Author Archives: muddyfox

SUMMER IS HERE!

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I can’t believe it’s been 3 months since my last posting – where does the time go!  Well Spring arrived and the countryside was a riot of colour and smells – almond & orange blossom, lilac, roses, wild lavender to name but a few.  After such a cold wet winter the campo sprang into life once the weather warmed up and everywhere this year is so green and lush.  The Beznar reservoir is virtually full (not seen for many a year as there has been very little rain over the last few years) and the ski resort has had it’s longest and best season on record.  This years Fiesta de la Cruz at the beginning of May was full of colour with the locals in traditional dress and loads of decorated wagons (more than other years I can remember) and the weather was perfect.  The traditional free paella & beer went down well with the locals and the village was full of visitors.

We can now report that the olive press we donated back in May 2006 to the local town hall has now gone on display at the top of the village and we have been told that the full set of millstones we also donated will be used to form the new water feature/fountain in the lower part of the village.  We are so pleased everyone can now enjoy these as they are part of the villages rich history.

My friend came out for a week and the weather was just about right for her visit – not too hot and not too cold – just right for sunning on the terrace.  We had a nice trip to Seville and got to see the Plaza de Espana – very impressive, although the moat was drained of water so no boats on it but we did see the restored Wacky Wagons used in the 1992 Feria which are dotted all around the plaza.  We tried to track down some of the bars we visited on our last trip in 2006 but they seemed elusive to find so tried out some different ones.

One of the other places we visited was the Spa Baths in Lanjaron and partook of some of their treatments – very nice.

Work has been progressing on the new guest bedroom & ensuite bathroom on the ground floor and we’ve also fitted a new flue for the new log burner/central heating system and some of the pipework.  We’re not sure it’ll be up and working for this winter but will do our best.  We’re also working on the new entrance porch and front door which hopefully will be done by the autumn (there are other things we need to get on with during the dry months on the outside of the house so work on the inside will grind to a halt soon).  We’ve got nearly all the new windows in now and new balcony doors and they have made such a difference – no draughts and easy to clean!!

We’ve been semi adopted by two lovely local dogs (brother & sister & we’ve named them Fred and Ginger) who’s owner doesn’t seem to want them anymore, so between us and our neighbour we feed them and give them some love and affection.  If we are working in the house then they come inside and snooze on the mats and if I go for a run they sometimes come with me.  They are a cross between a spaniel and a podenco hunting dog and considering they are street dogs they are unbelievably well behaved. Unfortunately Ginger is on heat now and has had all the local dogs after her so no doubt she’ll be pregnant before too long.  What will happen to the pups we don’t know – our neighbour might be able to find them homes.  As we haven’t got any land it would be difficult for us to take them on so we do what we can by helping to feed them and giving them some attention.

The temperatures are now on the up and after a couple of cool days this week we are now on the way back up to 30 degrees plus so can safely say Summer Has Arrived!

Well that’s all for now – hope everyone has a great summer and we’ll update the blog sometime in the autumn.  In the meantime any friends or family can keep up to date with us on Facebook and check out some of our photos.

Hasta luego

Spring Has Arrived with the Almond Blossom

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After having experienced the wettest and perhaps coldest winter for many years it appears Spring has arrived at last with the stunning sights and smells of the almond blossom in and around the village of Pinos.  Walking in the campo during February is a wonderful experience with the hillsides a swath of white and pink and the heady scent of blossom in the air – it lifts the spirits every time you venture out doors.  The orange and lemon trees are heavy with fruit and the olives are ready for harvesting.  The cooperative at the top of the village is busy with local farmers bringing their olives to the mill and cars are parked up along the road waiting to off load their harvest.  The countryside is waking up after the winter and starting to come to life – soon the locals will be harvesting the oranges and by April/May the countryside will be a riot of colour with the wild flowers in full bloom.  As we’ve had so much rain this year the hillsides are looking lush and green and the reservoir is well over half full and still filling up.  Once the snow high up the mountains melt it will no doubt be nearly full – relieving three years of drought the area has been experiencing.  Between now and May is, in my opinion, the best and most colourful part of the year here in the Lecrin Valley and if you are an outdoors person into walking, biking, birdwatching, painting etc. then this is the time of year to come and visit! We consider ourselves very fortunate to live in such a beautiful place.

Direct Hit On The Hermitage

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At the beginning of February we had some prolonged heavy rains (about the same time everyone in the UK was battling with winter blizzards and the heaviest snow for 18 years) and in the early hours of Monday 2 February the rain was accompanied by thunder and lightening, then suddenly just as we were dozing off to sleep there was a flash of lightening followed immediately by a loud crack of thunder and we both said “f**k that was close I wonder what it hit”.  Eventually we dozed off to sleep and it was only later on the next day that we discovered that the lightening had hit the hermitage above the village and totally destroyed the cross and the roof.  The following day I, along with quite a few other villagers, decided to take a walk up and look at what was left.  There was a sign at the bottom of the track advising people to stay away in case anymore of the building collapsed and there was a fence across the path, however this didn’t stop anyone as we all know where the back way up to the path is and soon there was a steady stream of villagers climbing up the hill (this climb isn’t for the faint hearted as it’s pretty steep and takes about 45 minutes but they’re a fit bunch around here).  When we finally arrived at the top of the hill we could see first hand the damage the strike had caused – I didn’t fancy climbing right up to the remains of the building and stayed at the bottom of the steps but quite a few took their life in their hands and went right up into the wreakage.   I took a few photos and thankfully only a few weeks before had climbed up there and taken some of the building in all it’s glory, so at least I have some before and after shots now.  Apparently the hermitage had been hit by lightening once before and had caused a crack in the walls but other than that it stood firm, however this time it wasn’t so lucky.  The local council have now opened an account at the village bank for anyone to deposit a donation towards the restoration of the hermitage but it sounds like it could be a year or so down the line before they have enough funds to carry out the work.  Due to the hermitage’s location and having no road access all materials have to be hauled up on donkeys, or on the backs of the builders and thus makes the rebuild costs all that much higher due to the amount of labour required.  Lets hope when they finally rebuild it they think to put a lightening conductor up there to avoid a repeat destruction!

Best Wishes for 2009 – Hope you survive the year unscathed!

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First of all we would like to wish you all a very Happy 2009 and hope you come through the current credit crunch unscathed.

We had a nice quiet Christmas and went up to the ski resort on Christmas Day to do some snowboarding and it was brilliant! Nice blue skies, not too many people and great snow conditions. We arrived at 9.00am and left at around 5pm so had a full day on the slopes – highly recommended. We are hoping to get up there again a couple of times between now and the end of the season – mid week is best when there are less people.

On 6th Jan we went to the annual Conchar Mosto Wine Festival but only stayed for an hour as the wind was icy cold and our hands were frozen but we did manage to get 3 different tasings of mosto and very good they were too. This year they had designed new drinking vessels so we have 2 new ones now in our collection!

Just like the UK we’ve been having cold weather here too – not quite as cold as UK but enough to give us snow in the village one night! It’s been pretty windy this week and with an icy edge to it. Not good if you are working outside. Phil is in the middle of doing up the front balcony ready to install a new door (he finished the other balcony last week) – hopefully we’ll get the new door in next week but we have to wait for a dry day and at the moment the weather is up and down. Hopefully drier next week. After that jobs done we need to hire another skip and have a big clear out ready to move stuff around so work can start on some of the rooms on the ground floor.

We have finally decided to bite the bullet and get ADSL installed at home and we’ve found a pretty good deal that also gives us 300 mins of free UK calls per month, free local & national spanish calls and also a cheap dial number for friends and family to call us on from the UK and it only costs 3p/min. If you want to give us a call for a chat then the new number is – 08445987008. We are still waiting for the ADSL connection but have the router ready and waiting – hopefully we’ll get the call within the next week to say it is all set up and we can plug in and start using it.

Not a lot else has happened since Xmas but hopefully by the time we get around to updating the blog some more work on the house will have happened. We seem to go in fits and starts at the moment. So for now we’ll bid you adios and update you soon on what’s happening.

Merry Christmas & Prosperous 2009

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December Already – Where has the year gone!  Have been very organised this year and have written all our cards and got them posted via our friends who we have seen and have kindly taken them back to the UK to post for us.  Have also got all the presents bought and posted off (quite a lot done via the internet and sent direct) so we can kick back and relax now!

We flew off to Gran Canaria for a week at the beginning of November to join our friend and her family for a well earned holiday. It was lovely to see everyone again and spend some time with them and it was also a nice break away from all the building work.  As we’d never been to Gran Canaria before hired a car to explore the island and found it to be so different in the centre and north compared to the South.  The south is very barren and rocky (not so much a surprise as it’s a volcanic island) with loads of tourist complexes and beaches but once you get inland it changes to mountainous scenery with pine trees and much more greenery.  The difference in temperature was also noticable – up to 10 degrees cooler in land and to the North.  We preferred the north of the island because the scenery was so much greener and less touristy – hubby’s not a beach and sunbathe person!  We can highly recommend a visit to the Arehucas Distillery in Areucas – a short tour around the distillery and then a fantastic tasting session of everything they produce!!  Near to Areucas is the town of Firgas where they produce mineral water (a good bet after sampling all the rums etc at the Arehucas distillery) which is sold throughout the Canary Islands.  Places to visit here include San Roque Square where the Townhall and Church of San Roque are located, nearby the Casa de la Cultura, a mill for gofio and the monument to the livestock farmer.  Also worth viewing are the promenades of Canarias and Gran Canaria irrigation channels placed at intervals and tiles painted with bucklers and local village landscapes.

After arriving back from our break in Gran Canaria we carried on with the work on the house. Slowly been scraping/chipping the walls back to the old plaster and then giving them a coat of new plaster and painting them.  It’s been a long, messy job but it’s nearly done.  We’ve had scaffolding up on the landing since August and at last it’s now down and the place looks loads bigger and much brighter. The next job to tackle is putting in the new balcony doors we bought 2 months ago – probably do this after Christmas.

We are hoping to go up to the Sierra Nevada and do some snowboarding on Christmas Day – all being well with the weather.  The ski resort opened about 2 weeks early this year as we had some heavy rain which resulted in good snow high up and there have been regular intervals of rain so it’s meant some more snow up top and lower down on the mountains around us.  The weather here, like the UK, has been cold (we are so glad we are now in our new lounge with the logburner – once that gets going it warms up very quickly) which has meant the snow hasn’t disappeared in a rush.   We are also looking forward to the annual Conchar Wine Festival on 6th January and the 3 Kings Parade on the night of the 5th (not sure whether we will stay in Pinos this year to watch the local one or venture into Granada again).

Well that’s all for now folks – hope you all have a great Christmas and a happy, healthy and prosperous 2009.

Abrazos y besos (hugs and kisses)

Autumn in Pinos

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Where has the summer gone? It doesn’t seem 5 minutes since I was putting a note on the blog about the Fiesta and now we’re about to start Autumn!

The fiesta went off with a bang – as is usual here in Spain – loads of fireworks, lots of visitors to the village, music, dancing etc. We had some friends over for a BBQ on the Saturday and later on we all went down to the entrance of the village to watch the spectacular firework display – the best yet! After that we all walked back up to the church square to watch the Banderas and majorettes – a very good evening and great company.

We’ve now finished the new small terrace off from the lounge and the metal stairs are installed and we can now access the top terrace from there. The next job to start once that was done was the refurbishment of the other small terrace at the front of the house which is above the main staircase. We started this in August and had the centre of the house open to the stars for a few weeks whilst we got the new concrete beams up in place. We can now report that it is all finished and watertight again and much better now that the old lightwell has gone and we have new glass blocks in place to give us light. It should be a lot warmer this winter too as the old lightwell used to let loads of cold air into the house.We are just adding the finishing touches to the terrace area with some rendering on the walls and the final top coat and then I can give it a coat of white paint and it’s all done. We’ve fitted a new double glazed glass door leading from the Azotea (3rd floor room) out on to the terrace – it’s a lot better now as the old wooden door wouldn’t close properly and it used to leak water when it rained. We’ve put a temporary tarpaulin cover over the small area between the new refurbished roof terrace and the old roof which needs replacing next year and hopefully this should stop any leaks over the winter.

The weather has definitely broken now and the rains have arrived with a few storms but when the sun comes out it warms up pretty quickly and after a few hours you forget it rained. There have been some pretty fierce storms inland in the Cordoba, Sevilla, Madrid, Valencia areas with a lot of flooding and storm damage but fingers crossed we won’t get hit with the same sort of storm we experienced last year. Thankfully we had another delivery of sand and a skip for all the building rubble delivered before the rains started so that was a stroke of luck and after 2 days of backbreaking work the skip was filled and the sand moved to outside the house.  We’re off to Gran Canaria at the beginning of November for a weeks holiday and really looking forward to it. We have been invited to join our friend and her family at their flat in the south of the island and we are hiring a car so that we can go and explore the interior of the island which is supposed to be very beautiful and green – very different to the coastal resorts. We’ll update you on how we get on.

Well that’s about all for now – hope everyone is well and not working too hard.

Hasta luego

August 2008 Fiesta in Pinos del Valle

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This years fiesta kicks off on Friday 14th August and will carry on right through to Sunday 17th August. There will be all sorts of activities happening during the 4 days and everyone is welcome to join in, so if you happen to be visiting the area that weekend come up to the village and check out what’s happening. Most events start in the evening from 8pm onwards and a huge firework display is planned for the Saturday evening, 16th, at 10.30pm (weather permitting). There are processions through the village between the two churches and bands playing music every evening at the top of the village at Juncal from 11.30/Midnight onwards with food and drink available to keep you going through the night.  The fiesta is very popular and people come to the village from far and wide and it’s definitely a lively weekend with lots of rockets going off and lively music (not for those wanting a peaceful weekend that’s for sure).

For those who live in the village the Ayuntamiento are now taking donations to help towards the cost of the fiesta and in return you will receive a programme booklet and a free goodie – the cost of donation is 60 euros.

If you manage to come along we hope you enjoy the fiesta.

Hasta luego

Summer Has Arrived!

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Hola everyone and apologies once again for the tardiness in updating our blog.

We are now in July and I’ve been here 2 years already! Work on the house has moved on quite a bit and our new kitchen is now finished and in full use – it’s wonderful and spacious with beautiful granite worktops – something we could never afford back in the UK. The lounge, bedroom and office have now all been redocorated and pictures put up on the walls so everything is now finished on that side of the house.

We took off the old roof next to the lounge area and have made the area into a lovely small terrace which we can now access from the new lounge and we have built a lovely little water feature to give us the tinkling of water when the weather is hot. As I type this we are waiting for the new metal stairs to arrive and be fitted to give us access to the top terrace – hopefully this should be later this week. Once they are fitted we can finish off the floor tiling on the terrace and it will be ready to use. We now have an automatic watering system so that makes it easier keeping the plants alive in the heat (we’re averaging 35 degress or more now so things dry out quite quickly).

The next job to start is to renew the flooring of the small terrace at the front of the house and get rid of the old lightwell and put something in like glass blocks to let the light in but keep the cold out in the winter.

Well that’s about all for now – the work carries on and one day we’ll be open for business as a little B&B but until then the satellite tv work keeps us ticking over.

Have a great summer whatever you do and wherever you spend it.

Hasta luego

Spring Has Arrived

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Well it’s been nearly 3 months since our last update and Spring has arrived here in the beautiful Lecrin Valley. Almond blossom has adorned the hillsides and the scent whilst out walking has been beautiful. The spring flowers are now appearing and the hillsides are looking green and fresh – perfect time of year to visit. The temperatures are on the up and it’s great for walking and mountain biking as it’s not too hot.

We managed to get a days snowboarding in during January when my brother visited and we had a great time. As we’ve been busy with the house I think that will be our only trip this year but it was good to know that after 5 years of no snowboarding we still remembered how to do it!!!

Work on the house is progressing well and at the end of January we moved into our new lounge and bedroom! It was great unpacking boxes of ornaments and belongings that hadn’t seen the light of day for the last 2 years – it was like Christmas all over again. It’s heaven being able to use our new ensuite and not having to negotiate the steps up and down to the old bathroom.

We are now working on the room which will become our new kitchen. All the plumbing and waste has been installed along with the conduit for the new electrics. Phil is currently tiling the floor area prior to us installing the new units. Once this is done it’ll be a trip down to Ikea in Malaga for the new kitchen. Although hubby hand built our last kitchen in the UK he’s decided to go down the Ikea route this time for speed as it was a lengthy job building units from scratch and we have so much more work ahead of us still. Fingers crossed we’ll have a working kitchen installed before our friend arrives for her holiday at the beginning of May.

Once the work on the kitchen has finished then our next job will be to remove the old roof above the store room in the old mill area – another skip will be required me thinks!!! We’ll be doing as much of the outside work as possible during the summer and then from October onwards we’ll move back to the work inside the house and hopefully start on the new guest rooms and their en suites.

The satellite work is quiet at the moment but that is expected due to the time of year and also the current economic climate in the UK. We are looking at other options to earn a crust but our main efforts are being channeled into the work on the house. The sooner the work gets completed the sooner we can start running as a B&B.

Well that’s all for now folks and all that remains is to wish you all a very Happy Easter.

Hasta Luego

Happy New Year!

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Happy New Year to you all and hope you all have a happy, healthy and prosperous 2008

Christmas for us passed by quietly and we had a nice lazy day opening presents, watching a bit of tv and taking a nice walk in the winter sunshine around the olive & orange groves surrounding the village. As we decided to eat early evening we didn’t BBQ the steak as it was dark and nippy up on the terrace and so cooked in the kitchen and relaxed afterwards by watching a film.

26th is back to normal here in Spain (no Boxing Day) and so it was back to work on the house and Phil doing more plastering. The weekend just before Xmas we filled a huge skip with building rubble and then moved a load of sand back to the house from the top of the village. Took us 2 days of hard graft but satisfying when it was all done. We shouldn’t need any more sand for a while now as there is a massive amount to keep us going.

In between Christmas and New Year we had a few satellite tv installations to keep us busy and New Years Eve was spent tucked up inside with a few drinks, and as Spanish custom goes I stuffed 12 grapes into my mouth at midnight to ensure good luck for the forthcoming year! Not easy trying to keep up with the church bells and not choking!! We then watched the New Year celebrations on the tv back in the UK and the huge firework display in London – after which it was off to bed ready for another day of work on the house!

My brother is coming over to stay for 12 days on 3 January and so looking forward to having him here with us. We are taking him into Granada for the 3 Kings Procession on the night of 5th January and then the next day we are off to the Conchar Mosto Wine Festival – should be a good day!! After that we’ll play it by ear – have fixed up some rock climbing for him with another English guy who lives in the valley so he’s looking forward to that. We might also get a chance to go up to the ski resort and get some snowboarding in. There is some rain forecast for later this week which means some more snow higher up which is good news.

Work on the new living area and bedroom is progressing steadily and fingers crossed by end January we might be able to move into it – the new log burner keeps it lovely and warm.

That’s all for now folks – hope you all had a great Christmas and best wishes to you all for 2008.