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Beach life – Trafalgar Point, Playa del Zahora and Playa de las Redes
Before I get on to the subject of beaches, we were rudely awakened yesterday morning by the sound of something falling and then loud dripping. We are familiar with such sounds as in our own home over the years, various members of the family have left taps running with sink plugs in, forgotten about baths…
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El Puerto de Santa Maria and Cadiz
While resting on the extremely comfortable sofa in our new abode, I saw some movement out of the corner of my eye. Assuming it was a spider, I put my feet up on the couch and hoped the spider would scuttle away. Imagine my horror when the most enormous cockroach appeared on the arm of…
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Trujillo
Best night’s sleep so far. Hostal San Miguel gets a big thumbs up from me. Our tour around Trujillo didn’t take long – a couple of hours – but it’s a little gem. Besides the castle, it has a variety of churches and elegant buildings. However the star of the show (in my eyes anyway)…
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Monfrague National Park and Trujillo
A vow of silence would actually have been a welcome intervention by our monastic hotel. People who wish their friends goodnight then continue to converse at over 120 decibels right outside my door at midnight are clearly in need of enjoying some contemplation in a room a long way away from me. A dreadful night’s…
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Segovia
Cabrales left us with one last delight on our final evening – ticks. Steve noticed what looked like a black dot on his foot which on closer inspection was a tick. It was tiny but they can spread horrible diseases, so we had to have a chimp-like grooming session, looking for squirming black dots. Our…
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Walking in the Picos – Day 1 Arenas de Cabrales Valley loop, day 2 Juan Robre summit
It’s been quite a while since I’ve used my Spanish language skills. Even though I’ve been trying to refresh them lately, the challenge of making myself understood while wearing a mask and then listening to the muffled reply from someone also wearing a mask, is proving very difficult indeed. So far I’ve managed to make…
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Stage 1: Arrival in Bilbao and onwards to Arenas de Cabrales
After having toyed with the idea of starting our journey by taking our own car and getting the ferry from Portsmouth to Santander, we ended up flying from Heathrow to Bilbao and hiring a car. Two reasons: slightly cheaper and much quicker. A twist of fate at the airport car hire site also meant that…
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Going round in circles – circumnavigating Spain
We are off on our travels again after yet another year confined to barracks. Curses to this tormenting virus. Even with the long awaited vaccines, it still continues to plague us. I hear you ask, why Spain? Good question – as many of you know it’s never been on my must see wish list. In…
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Wainwrights Achieved- 2 Brae Fell, Longlands Fell
Up earlyish to add 2, maybe 3 Wainwrights to the week’s collection. Another cold and cloudy day. Even the bionic man had run of enthusiasm by this time but neither of us voiced it, so off we went. The plan was do Brae and Longland Fells, (5 miles) then a drive over to Binsey Fell…
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Wainwrights achieved – 5 Gavel Fell, Blake Fell, Burnbank Fell, Fell Barrow, Low Fell
If you have a bad back and a dodgy knee, what do you do? Go for a 12 mile hike of course. And so it was that we went on a very uppy and downy walk, enough to test the fittest of knees and backs. After discovering that ice actually does help reduce inflammation and…
