lunch that is so well reviewed. (Pavo Real Restaurant, Torrox-Competa Road (KLM 9) Tel: 654 869 083)

Today, Saturday, I drove to Sedella to walk with my good chum Helen, up in the mountains behind Sedella. We drove to the picnic place and walked up a very steep climb to a ridge where we were looking directly over at Maroma.

A very different (and much closer) view of Maroma

Unfortunately the weather had changed today and at times we were walking through the wispy clouds, so didn’t have very clear views. Unless we wanted to continue the walk to Canillas de Aceituno (which we didn’t) we had to turn and follow the same route back to the car, which is a shame because I much prefer circular routes. We walked just 8 km but it seemed much longer.

I returned home in time to to receive Tony, the farrier, who came to give Liana yet another new set of shoes. This needs doing every 6-8 weeks as horses’ hooves continually grow and need to be trimmed regularly. Sometimes the old shoes are not too badly worn but still need to be removed so that the hooves can be trimmed and then the old shoes are put back on, as was the case today. But usually new shoes need to be fitted. I have to say, I wouldn’t object to new shoes every six weeks!

Tony is an English farrier. We use him (apart from the fact that he is a great bloke) because he is the only farrier in the area who ‘hot shoes’ (shaping the shoe to fit the horse’s hoof) rather than the local spanish way of cold shoeing (shaping the horse’s hooves to fit the shoe).

Tony also runs a riding establishment with his wife Donna and their partner Jeff. ‘Los Olivillos’ is set in a stunning location within the natural park and offers hourly rides, day trekking, riding holidays and trail riding with full board accommodation, if required, in their beautiful finca – http://www.los-olivillos.com/index.html

Posted in A view of life, Animals | Tagged Bodeguera, Canillas de Albaida, Cueva del Agua, Los Olivillos, Maroma, Pavo Real Cómpeta, Sedella | Leave a comment

2014 – off to a good start

Posted on 03/01/2014 by magwood

Great news! We have found a home for the pups, both together. I have them for another ten days and then life can return to normal and poor Roly can once again feel secure in his own home. He is a bit better with them when they are in the garden, which is happening more regularly as the days go by, and actually attempts to play with them, but they find him a bit intimidating when he is bouncing around. They will probably get it all sorted out just as they leave for their new home. I realised today that the pups have discovered the doggy delight of horse poo – I shan’t be wanting any more kisses from them then!

A decision has been made for my second Camino de Santiago. I will walk the Portuguese route, from Lisbon, a shorter distance than the Camino Frances, at 615 km. I shall be embarking on this adventure on my own, walking solo on a much quieter route. I feel rather ‘trepidatious’ about this, but I feel the need to the push the boundaries of my comfort zone and so after much deliberation and advice from those who are familiar with the Caminho Portuguese, I am planning to set off at the end of April, after Easter.

Other new year plans include setting time limits for completing various garden projects – many terrace walls to be built and replanting to be done. Our land is very steeply sloping and over the years I have built many retaining stone walls (using mud to hold them together) and although they have, surprisingly, stood the test of time, they were never really deep enough to be very useful for planting, so I made a start on rebuilding them this past autumn, but ran out of steam before Christmas. I need to finish what I have started and then tackle the next section. I love the work once I get going, but I do find it hard to get going!

More imminent is the self imposed alcohol ban, commencing today (2nd January – we were invited to a party yesterday so didn’t want to start on the first day of the year). I would like to keep this up at least until my next visit to the UK – only three weeks away so not too onerous a commitment.

And I want to get back into the alternate day fasting style of dieting that we have been doing very half-heatedly for a considerable time. Otherwise known as the 5:2 diet, it requires a very low intake of calories two days a week and normal eating the rest of the time.
Women are allowed 500 calories and men 600. David joins in, which makes it a bit easier. It does work well if we stick to it, and it is supposed to be very healthy – good for the vital organs. When we are really keen we diet for three days a week. I kept off my camino weight loss for many months, but it has certainly begun to creep back on and I want to stop it in its tracks before I get back to where I started.

And of course I shall have to step up my walking regime that has fallen by the wayside over the last few months. I shall start building up my distances again. There is not so much choice of places to stay on the Portuguese route and the distance between stages is greater than on the Frances, so many days at the beginning of the walk will be between 30-35 km.

We have had a fabulous start to the year, I walked with a friend yesterday morning in glorious sunshine and then enjoyed an afternoon party on the terrace under blue skies, with stunning sea views. We are terribly spoilt here on the side of our mountain.

I wish everyone who reads this a healthy and happy year in 2014, and if it can also be prosperous, then all the better!