Biking & Baking in Las Alpujarras

The Mountain in question is Snaefell, not Mulhacen!  And we have been picking up quite a lot of speed on some stretches today, just to see what those amazing bike supremos are up to when they average 130 mph on ordinary roads!  Even 100 on the most open parts is terrifying enough but they do all of that on the bends!  This is a great event, full of good spirit and bonhomie...we exchanged a few words with the great John McGuiness this morning...delighted an Argentinian who had hardly spoken a syllable of Spanish in 5 days...got good tips from other bikers about the best spectating positions...admired the harbour at Peel...terrified ourselves watching TT3D, the movie.  Tomorrow is both Classic racing (& Sidecars) and evening practice for the main events.  Excellent!  And the place is heaving with motorbikes, from the wonderful old Ariel to speedsters Ducati, Yamaha, Honda, Harley of  course and many others.  All colours, shapes and sizes.

We had a great ride up through Spain, via Ciudad Real and Avila, to the Picos and Santander.  The roads were fast  and smooth, La Mancha full of splendid colour and interesting vistas.  Avila, a walled town, had nesting storks, high-flying eagles and masses of wheeling swifts.  We stayed cheaply right outside the walls and ate a good meal inside (bean stew, suckling pig etc).  This was not quite the case in the Picos...we stopped for the night in Riano (or similar name, by a lake) andd thought it was a very ugly place.  All concrete and verandas, like a badly designed ski resort.  Thank goodness that the subsequent ride through the mountains was so spectacular!  If you have not been there, then go, preferably on a bike of some sort or in an open sports car!

Our kind friends here have insisted that we sleep indoors for this week, though we will camp from Friday when their Italian paying guests arrive - who knows, it might be Agostini dropping in!  So we are living in the lap of luxury for now but it will be tough getting down to those skimpy sleeping mats and chilly mornings in the tent.  Thank goodness for thermal underwear and warm socks.

Hey, it's almost 1am and I need to sleep - Steve is snoring gently already - but I will post again soon.

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

At last a decent day! So much water fell out of the sky over the weekend and so much debris washed onto our little road...But we got out on the VFR today and went round the valley to remind ourselves how beautiful it is here. The broom is coming out, perfuming the air, and the verges are full of wild lavender, pink cistus, poppies, rock roses and grasses. We saw a nobbly green and yellow lizard on the road, a good 9 inches long, and a swallow darting off a ledge in Torviscon, and we only met 6 vehicles in a 10 mile run. Bliss.

Over the wet weekend we managed a visit to some olive and flour mills in the Lecrin Valley and the Nazrid gardens in Velez de Benaudalla (don't even try to pronounce this unless your Spanish is very good...Beleth de Benaudaya is about right!). The Ayuntamiento is encouraging votes in the forthcoming local election by subsidising excursiones, but it was excellent value - 12 euros including a 3-course lunch and wine. The guide spoke in Spanish so we had to work quite hard to get the general gist of things, but I recommend the mill in Niguelas and the gardens.

Last night our friends José and Andrea celebrated his 50th birthday in our local pizza bar with about 16 mates. I made my infamous chocolate and chestnut truffle cake, which Steve adorned with José's name in white icing and it was served up as pudding. Full of calories and all very piggy! A flamenco guitarist, also José, turned up and the two men played some really lovely duets. A stringed conversation about friendship and love. The waitress began a slow flamenco, wearing her apron and jeans, and Andrea produced some champagne. It turned into one of those special Alpujarran evenings which one cannot plan, they just evolve.

This weekend looks interesting...a fiesta in Busquistar with horses (Saturday at 5pm) and a paella...weather permitting (the forecast is not good). And our friend Cherie is celebrating a birthday on Monday too. Maybe another cake...it will have to have a kangeroo iced onto it! We thought this would be a quiet life. Not a bit of it, there's something going on all the time!

XXX