It's pouring with rain and a bit cool, but we are busy with sorting out our biking gear for the Isle of Man TT. We leave on the 23rd and plan to take a meandering route to Santander via Cordoba and Salamanca (what romantic and historic names!), catching the ferry on Wednesday night. Then we will have a bit of a rush to get to our hotel in Liverpool and onto the 'steam racket' boat on the Friday morning. What to take? After the tent, sleeping mats & bags, bike maintenance gear, technology and wets, taking a change of underwear seems like a luxury! And what about a washbag, sandals, primus stove....?! I do have a signed Guy Martin T-shirt however, so that will be essential clothing when the serious racing starts. Thank goodness that the VFR is an heroic sports tourer and will no doubt carry everything that is required, including us!
Our neighbours were very concerned about all my lovely flowers being neglected, but Stevie and Lynne are somewhere in Spain right now, heading towards us, and will do the watering honours in our absence. We are very grateful and know the house will be 'returned' in as good, if not better, state than when we leave. This rain we are having now will get the land in a good soggy state - just hope the peas are surviving - and we will try to get the pimientos and bell peppers in tomorrow. Then our friends can just water as necessary.
Working down there on Tuesday, I watched a really huge eagle slowly circling overhead. It must have seen something interesting on our hillside and spent quite a while covering the territory, but perhaps the smaller animals and humans were in hiding!
I have traded a really good, professional haircut from Ellen (Dutch) for a few euros, some strawberries and a pot of strawberry conserve. And a coffee and slice of cake. She and her Spanish boyfriend are a bonus to the village, being intelligent, lively and young! We need more people here under the age of 30! We have also let them use our printer in exchange for some internet access...all good bartering! And our building team are getting on with the granero floor tiling now. They have been creative with the plain umber/terracotta floor tiles and put down a diamond pattern in the centre of the sitting area and a smaller one in the kitchen area. Good, instinctive work, all beautifully cut. We have our pretty azulejos wall-tiles ready to go into the bathroom, and electrics all in place and working! The electrical bill is about double what I was expecting, but Spain is full of surprises like that ....Antonio has done a great job with good quality items however, so I guess I will just scrape the barrel and then forget about it. It's only money, as they say (who? who says that?) and great to be on the last lap.
Next blog will be from the IoM, perhaps as we take advantage of Mad Sunday to test the circuit...hey, that will be fun! Hasta luego...XXX