Bedrock

Archive for the ‘spain’ Category

We had to drop Maureen’s sister Elizabeth off at Granada airport first thing this morning so we took the opportunity to visit the Alhambra by travelling down first thing on Wednesday morning and stopping overnight in the city.

Don’t forget to click on any image if you want a larger version.

First thing in the morning (7.30am) the views of the mountains were spectacular with low-lying clouds hovering above or in the mountains themselves.

We arrived around 9.30am and had to wait a while for the British guide to turn up to take us around the famous Alhambra. It’s not my first visit but you always see something new. The guide was superb, sadly the audio technology he was carrying was rubbish so we ended up missing some of what he said. Non-the-less a thoroughly enjoyable if hot way to spend the day.

Looking every bit the tourist with my hat and “I love Alhambra” badge, I set about taking photos – I’ll put the lot into a Google Album and include the link rather than filling this page up with pics. There are a couple I need to show you… these two in particular – spectacular panoramic views from the top of the city…

Maureen and Elizabeth thoroughly enjoyed the trip – sorry the latter had to leave so soon. Afterwards as I took a nap back at the hotel they went off for the bus tour and we all caught up later on for a drink.

Thursday morning we dropped Elizabeth off at the airport and headed back to the Alhambra car park so we could park up (now I know how to get there from the motorway instead of weaving across half of Granada) and continue the bus tour. HOT does not begin to describe it but we found ourselves at the science centre – WELL recommended…  The roof of the science centre below has photocells over the roof (out of site here) generating – wait for it 200kw of electricity! Again more photos to come – on the way back up home from Granada I took a wrong turn off to Almeria and though it only took around 10 minutes to twig I’d got it wrong, I was glad I did as we found the largest alternative power plant I’ve ever seen, firstly a massive solar plant (heat pump type) and photovoltaic but also a massive wind farm all in the same location – how to do the job properly!

Unfortunately the photos just don’t do it – I forgot my large camera and what looked really impressive in real life just doesn’t cut it here. What you are looking at below – is part of an image with hundreds of huge arrays of curved, reflective solar panels. To the left off-image was a fairly large photovoltaic array and to the right out of shot, hundreds of windmills… unbelievable.

The BEST way to see these and many more photos of the trip is to go to the relevant Google Album. Click here to visit Scargill’s Google Album of Granada, 2011 – if you prefer to see this stuff in Facebook – checkout our Facebook Bedrock page here

With temperatures as high as 38 degrees, yesterday when we finally got out and about – we spent our Sunday in the water, once again at our favourite lake, followed by a quiet night in and I spent the night, after watching “Top Gear” and the EXCELLENT new “Hawaii 5-O”, getting annoyed at trivial connectivity problems. I’m currently sporting quite sore upper-arms and chest due to over-doing the sun a little. This morning the girls are off to the post office and the “Negropolis” in Galera, I’ve finished off re-cementing the entrance to the driveway (after our original builder used PLASTER for a ramp on the path!!) I’m hopefully going to get some programming work done on my new APP. If I could find a piece of flat road I’d give my new solar car a run (see right)

Incidentally, Facebook fans, if you want to see what I’m up to there, checkout the Bedrock Facebook Page…

Got up really early this morning after a death-defying walk last night and instead of feeling like a trip to the hospital I actually had some energy – so Maureen and I walked down the hill to the village for coffee – and back up – and I STILL don’t feel a heart-attack coming on – has to be a good thing.

Anyway, while we were walking in the early hours it occurred to me to take pics…

How to make a cave-home

1. Start off with a hole in the mountain (see top right). Preferably ancient. Not all cave-homes start this way. Some start with a great big edge above the hole – which the builders conveniently ignore hence guaranteeing that at some point the whole lot will collapse on top of you (see top left).

2. Get some breeze-block, preferably broken and do the worst job you possibly can in putting cement in-between the blocks. You can always cover it over with plaster later.  Add rounded top to wall with cement which will crack and drop off after its first winter (see wall).

3. Pick a suitable site with attractive scenery. It’s important to ensure the place has beautiful views from the window (see purple car).

4. Put up signs and use Google for the translations to give that home-made look to the area (click on these images to enlarge – particularly the sign image on the right which will then be large enough to read).

5. Make sure there are some personal touches nearby – like cosy slippers on a ledge – you can’t beat second-hand slippers  (see slippers).

6. That’s it, stick an ad up and wait for the masses to flock to buy.

Now, on the other hand our little village of Galera is getting some great updates – last time I looked the church was pretty derelict – today, well, you’d not recognise it… here are some other pics I took this morning around the village – again – remember – click on the image for the large version if you’re interested.

The Orce market was ok – could have been a little more exciting – but the air was really nice and warm and so it was worth the trip. (Don’t forget to click on these images if you want to view larger originals)

Some old cars on view, lots of stalls selling everything from soaps from France (everyone seems to sell the same ones – even in France – it’s nearly always the Provencal soaps) to locally-produced wicker baskets, jewellery.. you know… market stuff.  Best of the lot however are the many and varied herbs on sale claiming to cure everything from cancer to diabetes.. not sure how I feel about that as clearly they DON’T but then LORDES gets the crowds in as well and clearly that doesn’t perform miracle cures either…  for my own purposes I assume they’re just being light-hearted about this…

After that we cleared off to the local Pizza place in Galera for a few quiet drinks and finished the night off in the Jacuzzi (which is currently cold – strange you may say, well ,it was still 30c outside when it turned dark!!) 

Today I’ve spent most of the day glued to the screen learning how to program Facebook Apps and writing reports, Maureen is glued to the TV, I’ve fixed the nodding solar Queen (again, it keeps getting dropped)… and neighbour Richard is back and we’ve agreed that this Wednesday night we’ll take our shovel and cement and fill in a couple of holes in the road (well, someone has to do it and there’s no-one else here!) and tonight we’ve been invited to a local BBQ – I’ll take the camera.

Oh and people keep asking where we are.. I keep saying north of Granada which is not strictly correct. Here’s Orce in respect to Galera and Huescar.

So in the map below, Galera is highlighted with the A symbol, Granada is lower left, Murcia upper right… maps clearly are copyright Google!  Tomorrow I think a trip to Cullar pool which we’ve just found out about! (directly down from Galera in photo below)

For those of you who’re in the area on holiday or staying here I’ve created a twitter feed you can follow if you’re interested. I’ll put in updates about what’s going on – if you know of anything in the area I don’t – please do comment.

www.twitter.com/cavehome

Yet another lovely day, temperatures in the upper thirties at peak.  Yesterday we had our treat for the week – CHUROs at the Huescar market…. then a cracking night last night with some Brits down at the local pubs, today we went to the Orce pool – mid-afternoon – almost deserted – lovely, followed by a spot of shopping tonight for supplies in Huescar (wherein I discovered free WIFI in the square which is nice – better than Scarborough’s supposed WIFI on the beach which turned out to be not yet commissioned) and a quiet night in Orce for a pizza in the square there.

Back in the cave now, I’m writing the blog, Maureen’s sitting outside on the patio, pitch black apart from our coloured solar lights, talking to her sister in the USA on video Skype on her iPad. I put some acid down on the weeds today, we’ve a few more bathroom repairs to do and looking forward to more sun at the weekend.

Orce market is on Sunday night – WELL worth the trip if you’re nearby – I’ll drop some pics in here after the event.

Currently suffering with wasps outside – Maureen’s convinced they’re hiding in the hot tub so I’ll be taking panels off –looking for a smoke-bomb solution to get rid of them – ideas welcome.

Got streaming video from our PC at home working – but the broadband is not QUITE up to it, Habland (who are most helpful and speak English – forget about Iberbanda) have promised options from September on for varying the data rate – clearly they can handle up to 4 meg either way, it’s down to getting the funding model right I suppose – but for me, slower broadband when we’re NOT here – at lower cost – and faster when we ARE here at higher cost would fit the bill nicely.

Still no sign of my new cameras from China – which is a bit of a worry as they need forwarding from the UK to here! Existing cameras work a treat but I’m hoping to add audio to them before we leave later in the summer.

Pete Scargill