Summer in Spain (again)

[jumartoo]

I've closed my Year in Spain thread, at the end of the year in Spain. But, I'm starting a new thread for our summer trip away.

We're at home in the Murcia region now, getting the van sorted for four months or so away. We've got lots of things ordered to make our trip more comfortable. We've already (Martin) started by changing our poorly bathroom sink tap and the window strut that we broke last week. We've got a new solar panel on order and I've ordered a new camera.

We don't have a shabby life here, but it's nice to visit new places. Castilla la Mancha at this time of year was brilliant. We'll be back there again.

Yesterday we went on a local ebike ride. Up into Sierra Espuña, and area we know very well.

I'm having problems posting photos, so I'll try on another post.

 

[jumartoo]

Photos from yesterday. We parked on the Trasvase Tajo Segura (canal that brings irrigation water down from the Rio Tajo and then the Rio Segura) and rode uphill on a wide track. We joined the track that goes past the Finca Campix and descended down the Camino Algarrobo (Carob) to the Casa Forestal Morti (Forest House) where we found a new track with a newly built wooden bridge.

 

[jumartoo]

We'll be in this area, at home, for the next couple of weeks, then our "Summer in Spain" will begin properly.

I'll post from here until then.

We're planning to do a 6 day bike ride in the north east. The Pirinexus. It will take us over into France from Girona (or from where we eventually manage to leave the motorhome).

 

[Kurt and Ko]

Yay, you're back, more fab photos and travels to enjoy!

 

[scousebird]

Looking forward to your continued trips.

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[gus-lopez]

 

[stevewagner]

Lovely photos

 

[Tigertom]

Lovely Espuna, great rides and vista……..never disappoints

 

[jumartoo]

It's forecast to be a grey day here today, with a chance of some dampness, but it's started off nicely

It's getting lighter now and we have a bike ride planned for later this morning

 

[Just smiffy]

I’m beginning to feel like a stalker…

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[Mark and Mindy]

Lovely, a new thread to get immersed in!

 

[jumartoo]

There have been Aurora sightings as far south as here. We were fast asleep last night though. Will try to stay awake tonight jic.

Today we drove up to the La Santa parking, above Totana, and cobbled together a pretty pleasant ride. OK some of it was on very quiet roads, and some was along the link between two via verdes, but it was worth the drive to get there.

Towards the end we rode through where, in 1998, we waited at the start of our very first orienteering event. We met Ramon there (he speaks English with an American accent) and he's another friend we are still in contact with.

Sunrise

On the ride.

A house we wanted to buy once, is left of the tower. It's a story in itself, but unfortunately, we didn't get the property. We still think about living there, but .... not to be and we're happy with our lock up and leave apartment .... now!

Photos now are possibly in random order. But the last one, with the kids was definitely the last. We could hear from the statue, well before we could see them

 

[jumartoo]

We ... think ... it's our 40th wedding anniversary today. We don't bother about celebrations and haven't celebrated today.

We have, though, cooked, between us, me doing the prep, our very first mushroom risotto and it turned out well.

We were introduced to mushroom risotto by Jenben when we met up a few? (a bit more than that now) weeks ago and it inspired us to have a go from scratch. It was very good.

 

[LindaPaulB]

Really enjoy your fabulous photos, thank you for going to the effort of putting them on for so many of us to enjoy! Won’t get to visit these places till retirement but lovely to share and dream meantime!!

 

[jumartoo]

Really enjoy your fabulous photos, thank you for going to the effort of putting them on for so many of us to enjoy! Won’t get to visit these places till retirement but lovely to share and dream meantime!!

Please keep reading, and following our trips, and keeping any information that's useful to you.

Ask away with any questions you may have.

Your dreams will come true, one day.

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[jumartoo]

Knee resting today for Martin, so I was out alone.

My quest was to find brocolli. Of course I didn't go directly to the brocolli fields, I first rode through one of the new Murcian deserts.

Once in the Saladares de Guadalentin, I began to see a bit more greenery, and then the pinky/purple plant that survives

I did find some nice looking brocolli, but looks are deceptive and the stalks were very woody and took a long time to cook.

Heyho they were scrumped, after all. I'll not be going back for more though.

New desert!

Tomorrow, our car is booked in for a service. Martin can have his breakfast out. I'm hoping to ride with a friend from the UK. Failing that, I'll be out alone, again ..... naturally

 

[CAB96]

Hooray a new thread! Have you considered how to avoid another Teagate?

Congratulations on the anniversary.

What is the pink/purple stuff? Not Heather?

 

[MichaelT]

We ... think ... it's our 40th wedding anniversary today. We don't bother about celebrations and haven't celebrated today.

We have, though, cooked, between us, me doing the prep, our very first mushroom risotto and it turned out well.

We were introduced to mushroom risotto by Jenben when we met up a few? (a bit more than that now) weeks ago and it inspired us to have a go from scratch. It was very good.

Congratulations, its ours on 9th June, like you we don't do celebrations but our son told us to keep the date clear, we were disappointed when we asked if we needed our passports and he said no

 

[jumar]

Hooray a new thread! Have you considered how to avoid another Teagate?

Congratulations on the anniversary.

What is the pink/purple stuff? Not Heather?

Overcome Teagate....although the area where we have lived for many years isn't over Touristy...but we do have a shop that sells UK tea....I got a year's worth last week...
If a Winegate ever materialised, I don't know how we would cope.....

 

[jumartoo]

Hooray a new thread! Have you considered how to avoid another Teagate?

Congratulations on the anniversary.

What is the pink/purple stuff? Not Heather?

Thanks for the anniversary congratulations.

Martin's answered teagate.

The pink/light purple stuff is, I think, some type of sea lavender. It's seen here on the Salinas de Guadalentin (salinas (salty)) and near the coast. It's lovely, and one of the only bits of colour growing wild here this year.

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[jumartoo]

We've had a day of jobs. Martin took the car for a service, weighed in a bag of coins (over €40 worth), failed to get a key cut but had a monster croissant and coffee from a bar in Mazarron for his second breakfast.

I fed the cats. We've had Hedgehog visitors making a real mess. As much as I love the "little urchins" I don't like clearing up after them and donations are for the cats, not hogs. I've lifted the cat food up high on a box. No problem to a cat, but it seems to have deterred the prickly visitors.
I then cleaned our terrace, and had an idea of how to reconfigure the furniture. We gave away two Keter chairs and a small table the other day, so we now have lots of space

Martin arrived home, then went directly back out in the opposite direction. His new, freestanding, solar panel had been delivered to the pick up point. First views of it, and he's very happy.

We've had home made Fideuá for lunch. Think paella, but with short, thin, spaghetti like pasta. It was very nice, even though I say so myself. It's something I can make when we're away in the van as well.

We're hoping to ride the bikes tomorrow, so there may be photos then.

 

[jumar]

Yes a replacement Free Standing Solar Panel to complement our tilting roof panel..
Now got 400w of "Catch every Golden Ray" to keep our overworked Lithium battery charged..
As we are Tax and Rate payers of Spain, I believe we are entitled to a little benefit from 300 days of sun...so our solar will be out once again to make good use this coming summer...
Charging eBikes off grid is both challenging and rewarding....
Our current bikes have 750w batteries so charging after every ride isn't required...but what is both possible and convenient is, having tilting panels means the bikes can be charged before breakfast as the sun rises or during the late afternoon/early evening, as the sun sets...of course providing the van is positioned correctly...

 

[jumartoo]

Today we had another old favourite Sierra Espuña ride. One we used to do on our traditional bikes, but it's so much more pleasurable now on our ebikes.

We were planning to park at the Interpretation Centre, but crawling up the narrow road behind a bus, we decided to park early and ride in from there.

The scenery, as always, is stunning. Even after over 20 years we still appreciate it.

I have a book written by a, now deceased, Scottish naturalist/author. Mike Tomkies "In Spain's Secret Wilderness". He wrote a lot about his remote life in Scotland, but he also spent some time in the 1980's in Spain in a campervan. At that time things were so different. The national/natural parks were just beginning to be controlled.

His book was based around Sierra Espuña and the newly protected areas of Doñana and Monfrague. For me it's very interesting.

Anyway, today we rode down through one of the Sierra Espuña areas mentioned in the book. It's open access now, not so in the 1980's. I looked across to where the Golden Eagles were spotted. Their descendents are possibly the ones still nesting here. There was a white mark on the cliff face. Maybe a nest site just above. Access to that area is closed off temporarily.

So. Photos.

From our parking, on the ride up to the Col.

At the road junction.

And then on the first descent to the forest house where fire fighting water is collected, and then a view to Pedro Lopez mountain, where Eagles nest. My camera couldn't pick out a nest. My new one, expected tomorrow, might

From here, we drove back down to civilisation and food shopping in Alhama . Needs must. We're entertaining our friend Angéla Reina (Queen) tomorrow .

 

[royandsharont]

I love this area and my favourite restaurant view is from the one not too far from the church which has a museum too, can’t remember its name now, but I have a photo from their terrace on my digital frame at the moment which brings back memories . Some years ago they stopped doing menu del dia which was a big disappointment.

 

[jumartoo]

I love this area and my favourite restaurant view is from the one not too far from the church which has a museum too, can’t remember its name now, but I have a photo from their terrace on my digital frame at the moment which brings back memories . Some years ago they stopped doing menu del dia which was a big disappointment.

La Santa?

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[royandsharont]

Yes I think the church may be called

The Shrine of Our Lady of Fuensanta​

 

[jumartoo]

Yes I think the church may be called

The Shrine of Our Lady of Fuensanta​

That's in the Carrascoy area, not Sierra Espuña. It's a nice church to visit. I think we need to go back there one day, it's been many years since we were last there.

 

[jumartoo]

Yesterday we had a day at home and invited Angéla to come for a walk with me, and then lunch.

By the time she'd offloaded all the fruit she'd brought for us, and even better, home made almond icecream, and we'd caught up on her news and given her ours, we'd run it of time to go walking.

So we walked to see "my cats" and to look to see if Martin's errant P60 had arrived in our post box. The answer is still NO. Mine was online on the 6th April. Martin's employer is still using pigeons, I think. We want to do our taxes before we leave for the summer.

Angéla is a cat person, and is one of only two in Alhama and including El Berro, that have taken the initiative to get cats neutered. She was interested to meet Caroline. They are now in contact.

We had a lovely day together.

Martin had made a fruit crumble (Apple crumble was her favourite when she went to the UK) so the ice cream was a great accompaniment. She doesn't eat meat, but does eat fish, so we had vegetable fajitas with salad and garlic prawns.

 

[jumartoo]

Today we put the bikes on the car and drove to the village of Tallante. We had a short ride, but it was again, very nice. My new camera arrived some time after Angéla had left, so yesterday evening we took the time to charge the battery and pair it with my tablet via the Canon app.

Today was it's first use. It's bigger and heavier than my tiny Nikon, but I hope it's going to be more reliable then the Nikon has been latterly.

So far, so good.

The church, and mural, in Perin. (Not far from a few, good motorhome parking areas).

Then, a practice with the zoom (40x). As seen from the road from Cartagena to Isla Plana.

We then stopped at the viewpoint overlooking Isla Plana for another practice.

I'm having lots of photos rejected as being too big. I need to reconfigure my settings, I think.

So some won't post. Can I downsize them once on my tablet?

Edit
Well, I've cropped them. I'll try again. It seems that worked, this time! The photo above was zoomed in from the viewpoint. It's the bit on the spit of land just above the greenhouses on the photo below.

 

[royandsharont]

That's in the Carrascoy area, not Sierra Espuña. It's a nice church to visit. I think we need to go back there one day, it's been many years since we were last there.

Ah my mistake, I thought the regional parks either side of Alhama were classed as one just split by the road to Murcia . . We enjoyed the true Espuna park too though, especially visiting the area around the ice houses. We once had boars follow us in the woods thinking we had a bag of food for them. It was February, deserted of tourists, and we were hunting for very large pine cones, which we still have in the fireplace

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