Well, after a successful couple of weeks in Marbella (enforced relaxation with the odd bout of activity between thunderstorms) we decided to move on. The weather denied me my trip to Granada, but hey, we can always come back!?
We have come back east and are in the south east corner of Spain beyond Almeria (pronounced al-mereea rather than al-meerya). How educational is this...read on, you are learning! This part of the country is part desert and is a nature reserve. It is very unusual. I particularly like the flower stalks of the agave plants. They form a low level forest across the plains, as the stalks are really high and branched, just like a tree. At one of our campsites some wag had cut one down and decorated it with tinsel. There are lots of small perching birds, mostly warblers, won't embarass myself by trying to name or guess the ones I've never seen before!
Forgot to mention that it is called Cabo de Gata. One of the few places along the coast that hasn't been covered in high rises and greenhouses. Obviously popular with full-timers (almost exclusively english). Met one the other day when I whacked a tennis ball on top the roof of his van, not the best introduction, but he was very understanding!
For those of you considering heading south to escape the snow and ice, you can stay here for 10€ a night (a couple, motorhome/caravan, 6A electricity and access to showers with an ACSI camping card if you are going to stay longer than a month. The camping card costs about £15)
Tempting isn't it.
Right, I'm off to go through some of our pics, which i will then post on the blog...hope you like.
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Nice to hear the up to date news and best of all the pictures, they bring everything to life. I had a very quiet introduction to 2010, not my favourite time of the year, I must admit, much prefer Christmas. Slept soundly until midnight then heard the fireworks going off on the Edinburgh side, big celebrations as always in Princes Street, amazing that you can hear them on the other side of the River, the fireworks that is, not the partygoers. There are also the ships who sound their horns to welcome in the New Year. Then of course there is the often to be heard late night/early morning taxi arriving revellers who seem to be having a great time and dont they talk/shout/sing loudly. Anyway finally drifted off again some hours later. The snow shows no sign of leaving and even without fresh falls, what is on the ground is frozen solid. It sounds great to just stay indoors but you can get too much of a good thing and after a few days I was desperate to get out even a trip to Asda seemed exciting, how sad is that. Still feeding the birds but anything you put on the ground is very quickly polished off by the resident crows and seagulls, so I have invested in a few bird feeders so that the smaller birds get a chance of food. The greatest success is the RSPB suet drum which is laced with worms and insects, that is disappearing very quickly. I have'nt seen anything unusual so far, although Caroline has had a few different visitors. It is encouraging to see just how many people are taking the trouble and expense to provide winter feeding, Dobbie's garden centre was virtually sold out. All of this may be of little interest to your other readers, so hope they don't mind my slightly more personal comments. HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone, BGK.
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