Well folks, another busy few days here in Spain… well, I say busy, but I am sure you know what I mean…getting up late, moving about a bit, eating some, maybe a drink or two and generally having quite a relaxing time (sorry, don’t mean to brag but the novelty still hasn’t fully sunk in or got boring yet- I am thankful every day for how fortunate I am to be enjoying such a lovely time with hubby Pete in this most beautiful place, particularly now that the weekend is over and Siete Pilas has returned to it’s weekday peace & quiet!).

This weekend in the village, there was a big birthday party happening up by the chapel / school/ playground area – think the whole village was probably there from Saturday afternoon until late into the evening. It did mean that there was a marked increased in activity (general DIYing etc – getting all the weekend jobs completed so they could all chill out come Saturday and the Fiesta??) from late Friday afternoon onwards… and then lovely music (of a Spanish nature) once the celebrations began on Saturday afternoon, sadly moving into the type of music where the bass starts to grate on you after about an 30 seconds mintues… 😂 (sorry, misery-guts I know but it’s like the worst kind of tinnitus to me!). We didn’t go to the party although we think that an old chap we met as we were starting out on our walk might have tried, in some kind of weird Spanish sign language thing, to invite us along – he was stood by the goats (one of them has just had two little ‘uns) and did some pointing and an action like eating… of course, being experts we wished him a “Buenas Dias” and moved on! Ho hum – it was nice to listen to the celebrations anyway when we got back from our walk and sat outside with a beer!

Our walk on Saturday saw us finally get to the top of our hill – approx 4.5 miles only but a steady climb up from where we are (from 1800 feet (550m) to around 2800 feet (850m)) – we didn’t realise but there’s another hamlet up there – literally maybe 5-6 houses – with the most spectacular views across the mountains and valley – one place had the most beautiful, lush garden and pool – Ooo, if we were to ever win the lottery, that might be the type of place we’d have for a little hideaway… well, I can dream!

Right at the top of the hill, the road has a number of benches (see pic below) for a weary traveller (or hill walker!) to take a rest… we went to the end of the road and found a very handy bench there too which was a lovely place to just sit and take in the view, and replenish with an apple and water!

Some of the wildlife (and more domesticated animal life) from our walk on the 28th:

Yesterday, we decided to have a change of scenery and drove back to Jimera de Libar where we did a bit of Geocaching along a footpath that follows the same line as the train and river on it’s way to Ronda…(you can find out more about Geocaching, if you are interested, here: https://www.geocaching.com/ – for us, it adds a bit of interest to a walk trying to find treasure along the way!). What was a fairly simple out and back walk of around 4 miles, really knocked the stuffing out of me as, being in the valley bottom, it was sheltered from the cool wind that we enjoy up the mountains and it was boiling… the car said 32 degrees when we got back to it although this dropped to 27 once we started moving… I was really knackered by the time we got back to the car – thanks to the God of air-con that’s all I can say!

Today, we managed to get up and get going a bit earlier than has become our pattern which meant we had our walk (just along the bottom of the valley from Canada del Real Toroso) and made it to the shops before 2pm (siesta time!)… It meant that we were able to buy cake from the bakers in time for Pete’s 70th (yes, I know, how can he possibly be 70 years young?! 🤣🤣🤣) tomorrow and get enough supplies in that we don’t have to get up early for about another week – hehehe!

It also meant an extra hour in the sun this afternoon before my 2nd FaceTime call with Mum! God how I love that woman – she might be a bit bonkers but she doesn’t half make me laugh – all the time! 🤣 It’s nice to know that dementia hasn’t yet dimmed her sense of humour or her laughter, even if you have to speak a special kind of dementia-Mum language nowadays – half the hilarity is actually both of us trying to work out what the hell she is trying to say! Keep going Mum – you are the best!

Tomorrow – Pete’s 70th birthday – we are planning a trip down to San Roque… so we can take a closer look at the Rock of Gibraltar… other than that, and it being a bit of a holiday destination for some, I’m not really sure what else is there? I shall have to do some research but we should be able to fit in a nice birthday lunch – fingers crossed! It should be a nice drive down through the mountains with, I am sure, a few “Mirador” (viewpoint) stops along the way… better charge the camera battery up! Mañana amigos! Xxx