Spain on fire, our last week in Montrondo where the mountains are still burning, Habemus internet thanks to Vodafone, Oli and family in France, home to 40ºc, no peace deal in Alaska between Trump and Putin.

 Home again, Madrid 17th August, 2025

Posing by "my horse" in a field on one of our evening walks to Murias and back.

Good morning from sweltering Madrid. Right now it is "cool"; just 24ºc at 8 in the morning but the temperature will reach 40 as it did yesterday. It was cooler in Montrondo but we didn't like the smoke pervading the village from the fires in the mountains. 

If last week I reported they had been contained, I'm sad to report that is no longer so. There are so many wild fires in Spain and not enough resources to deal with them, it is up to the locals to do what they can. Here is a group of young people from Montrondo trying desperately to put the fires out to no avail.

The locals doing their best without professional help to put out the fires in the mountains surrounding Montrondo.

There are so many more important fires, those that threaten people's lives and houses, there are just not enough resources to deal with the magnitude they are causing. I am wondering why the Government doesn't call for a national disaster and use the Army more extensively or allow international help on the scale needed to deal with the disaster. 

Over 150.000 hectares have been burnt so far from approximately 200 fires - 200 fires is 200 too many. August has been the hottest on record and all the conditions for wild fires were met. Then there are not enough fire fighters, helicopters, etc and Spain continues to burn. Some were provoked but many were caused by lightning.  Experts say many of the fires could have been avoided if more fire lines were created. The cost of putting out a forest fire is enormous while the cost of creating fire lines is minimal. Haven't we learned this from years of forest fires in Spain and elsewhere? Will we ever learn? We shall be going to Galicia on Tuesday where fires are raging too and in Asturias they have even appeared in the Picos de Europa National Park not far from El Cuetu. Even Las Médulas national park in the province of León - a unique area of the world where Romans once dug for gold  and today a World Heritage Site - has been destroyed by flames. And it goes on and on. 

Last Sunday though we did have professional help with the fire in the mountains; the talk of the village, of course. It was another quiet and hot day in the village. In the morning we had coffee with Eladio's sister Pili and our neighbour in nearby Senra. In the afternoon it was so hot I had to abandon my favourite place under the shade of the apple trees in the back garden to retire to our much cooler room.  

Our very dry but lovely back garden. Spot Pippa perched on her favourite rock

The day ended, as did most, with a walk to Murias and back, this time with José Antonio and Dolores.

Monday came and the fire continued. Here is a video to remember it which shows you just what happened.

The fire in the mountains of Montrondo last Monday before it was contained and then revived again. 

Suzy and I went to Villablino with Pili and Dolores for more food shopping and of course a coffee in town. In the afternoon, all the older ladies in the village convened for coffee at the newly opened bar. It was a bit noisy and I would have preferred to be outside. 

On our walk that evening, once again Suzy and I saw "my horse" and pony and I got my daughter to take a photo to remember it. The poor thing is covered in flies. I wonder how that can be avoided. It's the only photo of me this week so I have chosen it as the feature photo for today's blog post. 

On Tuesday owing to the fire and so much smoke in the village, we debated whether to leave that day rather than on Friday but concluded 30ºc with smoke was better than 40ºc at home. 

Tuesday was the day we finally got wifi to work with my new Vodafone Gigacube. Hallelujah. It had taken some time coming but finally we were no longer disconnected from the world. We could finally watch TV and Netflix but I didn't bother. I hardly watched the TV during our stay and didn't really miss it. My entertainment were my walks, reading in the garden and chatting or having coffee with Eladio's family.

Tuesday was the day Las Médulas burnt as well as Tres Cantos, a suburb of Madrid where people lost their houses and one man lost his life trying to save his horses. That day we were told the fire in Montrondo had been contained and it was a joyful moment but by Thursday it had revived. 

Oli and family were staying with my cousin Zuka in France and that day went to a water park. We were blessed with these photos. 

Our grandchildren were in France this week 

I do wish I could have been with them as I love being in La Teillée and it was Oli's first time. I really hoped she liked it and got to practice her French.

Wednesday came and it was another quiet day in Montrondo. We were there from 26th July to 15th August, a whole three weeks of peace and quiet and escape from the heat of Madrid. I think it is the longest period we have stayed there since the girls were small. 

I was at peace with the world when suddenly I had bad news from El Cuetu. A German family was arriving and Rosa, the cleaner didn't have the bedding ready. She blamed it on a water outage in Posada but why on earth didn't she have all the rest of the linen ready?  It was touch and go until about 10 pm when, with no other alternative, I turned to my friend and neighbour, Mari Paz who sold us the house. I asked her to take over some of her linen and bedding as my cleaner had completely let me down. Mari Paz came up trumps as she always does and I was extremely grateful to her. Needless to say when the summer bookings are all done at the beginning of September we shall be looking for a new cleaner. Rosa just hasn't been up to and has caused problems throughout the season. Finally I could get some sleep when my guests were given sheets and towels. El Cuetu, thanks to the new cleaner, has been difficult to manage this summer and at times I feel like throwing it all in. 

Thursday was our last day in Montrondo. I suppose as they say; "all good things come to an end". It was a good day for Suzy which made me happy. On the whole her stay there healed her quite a lot and also reconnected her with the family who all went above and beyond to make her feel welcome. We spent most of the day cleaning and Suzy did the whole of the top floor, bless her. Thus I only had to do two bathrooms and the windows, while Eladio did the floors. The place looked sparkling afterwards. I was up far too early at 6 am but felt completely bushed so went back to bed at 8.30 until 9.45. 

We were free by the afternoon where I lay with Suzy on the sunbeds until I found it too hot. Here she is with little Pippa of course who was our constant companion in Montrondo.

Suzy and Pippa relaxing in the back garden if you can call it that as the grass has gone completely because of the unusual heat. 

In all my years of going to Montrondo in the summer this has been the hottest by far and seemed unusual. I suppose it isn't any more. However, the heat in Montrondo is nothing compared to the heat here and we were blessed with cool nights where we slept under a duvet; impossible to do at home where we can only sleep with the A/C on. 

Suzy went to the bar in the afternoon with cousins and friends and it was great to see her socialise. I went once again to get eggs from Manolo who lives at the end of the village where the mountains start. He was scathing about the fire and lack of resources to put it out. We had his eggs for dinner and I brought home 2 dozen of them. They are far superior to shop bought eggs and have the added romanticism of coming from our village. Villagers gave us runner beans, lettuces and courgettes which we loved too. 

After our walk that night, our day ended as always, having a cigarette with Pili and Suzy on the wooden bench outside our house. I am missing those moments.

Friday was 15th August and a national holiday in Spain. It was probably also the hottest day of the year and the day we were leaving after 3 weeks of bliss but a little too much smoke and worry about the fires. Everyone came out to say goodbye and I had to have a photo of Suzy with her cousin Juan who has helped her so much this summer. I have known him since the day he was born and love him dearly.

Suzy with her cousin Juan just before we left Montrondo

Eladio drove as far as La Magdalena where we stopped for half an hour as Suzy had a video call to make. We took the opportunity to have our morning coffee  was served with churros which were delicious. I was wondering whether I had put on or lost weight in the three weeks we were away after taking my last dose of Monjauro the Friday before.  I had been only a little careful, ate ice cream and biscuits, but went for a walk every day. However, I would only know the truth when I got on the scales the next morning at home. Here is the coffee and churros moment which was the highlight of the day.

Coffee with churros on our way home from Montrondo on Friday

Later Suzy took the wheel with Eladio in the front while I was in the back with Pippa, of course. The car was overloaded with suitcases - one of Oli's too - lots of food and Elliot's bike! Here is Pippa in between my legs on the journey home on Friday.

Pippa in the back of the car with me on the way home on Friday

As we drove further south it just got hotter and hotter. We stopped for petrol and possibly lunch about an hour from Madrid but it was so damned hot, we jumped back into the air conditioned car  and decided to have lunch at home. 

It was great to see Tana again who had being holding the fort in our absence. She helped unpack all the food and make our lunch which we had at about 4.30. Needless to say, none of us was hungry for dinner that night. Straight after we retired to our air conditioned rooms and I unpacked. We stayed there until about 8.30 when I ventured down to the pool to cool off and join Suzy. All would have been peaceful except for a funny guest here who had booked for 2 people but brought along a third.She complained the A/C kept going of but when she left I realised she had it on a timer. She couldn't use the gate fob either and we kept having to open and close the gate herself. All of this, according to her was our fault. Oh guests can be picky and complaining but 99% of them are fine. 

Friday was the day Trump and Putin met in Alaska of all places. It makes sense though given that Anchorage is just a few miles from the Russian border.  There was much fanfare about the meeting  but peace was not reached. What sort of peace talks were they without Zelensky? Putin's condition  which Trump agrees with is that Ukraine must cede the whole Donetsk region and only then would the war possibly end. I doubt Zelensky will agree to that. Trump has now invited him to the White House again where he will probably be as rude as he was to him last time. Why on earth is Donald Trump meddling here and  listening to Putin rather than to Europe?

It was good to sleep in our own bed that night and I had good news on Saturday morning. I had lost 2 kilos since I last weighed myself just before leaving for Montrondo. I am happy to report I now weigh just 60 kilos vs 71.5 in February when I started my Monjauro journey. That put me in a great frame of mood which was a good thing as we had lots of errands to do that morning.

Suzy was going to Copi's mother, Celeste's birthday party where she would be joined by Oli. My younger daughter wanted us to look after the kids that day from 1 to 5 but I pointed out it would be just too difficult to keep them entertained  in one air conditioned room for 4 hours. I would have loved to see them but not with this heat. Suzy had a grand time - so glad for her  - while we spent the whole afternoon in our room; me with a constant headache and Eladio with ciatica again. We would not have been good baby sitters for sure.

We had both lunch and dinner on our own with Tana away until Tuesday and no new guests coming until today. We spent all afternoon again in our air conditioned room and I spent it nursing my headache which I am sure is caused by the heat.

Today, Sunday, will be another scorcher and I can't wait until Tuesday when we will be heading north again. We are going to a hotel on a beach near Sanxenxo to celebrate our 42nd  wedding anniversary and Suzy is coming with us. You will hear all about our adventures there in next week's blog post.

So that's it from me this week until next Sunday from Galica in north west Spain next to the Portuguese border and by the Atlantic.

Cheers till then and hope those of you who are not sweltering in the heat have an enjoyable Sunday.

All the best, Masha

c

c