Inside This Clay Jug by Kabir
Inside this clay jug there are canyons and pine mountains, and the maker of canyons and pine mountains! All seven oceans are inside, and hundreds of millions of stars.
Last night
Notes – 2025 (275)
The Internet of Consent
Click “I agree” to continue. You didn’t click it, though. Or maybe you did? I don’t know, it doesn’t matter
The GPS on this cheap, small, lightweight Lilygo T-Deck Plus running is very accurate (screen shows connected to 12 satellites). Battery lasts for ages just using the map facility (not the radio ). You need to download the map tiles and map format you wish separately. Might use it up in the mountains this week during our night hike (will have backup 😀 )
Next week 6 of us are planning a "Ruta Nocturnal", a 26km night crossing of Spain's Sierra Nevada from Pradollano in the NW to Capileira in the SE. Most of the route will be above 3000m altitude with a big descent of nearly 2000m. Highlights to include dinner with wine at the Col de Carihuela 😆, whilst watching the sunset & of course the tranquillity & beauty of hiking under the stars. Should be fun. Hoping for a dry & clear night.
This pm I took a huge gamble. I installed PostmarketOS, a mobile linux distribution, on my OnePlus6. It's buggy but I wanted to have a play around. Very easy to install via their web flasher.
Unfortunately, it's very buggy. Not many usable apps yet for my purposes. After playing around though & investigating I realised that I could install Waydroid. Game changer as Waydroid installs a LineageOS container within PostmarketOS. That way I had access to all my normal apps via F-Droid. Result!
It's always a bit of a heart stopping moment for me when you use ADB tools etc to flash a new OS onto an old phone. Will it work? Will I brick it?
Anyway managed to flash LineageOS onto an old OnePlus6 this morning. It's like having a new phone and a de-Googled one at that. Satisfying!
Cool day on Veleta yesterday!
Took the classic Paco Pepe route (4+) but decided to spice things up. After 1st 4 pitches, traversed R along the narrow & exposed Paso de Lagarto to the Variante Silvia (5) for 2 spectacular & sustained finishing pitches
Needed help from the rope at top of the crux which verges on 5+ for few meters. Thankfully Felipe there to assist. Will come back & try to climb 100% next summer. Training on arm strength is required!
1/2
Wandering into the Sierra Nevada's Forgotten Zone - A few days ago I had a wonderful overnight trip into a quiet and remote corner of Spain's Sierra Nevada. The access areas were busy but once clear of them, despite the August bank holiday, we didn't see anybody on the trails for 16 hours
https://elperronegro.com/posts/2025-08-16-wandering-forgotten-zone-sierra-nevada/
A few more night shots from our backpacking trip a few nights ago. Night photography is a bit new for me but I enjoyed the experience and will certainly try some more
Last nights view southwards past the slopes of Tozal del Cartujo.
About to head up into the mountains. Camping next to a lake in the cool air at nearly 3000 metres, under the stars, sounds attractive.
Heading against the grain as all the day trippers will be leaving the mountains as we enter them. Again, tomorrow morning we shall be leaving as they arrive. Sounds good to me.
Whilst in the UK last month my brothers & I came across an old leather case of my fathers. It contained hundreds of letters sent between him & my mother. It's a treasure trove!
Here is an extract written by him to my mother from his Royal Navy ship, HMS Glasgow on 24th February 1946. I particularly like the formality & style of writing.
Makes me wonder about the digital legacy we eventually shall leave behind. How interesting or searchable & discoverable will that be?
I enjoyed this scramble so much I decided to write a blog post
https://elperronegro.com/posts/2025-08-11-scrambling-campanitas-ridge-sierra-nevada/
@adele wow that's great!
On Lagrange browser (Linux) I am getting the following CGI Error. Any ideas, I'm a bit new to this
2/2 Then its glorious scrambling to the exit of the Canuto Norte del Veleta. From here the Fidel Fierro route to the summit is taken, care needed on the broken rock walls.
The climb finishes on the very summit of Veleta. Yesterday our group (average age 65+!) reached the summit to the bemused stares of groups of younger hikers who had walked up to the summit.
A superb day scramble for the adventurous.
Mountaineering
1/2 The "Arista de las Campanitas" from Cerro los Machos to the summit of Veleta is a superb scramble with an alpine nature. We did this in the hot sun, the ridge never falling below 3000m.
Grading wise, a grade 3S scramble but there are some very exposed sections and some short rock climbing 3 sections.
It passes over the easily scrambled, though sharp, ridge of Zacatin 3327m before arriving at the crux section, the ascent of the Campanario pinnacle 3328m. Rope could be useful here.
So, I was climbing up this steep rock slab a few days ago and out of a small cave in the rock above me appeared this Iberian Ibex (Cabra Montes). They are usually quite timid but this one stood his ground as I climbed around him. Probably protecting his "home" from alien invaders 😀
@jrfern maybe depends which map you use?
Thanks to @adele for opening the door to the Gemini Protocol again for me. I dabbled with Gemini back in 2021 but am returning to it now after a 4 year break and after seeing how our "normal" internet is rapidly disappearing into the "enshittification" mire (Mastodon excepted!).
Time again for a quiet place to connect with the interesting people of Gemini.
gemini://elperronegro.pollux.casa/
Want to create a gemini capsule, but do not want to manage a server contact @adele
Incredibly hot between 3000-3400 meters yesterday in the Sierra Nevada. No wind & a scorching sun beating down all day. No shade nor escape from the heat.
Not really the day for 6 of us (average age 65+ 😀 ) to go scrambling around on narrow ridges. Anyway we enjoyed it, especially the bit where we pulled up and over onto the very summit of Veleta to the obvious astonishment of the groups of young people who had walked up.
Don't often find videos of me playing about on the rocks but here's one.