Somewhere over the mountains

 

Hugs to you all for helping me promote my daughter's new teaching venture.

 

A friend suggested to my daughter that as she lives so near to the airport and to the International Trade Fair Centre she should rent out her spare room to travellers. She was a bit dubious about doing this but she finally decided it could be a way of earning some extra cash so she advertised it at the end of March on Airbnb.com. What a surprise when the very next day a Dutch couple contacted her about renting the room for one night on 2nd April as their flight was leaving at 6 in the morning. We all did our bit to help to get the room ready and it all went perfectly well and all Covid precautions were respected. The lady left a very nice review on the Airbnb.com page. This could be the start of a neat little business, perhaps.

 WARNING  photo overload!

 

Last week we finally got up into the mountains and my main objective was to look for almond blossom and this is what we found:

 

 

 So.....a bit too late, there was no blossom left. I really suspected as much but was still hopeful. We do normally go almond blossom trekking in February,that is the right time, but as I wasn't feeling so great it all got postponed. Nevertheless it was good to see all the millions or thousands of almond trees across the fields on their way to producing delicious almonds and we will go back to our usual haunt (see here) in September to have a nibble on the windfalls like we do every year.   We then decided to go on to Biar a town further up into the mountains where Sr P's Aunty had a villa. Years back we used to spend a few days there every summer to get away from the hot exhausting heat down in the city.   

Although it was chilly up there it was a perfectly lovely day. We went straight to the town centre for a walk around our favourite spots and to see what had changed there which wasn't much.  I still have difficulty speaking the local language which is Valenciano but the people are very considerate here and slip back into Spanish once they see you don't understand. Actually thanks to my MIL I do understand quite a lot of Valenciano as it was her first language and in her last years she slipped back to her childhood and would only speak in that language so it was a matter of having to understand it when I was alone with her.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Church Our Lady of the Ascension

 

 Mass was underway so I couldn't go in to view the church. Lovely to hear a guitar being played and children singing. 

The Town Hall opposite the church.

 

A door that caught my eye 

 

Another door! I just love those door knockers!

Neat...eh?   A dragon! 

After a little refreshment we sat on the terrace of a local bar and afterwards decided to face the climb up to the castle

A lot of huffing and puffing later we finally got to the castle walls.

 

 Which meant we were nearly there.

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We didn't go up into the castle itself as we have been there several times and more than anything I wanted to capture this view

 

 

It was breathtaking!   

Tia Pilar's villa was situated on those mountain slopes behind the church tower.

 

We decided to take another route to get back down to the town centre and the car park by following the castle wall around to the top of another street.

 which took us back down

to the car park.   

 

 

I haven't any RAOCKs to show you this week as I am making something for a friend and I can't show you what it is as yet. 

 

BOOKS

I have just started reading Dissolution by C.J. Sansom that Liz at Shortbread and Ginger  recommended. I must say although I haven't read much as yet I am impressed with the author's power of description which sends me back to Harry Tudor's times during the suppression of the monasteries.  It feels like a good book because I am eager to pick it up again and read on.

 

 

 

I would like to wish "safe journey" to Betsy on  The Simple Life of a Queen who is travelling  to her new home in Omaha USA.   "Wishing you the very best in your new home Betsy"

 Happy days dear bloggers

Keep well

Amanda :-)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gratitude is the completion of thankfulness

 

Indeed I do...feel gratitude that is!   I just feel I need to say thank you for your blog friendship! You may say "Why?"  How can I describe it I'd say it produces a feeling of belonging! I had this feeling in blogland before but being away from my blog for so long I lost it!  I am feeling it again and it is so good that I have found it!  When I receive comments on my blog or of course replies to comments I have posted or see my blog there in your blog roll I feel I am belonging . Perhaps I can simplify what I am trying to say.  It is a good sensation and it makes me happy.

  

 

 

Checking the mountains are still there!

 When the heat here in Alicante decreases and Autumn starts to bring in the cooler weather we usually take more Sunday trips up into the mountains. We start this usually at the beginning of November but Sr P has had some ear trouble recently, He is is on the mend but meanwhile he isn't allowed to go snorkeling or swimming so the beach is off limits for a little while. As we have had some showers this last week we thought we go and check out one of our favourite places in the mountains which is not too far away from the city. 

 

I t was really good to see that the countryside was not looking so dry and parched. The recent rains had brought back some colour to the terrain.  I took this photo on our way up to the Maigmó Greenway  (Via Verde) in the Maigmó mountains. The Greenway was originally a railway track from Alicante to Alcoy that was built in the 1920s which never actually entered into service.    The track has been reconditioned into a public trail for hikers and cyclists and covers approximately 22 kilometres from Agost  up to the Maigmó pass and back down the other side of the mountain.

 

 

 

  Our objective was not to walk the Greenway this time but to walk along the Drovers trail under the old railway bridge(now part of the Greenway) which borders some olive and almond fields on the slopes of the mountain croplands.  Our goal.....ALMONDS!!  Unfortunately the almond harvesting was at the beginning of September and if you want to pick windfalls one needs to be here at least two days after the harvest so we are a bit late and consequently there were not a lot of windfalls.                                         

 One should not stray from the Drovers trail at all and cannot enter the fields and pick from the trees as they are  private property even though there are no fences. It would be considered stealing!  Nonetheless, there is a rogue almond tree on the pathway which is fair game and there are always some windfalls too.     We only take sufficient to have a little snack and at times Sr P carries a bota de vino with him to have a swig of wine as we munch the almonds!! 

 

Beginning of Drovers Trail

 

 That is Sr P picking up the windfalls. He is right on the edge of the trail....tch!!! The rogue almond tree on the right has been picked clean. However we picked up enough for a snack and a few to take home to make up almond sauce to add to a chicken dish.

 

Lovely!!!

 

Now I have to talk about being naughty...

 

 

 

 .....not totally my fault by the way because this Miss has been messing about with that magical stuff she sprinkles around .......    I was so tempted when I saw these at half price I had to buy them....

 

 

By the way I still go to the local haberdashery which I posted about in 2012 (doesn't seem that long ago!) and you can read about it here . I am trying to frequent more the small local shops who are having such a difficult time! 

 

 

 RAOCKs:

 

 

 I made this in April during lockdown for the Random Acts of Crochet Kindness group. I used a free pattern I found on the webpage Thoresby Cottage.   I did tweak it a bit!  Great stash buster!

 

 

 

Many thanks for all your generous comments on my last post Mandala Mirror. I was surprised to receive an offer to buy it but regretfully I had to refuse it as I do not sell my makes.                                                  It also looks very nice on my wall!  🌸🌸🌸

 

 

 

 

Stay safe everyone.    

 

Amanda :-)

 

 

Practically Biblical

The countryside around Agost, the pottery village.

I was going through my photo files on my computer this weekend to reduce the size of the main folder as it is pretty large. It is an enjoyable but difficult task as I find I am reluctant to delete photos but some are really just repeat shots at a different angle so they have to go!!!  As I said an enjoyable task as I frequently pause because some photos make me reminisce. In fact I rarely finish the task!

Such was the case here ......hence these photos.
When the beach is out of the question....yes it does get cold in Spain. I say this because people have commented to me before now that they thought Spain was hot all the year round!!
Well it "ain't"!!
It gets cold here!!!

We do have long summers and relatively mild winters; January and February are usually colder. We then transfer our Sunday outings to going up into the mountains for a ramble.

This was one such ramble last winter up to the mountains behind the village of Agost.

olive and almond trees

I always find that this particular part of the Agost countryside reminds me of biblical scenes:

Someone lives here!   There is a Via Pecuaria ( King's Highway) which runs all the way through this person's land which means he/she has to allow access to the public.

Oh! dear Sr P saw something!!!!

Naughty! Naughty!!   pinching a few almonds !!!
and we had a little snack on our way back down to the village! :-)

Agost Pottery Kiln

keep well

Amanda :-)