Endangered Vultures

Recently, this handsome young vulture was found on a nearby Urbanisation. It appeared to be exhausted and 'adopted' my friend Steve Carter for a few days; allowing him to come close up to it. As it didn't eat or try to fly away, Steve called the environmental people, (Medio Ambiente). They care for wild creatures, and release them when they are able to cope.

Vultures are endangered. Apparently the EEC had decreed that domestic livestock animals that died naturally in the country, must be removed and not allowed to get into the food chain. This had a detrimenal effect on vultures and other carrion bird populations. So a chain of vulture 'restaurants' were set up in the mountains across Andalucia. When there are carcases of horses or cows to be disposed of they are taken to these feeding stations. I have walked, the steep climb to the one on 'our' Los Reales mountain. I understand there is another near Tarifa, and one near Ronda.

Land Boundaries

My eldest daughter, Nikki, came out to Spain for a visit to clarify the boundaries of some land that the family owns. Recently the local authorities have taken aerial photos of the whole province, and drawn in an approximation of owners boundaries! So it is necessary for everyone to check their survey maps, and agree boundaries with their neighbours. We found that our registered documents were expressed not only in Hectares but also in archaic measurement forms! Instead of square meters, we have Fanegas, Celemin, Aranzada, Areas and Centiareas. We had no idea what their equivilances were. Thanks Goodness for Google!

The Fanega was originally an Arabic measure. It was both a dry measure of grain, like a Bushell, and also meant the area of land that can be sown with grain in a day. A Fanega of land can be about 644o square meters. I say CAN be as each province of Spain had a different amount called a Fanega ! The table we found defined an Arranzada as 4472 square meters. A Celemin as 5 Areas, 36 centiareas, 66 Decimeters. Confused enough? No wonder everyone is struggling to work out exactly what land they have!

Fire often sweep over the country. When our land was burned some years ago, the timbers of the cottage were burned and the roof fell in; leaving it a romantic ruin. Fruit trees and vineyards disappeared. Now it is all overgrown and gone back to wild nature!

Firefighter planes at Bahia Dorada

Brian took these pictures yesterday and today. The fire fighter planes scooped up sea water and flew on to discharge it on the huge fire on the mountain behind Bahia Dorada. It is an extremely dangerous job to fly low and load the plane, and take it up with the sudden extra weight of water, and then deal with flying conditions on the mountain, with the smoke and fire heated updaughts to contend with. They are brave and skillful pilots!

Rumours cirulate as to how the fire started. One version says it was from a carelessly left weekend barbique fire at Los Pedrogales Park. Another version that the fire was deliberately started.

I don't know if the ADANA kennels was affected. The kennels is on that mountain. It would have been very difficult to evaculate 100 or more dogs. I'll up-date when I know.

Super station food and passing trains

This wonderful cool drink isn't wine, and it isn't a cola! It's grappa (grape juice) with ice and lemon. It was served to us on shiny black glass tables on the platform of the little Station of San Pablo near Jimena de La Frontera.
Occasional trains pass by. They stop by request only. Now you see one - now you don't!



Adventure suggestion. Go to the station and have a nice drink before taking the train to Ronda. The route is through magnificent mountain scenery that you can see no other way. The historic town of Ronda is spectacular. Spend whatever time you can spare to explore it! (More about it later.)

When you return to San Pablo station have dinner at the restaurant on this very platform! The food is of superb quality! Nieves, the chef, serves lunches too. (Closed on Mondays.)

Val's Vanette and Wind Farms

My email name is "valvanette". I chose it as my traveling address, because I drive this Nissan Vanette camper van! It used to have a kitchen with a gas fridge, a gas stove and washing up facilities, but I never cooked in it. Roadside 'ventas' have delicious inexpensive food on the 'menu del dia', so why bother with shopping, cooking and cleaning up? Brian dismantled the kitchen and fitted a three seater backseat that I bought (with seat belts) from a car scrapyard . Its more comfortable now for giving a lift to friends!

The 'wind farm' shown here is on the Gaucin road, 15 minutes or so from where I live. I'm ambivalent about them. They may make sense environmentally - but I'd rather see beautiful mountain scenery without such intrusions. Yes, the design has elegant simplicity - but I enjoy nature more without them. Wind farms are a hazard to bird life, especially on migratory routes; however chemicals in the food chain and pollution cause more bird deaths. The 'solution' to one problem causes another problem!

1.450m to the top of the Bermeja!

The summit of the Bermeja mountain behind Estepona is 1.450 meters! Although the road up to it is steep, narrow and twisting, it is possible to drive a car most of the way. On a clear day it seems as though you can 'see forever', and there are views of Morocco and the Sierra Nevada. In my lefthand picture Gibraltar is just visible in the distance. If you are lucky you might see Booted Eagles, Griffon Vultures, Sparrow hawks, and Long Eared Owls, or even an Egyptian Mongoose! You will certainly see a very rare species of pine tree, the Pinsapo, which only grows in Andalucia. It was discovered quite recently, in 1837, by a Swiss botanist Edmund Bosser. It has short blue-green needles, and its branches sweep low to the ground.

There is a Refugio, about a kilometer below the summit, where shelter, food and drink are often available. In winter a blazing wood fire is a welcome warmer! There are tables with long benches indoors, and wooden picnic tables under the trees for fine weather. Young people bring sleeping bags and sleep out on the 'deck', to see the glorious sunrise in the morning.