Sunday, 10th April, 2022. El Cuetu, Asturias.
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| Meet Margarita. In my element with this baby lamb in my arms. Pippa was a bit worried. |
With our lives finally back, we were able to enjoy our first weekend at home without our unwanted squatter. The house felt as though a cloud had lifted and the sun was shining again; in that the good vibes were back. Now we could finally get on with our lives which until he left felt on hold. Now too we can leave the house without fear that "he" might do something. Thus this week we came here to our new house in the mountains of beautiful Asturias on what is known as Spain's "Green Coast".
On Sunday last Oli and the children came to spend the day and then Eladio's brother "Toño" and wife Dolores came for lunch. I was up at the unearthly hour of 5 o'clock in the morning having been awake since 4 am. In my mind were thoughts of all I had to do before anyone came: wash my hair, do my nails, update and publish my blog, update all new reservations (I got 4 on Saturday last alone- 2 for Santa Pola, 1 for Asturias and 1 for this house) and then of course make lunch for everyone with all the finery for laying the table. I had some red lentil chunky soup which would do for starters but I had to be creative with the second course. It was a bit like the bread and fish miracle in the Bible. I had 8 chicken legs for 6 adults and little Elliot. I made a casserole with a huge layer of all sorts of vegetables and the chicken legs on top. When they were roasted, I took them out and boned them. Thus I had lots of bone free tender roasted chicken. To that I added the veg and then made a sauce from the juice and crème fraîche to which I added some herbs, cashew nuts and sultanas. We had it with rice and it was delicious and there was loads for everyone.
It was a sunny but cold day and in the afternoon we all went for a walk including Elliot and Juliet in their push chair and pram.
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| Starting our walk last Sunday with the babies and the dogs |
Instead of going through the woods we walked on the road as navigating the pram and push chair would have been difficult. We did though cross the main road at the bottom of the hill near our house to a parkland area. The children behaved perfectly all the way. When we were nearly home I spied 2 small white hens loose on the pavement. It was so funny to see them. We soon realised that the gate of the home where they obviously live, was open. Toño and Eladio, being "village boys" know how to deal with hens and Toño tried his best to get them to go into the house again. It was a hilarious moment which had us all in hysterics.
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| The hilarious chicken episode |
Oli took a video which I hope you will enjoy. You can watch it here.
We were home by around 7.30 when Eladio took our guests back to the metro station. Oli and I remained with the children. I was absolutely shattered by then, having been awake since 4 in the morning and had no energy whatsoever to prepare dinner for us all. Besides, I wasn't hungry. Thus Oli and the kids left and soon Eladio was back and we had a frugal dinner together before going to bed.
I slept better that night although I was awake at 2 am, 4 am and 6 am. I finally got up at 7 on Monday morning. Someone far away in Miami, may have partied the night away. On Sunday last, Carlos Alcaraz, the 18 year old Spanish tennis player created history. He won his first ATP Masters in Miami becoming the first Spaniard and the youngest player ever to do so. He is being compared to Nadal of course as is natural but this young man from Murcia is a force of his own making. I was proud for Spain and happy for the teenager. I wish him a successful and lengthy career.
The world woke up though to terrible news from Ukraine. Russian soldiers, not only raping women but massacring civilians in their hundreds mainly in the town of Bucha. Not far from Kiyv, this name will go down in history like Aleppo or Srebrenica. It beggared belief to see the horrific images of dead people who had been tortured by the Russians, many of them with their hands tied together and even with bombs attached. Putin had already crossed many lines but this was the straw that broke the camel's back in my opinion. I do not want to insert images here; they are too gruesome and no doubt you will have already seen them. Biden and leaders from around the world coincide in wanting Putin to face a war crimes trial after this. Could that happen any time soon? No, but maybe in a few years time. It did happen to Milosovec and members of the Khmer Rouge. But all the world could do was to increase sanctions on Russia and send more arms. The only sanction that would really hurt would be to stop importing fuel and gas. Can that happen soon? I don't know. So Russia will continue its war crimes in Ukraine. I don't see peace coming soon. You can't negotiate with a butcher can you?
With all this on my mind I got on with the day. At around 8 am, the "swimming pool man", Javier, was here to get it ready for Easter.
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| Starting on getting the pool ready for Easter |
This year it's going to be painted but Javier reassured me it would be ready on time for the Easter weekend. We had a busy day getting the rooms ready for guests arriving on Tuesday - we will have non stop guests now until the end of May. I also corresponded with upcoming guests at all 3 of our rental properties which will be fully booked for Easter. Lucy was a great help and Eladio did the tricky parts like hanging up the washed curtains. He even mowed the lawn later. I was also busy on the preparations for my father's memorial service in Bradford, his burial and related events. This is going to keep me busy until we fly out. I also booked our car which cost a pretty penny but we need one there. What cost a pretty penny too was the fuel Eladio ordered that day. Normally a full tank of over 1000 litres costs around 900 euros. On Monday the price was 1600. That is nearly double. We couldn't believe it. The war is hurting the world isn't it?
Tuesday came, the day of our departure to Asturias. We couldn't wait to go away without having the worry of our nasty squatter who finally left. We feel liberated now and can go away when we want. We have our lives back thank goodness. I am smiling as I write that.
I felt extremely happy as we left in our old Volvo with Pippa at the back. She needs a special harness after new traffic laws and we hoped we wouldn't be in trouble. We were so happily talking that we took a wrong turn which probably added 1.5 hours to our journey. Instead of heading from Valladolid to Palencia, we headed to Burgos. We could have had lunch there hahaha but had to go for yet another god forsaken road side cafe. It wasn't too bad. Thus we didn't get to our house in El Cuetu until at least 6.30 pm hahaha. We had an incident with the police about half an hour before arriving. We had driven off the main road to find a toilet for me and there were the uniformed officers checking on cars. They stopped us and I had to have one hand on Pippa in the back so they didn't see her. They wanted to see our latest MOT sticker which we couldn't find. Where was it??? Thankfully they let us go with no fine and I immediately looked up dog harnesses on Amazon where I do most of my shopping hahahha.
We arrived to sunshine and the house was in good order. As soon as we had settled in I went out to see the neighbours who were gathered in the street. They all wanted to know about our nasty tenant as they had seen us on TV like most people. I was more interested to meet Margarita. Margarita is a month old lamb whose mother had rejected her and my neighbour's granddaughter, Soraya, has adopted her. I would have too. She is gorgeous. She even let me scoop her up in my arms and stroke her. I fell in love immediately.
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| My new friend, the lamb called Margarita |
We had a simple dinner while watching the terrible news coming out of Ukraine - ghastly. I later fell asleep in front of the TV. That night I slept well and got up the next day at 7 am.
It was wonderful to wake up in our house in Asturias on Wednesday morning. The day was ours for the taking and we enjoyed every minute. I was busy though before I went out and in the afternoon with so many preparations for my father's send off in Yorkshire next month. I am on a mission to make it perfect, emotional and fitting and won't stop until I have achieved my goal.
We left the house in brilliant sunshine and I had to have a photo of my dear husband outside our lovely old house.
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| Eladio locking the door of our house on Wed morning |
We headed to our nearest town, Posada de Llanes, to get provisions for our stay and then to the beautiful sea side town of Llanes for coffee and a walk. We had our coffee, as always, at Galerna in the picturesque square called Sobrino Parres. Here I am enjoying life and wearing a shocking pink jumper I love which I bought at a little boutique in Posada last time we were here.
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| In Llanes on Wed morning |
In that same square there is a gourmet store called Aramburu which I always make a beeline for. There I buy wonderful local fare both to eat here and to take home.
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| Aramburu gourmet store in Llanes |
We put our purchases in the car and then set off for our favourite walk in the area, the Paseo San Pedro on the cliffs above Llanes. It was a beautiful sunny day with good visibility although there was a distinct chill in the air. It seemed to be mostly retired people, like us, walking there. I suppose everyone else was at work. I am still getting used to saying I am retired. How did life pass by so fast I always ask myself?
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| On our walk on Wednesday |
We came home to have a splendid lunch including steak sourced from local cows which was delicious. I was busy after that preparing for a video call with the events manager of my father's old school to discuss their involvement and a buffet dinner to be held there the night before the memorial service on 6th May. I didn't stop "working" until dinner time. We enjoyed some of the produce we had bought at Aramburu while we watched the news - some terrible stories coming out of Ukraine again.
Thursday came. For my younger daughter, Olivia, it was the day she went back to work after her maternity leave. I wondered how she would get on and also wondered whether Juliet would miss her.
That day we decided to go further afield to the seaside town of Gijón, the largest in Asturias with a population of about 280.000. I had only been once, about 11 years ago. It was a warm but cloudy day with the temperature reaching 23ºc. We have been lucky with the weather despite rain threatening during our stay.
On our way we stopped at the Mirador del Fitu - a mountain peak which commands views of 360º. I wondered what "fitu" meant. In Asturias which has a unique dialect very close to Spanish the o at the end of the world is written and pronounced "u". Fitu comes from hito or jito meaning a passing geographical place that coincides with various territories. Once this area had an old Roman road.
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| The steps leading to the mirador. |
It is often included in the Tour of Spain as it is quite a climb. From there you can see the snow topped mountains of the Picos de Europa and the coast of that part of Asturias - La Sierra del Sueve. There are many view points in Asturias but this is one of the best.
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| Eladio posing at the Mirador del Fitu on Thursday. |
It was very windy up there but well worth the visit.
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| By the San Lorenzo beach in Gijón on Thursday |
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| Part of the Plaza Mayor in Gijón as seen from our restaurant table |
Nearly every town in the country has one. It was 2 pm by then and we decided on lunch and took a table at a restaurant in the square on the terrace so that Pippa could be with us. It was nothing special but their "fabada" - the Asturian flagship bean stew - was as good as most. In any case, Eladio, I and Pippa enjoyed it.
Once we had finished we walked to the port to see the famous statue of King Pelagius (Pelayo in Spanish) of Asturias. He is famous for initiating the Christian reconquest of the Iberian peninsula from the Moors in 718. But it was so windy we were nearly blown off our feet so returned to the Plaza Mayor and onto the San Lorenzo beach where we walked about half of it. I had my first outdoor ice cream of the season which I loved. I am such a fan of ice cream.
We couldn't stay much more as I had a video call to take at 5 pm that afternoon with the events and PR manager of Bradford Cathedral to discuss all the arrangements for my father's memorial service. I made it on time and was very happy to meet Phil virtually. That morning I had written my homily which I sent to my dear friend and editor Amanda. She said she loved it and that there wouldn't be a dry eye in the cathedral. I am worried it is a bit long - 1200 words which take 4 minutes to read. After the call I cracked on with the press release to be jointly sent out by me and the Cathedral PR department. I wonder what my grandfather, Revd. Canon John Collins Lloyd would think of a church or cathedral with a PR department. There was no such thing in his day hahaha. I wondered too what he and my father would think of the service being live streamed on Youtube. When my father was born in 1919 electricity, cars and the telephone were very new and not yet mainstream. My father has seen technology develop so fast to what it is today and found it miraculous but I doubt he could imagine a church service being live streamed. Dear Daddy. He is so much in my thoughts these days as I prepare to take him back to Yorkshire where he wants to be buried with my mother.
When I had finished I went outside for a rest and there was Margarita, the baby lamb again and I was delighted to see her. I have fallen in love with her. Margarita ran to me and let me scoop her up in my arms. As she is being reared with a family with dogs, I think she thinks she is one. Pippa was a little jealous which I suppose is normal. Here she is, meet her again.
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| Meet Margarita the baby lamb who thinks she is a dog. |
What a gorgeous animal.
At that very instant a man (Egidio) from the village brought us some wood for the kitchen Aga. We had bumped into him on Wednesday and ordered a half tractor full of wood. He promised to bring it on Wednesday evening but didn't turn up until the following day. Then he only brought a quarter of a tractor. This is the wood that is now dwindling in the garage and which helps keep the house warmer. I was astonished at the price of wood which costs more than potatoes. Just that little pile came to 70 euros. But wow we needed it.
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| Egidio's fire logs which would keep our kitchen warm |
My husband soon had the stove going. Being a "village boy" he is a master with fire and had no trouble getting it going. I wouldn't have known how. Thus we had our din,er in a much warmer kitchen. This house is 100 years old and the heating system is old fashioned, expensive and not very efficient. One day we will change it but for now, we shall rely on the logs for extra warmth.
That night I slept better and the house felt warmer. I was up at 6.30 on Friday morning and had the day to look forward to.
I would have loved to have our morning coffee there but the two bars by the beach - the only buildings there- were not open yet. So we decided to drive back to our local town, Posada de Llanes, and have our coffee there. Friday in Posada is market day which I always love. We actually had our coffee in the market square. Later I inspected the stalls and they were nothing special.
The world woke up again to more butchery and genocide in Ukraine. Once again the Russians had cruelly and deliberately fired at civilians. They had bombed the train station of Kramatorsk where civilians were fleeing. It is in the Eastern region where Russia is concentrating its attacks after its defeat in Kyiv. Zelensky had urged citizens to leave the area and that was just what people were doing at the train station when it was bombed. It killed more than 50 people. One of the missiles had the words "for children" on it so the Russians were aiming at innocent children. The world was up in arms. This was another atrocity and we cannot just stand by and watch. Ok that day Ursula Von der Leyen, the President of the EU Commission and Josep Borrel the High Representative of the EU for foreign affairs, visited Ukraine and saw with their own eyes the destruction and massacre at Bucha. Ok too that they offered millions of euros more for weapons. But I say, that is not enough. Leaders scrambled again to come up with more hurtful sanctions; trying their best to think of ways to stop buying Russia's gas and oil. But I say that is not enough. I say it is time to go in and fight the Russians. I really do. We cannot watch any more of this or allow it to happen.
We woke up to our quiet and privileged life here in the village. Eladio lit the Aga again and soon the kitchen was warm and cosy. Here he is at the job. I am so glad I married a man who is good with his hands. My father was a wonderful man and academic but he was no good with his hands. Neither am I unfortunately.
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| Eladio lighting the aga to keep us warm, not to cook |
Of course I could have cooked on it but I have been a bit lazy about cooking while here and have only made simple things. In any case we had ordered a home made bean stew from the local butcher. The owner cooks well and we often buy her ready made food with locally sourced ingredients.
That morning we visited one of our favourite places, the beach with the unfortunate name of Póo. Yes, I know what that sounds like in English. It's even a funny name in Spanish but as it has an acute accent on the first "o" it is pronounced "poh". That day we had it to ourselves at least at the beginning and enjoyed a walk on the beach and then up on the cliffs.
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| The beautiful Playa de Póo which we had to ourselves on Friday morning |
We couldn't walk too far as the tide was coming in, so went back to the road to continue our walk, this time up the hill above the beach where the views of the sea surrounded by cliffs is to die for. We just love the views. Again we had the place more or less to ourselves. Most Spaniards will have begun their Easter holiday from Friday afternoon onward and places will have been crowded this weekend as they will all of next week, but not on Friday and we enjoyed the peace and beauty in which we felt immersed. The sun came out and we felt blessed.
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| Eladio on the cliffs above the Playa de Póo |
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| Coffee in the market square of Posada on Friday |
Above the square is the gourmet butcher shop where we went to pick up the home made food for our lunch. The lady there is wonderful but my goodness I have never come across such a slow shopkeeper. While Eladio paid, etc, I wandered around the square looking at the not particularly interesting stalls. There was plenty of local cheese to offer but I hate cheese. There were plenty of local pastries but they are all too sweet and as to the clothes, at 5 euros a piece,they were pretty rubbishy. But even so I enjoyed the market atmosphere.
We were home on time for lunch at 2 pm and enjoyed the bean stew. We realised we had bought far too much and I wondered whether we would get through it all.
By then the sun had gone and the rain had come. So we stayed inside all afternoon and I got Eladio to watch a new detective series with me on Netflix. Called "Mentiras" it is based on the British series "Liar". It kept us entertained until dinner. That night we had some of the delicious fresh range eggs I had bought at Aramburu in Llanes, accompanied by small green peppers. We later watched more of the series until I fell asleep on the sofa and woke up with a crick in my neck.
Saturday dawned and we decided to go somewhere we had never been before; to Los Bufones de Santuiste. A bit like geysers, bufones are jets of water that come from the waves of the sea and appear in holes in the rocks. Often too they are called false geysers. We had already visited the Bufones de Pría where we saw this spectacle of nature. We were not so lucky on Saturday as the sea has to be rough for the jets of water to appear. It was tricky to find the place, some 30km from our house. Google Maps led us there but there was no sign leading to the "bufones". We had to ask and were told we must cross a railway line and find entries into the field without the barbed wire that enclosed them. We did eventually but it felt like an orienteering expedition. Here is Eladio crossing into the field.
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| One of the tricky accesses to the "bufones" yesterday |
Soon we spied beautiful lush fields with the sea in the distance and cows and their young grazing peacefully. What a beautiful spot and how wonderful that it is difficult to find as that means it must never get too crowded. I love beauty spots but hate it when they are crowded.
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| Cows grazing |
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| At the Bufones de Santiuste yesterday |
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| At the Bufones de Santiuste yesterday. Finally a photo together. |
We could have walked and walked as the path looked as though it went on for miles but it was late and time to go home for our lunch. We were back by 2 pm and I naughtily made some chips to go with the beef stew I had bought from the shop owner of the gourmet butcher in Posada.
The rest of the day was spent lazily. Well, not too lazily as yesterday I cracked on with preparations for my father's send off in England. That afternoon I worked on the order of service for the Memorial Service at Bradford Cathedral on 6th May at 10 am. The tricky part was finding appropriate organ music for the beginning and the end of the service. In the end I went for two British composers, Elgar and Vaughan Williams.
It was so sunny yesterday afternoon that I spent most of my time on our little terrace enjoying the warm sun. Today will be the warmest day of our stay here so far with the temperature possibly reaching 25ºc. We haven't yet decided what to do but no doubt we shall either return to a favourite spot or explore somewhere new. Today is Palm Sunday and all that that means. Today also marks the first anniversary of the passing away of HRH Prince Philip. No doubt the Queen will be feeling sadder today than ever. I understand completely.
For us it will be another care free day in Asturias, often called "paraíso natural" - a natural paradise. I can relate to that.
So my friends, I have reached the end of the stories of our week. All that remains is to wish you all well. Cheers till next Sunday, Easter Day.
Masha
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