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!
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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.
#hiking #walking #mountains #spain #landscape #landscapephotography
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
View from the morning dog walk. Snow from 2700 metres upwards on the south side of Cerro de Caballo, Sierra Nevada
We collected 240kg of olives from our land over the past couple of days. Today came the exciting part when we took them down to the local mill.
Here they do the first press of the olives and in return we receive back our very own oil. 40 litres of thick, dark green extra virgin olive oil. No money changes hands. Olives for oil.
Storm clouds are rolling in and heading this way.
Sometimes I despair of the human race. Friends of mine have a small B&B in the hills above us. They provide a homely service so the apartment has full drinks cabinet & honesty box for people to leave money.
A weathy couple of Realtors drank €38 & then left €6. When asked politely for the remaining balance response was...
"Write the balance off as a learning experience. Next time present a bill in a timely manner. Get yourself organized and focused."
Hangs head in disbelief!
Not quite a blue sky day with some afternoon clouds building. Tomorrow we are on alert for rain. Much needed still despite the tragic events of Valencia
Earlier this year we planted two small apple trees (Royal Gala & Pink Lady) and have religiously made sure they have been well supplied by water throughout the summer. Very satisfying today to be able pick and enjoy a tasty Pink Lady although it's this obly
one so far. Early days
Lunch with a view!
One of my favorite hikes in the northern Sierra Nevada reaches the Cortijos del Hornillo from the Vereda de la Estrella. From here the north faces of the Sierra Nevada look like something from the Alps, Rockies or Himalaya. Have to pinch myself sometimes that this is indeed southern Spain. These spectacular views are the main reason I came out here nearly 22 years ago.
#landscape #landscapephotography #mountains #hiking #walking #Spain
Heading up the Vereda de Estrella trail on yesterday's hike. This is a wonderful walk, especially with the autumn colors and when the northern faces of Alcazaba 3371m and Mulhacén 3482m have snow on them.
#landscape #landscapephotography #mountains #hiking #walking #Spain
Yesterday I had a little fun on a hike with a manual focus TTArtisan lens (F2/25mm APSC). This was a very cheap lens (€75!). Aperture and focus set manually via the lens.
When you are used to auto focus lenses it's a bit strange at first but I think I got the hang of it by the end. Images and descriptions below.
Ruta de Pavilla - a short but spectacular hike from Niguelas
Topical photo for #halloween and #caturday.
A scary looking cat called Sooty who is actually a nice cat and not a vampire. Just caught on an off day 🤣
Arko enjoying his autumn dog walks now that the air is cooler and he has a steady supply of water to swim in
Connected the LilyGo LoRa32 board to the #sideband app of an old phone. Now to get a second and then start testing the range it can achieve. #reticulum #meshtastic #hobby
These type of floods happen every autumn but I can't remember a year with the damage and loss as bad as this. Thoughts with all those people affected
And just like that, the "acequias" are starting to flow again above Lanjarón 🙏
The forecast was poor with low cloud, mountain mists, cold winds & rain arriving later. We planned an easily escapable, short 3hr hike up Peñon del Jorobado, Sierra de Huetor.
The day was predictably grey but approaching the summit the strong winds opened up a gap in the cloud cover to the south. We were rewarded for our efforts by some fine views of the snow covered Sierra Nevada. I reached home as it started raining.
Hiking in t shirts and shorts last week. This week it's full on winter layers with a -7 windchill! At 1744 meters on the Peñon del Jorobado in the Sierra de Huetor today with @khusky and @chriswright
Lanjarón this morning from the dog walk. A fine day but rain is forecast this afternoon and for the next few days. Good news for the land. Snow above 2000 meters.
Productive first full day back in Spain 🇪🇸
Homemade granola bars for hiking trips and a large batch of homemade limoncello on the go. Just got to process those magnificent pomegranates
A visit back to middle England for me this week. It's nice to see friends and family but I don't enjoy the crowds, costs and stresses, which are somewhat alien to me living in rural Spain. What England does have though is an interesting, beautiful and historical network of canal waterways. A heritage from its industrial past. Here's a couple of shots from a short walk I did today with @khusky
Came across these old building remains during my Tabernas desert hike. Turns out they were part of a film set, originally built to portray a small village in "Chino" (1973), a spaghetti western starring Charles Bronson and Jill Ireland.
Also used in "Straight to Hell" (1987) starring Courtney Love, Joe Strummer, Sly Richardson & Shane MacGowan.
Better go and watch those movies I guess 🤔
Photos from the Tabernas desert badlands hike I did a few days ago. The whole area is a a chaotic mass of broken rock and battered, crumbling cliffs
#hiking #walking #deserts #spain #landscape #photography #landscapephotography
A strange thing to come across yesterday whilst hiking in the Taberna's desert badlands of Almeria! Any idea what this was and why it was here? 🤣
Today I hiked in a place close to my heart and stood in the exact same footsteps as Clint Eastwood and Eli Wallach in "The Good, the Bad & the Ugly". This view never fails to stir the senses, I love it here. Tabernas Desert, Almeria, #Spain.
#hiking #walking #landscape #photography #landscapephotography #outdoors #deserts
Been experimenting with Sideband app on a couple of phones. Utilises Reticulum Network Stack to create cryptographically secure mesh networks, useful in disaster areas. Can also see many outdoor world applications for this. When I understand the protocol further I might add a Rnode modem which creates a LoRa signal to extend the mesh. LoRa encodes information on radio waves. Early days yet for me but fascinating and interesting technology.
A very welcome cool 15c on today dog walk. Very autumnal but stunning in the morning light.
Many people over the years have taken the mickey out of me for being totally useless at DIY. And, quite rightly. Anyway the tables turned today as I took out a ceiling beam and cemented all the holes. If it can be hit with a hammer or have cement thrown at it, I'm your man. Just waiting for the roof to collapse tonight 🤣
Another use for the Nitecore NU21 headtorch too!
Last night I started reading "The Age of Surveillance Capitalism" by Shoshana Zuboff which looks to be a fascinating, topical and insightful read. Anybody read it?
Patagonia 2010. Trapped on the Icecap I had the most unsettling mountain experience of my life. On this particular day Sat Nav had failed so it was like the old days pre-weather forecasting. We all knew we were on the edge and managed to bail out next day with some micro navigation through a serac barrier and down a glacier to safety. Wouldn't like to go through it again but it is without doubt the time we talk about the most 🤔
1 minute video with @khusky
I'm a bit knackered after sleeping on the sofa all night. Reason? Infestation of woodlice! Been going on for some time. We've tried pulse waves, de-humidifiers and tried to block holes in our bedroom natural rock wall. Nothing has worked. Ok, they aren't dangerous but who wants them dropping on you at night? We are talking 50+ a night. Last night we tried commercial poison both outside, where we think the main nest is, and inside the bedroom. Life in rural Spain eh?
Seems a little crazy to be putting a post about snow/blizzards am & pm telling you about how my Sun Umbrella from Six Moon Designs functioned! 🙂
Coming down to low levels in 30C heat yesterday afternoon. Hot & humid. There was fortunately a gusty breeze which helped. The Sun Umbrella worked great providing much needed cooling shade on an otherwise treeless & arid slope. I like how it collapses under strong wind gusts. Recommended for hot hikes.
https://www.sixmoondesigns.com/products/silver-shadow-carbon-umbrella
Patagonia Image 4
This image brings back quite emotive memories for me & conveys the full emptiness that is the Southern Patagonian Icecap.
Life here is very simple, arrive at camp, build snow walls, eat, drink & sleep. Sometimes we have sheltered for days in blizzard conditions. You can't afford a mistake, being 3+ days from human settlements.
Snow walls ... & who'd have thought there's so many technicalities in their construction?
Good morning all. Some strong winds overnight meant a stunning sunrise here in Lanjaron this morning.
Patagonia Image 3
One year we arrived at the Cirque de las Altares during a blizzard. We hastily made camp and tried to warm up in our tents and sleeping bags. We hadn't really appreciated the wonderful situation we were in until next morning when we woke up to reasonably clear skies and the magnificent Cerro Torre coated in a thick layer of rime ice.
Patagonia Image 2
The Southern Patagonia Ice Field is the largest expanse of ice outside the poles. It extends S for approx 350km (220 miles). In places it is up to 80km (50 miles) wide. This ice mass feeds dozens of glaciers feeding into both Chile & Argentina.
Image was taken on a cloudy day. We could hardly tell the difference between land & sky. Suddenly the mists lifted & out of the gloom a horizontal window appeared revealing some magnificent peaks.
After being inspired yesterday by Colin Haley's exploits in Patagonia I went back through some of the photos from our own efforts of the Southern Patagonian Icecap over the years. Admittedly, they are nowhere near as vertical as his 🤣
Hope you don't mind me sharing some of them over the forthcoming week.
Image shows how flat the actual Icecap is. The surrounding mountains are hidden in cloud. A surreal world, far from human habitation.
Colin Haley climbing the Supercaneleta on Mount Fitzroy (Chalten). This guy is amazing and this self shot record of his ascent shows the commitment, skill and dedication required for winter mountaineering in Patagonia, nevermind a extremely tough route such as this in the middle of winter.
View from the morning dog walk. Beautiful colors as the early morning sun hits the landscape. Looking down through the olive groves to the Rules dam. Beyond the Mediterranean.
First landscape image taken from my new Jelly Star phone
Took delivery today of a Jelly Star phone (Unihertz). Only a 3" screen but a real pocket rocket of a phone, costing just €200 & weighing only 116 grams. 48mp camera, 8mb ram & 256gb storage. Sturdy & well made it's small size means it easily fits in a pocket.
Installed a simplified launcher (Niagara) to help digital detox. Going to be my main daily driver for calls, chats & navigation. Social media & all other apps remain on my original phone.
