Quiet and sunny days in Montrondo, off to El Cuetu. Enjoying Asturias in July, bathing and having dinner at Poo Beach. "Orbayo" rain and other stories.

 El Cuetu, Asturias, Sunday 9th July, 2023

Posing by our table at La Farola del Mar restaurant overlooking Poó Beach. I'm holding a bottle of typical Asturian cider in my hands. 

Good morning my friends. Well, here we are in Asturias at the old house we bought back in 2020. It's usually fully booked at this time of year but someone cancelled a while back and I decided to take those days for ourselves.  And, we are happy to be back in this marvelous part of the country on the north coast of Spain, in between the beaches of Llanes and the Picos de Europa mountain range. If today temperatures will not rise above 20ºc, back home in Madrid mercury will be above 35. So, it's good to get away from the heat. 

It's been a very quiet week. We have enjoyed both Montrondo and El Cuetu and most of the time we were on our own. We hardly followed the news which is maybe a good thing. If I was in the UK, I would be avidly watching Wimbledon but from here in Asturias all I can do is to check the progress of Carlos Alcaraz, the number 1 seed. He is doing well but my bets are on Djokovic winning again. I am also aware that both my country, the UK, and my adopted country, Spain, were playing each other in the Under 21 Euro Final. It was  taking place in Batumi, Georgia, which we visited a while ago on our road trip. Now, most football fans in the world will also know where it is. The teams will have flown from Istanbul to Batumi, so will not have experienced the awful roads in that country. All I can say, in the spirit of British fair play, is that may the best team win. I later read England won, so they must have been the better team or had more luck. Actually they deserved to win as Spain is the five time winner of this trophy which England has only won once in 1984.  Funny, that it is only really sport that has interested me on the news this week.

This time last week  we were still  in Montrondo. We had a bit of a cold spate until last Sunday when the weather got warmer and was pleasant for the rest of our stay. That morning Eladio and Juan, our nephew, set about dealing with the overgrown grass at the front of the houses. Eladio used his father's scythe and Juan used a modern lawn mower. Here they are together enjoying their work.

Juan and Eladio cutting the grass - Eladio the old fashioned way with a scythe and Juan, his nephew with a modern grass cutter. 

I didn't have to cook that day as we had leftover cocido, so off I went for a walk with Pippa along the old path to Murias. It was just gorgeous. I had to take a video to share with you. .I love this time in Montrondo when everything is so beautiful, green, lush and bucolic. I enjoyed the flowers, the views, the sound of the small river, the butterflies and above all the wild flowers in all their summer glory and all this to the backdrop of mountains thickly populated with my father's favourite tree,  birch trees. I kept stopping to take photos and upload them to social media. Here are some

Photos on my walk to Murias last Sunday

I met some people on the way, a few hikers looking for the path to the highest mountain in the area, the Tambarón. I have been up it twice, something I will never forget. I wondered afterwards if they made it as the path to the summit is not easy to find.

Pippa enjoyed every moment of the beautiful walk and once home she rushed into her "father's" arms to greet him. I had to have a picture.

Pippa greeting Eladio after our walk last Sunday

It was lovely to have Juan's company for lunch and dinner. He is just one year older than Suzy and we have known him since the day he was born. We share the same birthday, 8th February. Lunch was leftovers but dinner was a Montrondo classic; friend eggs and chips which I made on the Aga which made them taste even better. 

I can't remember what we watched that night on Netflix but I remember we went to bed around midnight and again I woke up at 8.30 the next day. I slept like a baby in Montrondo. I wonder why.

Monday came and I had things to do. First I had to contact my guest in El Cuetu and our wifi provider, Adamo after Internet was cut off last Saturday. To cut a long story short, it turns out the fiber cables had been cut by sabotage - no one knows who did it - and by the end of the day wifi was back. I hoped this network outage wouldn't affect my guest's evaluation on Airbnb of her stay at our place in Asturias. While managing that, I was in touch with the key holder and cleaner in Santa Pola as the administration had decided to change locks for the outside gate and the swimming pool, without giving residents a chance to get new keys before the change happened. Thankfully my dear neighbour Lucy had it all sorted just before new guests arrived. That was a close shave. The last important task was to contact the Electrolux repair centre in León as our new induction hub stopped working shortly after we arrived in Montrondo. I took a video and was soon able to send it to the technician. He is supposed to be installing a new hub in our absence. Meanwhile, I used the range cooker which makes for lovely meals but takes a long time to heat up. Finally, I took care of guests at home; 4 leaving and 3 new guests coming. I was glad to have Suzy there to help Tana with the transitions and getting room ready. 

The final important task was more food shopping in Villablino. That meant I wouldn't have much time to make lunch so decided on buying lamb chops which Eladio could grill on the BBQ! We enjoyed a quiet coffee in the town before doing our shopping at Gadis, an excellently stocked supermarket. Here is Eladio waiting for his.

Coffee time in Villablino

We were home on good time for lunch and here is my husband grilling the chops which we enjoyed with Juan, our nephew.

Barbecue time in Montrondo

The afternoon was task free and I spent it lazily reading under the shade of the apple tree. It was then that one of Miguel's friends - a TV cameraman - sent me some more photos and videos of "the" wedding. The one I had wanted to share with you - and now I can - is where Olivia says "no" - but soon says "yes". She told the public she couldn't resist doing so. It had us all in stitches and livened up an otherwise boring registry wedding. This is it if you haven't already seen it on my social media pages. But I didn't laugh so much when later a friend posted a news clip of another bride saying no and then yes but on that occasion the judge stopped the ceremony and cancelled the wedding. Imagine! She was told in no uncertain terms that getting married was a serious matter, not to be joked about. Gosh!

I shared it with the family and with Juan over dinner which was home made soup with a pie bought from Gadis which never in my life could I have made as well.

That night we watched the film "Lone Survivor" on Netlix. It's based on a true story about the Seals in Afghanistan and involves a lot of shooting. 

Again that night I slept nearly 8 hours and woke up just before 8 am on Tuesday morning. We spent most of the morning washing linen, cooking and hoovering. I made "spagbol" for lunch which we had alone as Juan had gone to León for the day. While we were doing that, Oli and family were making their way back from Cádiz after 8 nights at a luxury resort. I wondered whether Elliot wanted to go home or not. I wouldn't if I had been him after 8 days of such fun as there were lots of activities for kids, the sea and the hotel pool which was more like a water park. 

I spent my last afternoon reading under the shade of the apple tree in the back garden of our house in Montrondo until it was time for dinner when Juan joined us. I have never seen my husband so talkative as that night after his nephew asked him about his years as a priest and teacher. He told him his life story. I was the one who chipped in at times to add a bit of emotion hahahaha.

Netflix disappointed that night with The Patriot starring Mel Gibson so we turned to a new documentary/drama "Awaking the Titanic" about 14 people from the same village in Ireland who took that voyage. Only 3 survived to tell the tale. Like many people,  I am fascinated with the Titanic. But I got interrupted by a potential guest asking lots of questions about our house in Madrid which led nowhere apart from spoiling my entertainment.

All too soon it was Wednesday, the day we were leaving for Asturias. It is a 2.5h drive as, although, Asturias is the next province to León, it is still quite far, especially because our place here is located on the eastern part of the coast (towards Santander). Here is a map where you can see our route from Villablino (near Montrondo and on the yellow part of  Castilla León) to El Cuetu near  Llanes (our region of Asturias) in the upper right corner. 

Map of Asturias

We didn't leave early so as to give time to Loli to clean, change the sheets and prepare the house for us. I sincerely hoped she would do a better job than she did for the English guests who complained. I was worried too about the Spanish guests leaving that day after having suffered the Internet outage which, although not my fault, they could easily blame me for. I was right to worry; the lady gave me 3 out of 5 complaining about cables!! 

We arrived at around 7 pm to perfect weather and to quite a clean house - at least she had had a go at the windows. After a bit of inspection, I wondered what guests were complaining about. They probably want a spanking new house or apartment right by the beach. Well, they should look elsewhere. Eladio and I love it and were happy to be "home" again. 

I slept well and woke up to a quiet village.  Once again we were waking up in a different house and a different province, like being on the road again, except that everything was familiar. It appeared lots of the other holiday homes were not full either; owing I was told to the "San Fermines" - the bull run fiesta in Pamplona which I hate. That was fine with me. We went into Posada de Llanes - our nearest town - to stock up on food and lots pf provisions for the house, including new bath curtains, new laundry pegs, lots of cleaning materials, etc. We had coffee in the square and contemplated that apart from little upsets, life is good. 

Coffee in the square in Posada de Llanes on Monday

I got some good fillet steak from the local butcher which I used to make boeuf stroganof for lunch which we both adore. Eladio had lots of little house tasks to perform and so did I - washing new sheets, for example. Only when I was free could I sit on our terrace, put my feet up with a cup of tea and read. You should see the flowers - the geraniums and hydrangeas - which are looking spectacular.

Flowers on our terrace looking gorgeous at this time of year

True to tradition, at around 7 pm, I got out a bottle of wine to have a glass each with some pistachios. We always love our wine and pistachio moments. It was during one of these moments, staying at an Airbnb, not so far from here, in the summer of 2020, that we decided to buy a house in the area. We have never looked back. 

Friday was a glorious day with the temperature reaching 25ºc, at least 10 less than in Madrid. Thus I decided to pack a beach bag in case we decided to go in the sea.

The Volvo parked in our street, ready to drive to Posada and to Poó Beach on Friday morning -our house is the semi white one in the distance. 

But first to Posada to pick up a bean stew I had ordered from the butcher and for some more items from the ironmonger Eladio loves so much. It was market day which I love and the square was groaning with people and enticing stalls. I bought a meat pie and some kitchen towels. I would have loved to stay longer but it was coffee time and we wanted to have it by the Playa de Poó at the restaurant bar called La Farola del Mar which is just above the beach. We love that place. You may laugh at the name but not at the beach which is my favourite in the area. It's more an estuary and when the tide is out, it forms little pools where children can paddle and you can walk all the way to the beginning of the village. When the tide is in, it's like an emerald coloured lake with virtually no waves as it is sheltered on both sides by cliffs. The Guardian included it in its ranking of the top 40 beaches in Europe in 2019 and of course alluded to its unfortunate name. Another beach with an unfortunate name they included is Playa de los Muertos (Death Beach!), also in Spain.  During our time this week in El Cuetu we went 3 times in 2 days which is quite a record. 

That morning, as most mornings, the tide was out and the sea far away. Here is Eladio sitting down waiting for our coffee

Coffee by the Playa de Poó on Friday morning. 

You can just spy the hydrangeas in the photo but look at the next one - they grow wild everywhere on the north coast of Spain and are so pretty.

Hydrangeas by the Playa de Poó

We got talking to the waiter, Juan, from Jaén in Andalusia. He told us he worked for free at the restaurant in exchange for food and lodging and that he came because he always remembered being at  Poó beach when he did his military service 40 years ago. Quite a story. He told us how lovely it is there at night with the tide in, so we decided to book a table for dinner yesterday night. He booked table number 14 and we looked forward to dinner there and to meeting him again. 

Normally we walk down to the beach and towards the end  but Friday was definitely a beach day so we walked all across the bay to find the sea as the tide was so far out. We parked ourselves by a rock and I was soon in my bathing costume. Boring Eladio wasn't in the mood - he is not spontaneous like me hahahhaha.

Eladio and Pippa on the beach - my husband fully clothed, hahahhaa. 

I was ready in a jiffy and practically ran to the water to go into the sea. I was surprised the water wasn't cold. I suppose that's global warming for you. 

Playa de Póo. We had to walk quite far to reach the sea as the tide was out

It's such a pity I don't have a photo to show you of  that wonderful moment. But I did take a video once I was out, just to show you how beautiful the setting is. You can watch it here on my YouTube channel. If we hadn't ordered the bean stew for lunch I think we might well have stayed there all day. At about 2 pm we were getting hungry and grudgingly left this beautiful beach.

The bean stew was not as good as usual - too much black pudding which I took out for Eladio who likes it but always comments how unhealthy it is hahahaha. 

I had lots of guest related work to do that afternoon and only at about 5.30 pm, was I free to put up my feet and read on the terrace. I had bleached the chairs which tend to get mold because of the damp and it's a horrible job. By then they were dry and I wiped them with a wet cloth, but just in case I put an old towel under me so as not to get white marks on my clothes which has happened before hahaha. They look lovely and white now but let's see for how long. 

From the terrace I could spy a group of ladies making some sort of big object with huge hydrangeas. I couldn't resist so went to watch and to ask what they were doing. I was told it was the floral offering for the fête the next day in Meré - called Fiestas here. 

Village ladies making the floral offering for the fiestas in Meré  this week

I never saw the finished product but was told loaves of bread were attached to it. It's so funny how bread is often part of religious traditions. In the Russian church and in the Jewish religion, I know that for certain as I have seen it with my own eyes. 

 

We didn't have bread for dinner. We had the lovely meat pie I had bought at the market. I thought it was locally sourced but my neighbour told me it's from León - oh well. We then watched a film about women spies in WW2 working for the SOE who helped resistance movements in German occupied countries. It's quite a coincidence as both in Montrondo and here in Asturias that has been the subject of my reading. Unfortunately though I fell asleep as I often do when we watch TV at night. For once that night I slept really badly and was awake until the early hours. But I wasn't tired when I woke up on Saturday morning. 

The weather forecast was for sun in the morning and God damn it, rain in the afternoon. But that didn't deter the locals from going ahead with their fiestas. These four ladies went past our house clad in their Asturian regional outfits and I had to have a photo. Villagers told me these costumes can cost up to 8000 euros and that most people hire them for the occasion. I think they looked amazing and asked if I could take a photo. They obliged. 

Ladies from the village in the Llanes version of the Asturian regional costume - ready for their fiesta

We could hear bag pipes in the distance and soon other villagers clad in regional dress were all arriving. You are probably wondering why I mention bag pipes. Well, this area is Celtic, something you might not have known, just as Galicia is too. There are 8 Celtic regions which are all in the UK, Ireland and Spain: Ireland, Scotland, Isle of Man, Wales, Cornwall, Brittany, as well as Galicia and Asturias. 

Maybe we could have joined the fiesta, seen the procession with the floral offering and more people in regional dress, but we preferred a quiet morning by the beach. So off we went yet again to Poo Beach. There we had coffee overlooking a semi crowded but very quiet beach. It  is much favoured by families as the sea is shallow here and nearly wave free. After our coffee we walked to a spot nearer the water. Unbelievably, my husband joined me in the water and he too remarked just how warm it was. The sea was warm but the sky was dark and at around 1.30 it startled to rain slightly; a sort of drizzle. The name for this type of very light rain in northern Spain  is   "chirimiri", whereas  in Asturias it is often referred to as  "orbayu; the Castillian word being "llovizna".  Asturias, which is possibly the wettest area in Spain, has many names for different types of rain just as Finns have lots of different names for snow!

When the "orbayu" came, people picked up their things and left, just as we did. Thankfully, it wasn't cold. We came home to have a shower and our lunch - freshly made cream of carrot and pumpkin soup, followed by the rest of my boeuf stroganof. 

There was no sitting on the terrace that afternoon because of the "orbayu". Instead, I went to bed with my kindle and Pippa and slept for about an hour. After his siesta, Eladio set about covering up the grime that accumulates in between the bathroom tiles that the English lady had complained about. We had bought a special product and I was so happy it worked. Today he will be cleaning all the windows, hahahaha. 

We had a dinner table booked that night at Playa de Poo -  of course. We were not able to sit on table number 14 as it was raining - boohoo. What a pity. When we arrived the beach was practically empty as you can see from the photo below. You may also see there were people bathing in it even though it was raining slightly. I think if we had had our bathing costumes with us, we may have gone in too. There is nothing nicer than swimming in the rain if it is not cold which it wasn't. This was the view from our table. 

View from our table at La Farola del Mar above Poo Beach

We were served by Juan but were in bad luck as far as the cuisine went as the normal chef was not there. Whoever made the food was very average. My mini scallops though, were delicious. 

My favourite food in Asturias - mini scallops

We had our food with local cider which is delicious. This week's feature photo had to be of me overlooking the beach and holding the bottle of precious liquid in my hands. Thank you Eladio for that photo. 

The food was nothing special but the setting was to die for. I took a video to share with you in case you ever come this way. Later I looked up Poo Beach and found British press articles praising Asturias, like this one. The guy is completely right. Read on to find out why. It's from 2011 and Asturias is no longer a closely kept secret to non Spanish tourists, but it still not really on their radar, thank goodness. 

At this time of year it gets dark at 10 pm which makes for long days, my favourite of the year in this area. We were home by about 11 pm and soon in bed.

Today is Sunday, blog day, and we have woken up to more "orbayo" but no worries, the sun will be out in the afternoon. Thus, once again, I shall be able to put my feet up on our flower filled terrace with my kindle, Pippa and a cup of tea. That is my kind of bliss.

On that note, I shall leave you now until next Sunday. Where will that find us you may wonder. You will find out next week. Cheers till then,

Masha.