July 16th - 31st 2005
Written by Geoff Forster
It is Michelle and Kevin's last day. This evening we take them to Málaga airport.
The skies are hazy but it is still hot. Fortunately we have thick walls, blinds and plenty of fans so inside is a reasonable temperature.
I have just taken the dogs up the track at the side of the house.
There are thirty plus Bee Eaters on the wires up there. There are definitely a lot more Bee Eaters around this year than last. This group have been here for over a week now. I am not sure where their nest tunnels are.
We have arranged with Juan our neighbour who has an open back 4x4 to take the sofas to John and Chris's finca tomorrow morning at 8am.
The temperature in the shade is 91F / 33C, a really beautiful day, I have been out again with the dogs for a short walk, it is lovely in the sun for ten to fifteen minutes. Then you need to cool down.
We have shading on the sun terrace which is good as there is a lovely breeze up there.
The 'Entrada' at the side of the Apartment is wonderful for sitting and reading in. At this time of year the sun is high in the sky and does not shine in the 'Entrada', so the tiling and cast iron bench and table remain cool.
We left Benarrabá at 5pm to take Michelle & Kevin to Málaga Airport.
We crossed the Rio Genal below Gaucín and were amazed to see the Rio had completely dried up.
Only a week ago there was a small stream here.
We dropped Michelle and Kevin off at Málaga airport. The main parking area at the airport has been bulldozed. All summer it has been a nightmare to park here. The work does not seem to be progressing very quickly ... we could not find a parking spot, so we had to say a hasty farewell outside the departures area.
Carmen and Cristóbal, our neighbours, had told us that there were celebrations all down the coast this evening. It is the day of 'La Virgen del Carmen'. She is Patron saint of Marino's (Seafarers).
We called into San Luis de Sabinillas to catch the celebrations.
The girl water skiing must have special protection from the Virgen, she went the length of the bay without falling.
There was a stage for a flamenco show, bunting and lots of bars.
The beach was the busiest that we had seen it although there was still plenty of space to sunbathe.
We were hungry and ordered a huge pizza from Jimmy's pizzeria.
It was just about to be served when the festivities started so I dashed down to the beach to get some photo's
A flotilla of boats came up and down the bay, as close to the shore as they dared.
The boats were decorated with flowers. Here is the Virgen in the lead boat.
I bumped into Cristóbal and family on the beach, a quick hola and I ran back for my pizza.
The pizza was quite good and I was still eating when the boats came as close to the shore as possible and the Virgen was transferred to land.
The Virgen was then carried up the beach. Everybody was singing.
Jane ran down to take the next series of photographs whilst I enjoyed my pizza.
This is a great photograph taken by Jane. The virgen with lights.
We left Sabinillas at 9:30pm, there were still people on the beach in bikinis. We would have love to have stayed for the flamenco but Jane had already driven quite a way. We needed to get home before it was too dark.
We got home safely just as the sun went down.
We were up well before dawn. There were some clouds on the horizon so I thought it might be a good sunrise to photograph.
It turned out to be a strange colourless sunrise. There was a bank of thick clouds on the horizon. The sun lit up the sky with a strange white light and then rose from behind the clouds.
Juan went to get his 4x4, John and Chris arrived from the campo.
When Juan returned we loaded the sofas on to the pickup and headed to the 'Refugio de San Juan y Christina'. It was 8:30am, the temperature was 29C.
We delivered the sofas and headed back to Benarrabá. Juan had a copy of Viva Estates Hot Property magazine. He showed me an article on Algatocín and another on Benarrabá. It was a good write up.
Unfortunately they have dropped a huge clanger. The photograph in the Benarrabá article was actually one of Genalguacil and the photograph on the Algatocín page was one of Benarrabá.
Juan stopped off to show me some huge pigs kept in the campo. They are over seven years old. Normally pigs are slaughtered before they are two years old as the meat get too tough.
We got back to Benarrabá at 9:30am, the temperature was now 36C.
We said thanks to Juan and started to tidy the apartment.
It was a cloudy day and at one point we got a surprise shower of around 200 drops of rain. As usual just enough to mess up the car and the paintwork.
The sun was strong enough to shine through the clouds and it was very hot. We went to the pool for a swim.
Newcastle won 1-3 in the Intertoto Cup, so I am a happy chappy.
I watched TV, antiques programmes and one about the human brain and the difference between the sexes due to hormones. Women's brains are 10% smaller than mens (no logic circuitry). They are also more emotional. Who pays these scientists?
A sunny day, things are back to normal after yesterdays clouds.
We spent a very quiet day in the house.
Later we watered the plants and walked the dogs.
Juan's three goats managed to get out, as did their rabbit. Mota de Oro our little Spanish cat chased the rabbit around for a few minutes before it was rescued and put back in its house with the turkeys.
We saw more Bee Eaters, also a female Booted Eagle that was perched on the crag above the house. It flew above us and then effortlessly glided across the valley. An amazing sight! We are so lucky to have so much great wildlife around us to watch.
We are planning a trip out tomorrow to visit a few more new towns and villages.
Up early, the sun has just risen, its going to be a hot day.
I have just finished a new web page on the pueblo of Montecorto which we visited a few weeks ago.
Montecorto
We set off in the car at 11am to explore some new pueblos.
On the way out of Benarrabá we saw over fifty Bee Eaters sitting on wires and hunting on the hillsides. We stopped and I took this photograph.
We headed down the A369 Algeciras to Ronda road.
At Atajate we turned to cross the Guadiaro valley passed Jimera de Libar. The Rio Guadiaro is still flowing. We went to Montejaque and then drove on to the Ronda - Seville road.
We turned off after a few km onto the road to Olvera.
The last time we were in Olvera it was very hazy and sticky hot. Today there were blue skies and it was very hot.
This is the main street in Olvera. It is a long street!
At the top of a green bank is this statue of Jesus. It is a lovely area with cascading water feature and a small plaza at the bottom.
Next after a walk around the top end of Olvera we tried to go to Pruna.
The castillo above Pruna can be seen from Olvera.
However there are no useful signposts on any of the roundabouts or junctions in Olvera.
Eventually we did find the road and drove the short distance to Pruna.
We had never been to Pruna before. The church was lovely.
There was a statue of the Virgen in a small plaza lined with palms.
We walked around the streets for half an hour.
At least Pruna was quite flat. It was getting very hot.
We drove back to Olvera.
We looked for signpost to our next destination Torre Alhaquime.
We drove through the lower part of Olvera.
Olvera was a lot bigger than we had thought.
We passed a badly signed junction, did a U-turn and headed to Torre Alhaquime.
The hills around Torre Alhaquime are like a patchwork quilt.
Unlike Pruna it is very steep. Like Pruna it was very hot here.
We climbed up to a playground/plaza above the church, probably the site of the old castle. It had been converted to a childrens play area and plaza. The work was fairly recent, vandalism and graffiti has now spoiled what should have been a lovely area to take the children and sit at night.
Andalucian churches are beautiful. The one in Torre Alhaquime is no exception.
We had a Coke in the Bar Alhaquime (the cheapest so far in Andalucía). There was a canary singing in a cage, it was so fast and loud we thought that it was a recording.
We walked back down to the car.
The people in Torre Alhaquime were all very friendly.
Next we drove to Setenil de las Bodegas, we stopped for a sandwich and a cold drink of fruit juice from our cool box.
We were here not that long ago, the view across the gorge is wonderful, I could not resist taking a photograph.
The river here is nearly dry.
We drove through Arriate to Ronda. We did some shopping in the Plus supermarket and then we drove home along the A369 to Benarrabá.
A very busy, a very hot, but a very enjoyable day.
A hot hazy day.
We went to Algatocín to the Super Genal supermarket to buy vegetables for Gazpacho. It was market day so we had a quick look around, Algatocín market is two or three stalls bigger than Benarrabá's, we bought nothing.
Next we went to Gaucín. We posted some letters and had a quick walk around. We drove to the other end of the pueblo to buy cat food, then we filled some water bottles from the natural spring. It is not flowing as fast as it was. It could be dry in a couple of weeks.
Back in Benarrabá we went for a swim, then home for a siesta.
Later we watched TV.
Another glorious day, what a summer!
Nothing planned for today. A few short walks with the dogs and listen to the start of the first Ashes Test on the radio.
We have bought a ceiling fan/light for downstairs so I have to put it up. I remember doing the one upstairs was very tricky. Lots of little parts to assemble from the Spanish instruction sheet.
I put the fan up whilst listening to the cricket.
Jane made a huge batch of Gazpacho this afternoon, it is perfect for hot summer days.
The cricket was going well, then a disastrous last session put Australia firmly in charge of the game.
A quiet night in watching TV.
I have just been out with the dogs it is a beautiful day. Blue skies with a few wispy clouds. Some Bee Eaters flew a few feet over our heads as we walked up the track at the side of the house.
It is market day ...
We went to the restaurante Kábilas and sat in the evening sunshine, later we had tapas in the village.
Another glorious day.
I watched the cricket ... oh dear.
Newcastle United won ... Sheeeeeearer !!!
Lucy one of our cats is very ill, she has not been well for quite some time. Her breathing is very deep and she is lying on her side.
We spent a quiet evening in, watching TV and looking after Lucy.
Sad news. Lucy one of our cats, died in the early hours of this morning. She was fourteen.
She had had cancer for some years. A lovely affectionate cat. She will be missed.
It is Jane's mother, Esther's birthday today. Feliz Cumpleaños Esther.
Here is a photograph taken on a visit to Gibraltar in June 2005.
We had a visit from Stuart Nicholls from Stoke.
Stuart is a regular visitor to the area. He has a holiday home in Montejaque. He enjoys reading the blog every day. We met him and his wife Christine earlier in the year. It was good to see him again. We went to Bar Andrés Sánchez for a Coke.
We hope Stuart had a good flight home.
We had a quiet day in. I watched the German GP, and then a very wet and eventful British Motorcycle GP at Donington Park. England lost the first cricket test match at Lords. Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France in Paris.
We watched yet more TV in the evening.
It is cold wet and very miserable ... in Stoke, but in Andalucía it is another beautiful day.
We are going to San Pablo de Buceite to buy a rose for Lucy's grave. Then we plan to visit St Martin de Tesorillo, Castellar and later Carrefours at Los Barrios.
We went to Viveros Salinas the nursery in San Pablo de Buceite. We were a little disappointed by their stock and bought only a terracotta pot and base.
We decided to drive to San Enrique de Guadiaro and visit the larger garden centre there, Viveros Martin.
We were looking for a rose. The roses looked a little leggy and tired, so we ended up buying a pink Oleander and a red Hibiscus.
We drove back to St Martin de Tesorillo. Tesorillo means little treasure, it is not a little treasure. It is not a pretty town.
Here is the church.
Here is the town square which is also a large roundabout ...???
These are the only 'nice' photographs I took in St Martin de Tesorillo. I picked the angles carefully!
The church has been pebble dashed and is actually on closer inspection a grimy grey colour.
The square on the other side is over looked by hideous apartment blocks.
The houses and streets are not the pretty Spanish houses and streets that you find on postcards.
They were however in good condition and individually some were very nice.
Plus points ... St Martin de Tesorillo is quite near the coast and as always in this part of Andalucía the people were friendly.
Next we went to Carrefours near Los Barrios. On the way we passed the White Storks nesting near Estación de San Roque. They are usually sitting or standing on their nests atop the electricity pilons. However today, over thirty of them flew across the road just ahead of us. A flying school for all the young ones.
We bought some ice cream in Carrefours so we had to postpone our planned stop off in Castellar for another day.
On the way up to Gaucín, Jane suddenly stopped the car, she had spotted a Short-toed Eagle landing on the hillside in front of us. It had missed its prey but we got a great close up view of this quite large eagle.
I got my camera out but by the time I switched it on and zoomed in it had flown up into the air. I did get a couple of photographs of it.
We had been driving for two minutes after sighting the Short-toed Eagle when a pair of Egyptian Vultures flew across in front of us. I jumped out of the car (it had stopped but only just!) They circled a few times, the white on the top of this bird below was dazzling when it turned into the sun. They are a lot smaller than Griffon vultures which are a lot more common in this area.
We drove up to Gaucín looking for them all the way but they had disappeared. They are the least 'vulture' like of the vultures. From below they look like Booted Eagles but the white on the upper body, wings and tail (and the shape of the tail) is completely different.
It has been an excellent day!!!!
We also saw Lesser Kestrels, lots of Bee Eaters, a flock of Spotless Starlings and Woodchat Shrikes.
We got home safely.
A red Hibiscus which we had bought last year but had been killed by the frost in January, decided to pick the day that I went and bought a replacement to come back to life and put out a shoot. Amazing timing! Looking on the bright side ... I now have two Red Hibiscuses.
This evening we cooked chilli con carne, watched TV and ate a lot of ice cream!
Guess what!
It is a glorious sunny day in beautiful Benarrabá, Andalucía.
As a bonus there is a lovely breeze coming across the valley.
So it is going to be a perfect day.
We are planning on having a day around the village.
A few walks, a bit of work on the computer, then a swim in the pool.
We went for a walk through the village.
This photograph was taken looking up the Genal valley to the Sierra de las Nieves.
A few clouds dared to appear, they were all to the North and did not spoil the day.
The church clock tower in Benarrabá.
Jane has been busy cleaning. I have started work on some new webpage's for the pueblos which we have visited recently.
We got a lovely e-mail from Mary in the UK this evening. Mary enjoys the website and blog.
Mary breeds Bearded Collies and has an online pet shop at
www.championpetsonline.com
Another stunning day. It is fantastic. The sky is blue, so blue it is unreal.
There is a lovely mountain breeze and a few clouds to the North again.
We drove to Algatocín and the Super Valle de Genal supermarket. On the way we saw a Short-toed Eagle perched on a electricity pilon. We got within about fifteen feet of it, a magnificent bird. Unfortunately it flew off before I could get a photo. It is the closest we have been to an eagle since we moved here and what a fantastic sight it was. We are going to keep an eye on the pilon in case it returns.
We bought lots of vegetables for Gazpacho, so we will be juicing this afternoon.
Later we went to the Restaurante Kábilas and sat in the evening sunshine.
This is the pool. We did not swim tonight, although it was very tempting.
Juan ... a local character. He told us about a route to Casares across the mountains. It looks a tough walk!
On the way home we stopped to look up the Genal Valley.
Here is another photograph of the clock tower in Benarrabá.
North up the Valle de Genal.
We cooked a lovely meal and I tried to listen to the Newcastle match without success.
Newcastle lost 2-1 in the first leg of the Intertoto Cup semi-final, a depleted squad got a vital away goal so we have an excellent chance of progressing.
We watched a film on the Horror channel ... Hunting Humans, it was better than it sounds.
Another nice e-mail. This time from Tracy and family who hope to move out to Spain. Thank you.
There will not be anyone left in the UK soon!
I know this is getting really boring, but guess what the weather is like!
I am going to have to open a book on when we get the first real rain.
Last year it was September 3rd, it poured down for about thirty minutes, then it was sunny again for the next two months!
No plans for today, I am going to keep my eye out for the Short-toed Eagle and perhaps we will go for a swim this afternoon?
I went to the Pandería for our bread. On the way I noticed an eagle flying high around Mount Porón. (Mount Porón is a dome shaped mountain situated just above Benarrabá. It has been planted with a type of white Cystus (Rock rose) in strict horizontal contours. This gives it a very striking and unusual appearance.)
When I got back I grabbed my camera and headed up the mountainside behind the house and then onto the road. I waited an hour with no luck. I was entertained by some Swallows skimming low along the surface of the road catching bugs. As I walked back down the road to the house I took this photograph of Benarrabá.
As you can see there are a few fluffy clouds around on the horizon, temperatures are around 90F /33C, which coupled with the mountain breeze makes it about perfect.
We went to the Restaurante Kábilas to sit in the evening sunshine.
On the way we bumped into Jimmy riding his beautiful white horse. He was being followed by his faithful goat.
Goats are lovely animals. This one follows Jimmy everywhere.
The view to the South looking down the Genal to the Sierra Crestellina
Later we took the laptop down to Bar Barroso, to show Antonia the photographs we had taken of her wedding.
A few clouds around again today, but less than 10% cover and mainly on the horizon.
It is market day in Benarrabá. I think that even Jane, a true shopping optimist, has come to the conclusion that she will never find anything she wants to buy.
I have been busy on the computer. I have finished five new web pages over the last few days.
All will open in a new window by clicking the link.
----> Ardales
----> El Chorro
----> Pruna
----> San Martin del Tesorillo
----> Torre-Alháquime
Jane is making a batch of Gazpacho. We have a masticating juicer which does not destroy vitamins. Another bonus of using this type of juicer is that we get a lot of pulp which can be a base for lots of recipes. Later tonight we will make a spaghetti bolognese.
We now have to wait for the Gazpacho to cool, this is torture as we both love it so much.
We are watching Independence Day starring Will Smith - Hollywood at its flag waving worst. Cheesier than half a ton of Roquefort.
Jane is up early. she has already been to the Pandería for the bread. It is a hot day with clear blue skies.
We are going to Gaucín this morning to buy cat food.
On the way to Gaucín we stopped to watch the Bee Eaters catching bees on the hillside above Benarrabá.They are fantastic aerial acrobats. They are beautifully coloured and distinctively vocal.
Visibility is good today. Gibraltar and the African mountains beyond can be seen on the horizon. Gibraltar seems much bigger and closer with the naked eye than in the photograph below.
The zoom lens helps!
We bought our cat food from the animal feed shop near the petrol station in Gaucín. Then we called into the Super Genal supermarket in Algatocín before coming home.
It was a fantastic day, we went to the pool for a swim.
Wonderful. We had a great afternoon.
This is the sun terrace/patio of the Restaurante Kábilas.
It was a lovely evening. A breeze from the mountains cooled the air slightly. I walked the dogs up the track by the house.
summer is flying by, what happened to July ... ?
Up early today 7:30am before the dawn, I walked up the mountainside behind the house and sat watching the sun rise above the Valle de Genal.
This is a wonderful peaceful place.
A quiet day around the house with the dogs.
This is at 8:30pm taken from the same location.
