Bedrock

Archive for the ‘Lakes’ Category

What a great end to the week. Finally found a company (Fedex) who can deliver to the door and they brought me some new super-efficient lights for the walls. I’ve been buried in software much of the week (during which time the hours just melt away). It’s not been as sunny as normal this week up in the mountains – indeed there’s been a bit of rain (I’m not complaining as in other parts of the country there have been floods with cars and vans sliding into each other like so much garbage). But today all that changed and we’re back to summer weather. Maureen and I headed off to the lake this afternoon – or more specifically to a spring-fed spar at the lakeside. I’ve not seen the water this calm for ages and it was probably around 28-30c – i.e. very nice indeed. The spa was so good we spent most of the afternoon in it.

By the time we got home tonight there was just enough time for a tapas-type dinner and a quick glass of beer. 

It’s going to be an early night for me, I was up until 4am this morning solving issues with a Linux script (my new challenge in life – and a good challenge at that – plenty of information out there, it’s just a matter of filtering out the dirt and learning the rest) which I did, but that only left me with around 5 hours of sleep. The tech blog has been active today and lots of people have sent me links to useful info – it’s great when people share just for the sake of it. Just waiting for the tablet to charge up and I’m off.

Meanwhile the nice people at Pebble came on, they’re sending me a replacement watch after mine fell victim to salt water (supposed to be proof to 40ft and I was in a swimming pool!). If the courier don’t lose it I should get that early next week just in time to go off to the same seaside area the first watch died in! But this time I think I’ll take it off before taking a dip – just to be safe.

This weekend we’ve some wiring to do (to finish off the lighting redesign outside the cave – currently a wiring nightmare) and a party to attend and some friends coming over – so provided the weather holds, a busy time.

Lake Negratin as you may not have seen before – thanks to a keen eye and the wonders of modern technology – the quadcoptor.

For once these are NOT my photos – I’ve simply done the post-editing and present them here courtesy of my neighbour John who was out and about this week and kindly took these excellent photos for us to enjoy. Those of you who are here will no doubt recognise the area.

Click on the smaller images to enlarge.

It’s mid-week and all’s well. Checked the cat-cam this morning back home just as Ollie strolled past the camera, giving only the vaguest acknowledgement as I called out his name though he did eventually look up to the screen and let out a few approving noises. No sign of his brother but I understand they’re all generally home and well.

Last night we BBQ’d with our neighbours, had a nice time and saw a couple of shooting stars in the process. It was a very clear night, probably 25c until near midnight though it felt cool towards the end (after 38c all day, ANYTHING feels cool). Spotted three of the brief flashes of light – one of which was quite spectacular but of course the only way to capture images of them would be to run the camera continuously.

Maureen spent much of the day yesterday doing schoolwork while I caught up with emails. I had the one token trip to the shops and failed to get some replacement LED lighting – though I did manage to get something to tackle woodworm which is apparently working, from a very friendly neighbour down the road who gave me a can to try despite having never met us before! You can’t really ask for more.

This morning I’ve reports to write for the FSB and some testing to find out why my home control boards very occasionally miss information. The postman is apparently showing up now so you never know, we might get some post. Other than that it’s likely to be a quiet day. Very sunny outside again as you might expect and my head is just about recovered enough to take advantage of it! Perhaps a trip to the lake, later.

Looking forward to our trip to Gibraltar in a few days though I have to say rather apprehensive about potential delays in the heat thanks to Spanish customs and their political manoeuvrings. It remains to be seen whether that’s going to be a hassle or not.

Another nice evening at the bar downtown last night with friends but we managed a relatively early night and today we took a drive (about an hour or so) to Embalse De La Bolera (on recommendation last night) – i.e. a lake – but not just any old lake – the place is clear blue-green – superb and the water not only looks great but feels great.

Yes, that’s Maureen in there in the image above – we certainly had plenty of room – there were others but we weren’t in each others way at all.

Along the way we went through Castril – it’s not the first time we’ve been there but I love to stop and take pics – it’s a very special looking place. The whole drive in fact is nice but the party piece has to be the lake – where we stopped there’s a little bar/restaurant though we could not tell if they actually do food – no matter it has seats with spectacular views.

Don’t forget you can blow most of these pictures up to a larger size just by clicking on them so for example the map on your right is quite readable when enlarged. We went over just before lunch so sadly all the shops were closed in the various places we passed through. Sandwiches out of the way we went for a dip – I have to say that at first getting into the water I felt a heart attack coming on but it took only minutes to get used to the water – which will warm up further in the summer – by mid-August I should expect it will be heavenly.

I think we stuck around for an hour or so then headed off to Lidl in Baza for supplies before returning home. I’ve a little more plastering to do and some work on my home control stuff – I hope to start building a second board this evening but you never know, in Galera there’s always a chance of someone popping in and that’s not so bad. Next time we come back to Bolera we’ll be staying somewhat longer – great trip out.

When you get to Castril, Pozo Alcon is another 25km and the lake is around half way on the right.

Tonight is likely to be a quiet BBQ night, once I’ve finished plastering I’ll be fit for nothing by lying around with a glass of wine – another benefit of this area, there are some decent inexpensive wines and we just stocked up!

Check out the colour of the water in the photo below – just superb..