Grumpy old mountain man living in Spain
Since Dec 2022 we have been running our own Mastodon & GoToSocial servers. What a breath of fresh air the Fediverse has been. We have made many hundreds of new friends from around the world, mostly related to our mountain, tech and nature interests.
Connect with me/us on the Fediverse at:
On certain sections of the Tajos de Bermejales gorge hike there are ropes to assist in descent or ascent. Have to say though that taking to the rocks direct seemed a much safer alternative 😀 . The first photo looks like Edward Whymper's rope that he last used on the Matterhorn in 1865!
The lower section of the Tajos de Bermejales gorge. A magical place!
Being a keen photographer, that doesn't do "selfies", I don't get in photos much. I do love this one though taken yesterday by @khusky.
I'm on a rikkety bridge over a small river with huge rock walls towering above and a very colorful scene upstream. The Tajos de Bermejales gorge, near Granada
Off for a walk to visit the Tajos de Bermejales gorge. Strange to be getting my stuff ready and putting on shorts on 1st December. 14C now and 22C expected.
I find the Garmin Explore website incredibly slow and buggy. Seems like it hasn't improved in years. For a company that has some of the best backpacking/hiking aids when on the trail, this isn't good enough.
This has been a gripe of mine for many years and to be honest has stopped me from buying more Garmin gadgets (watches etc)
Anybody else feel the same or is it just me being a grumpy old man? 😀
No 25 on the list of "what to do with all the lemons" is ... making Lemon Curd. Done!😃
"You can see the pub from here" 😃 well maybe not the pub, but you can almost make out my house.
An unusual image showing the location of the town of Lanjarón (700m) nestled on a small hillside. The Tajos Colorao cliffs are beyond with the Lanjaron valley dropping down to the Rules dam and eventually the Mediterranean sea.
I know it's not anymore but this was taken yesterday morning on a local dog walk with some friends.
A big sky view with the mountains of the Sierra de Almijara and Malaga province in the distance.
This quiet dirt road reaches 1700m altitude above the town of Lanjarón in the Alpujarras and has been recently renovated.
Hard to believe this is December!
Arko certainly enjoyed his time splashing around the waters edges
Today we've been walking down the lower Rio Guadalfeo as it approaches the Mediterranean sea at the Costa Tropical. A very different environment to what we are used to. These images almost remind me of some gentle pastoral scenes from the UK.
I feel very privileged. Today we spent over an hour in the presence of two very rare Bearded Vultures (Quebrantahuesos/Lammengeier).
They rode the thermals, dropping bones to extract the marrow. The process repeated itself throughout the encounter. This mating pair from Cazorla seemed to be really enjoying themselves and certainly put on a display for us. A rare treat for us to see.
I've travelled this road from the Sierra Nevada mountains down to the village of Nigüelas many times. The final kilometers enter a spectacular gorge, but the light has never been right for an image. Either no shadow in early morning or directly into the sun late afternoon. Frustrating.
Today though, I was lucky. I arrived there with some beautiful light conditions. It's a dramatic place!
I love the sunsets at this time of year.
After a month of marinating some of our lemons in alcohol, today I completed the final steps and added sugar water before bottling. Home made Limoncello. Salud!
Beautiful late afternoon hazy sunshine highlighting the rooftops of Lanjarón in Granada province.
I hate colds/flu, especially those coughing fits that seem to last for weeks. Got infected by a hiking visitor from Plague Island during the week. I should have known better. That's written this weekend off for me then 😤 😭.
All those heading for the hills this weekend, enjoy yourself and I look forward to seeing the snaps from my perch in front of the TV.
Playing around with GotoSocial on a VPS. Love the idea of a simple, self hosted, low resource entryway into the ActivityPub Fediverse.
We've bitten the bullet and decided to spend at least all of next November in El Chalten, Patagonia. Mountains, glaciers, photography & wildlife for at least 4 glorious weeks!
Exploring the quiet Toril valley in the Sierra Nevada yesterday. A moody day with cloud over the snow covered peaks but some spells of sunshine pushing through during the afternoon.
The head of the Toril Valley is a magnificent and dramatic place presenting a wall of snow covered mountains disappearing into the clouds.
Access was via Capileira and Cebadilla. 13km and 700m ascent.
Thanks to my mate Ian Tupman who, on the 10th anniversary of the trip, has just re-edited some footage from our Patagonia Expedition in 2014. Additional footage, photos and a new soundtrack.
He's probably just cost me upwards of €5000 as I shall have to return now 😤.
Seriously, superb images that brought back some of the finest memories of my mountain life. Music combined nicely with the footage. Thanks for that Ian