Val & Petes Weblog

Hello at last!

Because it is so long since I last wrote my diary, I am struggling to remember just what we have been up to, but here goes!

Peter has recovered from the flu although he still has an irritating cough hanging on. I have had some reflux problems causing very bad chest pains which resulted in a visit to the docs, but that is under control now with medication. Other than that, we are both well but over the next week or so I have my fasting blood and urine tests followed by the diabetic clinic. I am expecting to be severely told off as I have not been very good at keeping to a diet or exercising since Christmas and more importantly, and I know stupidly, have started smoking again and cannot psyche myself up to stop. I also go for my annual mammogram next week which I am not looking forward to. I always find this time of year a bit stressful as I dread negative results coming in. Hopefully all will be well though.

The villa in Spain has now been painted a subtle mustard yellow and it looks very nice. The painters we used were very clean and efficient and did an excellent job. There was a lot to do as it was not only the house but the garage, gazebo and pool walls as well First they power hosed all the walls, left it for a week to dry out and then it took a week for the painting. They removed everything, including climbing plants, from the walls and put them back again afterwards and they also did some roof repairs, that we were going to get someone else to do, at no additional charge. Thank you William Gilmore and your great team of workers for a job well done!

Peter has done a bit more work in the mountain garden and the end is definately now in sight. We have put some colourful plants in now and it is actually beginning to look like a garden. It is amazing though that 2  car load of plants purchased from the garden centre just seemed to get lost when planted and has made me realise what a big expanse of garden we actually have down the back of the house.

I am still into my crafting and since I last wrote I have finished my glass candle holder, have finished painting my flower pot, painted another one and a water carrier. I have also made a few more cards.

We had a great evening when we joined friends Bob and Linda in a party of 15 at the Lion’s Race Evening. I did have one healthy win during the evening but sadly Peter did not have a snifter, not even a win on ‘Pammies Behind’, which he backed in honour of our dear friend Pam!

Our friends Pam and Bob joined us in Spain on 13th March for 10 days and we had a very enjoyable time with them. We had some great meals out and introduced Pam and Bob to 2 new restaurants that we had found which they thought were good. We played our usual tournament of mini-golf, which is good fun, and for the first time ever I came first with a score of 56, which included 2 holes-in-one.

While Pam and Bob were with us we all went on a 3 night mini-break to a rural hotel in Murcia. It was a good deal, which we found in the local freebie paper – free accommodation with a commitment to breakfast an evening meal at a total cost of 28 euros per person per night.

Thinking that the hotel was located at Murcia we had planned to go places and do things in that location but silly us – it was nowhere near Murcia itself, which is in the east of the Murcia region but at a place called Moratalla, way out in the country in the west of the region and miles from Murcia town itself, so when we realised this we had to make some changes to our planned itinery!

By the time we eventually left the motorway we were feeling hungry as we had not passed an eating place for miles and it was well past lunch time. As we got onto the road that was eventually to lead us to our destination Peter drove past what looked to be an eating place. Stop! We all cried! So he did, reversed back and turned into a car park. It turned out to be a wonderful Italian restaurant right there in the middle of nowhere in rural Spain and we had a fantastic meal of pasta accompanied by tasty cheesy and herb breads and of course a bottle of red wine. Hmmm, yummy! It was either a very popular venue or scores of other people had stumbled on it by accident as we had, as it was very busy and by the time we left there was barely an empty table but the service could not be faulted and once again, as is the case in Spain, it was inexpensive.

Leaving this wonderful, unexpected restaurant and meal, we drove through lovely green agricultural countryside which included groves of fruit trees and fields of crops then we had to travel a long way up a narrow, tree lined track to get to the hotel. We saw very little evidence of human habitation for miles and miles and when we reached the hotel it was, as they described, a natural oasis!

The Hotel Cenajo is situated next to the River Segura and the reservoir of Cenajo and the magnificent buildings were originally the administration centre for the building of the massive dam between the reservoir and the river which is right next door to the hotel.

The hotel had good facilities, with outdoor and indoor swimming pools, (the former not usuable at this time of year obviously), tennis and squash courts, gymnasium, games room, bicycles, horses for riding and planned country walks for the energetic and there was a bar/cafe open 13 hours a day and some comfortable lounges for the not so energetic! The rooms were comfortable with air con, on-suite bath and shower, TV, phone, hairdryer, mini bar, etc. Oh, and of course, beds! The meals were help-yourself buffet fare but there was lots to choose from and the hot food was hot and everything on offer was good.

Peter and Bob did go on one of the walks and got a bit lost as they missed a marker and had no idea which way to go forward or to find their way back for a while. Pam and I, not being so energetic sat in a sheltered, sunny corner reading our books and drinking coffee. We did reach a point thinking the men should have returned by now but did not panic and were not really surprised to find that they had strayed off the main route.

A real bonus was that there was no mobile phone signal within at least 4 miles of the hotel and it was noticeable that no-one had a phone stuck to the side of their heads and you did not have to endure them shouting for everyone to hear! Mind you Peter and Bob might have found one handy if they had not found their way back onto the route back to the hotel!

Peter drove us on a couple of trips out. The first one was to Caravaca de la Cruz, a lovely old Spanish town steeped in history right back to the Palaeolithic Era and the Middle Ages. We went into the Museum which revealed events that take place in the town. We saw a very moving short film about the origin of the Vera Cruz, or Cross as we would know it, and its miraculous arrival in the town in 1232 which signified the beginning of the religious ceremony of the ‘Bano de la Cruz’ (the bathing of the Cross) in water. Then we passed through the museum which depicted wonderful Moors and Christian costumes for adults and children alike but most impressive was the passion and soul of the town – the ‘Caballos del Vino (Wine Horses), first used in the mid-17th century to transport the wine from the surrounding district to the Sactuary to be blessed. The horses are dressed in magnificient harnesses and covered with intricately embroidered coats and in present day, in May every year, the horses are dressed and run through the streets of the town. It must be fantastic to see.

We then took a tractor driven train from the main square, up steep narrow streets to the top of the town to visit the Vera Cruz Sanctuary-Castle with it’s Church of Renaissance design, sporting a splendid red marble 18th century Baroque facade and inside a wonderful altar, paintings, gold and silver artworks and sacred works.

Now it was time to eat and back in the square we found a small Spanish bar where the owner happily sent the son of the house out to the bakery to buy fresh bread to serve us very large bocadillos containing ham and cheese to be washed down with suitable beverages. The cost – 14 euros total for 4 of us! Amazing!

The following day Peter took us to a place called Riopar. Again we drove past wonderful green lands of fruit groves and very neat agricultural fields with pine covered mountains as a backdrop. I kept forgetting that we were actually still in Spain as we coould so easily have been in England. The road was very narrow and winding and at times we had to stop for sheep and goats standing in the road. They just stood and stared at us obviously wondering what we were doing in their territory but eventually they got bored with us, moved off into the fields and allowed us to continue on our way. At Riopar, there are spectacular water falls which are the source of the Rio (river) Mondo. How fascinating to see a river that has serious water in it!

One of our original planned trips was to go to the big shopping centre near Murcia and when we realised that it was nowhere near the location of our hotel we decided to leave after breakfast on our last day and call in there on the way home for a bit of retail therapy! We spent time in a big Primark, that my daughter would die for and even more time in C and A’s – Oh how lovely as we all miss that great shop since they closed them all years ago in the UK.

Us ladies sent the men off on their own while we browsed the racks and frequented the changing rooms – What a delight that they catered for us more amply sized ladies too! The men came back toting their bargain buys. Peter did really well with 3 jumpers and 2 pair of cords for a total price of £15 Euros! I did not bother to look at price tags as I was just pleased to be able to get clothes easily to fit me and I must admit that I ended up with 4 tops, 3 pair of 3/4 length trouses, a hoody, 2 nightshirts and a 3/4 raincoat (last September I spent a whole day in Peterborough trying to get one of those, without success!) and I have no idea how much I spent but it was certainly a tad more than Pete’s purchases cost!

We got back to the villa at about 6pm, very tired but happy. We went for a Chinese at the restaurant on our urbanisation and were ready to hit the sack early that night. We had a lovely final day with Pam and Bob just lazing around the villa and going out for lunch at one of our favourite restaurants and then departed at 7am on Friday morning to take them to the airport for their flight back to the UK.

A frantic weekend followed – stripping beds, washing, ironing and cleaning the house for me and pool cleaning, emptying and cleaning jacuzzi, watering, spraying and feeding plants and tidying the garden for Peter.

Friday was our 44th wedding anniversary so we went out for dinner (again!), another new restaurant and another excellent meal, and again very reasonably priced. too We had a nice evening on Saturday with friends Bob and Linda partaking of a fish and chip supper and then a visit to the Irish Pub to be entertained by Jon the Fiddler and on Sunday evening our friends and neighbours, Tom and Sarah came over for drinks. Monday it was time to pack for our trip back to the UK, departing early Tuesday morning.

Well, it wasn’t such a struggle after all as everthing came flooding back as I was writing. Will write soon and let you know what we have been up to in dear old England!

Bye for now!