November 8th - 15th 2006
Written by Geoff Forster
Up quite early, more rain overnight although it's clear now.
A surprise when we read our mail ... 600 emails in our inbox!
An hour later I've deleted 580 junk mails and answered a booking enquiry.
We need some donkey feed from Gaucín. Hopefully the vet will be having a surgery and we can get worming tablets for our cats.
We went to the bank and the Post Office. We phoned Julie Stanton and arranged to meet for a coffee.
The vet wasn't there. He's there next Wednesday, due to last Wednesday's Bank Holiday.
However we managed to get worming tablets and donkey seed.
We met Julie and went to the Bar Gasolinera for a tostada and coffee.
We had a good chat for an hour.
We went to Algatocín to the Super Genal to buy some vegetables.
Back home we unloaded the groceries and went straight back out to get a couple of bales of straw for the donkeys.
We spent the afternoon in the house.
The apartment is ready for our guests, Peter and Margaret who are returning for their second week with us this year. They love Benarrabá and the area. It will be good to see them again.
Peter and Margaret arrived safely. They'd flown into Granada last night and visited the Alhambra earlier today. They were very impressed with the stunning architecture and detail.
We arranged to go out to Bar Andrés Sánchez together for tapas.
Here's Jane just before we went out.
In Andrés, we introduced Peter and Margaret to the local Chinchilla wine from the Sentinel/Ronda area.
We had a great evening. It was raining outside, quite heavily at times.
Peter and Margaret had a new Olympus digital, Jane was taking photo's of them with it.
Charlotte was visiting from Denmark, she was having a night out with Mercedes.
Café Bar Guayacán is closed on Wednesdays. Pepina, the waitress from Guayacán was spending her night off with friends in Andrés bar.
Just before we left. We took this group photograph.
The rain stopped so we managed to get home without a soaking.
We took our little Siamese cat Sophie up to the apartment to introduce her to Peter and Margaret.
They both love cats. We'd had a good reunion.
Light rain overnight. The forecast is for a beautiful day although it has started cloudy.
By mid morning it is clearing and the afternoon promises to be lovely.
I'm still working on layouts and feeds for our websites.
Peter and Margaret have walked to Algatocín over the ridge to the North of the apartment. The route is signposted as taking an hour and a half, in each direction.
They did it in a little less.
We called in to one of the shops to return some old photographs of Benarrabá and past ferias.
I've scanned them and put them on a web page on www.benarraba.com
We called briefly into Bar Andrés Sánchez and to Pub Bar Dami. The village is quiet at this time of year.
Back home we fed the donkeys and refilled their water barrel.
We had a quiet night in watching TV. A strange film starring Whoopi Goldberg and Drew Barrimore, 'Boys On The Side'. It started well with a murder but changed course and became a film about HIV Aids.
Here are another selection of photographs taken by 'guest photographer' Chris Band.
Cortes de la Frontera plaza de toros.
The limestone mountains in the area have a number of caves. This is one of the most famous.
La cueva del gato. The cat cave ... because the opening resembles the face of a cat.
From the Guadiaro valley to the Genal valley and the pretty village of Alpandeire.
Still in the Genal Valley. This is the pueblo of Genalguacil.
Another photograph of Genalguacil with the view South to the Sierra Crestellina and the coast.
Back across to the Guadiaro valley and the pueblo of Jimera de Libar.
A modern house, but old habits die hard, still drying peppers in the sun on the balcony..
A full circle and back to Cortes de la Frontera.
A big thanks to Chris Band for some more great photographs.
Do you have any great photo's of Andalucía you can send us?
We can't promise to publish them ... but you never know!
Another lovely sunny day.
The dogs and donkeys have been fed and walked.
Instead of going out, which was very tempting, we were good and stayed in to work on our new websites.
We did venture out later in the afternoon. We drove to Gaucin to put on a Euro Millions ticket in Venta El Socorro, then we went to see Alphonso in his bar near the animal food shop.
We called into the Super Genal in Algatocin to get groceries for the weekend.
Later Jane watched the final of 'Hell's Kitchen' yet again ...
A new 'guest' photographer today.
Celia and Colin Fish who have a house in Olvera sent us these sunset photographs taken in the town.
Olvera Sunset by Celia and Colin Fish.
A big thanks to Celia and Colin Fish for some great sunset photographs.
A beautiful sunny day.
We stayed around the house in the morning.
I listened to the Manchester City v Newcastle United match on Radio 5 Live. A dismal 0-0 until the last five minutes when we started to play football and should have won it.
Later we took the dogs out for a walk. We did the 'Ruta Azul' a marked walk, in reverse.
The Border Collies love this walk, they can get dirty in muddy puddles before washing off the mud off in the fast flowing arroyo Infiernillo.
There were two mules near the track. The white one was more cooperative in taking the photo than its friend.
Our youngest Border Collie, Jake. He runs and runs.
It was a lovely warm afternoon. The sun was shining on the white washed houses in Genalguacil on the opposite side of the Genal Valley.
The trail down to the arroyo is a lovely walk. The countryside is so green now. Birds were singing although we didn't see too many. Just the usual finches and warblers that fill the woods during the autumn and winter months.
This is our oldest Border Collie, Ferdinando (Ferdy) he's still playful and loves running for sticks.
We like the arroyo because it's a walking only track, and we can let our deaf Border Collie safely off the lead.
Back home we fed the donkeys.
We had a quick chat with Margaret and Peter our guests. They are having a great time doing lots of walking, They've been following the many signposted walks and routes to be found around the village.
Jane watched the X Factor whilst I blogged.
Later we watched a gangster film 'The Mobsters' starring Christian Slater & Anthony Quinn which was excellent.
Then we watched a French horror film with subtitles, called 'Switchblade Romance' a real gory bloodfest. Good until a really silly twist at the end which didn't work.
What a beautiful day. Blue skies and sunshine. Days like today remind us that this is why we moved here.
It's my birthday. A mini tradition is that I can pick a favourite place to go to.
Last year we went for a paddle in the Mediterranean at San Luis de Sabinillas. This year I chose a drive down to El Colmenar. On through the Alcornocales and then back.
We drove through Gaucín and took the road to El Colmenar / Estación de Gaucín.
This is El Hacho, we stopped to watch the hedgerow birds flying from bush to bush.
We saw Robins, Stonechats, Black Redstarts, Redstarts, Blackcaps, Sardinian Warblers, Wrens, Goldfinches, Chaffinches. It was fun watching them.
We drove on. Jane suddenly hit the brakes. There was a Common Buzzard sitting on a fence post feet from the car. It turned, looked at us, then spread it's wings and flew off. I did quickly take a photo but it was overexposed as I had no time to check the exposure meter.
This is El Colmenar / Estación Gaucín from the road above.
This is a track across the mountainside. The Cork Oaks are magnificent.
This is a lovely view across the Guadiaro valley. The dried thistles in the foreground were shining silvery white in the sunshine. The Sierra de Ubrique is in the distance.
This is a pretty little Meadow Pipit.
We crossed the bridge across the Rio Guadiaro which was flowing quickly.
We stopped in Estación Gaucín to stretch our legs.
The railway station in Estación de Gaucín / El Colmenar.
The church bell, a service had just finished. The village was busy with both church goers and people heading to the bars and restaurantes for a Sunday afternoon meal with their friends and families.
We called into Bar España.
This straw donkey caught or eye. It stands outside the bar displaying the menus.
We sat outside in the hot sunshine, we could feel it burning our skin.
There was a great atmosphere in the pueblo, lots of people around, the busiest we've ever seen El Colmenar.
We'd seen donkeys in the forest not far from the village and were hoping to see them again.
Someone must have bought one we saw it being transported.
Back in the car we crossed the railway tracks.
We headed through the village and up into the Alcornocales forest.
We hadn't gone far when we saw the donkeys.
They came walking along the road towards us.
They could smell our donkeys on our clothing.
They were very friendly.
This one has a bent ear.
We stopped in the forest for a walk. The pines smelled wonderful, the air was full of their fresh fragrance.
This is the view South down the Guadiaro Valley to the Mediterranean.
This is the view South West towards Algeciras.
The sky was this blue and the temperatures were amazing for mid November. We walked into the woods. We heard a Great Spotted Woodpecker calling and heard it pecking but couldn't see it.
We did see a Tree Creeper, there are a few types and you have to see their toes to differentiate between the different breeds!
We saw lots of goats and a few cows near the road.
A Griffon Vulture was circling high above the forest. We stopped to watch it soaring higher and higher. They are magnificent birds.
The Cork Oak trees are also magnificent. We love them. This one was stripped of it's cork earlier this summer. They are a beautiful maroon/brown colour, this turns to a shiny cherry red when they are wet.
We drove to the Cortes de la Frontera end of the road, did a U-turn and head back into the forest.
We stopped to collect a few pine cones.
We drove back to Estación de Gaucín / El Colmenar.
Here's Jane in the Restaurante Bar Rincón Del Cani which is behind the Mesón las Flores, another popular bar that we usually go in.
The bar was noisy and everyone was having a great time and eating some very tasty looking tapas.
We drove home to Benarrabá.
Our guest's Peter and Margaret kindly knocked on the door with a birthday card and a couple of presents for me.
This one went down well. A long time since I've tasted Geordie champagne. It does have a special flavour.
We both got changed, I had a shave ... we went down to Bar Andrés Sánchez.
Barcelona were playing Zaragoza we watched the start.
We went to Bar Barroso, where we met Peter and Margaret. We had a good chat for an hour.
We went to Pub Bar Dami to watch the second half of the match.
It was 1-1 before Ronaldhino scored with a magnificently taken free kick.
Barcelona went on to win 3-1.
It was Dami's birthday as well, we wished him Feliz Cumpleaños.
On upwards to Café Bar Guayacán, we hadn't seen Yolanda for a while.
We had a good night.
She took this photograph of us with her camera. Cheeeeeeese.
A late night we got in at around 04:30h.
A bit of a late start ... It's a beautiful sunny day.
We walk the dogs and feed the donkeys.
A quick trip to Algatocín to the Super Genal.
I spent all afternoon doing yesterdays blog ... lots of photo's!
Our guest's Peter and Margaret have invited us upstairs to the apartment for dinner.
We had a fantastic evening. Margaret had cooked a beautiful meal. Pork fillets in an orange and plum sauce. Mmmmmm.
Our Siamese cat Sophie came up for a quick visit.
A lovely meal and a good evening. It's been great having Peter and Margaret stay with us again.
Not to many of our photo's today some some space for a special 'guest' photographer.
These are some photographs sent to us by Christine Crewe.
Gibraltar Ape.
Dam at Montejaque.
Mountains behind Montejaque.
Waterfall at the Cueva del Gato.
Atom Bomb!
Sunset over Sevilla taken from a plane
Thanks to Christine for the photographs.
I love the last one. A great shot through the plane window. Always worth a try!
Another beautiful day. The weather has been perfect for the last five or six days.
We're planning a trip to Ronda later today. We're meeting Julie Stanton near Cafe Bar Guayacán.
I took this photograph from just above the bar.
The villages opposite are on the left, Jubrique and right, Genalguacil.
Jane was waiting in the sunshine.
Another shot across the rooftops of Benarrabá.
We got to Ronda in just under forty minutes.
We parked at the top of the town.
The view to the North West is stunning.
We picked up the new 'Persianas' blinds for the apartment balcony doors.
We needed refreshment so we went into Bar Valencia. There was a good atmosphere in the bar with lots of old men being very noisy. One chap came in on a motorbike and parked it in the corner.
This shrine/niche was on the side of a lovely house in the centre of Ronda.
We had lunch in the pizzeria Vesubio. Julie and I had the Vesubio special. A pizza served with with a symbolic 'fried egg' volcano in the middle. A strange idea but it works!
Jane had a salmon topping. Which she enjoyed. A really good value restaurant. The most expensive pizza is 5.50€ / £3.85. The restaurante is in Calle Sevilla, just off Calle Espinel, the main shopping street.
Here's Julie and Jane. The shops were shut ... shame. So we walked to the gardens at the side of the gorge. Some of the streets in Ronda are still cobbled.
They are typically Spanish. A lot of them have great views out to the campo.
The puente nuevo.
Jane bravely sat on the wall, there's a long drop below!
The view East from the top of the Puente Nuevo.
A couple of photographs of Jane on the puente nuevo.
The grand houses and hotels in the old part of Ronda built on the very edge of the gorge.
The sun was starting to drop towards the horizon. This is the view West towards the sun.
The view East from the puente nuevo Ronda.
There are a number of horses and carriages you can hire outside the bullring.
They take you on a tour of the streets of Ronda.
This is the calle Pedro Romero looking towards the plaza El Socorro.
We drove back on the improved A369 along the Genal Valley.
We stopped in Algatocín to do some shopping.
Tomatoes were ridiculously cheap 1€ for 2kg around 15p/lb. We bought some for a late batch of Gazpacho.
The sun was setting over the Guadiaro valley as we neared Benarrabá.
It's our neighbour's Juan and Seba's daughter Marta's birthday today. We called across with a present for her.
Peter and Margaret have invited us out for a drink. It's their last night in the village.
We went to Bar Andrés Sánchez to meet them.
We got a big surprise when we got there.
John and Ron had left their wives at home and escaped to John's finca for a last minute short break. They were having a good time!
Jane organised another group photograph.
Andrés Sánchez.
On to Café Bar Guayacán to say goodbye to Yolanda.
Here's Yoly and Margaret.
Yolanda with Margaret and Peter Beauchamp.
This is Juan. A local character. He's a lovely man who spends days wandering in the countryside. He collects fruit, nuts and knows all the herbs
Our guest's Peter and Margaret left this morning, we hope that they have a safe journey home.
We look forward to seeing them again.
It's another beautiful day.
We went to see Rosie and Domingo. They were eating straw in the sunshine.
The oranges are ripening fast, only a couple of weeks ago they were small and green.
Quite a few people in and around the village keep hens. The eggs are wonderful.
The cockerel on the left we've called Dr Who. He doesn't 'cock-a-doodle-doo' properly. He's lost his 'doodle'. So he sounds like he's saying 'Doctor-Whoooo'.
Here's Dr Who. He's a good looking cockerel. Lots of wonderful colours.
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Try pressing it two or three times to see what it does.
This is the Genal Valley looking North. Jubrique is on the right.
We went for a walk down into the village.
This was taken from the bottom of the village. Looking North East across the Genal Valley.
Jubrique.
We called in to see Dami.
In Bar Andrés Sánchez we met Macarena (Maca), our next door neighbour Carmen and their sister Teri.
On the way home we passed an important football match. Real Madrid were playing Barcelona. Serious stuff. Beckham v Ronaldhino.
The little Ronaldhino had some fancy footwork.
We walked up and took this of the clock tower.
Benarrabá has some great old houses. This one has little rooms all on different levels.
These street cats have made their home in an unused drainage pipe. Someone's put a blanket in the pipe for them and some water in a dish.
This is Clarissa Novak. She and her husband Peter have just moved to the village. They are experts on Fungi. This mushroom is quite rare but found in this area. The locals call it an egg mushroom because of the yolk like colour.
Peter and Clarissa invited us to their house later this evening to try out the mushrooms which they'd collected.
This is Jane and our Siamese cat Sophie's brother.
He lives with Juan, who carves wood for a living. Making lots of organic shaped tables, chairs and ornaments. We plan to photograph his work and do a web page for him.
Later we went to Peter and Clarissa's house. We had a lovely evening trying the mushrooms and sharing some good Rioja. The 'Huevo mushroom' was lovely raw, as well as cooked in olive oil with garlic.