Stayed at the campsite at Stoupa for a week and went on some great walks and a good bike ride. The countryside is fantastic for hiking but you have to watch out for paths on the map that disappear on the ground!
I needed a new pair of walking shoes for going to Spain and Portugal. Ended up buying this pair which are unbelievably comfortable. They are the only walking shoes/boots I’ve ever worn where I haven’t needed liner socks and haven’t had any blisters.
I am now absolutely sold on Meindl and cannot recommend them enough. They are more expensive but definitely worth it
We’ve discovered a whole area of Spain we’ve never been to before, and it’s fantastic ! We’re staying in a campsite just by the National Park – walking, cycling and guided tours in a 4×4 to see the birdlife.
The griffin vulture has a wing span of almost 2 metres – they are huge. When you stop at viewpoints you can see dozens of vultures circling overhead.
This is definitely a place we’re going to visit again … many times
Hurrah, back in Orgiva in the Alpujarras after an absence of several years.
Lovely walks around the beautiful hills and villages. Four walks in six days is pretty good for us! On one walk we decided to try to walk back on the GR-7 path but kept losing the waymarks finally realised there was far too far to go and we needed to catch the last bus down the mountain this involved us climbing over a barbed wire fence and sliding down a steep bank to get to the road where we were able to wave down the bus!
Also went to a yoga class in Orgiva
And now off to Extremadura where we’ve not been before but has been recommended to us by people we’ve met on the campsite.
Cabo de Gata is Europe’s only desert. It’s a Nature Reserve and people say that this is what the coast of Spain used to be like. Of course it’s a little sanctuary in the corner of the ‘garden’ of Spain, so you have to drive through wall-to-wall ‘plasticos’ before you reach it. But once there, wow it’s beautiful.
We visited a few years ago but it was in late June and it was much too hot, but early May is a good time. Lots of walking routes, temperature low to mid 20s with a lovely breeze. 12 miles the first day, 7 the second and another 12 miles the third. The campsites there are all fairly large but at this time of the year there are not many people and the facilities are good.
Plenty of windmills as it’s a pretty windy place
For our last night we stayed on a camperstop – the car park by the beach of a fishing village, intending to buy some fish in the morning. But they were all much too big for us!!!
at Jodhpur we stayed slightly outside the town at Chandaleo Garh which Mary had told me about. The estate has been in the family of Pranduman Singh for generations and in 1997 he turned it into a hotel. But it’s rather different to other places and was our favourite accommodation of the whole trip. It’s very simple, peaceful and beautiful.
In addition he has established a craft centre where women from the village can develop new skills and earn an income.
The evening meal was held on the rooftop and we were lucky enough to see the blood blue moon which was an amazing sight
Mr Singh took us out in his jeep to visit the weaver and on the way we saw camels and a blue antelope.
Travelled to the village of Narlai outside Ranakpur only to discover that I’d left my phone charger and adapter behind. Potential disaster! But no, this is India where the mobile phone is queen. Wandered down the road to find three tiny mobile phone stalls. Initially they didn’t have a iPhone lead, but then it turned out that the salesman just happened to be there on his motorbike bringing supplies. iPhone lead? No problem.
Whilst in Jodhpur we went to a Tie and Dye workshop at ‘Isha Silk’ run by Ishwar Dewani on the rooftop of his house. Neither of us knew what to expect and our only experience was back in the 60s.
So this is pretty different to those T-shirts back in the day. Ishwar first described the process he uses for his professional dying and then took us through a simplified version.
We were each give a square of silk folded over 4 times and tacked along 3 sides. We put blobs of dye in a number of places making sure it went all the way through.
Then we wound thread several times creating small knots in the centre of each blob. The material under the thread will retain the dye colour.
The material was then placed in a bleach solution so that it went completely white, rinsed, and then placed in a dye. It was rinsed again, dried in the sun, and then we removed the knots. Hey presto!
We discovered there was a local yoga class held just near our hotel in the stadium at 7am so we decided to go.
We found our way there but couldn’t find any yoga. We’d been told it was behind the pavilion on a green sheet. Valerie asked some men passing by and they were going too. What a friendly group of people.
It turned out that on that day the yoga was being held on the raised platform in the middle of the stadium! They were all very welcoming and one of the men took to translating into English as we went along. There were about 15 people, many of our sort of age. Pretty different to yoga in England where the main emphasis is often on the physical. The first part was like any set of warm up exercises and then the majority of the exercises were different pranayamas which we did for far longer. Kapalbhathi was practised for at least 5 minutes – 300 breathes (1 per second), and alternate nostril breathing similar. We also did Bhramari pranayama (humming bee) and the Lion – which everyone enjoyed and the ladies found us very funny. Then we finished with laughing yoga which I’d never done before and which was absolutely brilliant. It was also a very chatty group, rather like one we went to in Spain
We enjoyed the class so much that we decided to go again the next day and leave for Jodhpur slightly later.
So the next day we were there again, and it was on the platform again, but this time all the men were dressed in white track suits with orange turbans, and there were twice as many people. Then later, a group of young men who were running round the stadium training for the army also joined the class so there were about 50 or more on the green mat on the stage.
Then another yogi came up to the front and we did more and more laughing yoga. Everyone was laughing laughing and waving their hands in the air.
I’m going to find laughing yoga in London it’s fantastic.
Went on a 16km trek in the forest. It was very hot with a very steep ascent. On the way we saw …
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