February 8th - 15th 2007
Written by Geoff Forster
It poured down most of the night. Great news for the campo.
It has stopped at the moment but the skies are grey and mist is hanging on the mountain sides.
Earlier the village disappeared behind a cloud of mist.
We're taking advantage of the weather to have a days rest from walking. We're going to watch a few films.
We watched 'Aliens' starring Sigourney Weaver. The sequel where she returns to the planet.
A great film.
Followed by 'Alien3' again starring Sigourney Weaver with Charles Dance and a surprising number of British actors including Brian Glover. Production Supervisor ... blog reader Patricia Carr. Nice one Pat!
A break from the Sci-fi fest to watch Masterchef.
We spent a few hours on the computers, before watching the final Alien film 'Alien Resurrection' starring Sigourney Weaver and Winona Ryder.
A beautiful day. The sun is shining, we're off out with the Border Collies to see the donkeys.
We passed the spring at El Chorruelo it was flowing very quickly. We crossed the arroyo Infiernillo and water was roaring down the steep gulley.
As you can see the countryside is green.
We both enjoy our daily walks in the campo.
High above us a Griffon Vulture circled on a thermal.
Almonds are still blossoming.
Oranges are ripening.
A strange cloud formation. Rippled cirrus clouds, due to strong winds in the upper atmosphere.
The Genal Valley is so beautiful.
The Holm oaks in the area are presently an orange colour. They are never completely bare. As they lose their leaves, new ones are already growing through.
Algatocín.
We fed the donkeys. They were very playful, chasing each other through the shrubs.
We had a lovely walk home.
We're not getting any TV satellite reception, perhaps the dish has moved or a cable has come loose. So no Masterchef for Jane.
We watched 'Kill Bill Vol2' starring Uma Thurman and David Carradine on DVD.
Not as much action as the first film. Although the chemistry between the two stars was special. Great directing as usual from Quentin Tarantino.
Another beautiful day.
We're up and out to see the donkeys.
I want to be back in time in good time to watch the Newcastle United v Liverpool football match.
The sun was shining and the Border Collies enjoyed yet another good long walk.
This is Jake, he's four tomorrow.
Jane with a backpack full of seed for the donkeys.
A few clouds above Jubrique but it was warm in the sun.
Domingo likes his food.
The dogs sit by the gate waiting for us to walk back home.
Benarraba.
Another highly enjoyable walk. We're both felling so much fitter. Walking in the pure mountain air every day is becoming addictive.
I watched the match on the computer. A great result. We won 2-1. One of the best performances for a long time. Wait until Michael Owen is fit ... Martins and Owen could be a lethal combination.
We still have no TV satellite signal. I went on the roof to check the wiring. There's nothing obviously wrong. The dish seems solidly attached and the cable looks fine. The light was failing so I'll have to check it more thoroughly tomorrow.
We watched 'Inside Man' starring Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, and Jodie Foster.
An excellent movie about a bank heist.
Our guests Bryon and Ann kindly lent us the DVD.
Another lovely day.
We walked out with the Border Collies to the donkeys.
We passed Peter and Clarissa on the way. They were doing the 'ruta azul', the blue walk. A circular walk which we enjoy doing. It's especially good when the arroyo Infiernillo is flowing fast, as it is now.
We got to the donkeys in around an hour. Fed them and turned back for home.
It's Jake or youngest Border Collie's birthday today. He's four years old.
It's also Michelle's birthday, and also Faye's so Feliz Cumpleaños to them.
Here are a few past photo's of the birthday boy.
A favourite of mine. Taken of the Border Collies in the Rio Genal.
We watched 'Inside I'm Dancing' starring Steven Robertson, James McAvoy, Romola Garai and Brenda Fricker. An Irish film about two lads in wheelchairs.
Not usually my sort of film, but it was recommended by guest's Ann and Bryon.
I read the box and it wasn't a film that I'd have bought or rented. I learned not to judge a DVD by it's cover ... it was a lot better than I'd expected, in fact it was really good.
Some very funny moments. Jane had the tissues out ...
A cloudy start to the day.
We both spent the day working on our new websites. Progress is being made, but we're undertaking a huge task. Fortunately the structure and content of some the sections overlaps so work on one site can be put on the other eight.
Jane is my research assistant and is enjoying her work ... sort of.
Our guest's Bryon and Ann invited us up for a cup of tea and Bryon showed me the photographs which he's taken since arriving in Andalucía.
Before arriving in Benarrabá, Bryon and Ann spent two days in Carmona which is quite close to Sevilla.
Bryon kindly allowed me to make copies of his photographs. So, as we didn't get out of the house much today, here are Bryons's photographs of Carmona.
Photographer Bryon Blackwell.
Thanks to Bryon for the photographs. More to come. Carmona is now on the list of places which we want to visit. The list is still growing after nearly three years of living here. Which just goes to show what an amazing area Andalucía is.
Do you have any photographs of a recent visit to Andalucía?
A beautiful day. The temperature has jumped a few degrees and it is quite hot in the sun.
Our guest's Bryon and Ann left this morning for the Huelva province, near the Portuguese border.
We enjoyed having them stay with us, a lovely couple. We hope to meet them again in the future. They are recommending the apartment to all their friends which is always good.
They also said that I had to say on the blog what a great time that they'd had in the village.
We set off earlier than usual with the Border Collies to see the donkeys.
The Oxalis Pes-Caprae was open along the track side.
This bee was laden with pollen as it flew slowly from flower to flower.
The Vincas (Periwinkles) and Oxalis are really pretty when seen together.
It was a hot day we were in t-shirts and wished we'd been brave and put on our shorts.
At one point we saw thirty or forty butterflies of this species flying around some trees.
It was a good day for insects and spotting wild life.
We saw baby crickets everywhere. A large lizard ran across the track. We also saw about four other different species of butterflies.
The highlight of the walk and the year so far was a Hoopoe which flew across the track ahead of us. I tried to get some photo's but it was too far ahead.
We walked on. Jane suddenly spotted it again high in a pine tree.
We watched the Hoopoe for half an hour. It was watching us with interest.
It occasionally moved along the branches in the same manner that a parrot shuffles along a perch.
Finally it flew to another tree then off across the valley.
The Hoopoe has been my favourite bird since I was a schoolboy and this was the best sighting we've had since moving to Spain.
We thought that they would be quite a common bird in the area, but they are a rare sight in the Genal Valley.
We fed the donkeys. Who are well.
The Genal Valley is green and this warm sunshine after recent overnight rains should really encourage growth.
The first Lavender is nearly flowering.
We should have another amazing Spring.
Last year was fantastic.
We had an enjoyable walk. The Hoopoe made my day.
Back home we worked through the evening on our new websites.
We watched 'Panic Room' starring Jodie Foster.
We're up early because we're thinking of going to Gibraltar today.
We need a few things in Morrisons' and we can fill up with petrol whilst we're there.
There's not a huge saving when you drive a Clio, but the difference pays for the petrol used getting there and back.
The skies were grey but the countryside was green as we drove down passed San Pablo and Jimena de la Frontera.
We saw a buzzard on a wire. It was a hundred metres from the road so I took a speculative shot as we drove by.
It came out fairly well. The trees in the background are Eucalyptus which line the road for a few km.
We passed by the White Storks near Estación de San Roque. They'll be laying their eggs shortly.
We drove to the border and were quickly across, no queues at all.
We parked in Morrisons' car park and walked to Main Street.
It was fairly quiet.
We did a bit of window shopping before returning to Morrisons'.
We did our shopping, filled up with petrol and drove back across the border.
Again no queues and we were quickly waved through by the Spanish customs officers.
We drove to Los Barrios to do more shopping in Lidl's.
Then across to Carrefours where we had some photo's printed and did a bit more shopping.
The skies were brighter and it was a lovely late afternoon.
Temperatures had been in the high 60'sF all day.
We drove the fully laden Clio back up towards the mountains. Eating sausage rolls and jam doughnuts on the way. The first doughnuts in three years. ;-)
We saw lots of Common Buzzards on the way home. Including a very large bird that flew acroos a railway cutting.
We also saw a Colony of Lesser Kestrels at a nesting site on a railway bridge that they use every year. They weren't there this morning. So perhaps they'd arrived from Africa during the afternoon.
We stopped at Venta Las Acacias near San Pablo for a wonderful coffee and a free slice of a moist lemon cake.
Back in Benarrabá we worked until 2am on our websites.
Another busy day. Both of us have been working hard on the computers.
As well as work on our websites, we improved the blog templates so that Jane can edit and publish them without doing any coding.
We drove part of the way to see the donkeys. They are both looking good.
On the way back we filled up all our water containers from the natural spring El Choruello.
Newcastle United won 1-3 in the UEFA cup. A good result.
We cooked an winter stew.
We worked again until after midnight.
Here are some more photographs taken by our recent guest Bryon Blackwell.
The beautiful city of Sevilla.
A big thanks to Bryon for letting us use his photographs.