Sunday 13th May

We’ve been at the house in France since Friday. Weather appalling, and we just got soaked walking along an old railway line. Before that we went to an open day at the snail farm up the road, which was interesting. Thousands of snails for processing into gourmet chewy garlic pencil-rubbers!
We’ll be arriving back at Alconbury a week on Tuesday, and look forward to being in touch with everybody soon after.

Thur 3rd May

Tomorrow we are leaving for Vinaros, north of Valencia. We intend to stay there for a few days and then drive through France, arriving at the house there in about a week. We're still contactable by email in the meantime, but no attachments please.
In the last week we have seen wild mountain goats in the rambla, on the steep slopes high up, and a large bird of prey, possibly a golden eagle. The bee-eaters are now here in force and sit on the tree branches in the rambla in dozens looking like multi-coloured parrots.

Wed 25th April

This afternoon we visited the Guns of Cartagena. These are several batteries of large calibre guns that were installed for the protection of Cartagena harbour which is about 10 miles from there. The batteries are on a remote headland with beautiful views of the sea and hills (and the sea approaches to Cartagena harbour!).
The guns were supplied by Vickers UK and erected in 1926. They were operational until 1993 when the army just abandoned the installation, leaving the armaments and buildings intact. Anyone can wander around at will, even into the subterranean passages under the guns (torch necessary). The site is very extensive and would have accommodated hundreds of men. The guns themselves are most impressive, the largest pair being effectively battleship 20-inch guns, capable of throwing a one-ton shell over 20 miles.

Considering all the expense and difficulty of construction in that remote location, and the large cost of upkeep of the guns and garrison, they were only fired in anger once, in 1939 during the Spanish civil war, when a steamship was sunk.

Tuesday 17th April

Today we saw the first bee-eaters, returning from their winter migration. These are very colourful birds, blue, yellow & green, a little bigger than a thrush, which eat bees. I imagine the fellow who keeps half a dozen beehives just behind the site is not looking too happy!

Tuesday 9th April

Heavy rain AM, but warm sun this afternoon so we went swimming & played table tennis.
Yesterday afternoon we walked to an abandoned iron ore mine in the hills about 3 miles behind the campsite. The buildings were extensive and all with collapsed roofs. Some of the cableway pylons were still standing showing the route the ore took to the coast, presumably for shipping away for smelting. The spoil heaps were still there, as were the tunnels into the mine workings. We didn’t venture in: we’d forgotten the torches and canaries. However, most interesting.

Wed 4th April

Beautiful Morning and thunderstorms this afternoon! Yesterday we visited Espuna Natural Park, which is a mountain area about 25 miles from here. It was most picturesque, with mountains, dramatic cliffs and panoramic views. The narrow, winding road took us up to over 3,000 feet where the temperature was distinctly chilly. We stopped on the way down to walk and found clumps of wild asparagus! We picked a good-sized bunch and ate it in the evening.
It has a strong taste and is pleasant but not as delicious as the cultivated kind. Also we can vouch for the fact that it isn’t poisonous!

Wednesday 28th March

We heard a commotion coming from next door this morning. It turned out that old Pierre had just bludgeoned a snake which was about to crawl under his caravan. It was on display for all to see at the entrance to his pitch - a tiny(dead!) grass snake.
Today & yesterday have been mixed weatherwise, much more like the UK!
On Sunday we went for an excellent walk up a "rambla", a dry river bed. This is a huge one being used as a dirt road except where the road deviates to avoid rocky stretches. The first few miles was through a gorge with high mountains on both sides and containing a profusion of plants and wildlife. We saw several sorts of rock rose and lavender, rosemary, curry plant, fennel, shamrock, genista. broom, margerite, and others. Birdwise, there were serrins, black wheatyear, sardinian warbler, crested lark,goldfinch as well as the ususal blackbirds, robbins, sparrows etc. Also saw many unidentified butterflies. We picnicked at the edge of an almond grove. The whole walk took nearly 5 hours and was most interesting.