Archive of all posts from Mastodon and the Fediverse. 895 total posts.
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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!
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.
Our husky, Arko. Also available in black and white 😂
Spring Gentian (Gentiana sierrae). Endemic to Spain's Sierra Nevada grows between 1800m and 3200m. Lucky enough to see loads of these beautiful flowers today in a high valley at 2300m
Just watching #Ripley 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 🤣
Woke up to this staring at me 😱
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 😀
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
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.
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 😂
Normal service resumed here with a glorious morning for our daily dog walk. Rita and Arko certainly enjoyed it.
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 😱
The hike into our camp at the base of the Lavaderos de la Reina valley has stunning views towards the Sierra Nevada peaks
#hiking #mountains #Spain #landscape #backpacking #landscapephotography
The raw power of nature. Spectacular waterfalls in the valley of Lavaderos de la Reina in Spain's Sierra Nevada mountains
#mountains #waterfall #waterfallwednesday #Spain #Hiking #landscape #landscapephotography
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 moody Saturday morning in Lanjarón. Maybe some rain?
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 😂
#hiking #walking #backpacking #gear #equipment #backpackinggear #mountains
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..
#Spain #Andalucia #Walking #Hiking #Alpujarras #drivingoverlemons #travel
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 tree with a view!
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!
#mountains #Spain #Andaluica #hiking #walking #photography #landscapephotography
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.
Overnight Camp - post 3/3
As light dawned on a very cold and windy morning we hurriedly packed up our tent and waited in the lieu of some rocks for the sun to arrive. The cold wait was worthwhile as the morning sun started to touch the summits and quickly spread to the ridges. A magical time of day to be in the mountains.
#Mountains #Spain #Backpacking #Hiking #Snow #Sunrise #SierraNevada
Overnight Camp - post 2/3
As the sun went slowly down to the west of Granada we were left with a brief but beautiful sunset over the peaks of the Sierra Nevada. We watched the sun dip below the horizon and then the clouds illuminated with color, before the cold had us hurrying towards our tent.
#Mountains #Spain #Backpacking #Hiking #Snow #Sunset #SierraNevada
Overnight Camp 11th/12th April - post 1/3
Images of the northern faces of Spain's Sierra Nevada mountains from yesterday afternoons arrival at our campsite at 1900m.
Details of each mountain image are detailed in the ALT text
Wow, what a wild night. Total calm until 2am and then the strong winds hit our exposed perch on the mountainside. Not much sleep after that. Winds were more suited to Patagonia than southern Spain.
Good job we had a good tent. If we had a festival tent we would have woken up in Morocco 😀 😂
With @khusky @chriswright
Camp erected ready for the night. Beyond are the snows of the Sierra Nevada. Hoping we get a good sunset and sunrise.
With @chriswright @khusky @chriswright
Heading up into the Sierra Nevada this afternoon for an impromptu wild camp. Second time out for the very lightweight (but expensive!) Samaya tent.
Hopefully I will be able to capture a nice sunset and sunrise over the high mountains. We shall see.
Río Bacal, Jayena - Sendero de los Arrieros - Mirador de la Encina - Poza del Romance
Brilliant hiking route over some new ground for me/us. Incredible that so much varied and interesting walking terrain is available within an hours drive of home near Granada. Must have done over 100 routes so far.
Here's some photos from the "non-river" part of yesterday trip (see previous post)
Spring is in the air and so starts our Andalucia river walking season. Yesterday, we found a 6 km long stretch of river, a bit overgrown after the winter, but full of color, challenges and interest. Glorious scenery with 20+ enforced crossings of the river with rock pools galore to cool off in. A fabulous day!
Blog post (yes, they still exist! 😆) - A weeks snowshoeing in the Picos de Europa
In March 2024 we headed for the Picos de Europa for a few days snowshoeing. Here is a short report about what we got up to
https://elperronegro.com/posts/2024-03-23-snowshoeing-picos-de-europa/
Wonderful circular hike today starting at the Collado del Muerto above Monachil (Granada) and taking in Cerro de Cuesta Bermejo and the Rio Monachil. Lovely mix of valleys and mountainsides and at every turn backed by the snow covered Sierra Nevada and Cumbres Verdes mountains.
Self sufficiency in the mountains 😂
BREAKING NEWS: The clock in my car now shows the correct time 🤣
Came across an old castle today. The "Castillo de los Moros"at Restabal (Lecrin Valley) is almost certainly from the Nasrid dynasty & built between the 13th & 14th Centuries.
May have been part of a military reinforcement program carried out in the kingdom of Granada during the time of Yusuf I and his son Muhammad V and it probably had the task of controlling the surrounding farmsteads and the channels of the three main rivers that run through the region.
History comes alive!
Fortune definitely favors the brave. Our hiking group (and a local Restabal dog called Tom!) turned out this morning on a cold, gray, drizzly morning in the hope of better weather later in the day.
We did a short, but interesting, walk from Restabal taking in the Ermita de la Virgen del Cerro, the Barranco de Mizán & the Castillo de los Moros. Only got rained on for 5 minutes were even accompanied by some sunshine & blue skies for the 2nd half of the walk.
Although I've been using linux and hosting websites on external servers for many years I'm a late comer to the home server network. Probably a good solution for storing and backup of images amongst many other things. My Synology NAS drive arrives in the next few days and I then can start "messing" :sablobsmilehappy: Any starter tips?
From this mornings dog walk. Instead of the views from snow capped mountains down to the sparkling Mediterranean Sea, today we have the skies of southern Spain affected by the latest Sahara Dust storm (Calima).
Tofu jerky. Tofu marinated overnight in soy sauce and water with some liquid smoke sauce. Then dried with our dehydrator and vacuum sealed. Very tasty hill snacks. Will have a regular presence in my backpack.
Thanks for the idea and inspiration @jds and @HikerGeek
Been a busy couple of days working on the land. My neighbour, Antonio, has been helping us install a piped irrigation system. Will save us much manual effort this spring and summer as well as being much more efficient at distributing the available water.
I'm enjoying using Cube Trek to display my hikes and activities. Free and open source. I find it a more useful record of my mountain activities than my Coros Watch dashboard which seems too runner/health orientated for me personally.
I particularly like the 3D Replay, Trek Mapper and the "Best Of" sections.
Worth a look for hikers, backpackers and mountain goers
Great to have friends in New Zealand as cant get in Spain
Product Description (Macpac website) ...
"Ideal for any pursuit that requires a lightweight, breathable layer for protection. Think mountaineering, multi-sport racing, trail running, and thru-hiking. "
Can we add ... "also good for older guys with dodgy knees who have to reduce pack weights" 🤣 Only 148 grams 😱
#hiking #backpacking #equipment #clothing #thruhiking
https://www.macpac.co.nz/macpac-mens-nitro-fleece-pullover/115606.html
'Calima' and rain is forecast for the south of Spain, with a big red dust cloud coming from the Sahara desert
The situation could be similar to that of two years ago, when a massive airborne haze of sand arrived from North Africa, according to the weather experts at Meteored
https://www.surinenglish.com/andalucia/calima-and-rain-forecast-for-the-south-20240318185015-nt.html
I'm feeling very blessed as it's my 5th Heart Attack Anniversary. How time flies. At one time I never would have thought I'd be back enjoying the hills and mountains that have been my life since the age of 15. Many heart felt (joke!) thanks to all those who have supported and looked over me. You know who you are x
The darling buds of Spring! Don't think I've ever seen our mandarin, orange and lemon trees with so many early season buds. The mulberry tree looking good too. Just been out sorting out our watering systems
#gyo #growyourown #selfsuffiency #lemons #oranges #citrus #Spain
Passport wallet and cash/credit card holder received from https://atelierlonguedistance.fr
Combined weight of 24 grams. Wish I was talented enough to make my own gear like this. Very well made.
Probably the best day I have ever had snowshoeing! Images from the proper camera of an ascent of Padiorna (2314m) just adjacent to the Collado de las Nieves in the Picos de Europa. It helped that the Picos has mega snowfall during the two weeks before we arrived. Powder snow and magnificent mountain scenery.
1/2
#Spain #Snowshowing #Mountains #Landscapes #landscapephotography #Hiking
