Biking & Baking in Las Alpujarras

Thanks to the 'extended family' we have just spent 2 sybaritic days perched on the side of the Sierra de Cabrera in a luxurious villa, doing nothing except swim in the pool, eat good food and play cash-free poker by candlelight.  Oh and we did manage a 5km walk (the younger athletes ran, some of them twice...) to make us feel righteous.  This was all on the plus side.  More negatively, and it might just be us, we found the coastal run via Adra pretty beastly and were not impressed by Cabo de Gata.  Maybe we missed the best of the mountains down there (San Jose??) but we were thoroughly relieved when we turned inland onto the A348 and found ourselves hurtling (on the VFR) towards the greenery of Laujar de Andarax and the Alpujarras again.  (The bar in the centre of Juviles does a mean zumo de pina and raciones, even at 3 in the afternoon).

As there were 11 of us in the house, we worked a rota of sorts for cooking and washing-up, and Steve and I volunteered to bring our bivi gear and sleep outdoors if need be.  In fact we slept on the floor of the study, perfectly comfortable on our Thermarest mats, but it was far too hot for sleeping bags.  The liners alone were sufficient and Steve went for a midnight dip just to cool off as well.  Midges were about, but I had packed the repellent...

Now we are happily home and looking at the pot plants, I can see that 3 days abandonment is about as much as they can stand in July, except for the geraniums, but just putting them in the shade 24/7 makes a big difference.  But the cats have vanished, so our absence has had an extra bonus...they've gone to pester someone else!