The heat came, Roland Garros tribute to 14 times champion Rafa Nadal, retail therapy with my husband, a stop for wine and ham in Rueda, to Montrondo for 4 wonderful days, Eladio and his scythe, market day in Villablino and other stories of the week.

 Montrondo, Sunday 1st June, 2025 

Our first stop in Rueda for wine and ham since last September

Good morning friends and readers.

It's lovely to be writing this week's blog post from Montrondo, the village where my husband was born and which means so much to us all. We hadn't been back since the beginning of last September, so quite a while. We came, mainly, to spring clean and get the house ready for when Andy and Amanda come. But we had time to enjoy the village and of course the good weather.  

The heat came to Spain this week and in Seville the temperature reached 40ºc. I think it reached 37ºc in Madrid but in Montrondo it's always much cooler because of the mountains. The village lies at over 1000m high so you would never get 40ºc here. We have had a lousy and rainy winter so I am glad the good weather is here to stay, because it will, but I do not like the extreme temperatures. Who does? 

Last Sunday in Madrid it was a pleasant 28ºc. I had slept well, we went for our walk and wish now I had swum in the pool as we had it to ourselves. Soon I must take the plunge.

On that day the organisers of the French Open, better known as Roland Garros, organised an amazing celebration of Rafa Nadal's tennis performance there. In his career he won 22 grand slams and 14 of them were at Roland Garros. He didn't get much of a send off in Spain but I suppose it was much more fitting for it to take place on the Philippe Chatrier court. No other tennis player has ever won Roland Garros so many times - Bjorn Bjorg comes second with 6 titles - and possibly no other player will ever rival Rafael Nadal who is the King of Clay. There are 4 grand slams; Wimbledon, US Open, Australian Open and the French Open. The most prestigious is Wimbledon but they say the most difficult and tiring is the French Open because of playing on clay. Being a great fan, I had to watch the tribute. The place was packed with everyone wearing brown t-shirts (for clay) with Merci Rafa written on them.

The Roland Garros tribute to Rafa Nadal last Sunday

 

 

As the French Open had started that day the place was full of course but anyone who was anyone in tennis was also there, as well as all of Nadal's family including his two grandmothers, wife and baby Rafa. I loved his humble speech in halting French, in his native tongue and also in English which he had to learn on the circuit. The big moment was of course when the Big 4 were all together. Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray were with him to celebrate his career. After all they were very much a part of it. It would never have been the same without them. I mostly loved the rivalry between Nadal and Federer and miss it dearly. And then the French surprised Rafa with a beautiful gesture, a tile on the very court he won on with his name, footprint and his 14 wins. This tile will be there as long as the French Open continues to exist. 

Rafa's footprint to be forever at Roland Garros - the Big 4 together.

 

 ç

 

 

 

 

I think that was the most emotional moment for Rafa and for anyone watching.It was also very gallant of the French to put on such a ceremony for the Spaniard. Over the years the public came to love him, despite his not being French. In his speech he said he felt like an honorary Frenchman. Merci Rafa is all I can say.

Monday came and it was time to weigh myself - I do so every 2 weeks while taking Mounjaro. I was gutted to see I had put on 400 grammes but not surprised after 2 meals out, a birthday lunch and Oli's cake.  

For once that morning, Oli told me on time to watch her live on TV. I do wish she would always tell me and wouldn't be so blasé about it. Anyway, I was happy to watch her, not so the story which was about houses affected and ruined by works done on one of the Metro lines some years ago in San Fernando de Henares.   

Oli live on TV on Monday

The temperature reached 30ºc that day and when I was ready for our walk, wearing summer clothes, my husband said it was too hot for our walk boohoo. Instead we went to Manacor for coffee and made plans for coming here and to Santa Pola next week. 

Suzy was very down that day. She is going through a period where she is becoming aware of her condition and that is very, very hard. Oli came for lunch which helped. They later had a tête à tête which did her good and we had another one later. I felt so sorry for my eldest daughter and will do anything for her to be happy.

That was the day the crazy man in Liverpool drove into crowds celebrating the Premiere Cup. He is a 53 year old former Marine who used his car as a weapon and has been accused of injuring 70 people while taking drugs. It beggars belief.

What also beggared belief was the incident that day where Macron's 25 year older wife, Brigitte, slapped him viciuosly on the face as the couple were about to leave their plane upon landing in Vietnam. It was caught on camera and a lip reader later said she had used a four letter word and called him a loser. As they walked down the steps of the aircraft she refused to take his arm. Obviously their relationship is not all roses and sunshine. You don't often hear of women beating their husbands but it happens.  

We live in a crazy world. That was the word Trump used to describe Putin that day in frustration for the Russian leader not agreeing to a peace plan with Ukraine. Did he really ever believe he would?

Tuesday came and Eladio was up early to mow the lawn before it got too hot. That's one hell of a job but he still refuses to hire a man to do it for him. I wish he would. When he had finished I took him clothes shopping. He usually hates that but I insisted after having had a look at his shorts and summer trousers which are nearly all old, torn or stained. I was determined to get him some lovely slim fit white denims and white shorts. We bought all of them at Zara and Cortefiel. At the latter I even got myself a pair of denim shorts. I don't have great knees but need shorts for the summer. As Eladio said, "they are your knees", bless him. 

New denim shorts for me with my ugly knees

In the end it was retail therapy we both enjoyed and it did us good.

Meanhile, the King (aka King Charles III) was in Canada on an official state visit. He was there too to bolster relations with Canada which is part of the Commonwealth. Neither Canada nor the UK want Trump to claim the country as another state. I wonder what Trump was thinking if he watched which he probably did.

Amanda and I had a FaceTime call that afternoon - no more Skype calls - how odd. It was good to catch up as we hadn't spoken for about 2 weeks. I can't wait for her and Andy to come at the end of this month. We are going to have a blast. 

When we had finished, Suzy and I went out on errands together. She was a bit better that day thank goodness. Sometimes it's a step backwards and then a step forwards and you never know what the day will bring. 
 

Wednesday dawned, the day we were going to Montrondo. Sadly, Suzy didn't want to come with us. Hopefully she will one day. It's been a long time. 

The one thing I love about the drive here which is over 400km is the stop at Palacio de Bornos, a wonderful winery in Rueda, the area which produces the best white in Spain in my opinion. We nearly always stop to have a glass of wine and a platter of fresly cut cured ham. I have to add that we also buy white chocolate with almonds which we have in the car afterwards.We were warmly welcomed by the staff and enjoyed our food and drink on the terrace outside so that Pippa could be with us. That is the photo I have chosen as this week's feature photo. Rueda is another of my happy places in this world. While there we got a box of 6 bottles of our favourite white wine, Palacio de Bornos (Verdejo) and three bottles of red - Lleiroso from nearby Ribera del Duero. 

Our stop was at around noon so I wasn't hungry for lunch when we arrived in the village. I love the house we built 10 years ago from the shell of Eladio's family home but I hate arriving with all that that entails. We have to open all the shutters and clean a lot of surfaces before unpacking and filling the fridge. But once it's done, I'm happy. 

We came to good weather. Both of Eladio's sisters were in the village and we spent some time with them. We all had coffee together (decaf) on Pili's terrace and caught up on each other's lives. I slept well that night as I nearly always do here apart from last night.

We woke up on Thursday knowing we had  a big job to do. We had to spring clean the house thoroughly. As I told Amanda in our call this week, Montrondo is the only house we don't have a cleaner for and I wish we did.  My main job was sorting out bedding, changing sheets in the upstairs bedrooms and then I got down to the nitty gritty. I cleaned 3 bathrooms and all the doors and windows on the top two floors while Eladio had the terrible job of removing pigeon excrament from the upper floor terrace. They are the bane of this house and he keeps coming up with solutions to ward them off but none have worked so far. I had a break for elevenses and went with Pili to Senra to have coffee at the grumpy man's bar. While there I spoke to Suzy and she then spoke to her aunt who she hasn't seen for so many years. It was an emotional moment. My daughter has promised to come this summer. I really hope she does come. 

After lunch Eladio got out the sun loungers and put them in the back garden where I spent some time reading while he slept - he can sleep anywhere. I had to take a photo to share with you. It was a very relaxing moment.  

A moment of relax in Montrondo

 We later convened at Pili's and had another decaf. Later we were joined by Manolita, one of the most important people in this village. I always love to see her. We talked about politics would you believe? While we talked Eladio was cutting the grass in the back garden which had grown enormously. He used the scythe he used as a boy and it's no mean task I can tell you. Here he is with his garden tool.

Eladio and his scythe

I then got him on video explaining what he was doing. It's a classic. Enjoy although it's in Spanish

 

Eladio cutting the grass with his very old fashioned scythe

Of course scythes have gone out of fashion and there are more advanced tools today but my husband prefers his scythe. Not many people know how to use them these days. It's quite an art and I love to see him using this old fashioned tool which I know brings him back so many memories and not all good as his father used to use him as a work horse in the summer holidays.

Suddenly it was Friday which is market day in the nearest town to here, Villablino.  It was once a rich mining town but today the population has dwindled. However, it does a roaring trade by serving all the surrounding villages like Montrondo. There are no other shops anywhere near here so we always go to Villablino to do our shopping and on a Friday so as to coincide with the weekly market.

We went to do the shopping at Gadis and to a couple of ironmongers and of course had our morning coffee.  Coffee in Villablino is a ritual. You get it served with a platter full of sweet pastries and tortilla, hardly any of which we could eat. But I loved the moment. 

Enjoying coffee in Villablino

We later went to the market which was nearly closed. But I managed to find a lovely denim jacket. I have never owned one and always wanted to and now that I am a bit slimmer I thought it looked good on me. This is it. 
 

My 20 euro denim jacket made in Italy which I bought at the market in Villablino

And guess what? I got more shorts for Eladio, this time denim ones. Now we both have denim shorts, except that Eladio's legs are pleasanter than mine, haha.

Knowing we would be home late and not wanting to make lunch late, I booked a table at La Bolera in Robles de Laciana on the outskirts of Villablino. There was a 15 euro menu of the day but I chose a platter of cecina and a salad. Cecina is similar to braseola and is a typical product of León. The cecina they serve at La Bolera is the best I have ever tried. I wish I knew where to buy the same one. Here I am enjoying the cecina and below is a photo of Eladio leaving the restaurant, one I rather like because of the surroundings - it's all green. 

Lunch at La Bolera in Robles

Once home we made a beeline for the sun loungers to lie under the shade of the apple trees, except that Pippa beat me to it. Just look at her in my place hahahaha.

Siesta time in Montrondo this week. Just look who is in my place, yes Pippa!

We had had a lovely day which ended with a light dinner of leftovers and falling asleep watching rubbish on Netflix.

Saturday came and there was more cleaning to do. This time I tackled the ground floor, the doors, windows, our bathroom and all the surfaces in our room. It was quite a job but I was pleased when I had finished. Eladio, meanwhile hoovered the whole house We also changed our sheets, sorted out more bedding and did loads of laundry. Everything dried quickly in the sun and by the end of the day our house was sparkling clean and ready for its next visitors. 

While cleaning I made "cocido" stew for lunch and to take leftovers home. We didn't finish our work until the late afternoon. Only then could I go out and read under the shade of the apple trees, my favourite place here and another happy place for me. I have many as you know.  We went to bed far too early, at around 10.15 which probably explains why I woke up ad 5 am this morning.

Today is Sunday and it's 1st June, the beginning of one of my favourite months. I love the long days with light until nearly 10 pm. We have to go home today but will be back  at the end of the month with our friends.  

We've had 4 wonderful days here, spent mostly cleaning but in peace. We didn't once go for a walk but will make up for that when we come back in a few weeks time. We shall be leaving here early so as to get home for lunch. I always love going home after a stay away but am not looking forward to the heat.

That's it from me for this week. Sending you all the best from Montrondo, cheers and thanks for reading this post,

Masha.