One of the reasons for the delay in updating my blog is a result of our
New Year Resolutions which are.
Monday we’re up early and out cycling and trying to discover
new routes to take the Cycling group on Wednesdays, a light lunch followed by
swimming and a session in the spa.
Tuesday I attend Anita’s gym class at 12.30 for an hour to
loosen up joints stretch the muscles and do so cardiovascular exercises and believe
me she really works you out.
Wednesday I lead the cycle group out over the area to visit
a new village or town which takes about three hours and covers anything between
fifteen to twenty miles, then swimming and Spa. After three hours in the saddle
you need the Spa.
The group now consists of over thirty riders from Italy, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands and the UK as the leader whom they follow through these back roads it's becoming a bit of a worry being responsible for so many.
We have taken the group to Callosa de Segura, Cox, Graja De Rocamora, Albatera, Rafal, Dolores, Catral, Sant Isidra, Almoradi and around the Parc Nutural de Hondo.
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| the cycle group awaiting the off |
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| Coffee break in Cox |
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| Group in Rafal |
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| Gardens in Albatera |
Thursday Anita’s Gym class again.
Friday back in the saddle where Kay and I stretch our legs
for more cycling followed by, you guessed it swimming and Spa.
Saturday we take a drive out to visit some interesting town
or monument.
Sunday soak up the sun and do any outstanding jobs on the
RV.
In between we have to fit in shopping for food, cleaning and
all the other daily routine jobs so you see our time is really full which is
great, we just hope all this exercise is helping to reduce our waist lines and will build up
our strength.
On February the 7th it will be the first
anniversary of our change of life style and looking back over the past months
we realise there are things we could have done a lot better and we have
learned a lot over the past year.
Yet the main reason why we opted for this life style still
remains as strong and as important as the day we first started out, but more on
that when the anniversary arrives.
The weather here is still warm and sunny with highs of 25
and lows of 18 degrees with a few windy days, but thank god no sign of any
rain, now I’ve said that you watch the weather change.
At the beginning of the month we had a nice trip out over
the mountains that line the horizon at the rear of the Marjal camp site called
the Serra de Crevillent.
We drove out of the camp through the village of Sant
Isidre onto the next town of Albatera (all places where we have cycled into
recently.)
Then it was up the CV873 out of Albatera which took us past fields
of oranges and lemons and high up into the mountains with climbs of 13% and
more, eventually skirting Mont Alto at 683 meters.
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| The road back down the mountains |
Once over the top we dropped
down into a picturesque valley that was surrounded by further high mountains on
all sides, from the Serra de Crevillent over which we’d climbed and the three
ranges of Serra del Argallet topping 1085 meters, Serra de la Cava at 1053 m
and the Serra del Rollo at 658 m.
The first village we encountered nestling in this bowl
between the mountains was the pretty village of Hondon de los Frailes, we were
surprised to find that it is has a huge English ex-pat community.
Here we
turned right onto the CV845 and drove past yet more fields of oranges and now lined
with long terraces of vines right into the next village of El Fondo de les
Neus.
What a delightful little place this is, we parked the car at
the entrance to the village next to the modern looking Bodegas Cerda a local
winery and tourist shop which offers wine tasting and a guided tour of the wine
process with lunch thrown in for €15
(see www.bodegascerda.com).
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| The Bodegas Cerda at Fondon |
We then explored the village on foot and dined out at a
local bar in the village square, which you guessed it, was owned by a young
lady from Nottingham.
This village again seemed to be full of British ex-pats;
the only Spanish person we met was the village drunk who sat contentedly poking
the ex-pats in the back with his walking stick and muttering.
We climbed to the top of the village where the church of Our
Lady of the Snows gave us an unparalleled vista of the village and the
surrounding fields.
Later we drove back down the valley past Hondon and onto
the villages of Macisvenda, Barinas, Mahoya, Abanilla and La Murada before eventually
returning to Albatera and ending up back at the Camp.
The week after we visited Sax a town that we passed through on or way down from Santander below Abacete the castle was closed but we where able to take some photos of the outstanding views from the top of the rocks on which it sits.
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| Sax Castle |
The following week we visited Montaguido just outside of
Murcia, it was a stunning old castle with a huge monument of Christ at its
summit that was very reminiscent of the statue of Christ that overlooks Montevideo
in Brazil.
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| Montaguido |
Sadly we couldn't find any way to visit the top of the castle which
we later found out was from the other side
on a not very well signposted road.
As the month draws to an end we were deeply saddened to hear
of the passing of an old friend in the UK. Geoffrey Burtonshaw was the first
person who befriended me when I left the forces in 1978 to live in South Wales.
He was my Boss at Port Talbot’s Welsh Water Authority Depot on the banks of the
river Afan that backed onto the old Port Talbot Docks.
We became great friends, a friendship that lasted a life
time with his passing on, on Monday the 23rd after a long battle with illness, it really hit us hard.
Sadly I will not be able to keep a promise I made to him on my last visit to him at his home in Swansea, that
once he got back on his feet I would to take him fishing in the old docks behind
where we first met all those years ago.
He was a true Welshman that worked tirelessly for his community, well
respected by many, an intelligent and humorous man that no one had a bad word
for, he will be greatly missed by many especially myself as I regarded Geoff
very much as a brother.
Rest In Peace Geoff we will miss you so much…..
For more of our photos of our trips go to Animal & Blods Spanish adventure
