Last of Autumn

Today we went for a ride along Chicken Street. This long and winding lane goes past allotments replete with monster cabbages, tiny orchards of bare fruit trees, the occasional withering maize plantation and several ramshackle coops of scrawny hens.

We got as far as the river and stopped to watch yellow leaves falling from the poplar trees. Then we went and found some swings.

El Castillo

A crisp, sunny morn and a pleasant ride around the river which included a stop-off outside the Templars castle. The Templars weren't here long and little or nothing remains of the original building. But it's the building that features on most of the postcards and the one that all the tourists point their cameras at so I pointed mine.

La Torre

When I first arrived here this was a grimy mining town where the buildings were caked in coaldust. Then one day the lofty slag heaps were taken away in a thousand dumper trucks. And a new landmark began to take shape at the end of a rose garden where mountains of sulphurous debris once lay.

We came here this morning on our bike.

Día de la Hispanidad

Monday was a Bank Holiday, Dia de la Hispanidad or something like that. This involved a day off for most people and military processions in Madrid which even the Conservative leader of the opposition Mariano Rajoy admitted was a pain in the arse.

I avoided military processions and went with my daughter for a walk in the park which these days amounts to a far truer celebration of the Hispanidad than anywhere else.


The photo was taken on the see-saw amongst the pine trees and behind is the Casa de los Teletubbies where we sometimes have coffee and Kinder eggs. Today we collected conkers in the murky shadow of a horse chestnut tree. We collected them for no particular reasons as nobody plays conkers around here although I’m told that some people feed them to their pigs.

Sunday October 12th

A blog.
Better start writing then.
Random thoughts on the place where I live,
the people I know,
the view through my window,
running, hills, mountains, football,
life and the universe.










This is a photo of Monte Pajariel (the slope on the left). It's a fragment of the view I can see through my window although the photo was taken higher up and some months ago. Funny that because on the photo it says it was taken in March 2012.
Must add that I can only see Monte Pajariel if I look up to the left. The rest of the view is pretty crappy so for a pleasing to the eye first post I'll concentrate on the best bits for now. The warty bits will come later.

Went for a run up Monte Pajariel this morning.