Thursday December 27th... already seems like ages ago and its only Friday now! Campocámara, Cuevas del Campo, Embalse del Negratin, and through numerous other small pueblos... we came across another hotel complex of cave houses, this one lead us up the garden path so to speak! We were following signs for what looked like a town with food and bars etc, but it turned out to be the resort and a small village closed... well just quiet really, not a soul about, houses that looked un lived in had red peppers hanging from up stairs windows and the use of oil drums for chimneys!
I did take a photo of a great staircase here though...
In the town of Campocámara, we tried to buy potatoes, the first stall although having on offer said patatas told us they were sold 'vendido' and to try next stall, his fathers, and on so doing was told again that he also had no patatas! Very strange eh!
I guess there was a good reason... we had lunch in a good restaurant with an outside veranda near the dam on the edge of the large lake Negratin... luckily the sun has been out, or it would have been freezing! Today there was ice on the car again and when we got in it registered only 6º, but once out in the sun it rose to 8! although sitting outside in the sun just now with our hosts it felt warmer... they have some friends over who also have a dog, so Pippa and 4 boy dogs! She was running round like a crazy thing!
ok its monday now news years eve and i cant remember what we did when since last writing... let me think... this morning, easy, went to Benamaurel the town on the way here between ... here... and Baza, its quite a large town built half way up a mountain side with many many cave houses and magnificent views all round, we, sorry i popped into the local Spar shop for pollo, chicken, i walked the few feet into the two aisle store to the counter at the back which was the meat counter, and the vegetable counter, and the fish counter, oh sorry and the cakes and sweets.... phew, which meant although there was only two ladies in front of me i was there for about an hour! Well no it was probably only 15 minutes or so, and then the man behind me was que jumped by a woman who came in after him! She then tried to que jump me at the one till, where i had then stood for another whole hour! Sorry again was only about quarter of an hour, but a lady ahead of me in both meat and now till line let me go ahead of her!
Phew, franco and Pippa thought i had either left by the back door or in the ambulance which had left earlier...
on our way back home we took a road left just before our turn, we drove and followed the steep turns and bends and then kept a steady line not wishing to drop the many feet on either side into deep ravines and valleys.... to find we had been there before and had to turn and come back up it again!
Another hard frost on the car again, and was 0º when we left the house, got up to about 8º in the sun, which is bright and beautiful with these wonderful blue blue skys... the sierra nevada is covered in snow, and looks stunning.
Sunday... yesterday we walked only... walked only sounds a small thing to do, not sure how i am even managing all this walking down steep tracks and hard mud up hills... we walked down to the valley here again, but this time made for some cave houses we can see up on the other side of us... we went by track this time though, no dodgy downhill escapades and crossed over a river, by bridge, and then took a new path up wards on the castril side of the valley, there we did have to do a bit of our own navigating with no real track and jumping deep fissures, so many, it looks like the ground here is just opening up all over the place.
We were walking for a lot longer than the last walk... maybe four hours, but this time we took provisions. Coffee, water for pip, and some food for us. We stopped twice for this, the first time half way up, or down, the other side of the valley near a ruin of a cave house, under a tree for shade, although in the shade its much cooler, and by the end of this walk i ended up with two sticks not one, i collected one along the way! Some of these caves are huge, ten twenty rooms some of some of them, beautiful ornate chimneys in some, it seems though that the goats have taken residence in lots of them.
Everywhere we have walked either in town village or track we have walked on black olives... today our last day we will eat black olives...
it is so time to go home now, this time tomorrow we will be, its so quite here at night, still the only thing i can hear is the rushing in my own ears... we also seem to have chimney lung going on, both of us have acquired a bit of a chesty cough thing and Pippa has a cold in one of her eyes... from hanging her head out of car window for so long facing into the cold wind, so the last couple of trips out she has not been able to have the window open, but she doesn't know why not!
Well i am not sure if all this will be blogged such a lot to rewrite or maybe i can lift the whole lot in one go... so i shall end this with a Happy New Year to all and each of you... and the wise wise words of my Uncle Dave who said when i told a story.... i built a clock to do so!
Well i have just read this and seem to have missed out the bit where we came off road between Galera and Orce, a beautiful little town with a castle and a church, we visited the hot spa baths where fishes were swimming, give a whole new meaning now to swimming with fishes doesn't it!!! after the hot baths, which i should mention are about 20º all year round due to the thermals there... and after leaving there we followed a road leading up to a cave house...but on the way... we came across a big car park and a gravel walk leading upwards, so we parked and followed the signs, we came up to an archaeological dig where they are uncovering huge amounts of cook ware etc, we were on a huge burial ground too! It was another long walk where you followed the red arrows and had to keep on going... we did get to see the cave houses up on the hill afterwards and ran out of road...
TTFN
Marian
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