El Perro Negro

Grumpy old mountain man living in Spain

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El Perro Negro (@elperronegro) on Khumbu

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

Normal service resumed here with a glorious morning for our daily dog walk. Rita and Arko certainly enjoyed it.

A siberian husky cross with blue eyes walks through an area of wild flowers. A town is behind him

A white dog runs through the tall grasses of spring

A white dog stands looking down on a small spanish town (Lanjaron(. Blue sky above

Up at 2am to take my better half to Malaga airport, a 3 hour round trip. Safe to say I'm absolutely knackered and won't be doing that much today apart from chill out and sleep

Being interested in photography means I don't have a lot of images of myself. That's normal eh? Here's a brilliant one of yours truly though, taken a few days ago by expert @chriswright. Thanks Chris.

I did get a touch of vertigo stood there as the drop the other side was immense 😱

A person (me!) stands on a rocky outcrop above a void. In the background yellow and green valleys give way to snow covered mountain tops.

The hike into our camp at the base of the Lavaderos de la Reina valley has stunning views towards the Sierra Nevada peaks

Four backpackers hike along a path with snow clad peaks behind them

A person is stood on a rock platform in the bottom left overlooking a deep valley with snowy mountains in the distance

Some brown and white cows graze on grasses in the foreground. Some distant white peaks soar above

3 backpackers hike in along a green path towards a valley where the snows start and a waterfall can be seen. The valley rises to a high peak in the background

The raw power of nature. Spectacular waterfalls in the valley of Lavaderos de la Reina in Spain's Sierra Nevada mountains

A series of waterfalls tumbles down over cliffs in Spains Sierra Nevada. Some snow patches are seen either side of the waters

Packing for an overnight mountain trip into the Sierra Nevada for tomorrow and Wednesday. Had to get my big expedition pack out to fit it all in! 9 kilos is much more than I am used to carrying but I have to take crampons and extra gear to cope with expected below freezing temperatures and strong winds. Sometimes hard to believe I live in southern Spain within sight of Africa!

A white and grey Mountain Hardware backpack with orange tags, sits against an old wooden fence

Today, a client borrowed and tested my Six Moon Designs sun umbrella. Like me, he seemed happy with it as it really does create some cooling shade. Will be a standard item in my backpack during the forthcoming summer months.

P.S Can also be used to keep the rain off 😂

A smiling man stands under a black shaded umbrella. Above are blue skies and white clouds

Today I've been hiking round the quiet, arab-influenced villages of La Taha before crossing the ancient bridge over the Rio Trevelez, ascending the gorge via the old pack horse trail and then dropping down to a fine lunch at El Valero, author Chris Stewart's farm..

Old signs in an ancient arab influenced village in the Alpujarra, Andalucia

Looking down a steep gorge to the Rio Trevelez river. On the green slope opposite are some small mountain villages of La Taha

An ancient Roman bridge spans a narrow gorge over a river. Greenery abounds

My wife is away working today, so I've been busy food preparing. Vegetarian chili, guacamole, potato wedges, focaccia bread and liver cake for my dogs. Hope I don't get things mixed up when my veggie wife returns 😂 😂 😂

A selection of colorful food dishes being prepared including chili, guacamole, roast potatoes and bread

Today's trailhead was just a 20 minute drive from Granada city. 4 kilometers and 300 meters of ascent later we reached the delectable and very well named summit of "Cerro Buenavista". We ate our lunch in the warm sunshine, on the soft grassy summit slopes with the snows of the Sierra Nevada stretched out before us. The dulcet tones of Lou Reeds "Perfect Day" played gently in the background. Yup, about right!

A small group of hikers sit in the sunshine on a grassy meadow. Some trees are behind them and in the distance some high snow covered mountains

I've been out guiding with author Chris Stewart today on the GR240 and GR7 trails between Hoya del Portillo and Busquisar in the Sierra Nevada. Stunning day with super views. Found a solitary gentian in a stream bed, a couple of weeks more and there will be hundreds! Apart from our group we saw not another soul en route in 6 hours of hiking.

A group of hikers in the bottom right walk along a trail. Behind a steep green valley surrounded by trees with some patches of snow above.

Hikers are crossing a wooden bridge in a valley bottom

A solitary small blue plant (gentian) sits amid a hillside of green grasses

Some hikers eat their lunch by a small lake with a large tree above them