Having a sabbatical from teaching

I am planning a 5 month break from teaching science at a secondary school in Wiltshire.
I will fly out to the Quito (Ecuador) on 16th September and visit the Galapagos. This is a place I have always seen as beyond my dreams, but I will actually go there!
Then I will travel through Peru and Bolivia, finally flying down to Patagonia in Southern Chile.
My oldest friend is going to join me there and we plan to have a jolly adventure in the mountains. Think Thelma and Louise minus the drugs, fags, tight leather and ultimate deaths..
I will fly back to the U.K. on 18th December.
And what then?? Back to work of course.
But who knows what will have changed.

En route to Peloponnese

Gatwick Travelodge. Flight 5.40. Very army start.. Nuff said!!

Last Holiday blog. Flying home tomorrow a.m,

Well today has been rather surreal. I decided to walk from hotel Eliseos in central Malaga to the Holiday Inn by the airport, as my flight is at 6 a.m. Tomorrow. I went to the Cathedral first thing this morning where there were gorgeous paintings and sculptures. I found some gorgeous fountains on the way where there were lovely paintings of fish,  birds and plants. I Had a coffee in a bar in Malaga and met an English teacher there who was studying English and doing some homework about the past imperfect tense. I was going to help her out that in fact I was completely incapable of helping her. Her grammar was better than mine.

The walk along the beach West from the centre was gorgeous. I saw a part of Malaga I haven't seen or haven't heard of. It was about 4 km of lovely walk with cafes and beaches and showers to wash off the golden sand and lots of interesting sculptures. There were people skateboarding and there were lovely cycle paths It was a really nice walk out of Malaga despite a fierce wind.

And then I got to a rather rundown bit but very quickly found a river and followed the river I think east until I got a bit stuck trying to get across it. The man in the hotel had told me that there was a bridge I could cross. But in fact it wasn't a bridge at all it was a pipe. So I had to go across one of the main motorways and that was definitely not legal and ended up with a rather awkward dilemma.

But just when I was thinking I was going to have to make a mad dash across the motorway I found a cafe and realised that I could actually get across on one of those funny metal bridges. So now I'm at the lovely Holiday Inn at the airport. Its really nice; the view from my window is dreadfully interesting not. And tomorrow morning I can walk from the hotel to the airport which is only about a kilometre away. So I only have to get up at 4 AM.

I don't really know what else to say. All good things must come to an end. This has been a really marvellous holiday done.

Malaga Beach minus the moles...

I had a tough afternoon swimming and sunbathing at the beach in Malaga. My feet don't smell any more.

The worst thing that happened this afternoon was finding an insect under the olives I got with a cervaza. Quel astima!!

 I am so glad I had a real book to read. And a visor to keep off the sun when lying on my back. These details are important I think!!. Reading phones is no good on a beach.

The weather has been glorious. What a great penultimate day to my holiday.

Malaga beach

https://www.google.es/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fi.livescience.com%2Fimages%2Fi%2F000%2F076%2F814%2Foriginal%2Fstar-nosed-mole.png%3F1434743050&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.livescience.com%2F51282-aptly-named-animals-gallery.html&docid=Br8h_3G6Oixt1M&tbnid=zs_B_2mA0Cu3mM%3A&w=650&h=359&hl=en-GB&ved=0ahUKEwjvuKrhlvXLAhXD7hoKHQOwCs4QxiAIFSg

Malaga. Your dream..

A bit different to the peace and quiet of the Alpujarras. But hotter. I can do this for a few days!

The tourist info says "Welcome to your dream". REALLY!

How exhausting is being a tourist!!

Well I've been walking around Malaga for about four hours now and I've covered nearly 10 miles. So you don't need to just walk in the mountains to cover a lot of distance!!

I have visited the Castilla de Gibralfato, which is the big  16th century coastal lookout and fortified castle high on a hill behind Malaga, and then the Alcazaba De Malaga, which is the 11th century Moorish Palace and castle slightly lower down. Both of these are absolutely amazing built on a massive scale, and certainly not to be missed. 

Then. I found the stamina to visit the Picasso Museum,  and just now  I went round the bullring opposite the hotel.

I have to say that all of Old Malaga is absolutely amazing. There was also a Roman theatre in the middle of town which I have visited too.

I did find the cathedral but it looks so amazing that I don't want to rush it and actually all this walking around is quite exhausting. So I think I might visit the cathedral tomorrow on my way to the airport hotel. 

I'm going to walk to the hotel. It looks quite fun and I can follow the coast out of Malaga for about four miles before I head in that. It's only going to be about six or 7 miles from the hotel.

It's hard to believe that I've only got one more day on holiday before I go back home. But it's enough now. I am starting to get a little bit weary of living out of a rucksack and I miss my husband. And if I don't put some different shoes on soon they are going to walk home without me.

Biblical photos from Valor

And the dogs Luciano and Pavarotti. 

A long time on a bus

I enjoyed my evening in Valor yesterday.

After a walk to Nechite and the Fuente Romano, I mooches around for a while and had supper in the local bar. It was a delicious bean and asparagus ommelette. I was just leaving when I was hailed by the local alcoholic, an Irishman called Martin who has lived in this part of Spain for more than 30 years. He had two gorgeous dogs called Luciano and Pavarotti. He insisted on buying me a drink so I chose "pacharan" - the. Spanish slow gun with a hint of liquorice added. Amazing stuff. The sunset over the village was stunning; like being inside a Turner painting. At about half past eight I said goodbye and headed to bed.

Of course I slept very badly last night - worried I would oversleep and miss the bus - but with 4 alarms set there was no fear of that and I probably woke up my hosts in Los Arcos in Valor (an outstanding hotel by the way).

I crept out, collecting a fabulous breakfast in the way, and shivered in the dark and the cold for about 25 minutes until the bus came.

Then it was three and a half hours on the bus,  wending its way through steep villages. I was scared. 

In Granada there was a mad rush to get a coffee con leche and go to the toilet. There wa pandemonium at the cafe and I had to be really assertive. It is very busy on the roads this morning!

And now I am sitting on another bus, heading for Malaga Central. I will certainly be bussed out when this is over. 

A small walk to Nechite

Not being a great one for siestas and not wanting to just sit and drink beer all afternoon and fall into a coma, I decided to go for a little walk to the neighbouring village of Nechite. The route was lovely: of course there was some up up up and quite a lot of down down down interspersed with following Acequias. I enjoyed the cats trying to hide in them.

I ended up going back to the old roman bridge - the Puente de la Tableta -coming into the town. It really is an amazing bridge.

Valor itself feels like a bit of a dump. There seems to be more rubbish than normal and it feels very empty and a bit like the land that Time forgot.

But it's a really amazing part of the  world and at one stage in its history lots of people loved it and throw money at it. Some of the buildings look or feel Georgian and there are some really beautiful plants here from Africa.

The landlord and landlady are English -he is a retired banker - and I am the only visitor here. I've just been spoiled by a lovely slice of tea-cake and a cup of tea. My 1st cup of tea since I left home.

So I'm going to have a bit of a rest and then go and get something to eat and then have an early night I think. I need to be up at 5 AM

I really feel I should mention that my feet smell quite bad at the moment. It's my shoes. I can't wait to wear something else.

A small walk to Nechite

Not being a great one for siestas and not wanting to just sit and drink beer all afternoon and fall into a coma, I decided to go for a little walk to the neighbouring village of Nechite. The route was lovely of course some up up up and quite a lot of following Acequias. I enjoyed the cats trying to hide in them.

I ended up going back to the old bridge coming into the law. The minimal amount of research I have done leads me to believe it's not actually Moorish or Roman.

The last real walk

It was only about 5 miles to Valor so I decided to add a bit of spice and distance by doing the "Sendero de Gerard Brennan" - a walk advertised as 1.9 km and one I naively believed would be easy and suited to elderly literary types. How stupid was that.

It was easily 3km long and OF COURSE there wasn't a flat second. In fact I was nearly tempted to give up. Thank goodness for poles because the ground was really slippery and I was alarmed at the risk if avalanches again.

The rainfall yesterday was the FIRST RAIN THIS YEAR in the region, and one man in a cafe described it as a drop in the ocean. So I hope there is more. But preferably not until I am home if course!

The high point of today was crossing the Roman bridge into Valor. It was closed last year and I had to cross using the modern road bridge.

It just felt like a massive privilege to cross the bridge and tread in the steps people have walked for hundreds of years.

Valor is mediaeval and steeper than anywhere except perhaps Bubion I think. There is a flat bit in the middle though!

After this beer I am going to check in to Los Arcos, find the bus stop for 5.55 in the morning (boo), and then explore properly. 

More surreal things about Yegen

The village idiot thinks I am Russian - he is definitely mad.

The lovely local couple are already fed up with the village idiot after only 9 days in the Bar Centro

The power cut was interesting bit caused some interest. A good fire was helpful

I got chatting about Michael Jackson and found out the owneress loves him too.. Picture of her by the fire despairing about the village idiot,.

It is still raining and there is nobody else at the hotel. I think an early night is called for. 

I had no toilet paper so had to look that up and ask for some. Fun. Public. But there was nobody there so I took a picture!!

Being in Yegen in the rain

Well it started raining almost as soon as I left Mecina Bombaron, but it was a very half-hearted sort of rain which was easily repelled by Andrews waterproofing technique and my lightweight waterproofs and rucksack cover.

So I went down to Golco, a weird mediaeval hamlet where the GR 7 signs completely disappeared leaving me lost and confused for a while. I have a sort of deja vu feeling I got lost in exactly the same place last year.

Then I walked up through beautiful plants to the hamlet of Montenegro, and then up to yegen.

My room is fine with a balcony that overlooks the fountain.

I will have a wander round later and find Gerard Brenan's house.

But for now it is nice just being still and quiet and the clouds are rather cooling. 

My eye is getting better already. A lovely girl in the farmacia at Berchules told me that she thought it didn't seem bad enough to be conjunctivitis and sold me eye drops for mild allergic reaction and dry eyes which seems to have done the job.

The hotel at Berchules was OUTSTANDING by the way. I had ratatouille followed by rabbit stew for supper last night. And the fruit and yoghurt breakfast was amazing. 

B

Coffee at Mecina Bombaron

Well what a ridiculous walk here! It said 5 km  to get here on the sign but my watch says 4.8 miles. Hmmm. So it was  UP UP UP into the top of Berchules and then DOWN DOWN DOWN into valley followed immediately by UP UP UP Onto a dry and beautiful mountain. I felt I could have reached out and touched the hotel I started from and I had been walking forever an hour!

There were eagles again but too far away to identify.

Then of course DOWN DOWN etc into old Mediaeval and hard to pronounce Mecina B.  

Here are some photos of the highlights so far today.