The weather has been unusually warm and sunny this winter, so we have been enjoying our gardening and have resumed our trips into the mountains. We tackled the climb up to the castle at Castell de Castells at the head of the Vall del Pop, although we cheated somewhat by driving up to 900m and only walking the last 200m. The view from the peak down onto Guadalest in the next valley was awesome and well worth the effort getting there.

He was being joined by Gill Henry, another singer with a great voice, who also performs on the Costa Blanca circuit here.

The show was a huge success and sold out 3 weeks before the evening! To see more photos and read some of the reviews in the local newspapers, go to the special website we designed for the event.

The main feature of many fiestas is bull running in the high street or town square. In the port of Denia, however, the arena has one of its 4 sides as the quay, resulting in a bizarre event called ‘bous en la mar’ or ‘bulls in the sea.’ Bulls are released into the arena and the local young lads do their best to lure the bull over the edge of the quay into the sea to the delight of the crowd. Don’t worry, there is a rowing boat and 2 strong men to guide the bull safely back to a slipway. Not so the young guys who have jumped into the water to avoid being gored by the bull; they have to climb out on their own!

The little village of Orbetta, part of our own town of Orba, celebrated their recent fiesta in a more musical fashion and we went to listen to a rondalla, a group of musicians from the local music school playing classical Spanish instruments. Afterwards, the Orba town band paraded through the streets and the village settled down for some all-night partying!

See more photos from these events in the gallery.

We set off on our 4,500k, 3-week marathon at the end of May for a short holiday in La Rioja region of N. Spain, before catching the ferry from Bilbao to Portsmouth, spending 10 days visiting family and friends in the UK and finally returning home via France, where we stayed with 2 friends en route.

La Rioja is an area renowned for probably the best red wine in Spain and whilst we were there, we visited the Bodega Fabulista in the catacombs beneath the medieval, walled town of Laguardia, where we were treated to a tour and a wine tasting.

The town of Laguardia is a medieval, walled town, built on top of a hill and laid out with a grid of narrow, cobbled streets, with storks nesting on some of the tallest buildings.

We also visited several beautiful monasteries, including the Monasterio de San Millan dela Cogalla, where we toured the magnificent cloisters, sacristy and church.

Monasterio de Valvanera

We visited another monastery 100m up on the side of a mountain at Valvanera and the cathedral at Santa Domingo de la Calzada, where we spent our last night in the Santo Domingo Bernardo Fresnada, one of Spain’s many paradors and an old Francisan monastery.

The countryside of La Rioja is one of great contrast and on our final day we visited the winter ski-resort of Ezcaray, only a 15 minute drive from the rolling countryside planted with 60,ooo hectares of vineyards. Here we drove 1,600m up into the mountains to the deserted winter station of ski lifts, passing herds of grazing cattle and enjoying awesome scenery that made us think we were in Switzerland or Austria.

Enjoy the photos of La Rioja in full at the gallery and watch a slideshow of the photos on youtube.

We travelled aboard Brittany Ferries’ Cap Finistere to the UK, arriving in Portsmouth on the morning of 1st June. Vernon had by sheer chance arranged the UK leg of the tour to coincide with the Alton Beer Festival, which he attended with son Chris on Saturday morning, reminding himself how much he misses real ale in Spain! During the 10-day stay in the UK, we were able to visit our families and meet up with old friends, some of whom we hadn’t seen since leaving UK nearly 4 years ago. Celia also met her cousin Sandy, who was visiting the UK and whom she hadn’t seen in over 35 years!

BBQ in the rain

Celia with AngieT, an old friend from work

Celia with long-lost cousin Sandy from Canada

Our journey back to Spain was via Eurotunnel and a long drive through France, stopping off firstly with friend Sharon, who lives near the village of Moncoutant, between Nantes and Poitiers. After another long drive down through France, we stopped overnight with Mike and Susie in the Aude region in the foothills of the Pyrenees, south of Carcassone. The third and final 8-hour leg brought us back home to Orba and long-awaited temperatures of +30C!

Celia and Sharon

Moncoutant church

Mike & Susie's terrace

The experience gained in researching my own and Celia’s family trees highlighted the lack of information about our ancestors’ pasts and their lifestyles and so I have written a potted history of my life which I hope will be of interest to my descendants. It is called “It’s a great life if you don’t weaken!” and by clicking on the title you can review the book online and purchase a copy should you be remotely interested!

The sales blurb maintains -

“My Ancestry” is an interesting story of simple country folk, ranging from squatters in the New Forest to bricklayers and brickmakers, with a couple of seafaring folk and some military men thrown in as well. As with most family trees, there are skeletons in the closet and so I have included a few scandals to brighten up the history, which is illustrated with photographs, certificates and stories passed down through the family.”

The foliage growth during the long spring and summer growing season is prodigious and we have learned to cut back most of the shrubs very hard. As a result, we have a large amount of green waste to remove from the garden and this is transported in the back of our very versatile car in large canvas  builders’ merchants bags to the nearby quemador, where it is burned.

This year, we carried out two additional projects. The first was to extend the small patio at the rear of the villa where we often have lunch, especially during the winter because it is sheltered and catches the sun. We also wanted to build some extra steps up to the higher part of our garden at the rear of the villa. Celia quickly learned how to mix cement and the result was a great team effort that has improved our access to and enjoyment of the garden.

In February, the white blossom of the almond tree was a wonderful backdrop to the red aloes. Meanwhile, on our terrace, we were pleased to finally have the first strelitiza or ‘bird of paradise’ bloom – after a three-year wait. We look forward to enjoying more flowers this year as the plant finally becomes ‘pot bound’.

It had great costumes and a refreshing mix of musical numbers as the programme shows. Celia and I were once again members of the chorus with Celia showing off her rapidly improving tap-dancing skills.

Meanwhile, as well as his appearances as a thief and a merchant, Vernon showed a new and rather different talent for raising a laugh from the audience with his Sand dance routine – you can see a video of the dance here.

Click here listen to one of The Nomad’s songs – “Stairway to Heaven” and see the full gallery of photos here, courtesy of Benny Davis and Kathy Thomas.

Quotes -

The Nomad – “Ace gig!”

Rob Sweeney - “It’s certainly helped give me a boost and I won’t forget that. If you’re planning another for next year, pen me in now because no matter how busy I may be, I’ll find the time to help such a fine bunch of people promoting such a worthy cause.

Malcolm Adams and Pauline McGough on stage at the Music Showcase

Bruce, The Nomad, on stage at the Alcalali Theatre

Chill Factor performing their set at the Music Showcase