February 1st - 15th 2006
Written by Geoff Forster
Up before dawn.
I couldn't get an internet connection last night.
Iberbanda is terrible. The VoIP telephone breaks up and is almost unusable. Connection speeds to the internet are often slower than Dial-Up. It took their Support Team over a week to reply to my e-mail.
"We´d registered an incidence 1-F7G6S. But it´s about a general
problem in the place and the network depart are still working in there."
Anyone else in 'the place' having general problems with Iberbanda?
Another problem the 'n' key on the laptop only works if you press it very sharply.
Hopefully when the sun comes up it's going to be a beautiful day.
The sun is now up and shining brightly.
We're off to the Alcornocales Parque Natural. Just before we left, I went to put out the rubbish bags and walked smack into the rear door of our Clio hatchback. It put me on my back in the street, I hit it that hard. Fortunately I was okay and not cut. I put ice on my head, had a cup of tea and I was ready to go.
Carmen, Cristóbal and a lad from down the street all came to find out if I was okay. Benarrabá is full of very kind people.
We got bread on the way out of the village, Jane is now making the first batch of Gazpacho in 2006.
We stopped in Gaucín to post a couple of letters. Then we drove down to Estación Gaucín, bird watching in the hedgerows from the slowly moving car.
It was a lovely drive, the roadside verges here are a perfect habitat for lots of birds over wintering from northern Europe.
This is a juvenile Stonechat. Stonechat's are very common and easy to see. They like sitting at the top of bushes or on fence posts.
In the next bush, a Corn Bunting. Beautiful markings.
A little further down the road, Jane took this photograph of a female Chaffinch feeding on the wall.
I was trying to get a photograph of a Sardinian Warbler, we saw lots. They feed deep in the bushes and on the ground under the hedgerows. They are shy and don't like having their photo taken. Well not by me!
I got this shot of a male Blackcap as a consolation. The warbler will have to wait until next time.
We stopped for a coffee at the Mesón las Flores bar.
Then we headed into the forest.
The first part of the forest has a lot of Eucalyptus trees. These are very beautiful when their bark peels.
We were photographing the Eucalyptus trees when we heard a 'typewriter' bird. We often hear this birdcall as we walk around the camino's near Benarrabá. Today we managed to find the bird responsible.
We were both really surprised to find out that our 'two fingered typist' was a Robin.
We got back ito the car. We passed some cows with calves.
Jane took this photograph of a calf that posed for us.
A little further into the forest we passed some horses roaming free in the trees.
We saw a flock of sheep feeding not far from the road. Again one posed for us.
Not satisfied with a being part of a landscape shot, our friendly scene snatching sheep wanted her portrait doing.
We wanted some pine cones, we use them as firelighters.
We usually walk through the pines collecting them as we go.
Today our job was made a lot easier. A huge pine had fallen and there were cones everywhere.
We filled two large sacks of really good cones in around ten minutes.
It was a beautiful day, first the Eucalyptus and now the Pine trees sent a wonderful fragrance into the air.
We chased a Great Spotted Woodpecker from tree to tree, we saw it high up in the tops but couldn't get a photograph.
Another bird which we couldn't get a photograph of baffles me. They are the same silvery grey colour as the bark of the Cork Oak trees which they feed in. They are very nervous, we can't get close to them before they fly away. Their wingspan is larger than that of a thrush, which is the closest match I can find in the books. As I'm familiar with Song and Mistle Thrushes I can rule them out. They feed in small groups. No distinguishing marks at all to help identification. Silvery ghost birds of the Alcornocales!
We did see and photograph a Grey Wagtail. They are usually found near streams, this one was hopping around the forest floor in a large clearing.
The recent rains have bee very welcome. We crossed an arroyo (stream) that was running for the first time since we've been driving through here.
We walked downstream along the rocks. The arroyo was two or three feet / 1 metre deep in places.
We drove on, a little further we got out and saw some really pretty wild flowers. This is a large daisy (Bellis)
This small flower was growing only about 1cm from the ground.
Similarly, this tiny flower was growing nearby.
We enjoyed our walk. It was really warm in the February sunshine.
We hadn't been back in the car long when Jane spotted two deer.
They were close to the road. The camera was set for photographing flowers, so by the time it was ready to take a photograph they'd moved a little further away.
Jane got this really good photograph of them looking straight at the camera.
Zoomed.
We left the forest and drove to Cortes de la Frontera. A little outside the pueblo we took this photograph of the Valle del Guadiaro. The pueblo in the distance is Jimera de Libar.
Jimera de Libar.
We drove across the Guadiaro through Estación de Cortes de la Frontera. The Rio Guadiaro was rushing under the road bridge.
Up passed Siete Pilas and Salitre then across into the steep verdant Valle del Genal.
Back home Jane has made some lovely Gazpacho. I'm going to do a Tortilla with some eggs which Carmen's mother Maria has given to us to try. She has bought some new hens, They apparently lay especially good tasting eggs.
Jane's waiting for a film starring Sandra Bullock & Hugh Grant to start.
Newcastle United are away to Manchester City tonight ... I don't think that I'll be watching the soppy film.
We were losing 0-2 at half time and the internet connection was so bad iI couldn't listen to the match.
I watched the last half of the film with Jane.
Jane's up early. Down to the Post Office. This is a room in Vincente's house. It opens from 9:15 to 9:45. We got a letter saying we have to go to Málaga to fill in a form about our old car.
We took the dogs out for a walk. It was a lovely mild day. A few clouds around but mostly sunny. It was very warm in the sun.
This beautiful shade loving periwinkle / vinca was beginning to flower.
A white horse in an orange grove?
It is in fact a white mule.
This is certainly a mule. The white mark on the mules side is caused by being harnessed to a plough. The wooden shafts when first put on a young mule rub away the hair. When it re grows, the new hair comes through white.
Here they are together.
This is one of Jane's arty farty shots. She's being encouraged by Lyngard and Jean from Stoke who have e-mailed saying they like Jane's photographs.
The tree is a Cork Oak. The pueblo across the valley is Genalguacil.
We saw a few Griffon Vultures flying overhead.
A few Jays, Wood Pigeons, Blue Tits. We heard a Robin typing ...
On the near vertical bank behind me in the photo above a lovely pink Cystus (Rock Rose) was in flower. Spring really comes early here.
We followed this path down the hillside. The Cork Oak branches above Jane are fantastic.
We'd never followed this path before. we wondered if it crossed the valley near the arroyo. The path petered out into sheep trails that were difficult to follow through the brush and wild olive trees growing on the hillside.
This hole in a wild olive tree had been taken over by a very clever spider. I quite like the photograph.
We turned back and headed home.
This is Benarrabá in shadow. The clouds make it look dark and threatening. It was actually a bright spring like day.
Jane noticed a bank carpeted in a small white flower.
We got home, had a bowl of ice cold Gazpacho, perfect when you are hot after a good walk.
Then we went to the Super Genal in Algatocín. We bought some lovely oranges for 1€/2 kilos 16p/lb.
Then we drove to Rio Genal at San Juan. The river was flowing quickly, swollen with recent rain and snow.
Upstream it looked more tranquil. The leafless trees and bushes on the banks were very beautiful.
We walked up stream. You can usually cross at this point on stepping stones. We didn't try it today.
We drove up to Algatocín and then home. We got back around 4pm.
I went online and found out that Souness has been sacked.
His record was poor considering the squad he has.
Hopefully his successor will win something.
We're going to cook a beef curry tonight. We have lots of pulp left from yesterdays Gazpacho. (Our 'Visor' masticating juicer separates the juice from the pulp). I can use it as a base for a Rogan Josh style curry sauce.
The curry was wonderful. We watched TV. Morse.
Up bright and early. We had a sharp short burst of rain at around 07:00h, it's overcast at the moment but not raining.
I'm going to sort through photographs on the website to add a gallery to our Spanish site and improve the one on this site
Thanks to Lina in Jubrique and Jolette in Gandia for checking my Spanish.
We had a good day around the house.
In the evening we watched TV.
A beautiful day. Sunshine and blue skies. The Olive grove near the house is bursting with life. Flowers and grasses are growing at a rapid rate, birds in the trees are chirping and the hillside seems alive with life.
Jane has been cleaning. I've been working on our websites.
Newcastle United won 2-0 against Portsmouth.
Shearer scored his 201st goal for the club, breaking Jackie Milburn's record.
Jane made a potato tortilla.
We went for a walk around the village.
Another quiet night in.
Another perfect day. Blue skies and sunshine all day.
A very quiet day. Jane was surfing the internet most of the day.
I had a day off from the computer.
We had an afternoon siesta, were staying up late tonight to watch the Superbowl.
Lots of e-mails from blog readers and new visitors to the website.
Which we always enjoy receiving.
Weather girl Marilyn says that we're going to have a spell of good weather.
A late start after last nights Superbowl from Detroit. The Steelers won a poor game, badly refereed.
The weathers great. The almond tree next to the apartment is magnificent, covered in a pale pink blossom.
We're going for an afternoon walk with the dogs.
We went for a walk up the trail at the side of the apartment.
We took our three Border Collies. Our little Spanish cat 'Mota de Oro' (Speck of Gold) decided to tag along, she often does.
She fluffs her tail up and struts alongside Jane.
We enjoyed our brief stroll, lots of flowers are coming through. We saw a Broom bush coming into flower, a Shepherds Purse and numerous small yellow flowers.
On the way down 'Mota de Oro' plays a game. She charges passed the dogs and hides in bushes or up trees until we pass. Then she hurtles passed us at top speed and repeats the game.
We took the dogs and cat home.
We then went up the road out of Benarrabá and parked to watch some Griffon Vultures circling above us.
We sat on a flat patch of green on top of an outcrop and enjoyed the views.
I spent half an hour watching Crag Martin's putting on a stunning aerial display of fly catching on the wing.
Jane had the camera. She took some good photographs.
More and more flowers are appearing daily.
Jane's been experimenting with the macro setting on the camera.
The petals on this yellow flower were tiny, about a millimetre long.
We enjoyed our afternoon in the sunshine.
We went to the spring to fill our water bottles.
Jane took a few more photographs.
She loves photographing trees. These work well.
We watched a good film, 'Stander'. Starring Thomas Jane. A true story about a South African policeman turned bank robber.
An early start. We're both up at before 7am.
We're planning to be out all day.
The weather's supposed to be good.
We're both looking forward to visiting and exploring some new towns in the Cádiz province.
We got in the car and headed out of Benarrabá.
The weather forecast was excellent. The early morning cloud was a bit worrying as we set off, but this spotlight on the Genal Valley was the sun shining through the only cloud we saw all day.
We drove to Ronda then headed to Villamartin.
We parked up a steep orange tree lined side street.
Some of the streets had both orange and lemon trees. A few trees had both oranges and lemons growing on them. I guess this is due to bud grafting.
We spotted some White Storks nesting on the top of an old convent.
A man saw us photographing the building and nest and invited us inside to see the building.
This is a lovely tiled cloister. The building seemed to be a community centre/college.
We did get a far better view of the White Storks.
This is the Villamartin plaza, Ayuntamiento with the church behind.
We enjoyed our walk around the pueblo. Some of the houses were very grand others in the side streets were a mixture of both original and renovated.
The church was a beautiful building.
Next we drove to Bornos.
We hadn't planned a stop here but we saw the lake and decided to stop.
We parked near a college and walked down into the pueblo.
At first sight Bornos wasn't quite as pretty as Villamartin.
The Jardines del Palacio de Los Ribera were a fantastic surprise.
These gardens inside an old palace wall were wonderful. We enjoyed walking around.
A White Stork landed on top of a nearby tree. Another flew close by, causing the first White Stork to leap into the air.
We walked through the Palacio onto the plaza.
This church was opposite the Ayuntamiento in the plaza area.
We walked back through the gardens to the car. I was surprised to see half a dozen House Martins flying around the upper area of Bornos. Very early migrants.
We got in the car and drove to Arcos de la Frontera.
Arcos de la Frontera is a large town. The old part of town is on a rock outcrop. This is where we headed.
A long climb and we reached the plaza area with a lovely church and balcony mirador.
Arcos de la Frontera ... is that the Tyne bridge in the distance?
Very dramatic ... not quite Ronda but ... well worth visiting.
The old part of town was a mixture of grandiose houses, another great church and a lot of rather dilapidated old buildings. The rest of the pueblo was developing fast. Cranes and construction everywhere.
We drove back passed El Bosque, Ubrique, through the Alcornocales to Estación Gaucín and up via Gaucín to Benarrabá.
A long day but very worthwhile. We enjoyed all three new pueblos.
Web pages with lot more photo's coming soon.
We saw four deer in the Alcornocales running quite close to the road.
I also took this photo' of an Acacia tree coming into flower.
Another great day. Lots of sunshine.
We stayed in all day. I've been working on our website. I've been doing availability calendars in Dutch, Swedish and Polish.
I've also finished the Dutch webpage, thanks to Marion and Onno Henke for the translation.
I'm hoping to complete the Swedish and Polish pages tomorrow.
Jane's been finishing off a novel which she's been reading.
I cooked a roast chicken dinner tonight.
Another lovely day.
We went for a walk into the campo with our three Border Collies.
This is a female Blackcap.
Here's Jane and our Border Collie, Sally.
Here's one of me and the dogs.
It was really mild, even in the shade, still T-shirt weather.
Jane took this photograph of a Cork Oak tree.
The pink colour around the bottom of the photo' is Almond blossom. The hillsides are now covered in pretty Almond trees.
You can also see the Benarrabá church clock tower.
We walked home through the pueblo.
We passed Bar Andrés Sánchez and saw that Andrés was back from his holiday. We decided to take the dogs home and to return to see him.
Jane spotted this good angle for a photograph on the way down into Benarrabá.
Here's Andrés with his tan. He's been to see a friend in Lima, Peru.
I wondered why someone from Peru was a regular visitor to the website.
This is a friend. Antonio Ramos. He just smashed the Benarrabá pinball record with a huge 866,398,480. Come and have a go if you think you can beat it!
We left Andrés and called into Bar Barroso.
Bar Barroso is run by the same family that run the Carnicería opposite.
They have had a new promotional photograph montage done.
The little lad in the bottom left is young Silvestre. The grandson of José and Antonia.
We walked up to the plaza.
On the way we met some Dutch visitors who live near Málaga.
The man on the left is Spanish and is related to the Ramos family.
We arrived in Pepa's bar.
There was a domino game going on. Dominoes is very popular in Spain. It is played very quietly in Spain compared to some countries I've visited.
The man on the right is José Luis he was visiting Benarrabá from his home in Almería.
He went to school with Fran (on the left) in Benarrabá more than thirty years ago. Friends Reunited.
Here's Fran, José Luis's wife Isabel and José Luis.
Serious stuff.
Here's Antonio from the pandería with yours truly.
If anyone heard a loud bump in Stoke ... it was us falling off the wagon.
Here's Pepa. The beers are Mexican, served with a slice of lemon pushed ito the bottle neck.
It was only a question of time ...
Bite her ... its the only way to win. English rules its allowed ... isn't it?
Look at those skinny wrists. No contest.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaarghhhhhhhh.
Amigas.
Loser cleans the bar.
A fantastic day, the temperature was in the low 70's F / 20C. We walked through the village in the morning. We went to the Ayuntamiento to sort out some paper work.
In the afternoon Jane and I went for a walk. We followed a route called the 'Ruta El Cerrillo de la Cruz' (azul .. the blue route). As we hadn't done all of this walk before, we didn't take the dogs in case there were any loose sheep along the track. The dogs are okay with sheep but they may make the sheep run and hurt themselves.
The blue route starts opposite the Ayuntamiento, down the side of Bar Andrés Sánchez. The route goes passed some ruined molina's (mills) down a narrow boulder strewn track. You have to watch you don't turn an ankle.
I think this is Molina Farruco.
We followed the blue arrows you can see one in the photo above. They were painted at regular reassuring intervals.
There were a number of orange groves and small plots with olive trees.
This horse looked out at us as we passed.
We crossed the Arroyo Infiernillo. It was very lovely at the bottom of the gulley. Water was gurgling and splashing over some rocks.
Another ruined molino.
The narrow track up this side of the arroyo was a lot better to walk on.
It was very warm in the sun. The wildflowers, sound of water in the arroyo and birdsong in all the trees, made it a lovely walk.
We watched around thirty Griffon Vultures circling around above us.
A lovely view East. The pueblo opposite is Genalguacil.
This little dog yapped at us as we passed.
We joined the Camino del Puente and walked back passed the fuente el Chorruelo to Benarrabá.
The walk ends in the Calle Cuartilla which is handy as this is our street!
We took the dogs out up the track near the house so they didn't miss out completely.
It's Jake our youngest Border Collie's birthday today he's 4.
It's also Michelle's in Margate's 30th. Feliz Cumpleaños.
There's a protest today on the A369 road about the large dry stone wall being built above Benarrabá.
The wall is about 1.5km in length 3m high and not far off 3m wide.
Recent rains caused a section to collapse.
It has been repaired, but everyone wants to make sure it is safe and secure, whilst the contractors are still fulfilling the contract and have their machinery in the area.
We parked the car at the top of the Benarrabá turn off and walked to Puerto del Espino where the protest was to be held.
We got there early and watched some Griffon Vultures flying in the valley.
Soon quite a lot of people had arrived. They'd come from villages all around the area. The Alcalde (Mayor) de Gaucín led the protest into the road.
This is the junction of the Cortes - Algeciras - Ronda road.
The protest was peaceful and good natured.
A car with a sick child aboard was allowed to pass.
This team of cyclists wasn't. Apparently they are a big team in Spain sponsored by a large bank/insurance company Liberty Seguros.
A TV crew turned up and did an interview.
I have a lot more photographs and will do a separate page.
Más fotos aqui - enlace
The road was blocked for around half an hour.
Then the protestors moved off the road to a nearby venta for beer and tapas. There was a really good atmosphere and everyone enjoyed themselves.
The man front left is Manuel who installs aerial and satellite dishes.
We signed our Iberbanda contract through him. I had a word ....
Apparently the capacity is being increased and everyone should notice a huge difference by the end of next week ... fingers crossed then.
This is Ian and Ute. They live in a finca near Genalguacil. We met them when we first moved here. They used to go to a guitar group in the restaurante Kábilas. We hadn't seen them for over a year. Good to see that they are fit and well.
We walked back to the car and down to Benarrabá.
We called into Café Bar Guayacán for tapas.
This is Joaquin Roman from Chiclana Cádiz.
He had visited the UK and drew us a map of the British Isles telling us of all the places that he'd visited.
The man on the left is Cristóbal Rodriguez Jarrillo.
He was born Benarrabá but lived in Barcelona for a lot of years. Now he spends time in both places. He went to his house and came back to the bar with some fantastic chorizo, morcillo and salcichon. Yolanda behind the bar had no objections to cutting it up and putting it on a plate for us. He also gave us a wooden paper knife/ letter opener that he'd carved
We got home to find that Newcastle United had won again!
Not a bad day.
An overcast start but hopefully the sun will break through.
We're going to have a lazy day around the house.
We'll probably watch a film. We're planning on cooking a chicken curry.
We're up at 6am!
We're in Gibraltar by 8am! It was still dark.
We got across into Gibraltar in around 10 minutes.
Filled up with petrol. Un leaded 60p/litre 0.86euros/litre.
We parked and shopped in Morrisons'.
Then drove back over the border.
We stopped to watch a colony of Lesser Kestrels that have just migrated back from Africa. We saw them nesting in the same place last year.
It was a lovely day, a digital temperature sign in Estación Jimena said 25C/ 77F at 11:00h.
We got back to Benarrabá before 12h:00.
We took the dogs out for a walk into the campo along the camino del puente.
This Almond tree was in full blossom it looked great against the blue sky.
This Cork Oak tree provided some shade as we had a refreshing drink.
Jane laid on her back to take the photo'. (No wood ants around yet!)
She's cracking up. New age Jane.
I do like them. Cork Oak trees have wonderful trunks, branches and overall shape.
The Oxalis is everywhere.
We heard an unmistakable but very surprising noise. Eagles calling to each other across the valley. It is really great to have them back.
We saw two pairs in all. They were courting. Flying across the Valle del Genal and touching into each other. They were calling to each other all the time. Four Booted Eagles, they have returned a lot earlier than last year. They hunt in the valley near the apartment. Last year we saw them nearly every day.
The dogs were having a great time. A favourite puddle had become a pool of grey mud and they loved it.
We got home just after 3pm.
I've been working on a website.
We're cooking a fantastic fry up tonight.
I think we'll sleep well, it's been quite a day.
Shopping in Gibraltar ... and the Eagles return we're both happy.
Another lovely sunny day. A later start than yesterday.
I hope we'll get out for a walk later.
I have to work on the website, so many little things need doing.
Because the blog often contains a lot of photographs. We understand some people still using slow connections - Dial up & Iberbanda! may have to wait for a long time for photo's to download.
We've decided to launch Blog Lite. Which is the same blog but only the last three or four days are on the page. We hope this helps regular readers.
We went for a walk. Again along the camino del puente.
A beautiful day, high temperatures and so peaceful.
We walked for hours and saw no one outside the village.
Jane took this photograph of the oxalis and a white mule under an orange tree.
We walked to the big rock next to the mud puddle.
The dogs repeated their mud bath, they love being out on these tracks.
This is a Holm Oak. There was an Holm Oak tree in the centre of Hawley Square in Margate, where Jane and I first met.
This is our new (St Valentine's day) special tree.
We stopped near the tree at the edge of an Olive grove.
I was disappointed not to see or hear the Booted Eagles, perhaps these weren't 'our' eagles and were just migrating passed.
We did see two strikingly blue, Blue Tits chasing each other through the Olive trees. They were the bluest birds I've ever seen, very pretty.
We watched them court for ten minutes.
We got back home then went for a walk through the village.
We called into Bar El Porón to see Pepa.
We then went to buy some curado chorizo from both Andrés Ramos and carnicería Antonia.
We had a quick drink in Bar Andrés Sánchez and then walked home to cook a Valentines day dinner, which we enjoyed with a bottle of good 2002 Crianza.
Up quite early. I want to make some progress with the work on the websites.
The suns shining again.
This spell of good weather is unbelievable. We'll probably go for another walk later.
We set off along the signed walk to Algatocín. Climbing up the steep ridge to the North of Benarrabá. At the top, instead of taking the trail to Algatocín, we turned East and walked hoping to find a path that would lead us down to the camino del puente near the large rock we often walk to.
The views across to Algatocín were fantastic..
We walked passed a few small houses and farm buildings. Each seemed to have half a dozen dogs, who all barked at us as we went passed.
After running the gauntlet of dog alley, we carried on down the trail.
We turned North and descended down the track. After a few minutes it became obvious that we were a few hundred yards off course. So we turned and climbed up a steep hillside to try and get to back onto the other side of the ridge. It was very steep and rocky so I went on ahead to see if there was a path. There wasn't and in ten minutes I was back not far from the farm buildings on the ridge. I went back for Jane. We retraced our steps and took a small path through some pines and descended down a steep path through a rocky outcrop to the camino del puente near the rock.
We had succeeded in finding a circular route, but having thirty dogs all barking at the same time as you pass by wasn't an experience we'll be repeating or recommending to others. A shame, as that aside, it was quite a pleasant walk.
I did hear a single Booted Eagle calling but couldn't see it.
We also heard lots of Jays making quite a raucous noise.
Here are two photographs of Benarrabá from the camino to the North of the pueblo taken this evening at around 17:00h.
It is a very beautiful village in a fantastic part of the world.
We had a good night. We enjoyed 'Intolerable Cruelty' starring Catherine Zeta Jones and George Clooney. A very good script and some hilarious moments.