We set out from Catadau, Valencia on the 370km drive to Seron, Almeria just after 11am… the drive was uneventful (although the roads seemed a lot busier towards the coast and until we turned in land…) and arrived, as planned, at Kev & Jane’s around 4pm… it was roasting! We watched the temperature steadily climb as we got nearer and nearer to Seron and, when we arrived, it was around 34 degrees! Kev said this was quite unusual and that they were expecting the weather to change and for it to get cooler – more of that in a bit…

It was great to catch up with Kev & Jane that first afternoon / evening – they are “old” friends (pensioners in fact… 😂🤣) who we first met in 2001 (or there abouts) when Pete and I got our first house together in Kegworth (Near East Midlands Airport!) – we had a great few years living down in the Midlands before moving up to Yorkshire and, like Kev & Jane, made a lot of good friends we are still in touch with now despite only being there for around 3 years!

Anyway, back to Kev & Jane (the pensioners… hehehe)… when they first moved to Spain (around 9 years ago??) we came out to spend a weekend with them one January / February when they lived in a cave house in Galera, and have seen them several times over the years when we have visited Spain – the last time being in September 2020, just after COVID restrictions were lifted and you could fly again… at that time, Pete and I had rented a little place not far from Alicante for a month and managed to have an overnighter at Kev & Jane’s new place, the farmhouse near Seron (yes, Kev had given up his caveman garb, although, for anyone who knows him, please be assured he still has the budgie smugglers – sadly, I’ve seen them! 🤣🤣🤣)

On Friday 13th (luckily, no disasters for us… as far as I know anyway 😄), Kev drove us up to Las Menas – an abandoned mining town up in the mountains near Seron. According to Wikipedia, the Serón mines, also known as the Las Menas mining area, were mining operations for the extraction of iron ore. Although this set of mines originally operated for the extraction of lead ore, from 1885 it started to focus on iron. Mining activity ended in 1968 due in part, to the exhaustion of the veins and strong competition from other mines… it was one of the last mines to close in this province.

We had a lovely lunch of patatas bravas, a fried chicken tapas and squid (for me & Pete only) on the way back in a place called Cela which had an outdoor swimming pool area with fish in… a bit different to the lido at Ilkley and a lot warmer I should imagine although we did not partake 🤣

After a brief siesta, where Pete and I went for a little walk up the disused railway line that runs alongside the road that Jane & Kev’s house is on (according to the internet, this is called “The Iron Road – Spain’s Almanzora Valley Greenway” – which sounds a lot better than “disused railway line”! – and runs for almost 100 kilometres (62 mi) from the village of Baúl near Baza in Granada, to the village of Arboleas, near Huércal–Overa in the province of Almería), we had a Kevin BBQ with side-dishes by Jane… it was all delicious – so thank you both! It has certainly given Pete some ideas for my dinners over the next few weeks! 😋

When we woke on Saturday morning (14 September) it was like being back in England! The weather had definitely changed (Kev the weatherman was right!) and was about 20 degrees cooler with a mizzely rain… despite this, we still headed off early(ish) to Tijola market where we, with Kev’s magnificent Spanish, picked up some veg / supplies for our onward journey… sadly, the rain had kept some stall-holders away but we were able to find what we were after 😊 including a purchase of a Euro-millions lottery ticket for next week – fingers crossed – need to fund this retirement somehow!

Saturday marked our Louise’s birthday too – so a belated Happy Birthday Louise! It was great to catch up with you & the kids on WhatsApp today and we shall celebrate proper when we meet up in November!

It was sad to say goodbye to Kev and Jane – we really enjoyed our stay with them and we loved what they have achieved at their farmhouse… but we had to get on our way to our next stop, Siete Pilas, further south and, hopefully, with no rain! We set off around midday, stopped for some lunch along the way (the service station restaurants are absolutely fantastic for freshly cooked food!) and a supermarket stop too before arriving in this little hamlet around 6pm…

I have to say that the journey from Seron to where we are now was one of the nicest we’ve had so far. Where Jane & Kev are, it’s quite dry (despite the rain) and rocky, covered in Olive & Almond groves… the road between Baza and Grenada becomes more lush, with mountains and forrests, then, after Ronda, the road we took was twisty and turny through the Mountains with some spectacular views – it was pretty breathtaking and would definitely recommend it if anyone is foolish/mad enough to do a road trip this way! It was beautiful… and where we are staying now, for the next four weeks, is absolutely stunning too – all we can hear is the odd dog barking, chickens and roosters crowing, turkeys (yes, turkeys) gobbling and the soft hum of the pool pump! It’s lovely and am now ready to have a bit of R&R for a few days… oh, and the weather is in the mid-20s, with not a cloud in the sky – perfect!

That’s all the news for now… hope the rain (heard it’s particularly bad in Liverpool today!) is not too bad in the UK! Am not sure I’ll have too much news to share in the coming days so might be a few before you hear from me again! Adios amigos! xx