El Perro Negro

Grumpy old mountain man living in Spain

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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.

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Did the very entertaining Via Ferrata at Castala yesterday with Dexter and Felipe. Ladders, walkways, balance bar, Tyrolean traverses, wire bridges, pendulums. Also 2 abseils - 18m and 30m. Lots of fun in the afternoon shade near Berja. Well worth a visit!

A person swings out from a mountain face on a pendulum swing. behind are green trees and the sea

2 people climb iron rungs cemented into the rock face. Both wear helmets

A person abseils down a steep cliff

A tough overhang climbed with the aid of metal rungs built into the orange rock

Some of the beautiful wild flowers that lined the sides of streams that were gushing with the spring snow melt from the high Sierra Nevada. Height approx 2300-2500m. Wildflower names in description/alt text

A small yellow/red wildflower sits aside a stream bank. "Genista versicolor"

Lots of "Helianthemum appenium" on the bank of a stream

The distinctive blue of the gentian "Gentiana Sierrae"

A large area with the blue gentian "Gentiana Sierrae"

Such beauty yesterday on the western side of Spain's Sierra Nevada mountains. Running waters, colorful endemic wild flowers, snowfields, distant views and a "big country" feel. And, no others around. I knew my fellow hikers were as captivated as myself as, instead of the usual charging away up the nearest hill, they were content to just sit for long periods. I guess, contemplating the meaning of life, who knows? 😄 A superb day, immersed in nature.

Hikers pass alongside a small stream with distant views to mountains

A group of hikers passes along a small path with a large valley up and behind. In the distant some remnants of snow still remain on the high peaks

Hikers descend some green and yellow slopes. The valley ahead converges to some distant mountains. Blue sky above

A large stream gushes out of a lip in the valley. Two hikers are seen walking up the far grassy banks. There is a hint of higher snowy mountains above

I'd love to be able to say that I'm rich and clever enough to have built an infinity pool. But ... I'm not. Its the reflections in our coffee table :sablobsmilehappy: :dance_cool_doge:

A sun umbrella stands above a table and chairs. To the right a large palm tree. All is reflected below

@[email protected] I didn't have much time to check out their camera gear but one guy had the Sony A1 with a very professional looking stability rig. It was obviously top notch stuff. Here's a photo of my fellow guide, Felipe trying out the gear

Person with helmet, harness and via ferrata equipment holds camera filming gear

View

Interesting day yesterday doing a via ferrata whilst being filmed by the BBC as part of an upcoming TV series. Not allowed to mention details but it was great to see how professional film crews set up to capture such things. One thing that struck me ... "Aren't all the film crew (4 cameramen, producer, sound man, director, fixer etc) so young? Or is it that I am just so old 😀 Anyway, a lot of fun!

One person is securing himself to cables whilst one person with a red helmet watches. On the right of the image is a black dressed cameraman filming the scene

We had a great hike yesterday checking out the upper valleys and streams that flow into the Rio Bermejo above Pitres. We found a blank part of the map with no hiking trails, which made for an exciting day of exploration in natural and wild surroundings. There's nothing quite like the sound of running water, the sight of wildflowers, deep gorges, and lush mountainsides to help you relax and unwind.

A fast flowing stream drops from up high and passes between green grassy banks. Blue sky above and a large tree on the left

A lone hiker stands on a rocky crag looking up a green and log strewn valley

Two hikers look south towards the Sierra de Contraviesa hills and the Mediterranean Sea beyond.

A group of 5 hikers walks up a steep trail

Just watching on Netflix. At first I didn't like the black and white but after a short while I realised it's essential to accompany the stunning cinematography. Andrew Scott is superb in the menacing and psychotic lead role. An engaging series

Thanks to my mate Felipe for persuading me to rock climb after an absence of about 10 years! We did the marvellous 5 pitch Espolon Cerro del Toro outside Motril.

I felt really comfortable apart from the last 4+ slab which stretched my ageing (has-been) ability to it's maximum in my scrambling approach boots. Rock slippers would have been much easier. A nice 60m abseil to finish.

Brought back a lot of happy memories today & proved that there is still life in the old dog 🤣

A climber in red grips the orange rock. In front of him are two ropes. In the distance a city and the sea beyond

A rock climber in light blue t-shirt eyes the last pitch of a climb which is up an orange coloured rock section

The Espolon Cerro del Toro at Motril on the right, a 5 pitch rock climb. To the left is the abseil wall for getting back down

A person in red abseiling down a vertical rock slab. Blue sky above

Planted 3 avocado trees on a sheltered spot on a terrace. At our altitude (750m) they might need some tender love and care especially next winter. Hoping they take and produce as we both love guacamole 😀

A green leafed plant is on the left hand side of a narrow terrace. There is another one in the distance

Been cleaning the public path adjacent to our land, partly to ease hikers access but also to reduce any fire hazard.

Sat down having a well deserved (and wholly ncessary) can of ice cold Speckled Hen beer now. Guess I'm not used to hard work 🤣

Such is life in rural Andalucia

Person in yellow protective head shield and dark glasses stands on a green path. To the right is an irrigation channel and to the left a grey fence

A land strimmer machine lies abandoned on a green path. A grey fence to the right and an irrigation channel to the left

Been struggling to get my Synology NAS to accept external access, mostly because I can't seem to figure out port forwarding on my router partly because I am part of a larger, complicated network. I wasted two days before I discovered Tailscale, which solved the problem for me in 15 minutes! I can now access the NAS from outside my local network on all devices without messing about or exposing ports on my router. Job done.

https://tailscale.com/

Stop off for coffee during the morning dog walk. Arko giving me his cute look, hoping for some home made liver cake that he knows I have in my pocket 😂

A husky dog with blue eyes looks at the camera from underneath a table with a coffee cup on it