Last day of summer

 

And so all too quickly the last day of summer has arrived.

I took the opportunity to  have an early(ish) morning stroll.

The sky was a stunning blue with fluffy white clouds, the sun was shining but the air had a definite autumnal nip in it. after only a few minutes my cheeks were pinched  pink by the wind. It was just good to be out in the fresh air, soaking up the late summer vitamin D.

 

The trees, which back in August were starting to shed their leaves, seemed to decide to hang onto them after a fair amount of rain, and now in late October, they are still clinging on and not quite in their full Autumn coat. With  ever busy lives, it is sometimes good to just stop and take stock of your surroundings.

My walk took in country lanes and open fields, the hedgerows still being full of bounty, the sloes are huge this year and still offering themselves up .

the leaves of the Blackthorn  are long gone in this area, but the sloes remain, providing much needed fruit for my gin and also food for wildlife especially pollinators and caterpillar. The dense spiny structure of these bushes make for excellent  secure fencing as well as lacerating various parts of my hands and arm, worth it though.

That bag of sloes is destined for the freezer, enabling me to make sloe gin in the early part of the new year.

I also collected some rosehips, which again, were plentiful on the bushes which unlike the Blackthorn, was still hanging onto  most of its leaves

These rosehips will this afternoon, be deseeded ( a totally thankless task), and then soaked in vinegar overnight before being used in my last batch of chutney for the year.

Rosehips are a great source of vitamin c , they actually contain significantly more than oranges, and can be frozen, so I might be out again tomorrow to collect some more!

Just being out soaking up the last of the late summer sun, walking in the fresh air and taking in all that nature provides, is a huge tonic, tomorrow we enter into darker shorter days, the light gradually changes over the next few months, a time of year that I do not like at all.

Luckily in 3 weeks I will be taking in  some winter sun.

Mijas the debrief

 

Mijas,

Well once again, Mijas excelled itself. For me there is something about this little place in the mountains.

I often feel as if I am on an island as I look down towards the coast, I also never really want to head down to the coast, and for me an avid beach lover this is slightly alien.

On this, my 4th visit in 11 months, it hasn't lost its charm.

My early morning walks through the village are a delight, everyone out doing there day to day things, always pleasant.

The range of restaurants  in the village to cater for the mass of tourists who venture up the mountain during  the day, give a wide selection of food choices. The tapas bars in the village full of locals in the evening.

The winding streets and alleys are a delightful view of village life, the streets may seem narrow and not getting much sunlight from one angle but theses houses usually have roof terraces and as such  get maximum sunlight.

The hotel, the only one in the village, strikes you as being small and cosy with quirky seating areas around the reception a strange array of pictures on walls ( including a picture of Lumley Castle at Chester Le Street!!!) but it is in fact  a massive place with over 200 room and  being on 5 levels. This is well disguised, despite the  fact that it is built on  side of mountain. To look at it looks like a two/ three storey building.

The staff are brilliant and super friendly with the exception of Gabriel who I now realise doesn't just hate me but also most of the residents, there are some who are the chosen few, who he speaks to and laughs with.

The hotel is super clean through out although the bedrooms and bathrooms are a little jaded, none of this detracts from my love of the place.

There are great walks and hiking around the area, if that is what you like. Although for me just walking through the many streets is brilliant, a lovely walk up to the Church and the bull ring gives amazing views.

The village is always clean and tidy, with the street cleaners being  out early on a morning. The Spanish and there recycling puts the UK to shame.

Would I come back to Mijas a fifth time?? well yes I absolutely would. Its my very happy place.

last day

 

Early morning start with a 6am alarm call, the lights down on the coast still shining brightly, in the pueblo not quite so although the multi storey car park was well lit.

Two very weary ladies headed down for the last breakfast, and enjoyed the views out from the dining room over the campo.

It was in no time at all that we were on the coach and heading to the airport. 

Where had the weekend gone?

We were on board and away before we could even blink an eye.

We flew out over Madrid, who knew it looked so small

With a tail wind pushing us closer to the UK, we made it back into Newcastle 20 minutes ahead of time and landed through thick cloud and a temperature of 11degrees, a bit of a change from 26!

Picked up by our lovely taxi driver and home in  less than an hour.

I was in bed, just over 12 hours ( 13 with time change) after I originally got up.

Was I glad to be home?

No!

The countdown now begins to my next jaunt.

Topping up vitamin D

 

After a very early start, being first in for breakfast, I headed off for my morning constitutional and Tracey headed down to the gym for a spin class.

The gym at the hotel is small but well equipped with treadmill, weights, spin bike and  mats for general floor exercises. Its fully air conditioned.

I walked the village  circle before any shops were open and made it back to the supermercado (my favourite shop in the village) just as it opened.

I was on a lounger in no time, closely followed by Tracey.

We settled down for some peace and quiet and I nodded off in no time.

By mid afternoon the earlier clouds had vanished and we made the most of the sunshine, staying out until well after 6.30pm.

We decided to head back to the restaurant in the village we had eaten at on Sunday evening.

It didn't disappoint. I appreciate we ate Italian food but it was exceptional. Tracey had lasagne and I had lasagne with roquefort. How had I never thought of this! 

We both jumped on the Mijas donkey before heading home.

A dry martini and a black Russian were ordered and Gabriel was super grumpy, something we now observe is not just saved for me, he smiles and speaks to some people and is silent and unsmiling to others. Unlike the delightful Alejandro and Fran who are a credit to the hotel along with Lourdes who working on the day I arrived last November.

Bed was calling, and these beds are amazing, I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Sunday

 Sunday dawned with two very hungover ladies trying to get themselves into gear. Not an easy task.

I wanted to stay in bed and take a paracetamol, but thought that it would be better to eat something, so breakfast was consumed.

We were booked to go on a chocolate making experience at The Mayan Monkey in the village, this is also a cafe, but offers the chance to make your own chocolate bars, as well as a very informative talk about the history and production of chocolate.

I now know that if not for spider monkeys there would not be many cacao trees.

my efforts making the chocolate bars was a bit half hearted, I wasn't sure I was really up to it, the smell of the chocolate which I would say normally I love, was a little bit over powering but I soldiered on.

I made coffee and walnut plain chocolate bar, coconut and coffee milk chocolate bar and cherry, ginger and pistachio with chilli, milk chocolate, by the last bar I was just chucking anything on it.

We got a certificate at the end, I had brought some chocolate from home, Dairy Milk and Ruffle bars, which I gave to our ' teacher', I thought she was going to cry, and she gave me a huge hug.

It was a great, I loved it and highly recommend if you are in the area.

We came out of the Mayan Monkey and decided to go and have a peppermint tea, so we headed over to 'The Lemon Tree', which is often seen on 'A place in the sun'.

I don't recommend this place at all. The sullen staff being quite off putting. We had our tea and left very quickly.

We headed back to the hotel and got ready to go to the pool, 

Being Sunday there were a lot of Spanish around the pool and having lunch at the pool bar. There were also a lot of children, and a lot of noise, not really conducive to us recovering from excesses. We had some lunch and eventually gave up sunbathing and went back to our rooms, only for one of the children to spend a good hour virtually underneath our balconies, dropping coins onto the table. 

We were showered and dressed before it was dark, so walked up into the village and headed to the local tapas bar, no room for us as it was packed out. We wandered around the corner and found another restaurant relatively empty. Fed and watered , and yes we were only on water, we headed back to the hotel.

A slow meander along the streets, we passed by a cafe selling crepes, so decided to go in, one caramel crepe and a nutella and banana crepe later  we sat with a lovely view of the chapel of the Virgin of the rock, another must see in Mijas Pueblo

A final cup of peppermint tea courtesy of grumpy Gabriel and then time for bed.

What day is it?

 

So yesterday started really well, zero hangover from nearly 20 hours of excess, I took my usual walk through the village, popping in and out of shops AND surprisingly for me, did not see a handbag I wanted.

Back at the hotel Tracey was down in the gym plugged into a spin class back home.

We met up by the pool and settled down to a  day of soaking up rays.

Too soon, the sun was over the yardarm and cocktails flowed.

And flowed

And flowed

You get the drift.

We spent the evening in the bar.

And today we are paying for it

However like the troopers we are, we soldier on.

Busy morning for us, with lots of water

Arrived

 

After dragging myself out of bed at 1am to be ready for the taxi at 2.30am, you knew/hoped your day would get better.

Well the predicted road works on the A1 were virtually non existent, so bonus and meaning that by 4am I was following my law of travel and having Champagne

On the plane and in the sky on time and may have had a couple more glasses of fizz.

We arrived at Malaga in calm weather, not the thunderstorms forecast. And after a long wait on the coach we were off to Mijas, well to be honest if the driver had been any slower, we'd have been due back at the airport.

Arrived at the hotel after coach driver nearly installed his bus and passengers in the real estate office, trying to get round the roundabout.

We were checked in, changed and on sun loungers in 10 mins.

A dry martini and black Russian were soon in our hands and then HE arrived, grumpy Gabriel accompanied by  lovely Alejandro (our favourite barman at Christmas). True to form he ignored me but not to be deterred we had far too many drinkies and ended up having a wavy walk into the village for dinner.

I finally got my pasta with gorgonzola and walnuts, and cannot remember what it tasted like.

A stagger back to the hotel and bed.

And now another day begins

Going on holiday

 

2am the sound of the alarm,

The ensuing moments are nothing like calm.

Have I got passport, tickets & money,

36 handbags, 400 dresses and soft toy bunny,

My phone, my charger and travel adaptors

20 bottles of sun oil to cover all factors.

Leave the house and head to the airport,

Into the car park, a space being sought.

Cases checked and nearly through,

Only one more obstacle to do.

Body scanner looming before some peace

Hope my underwires don't trigger armed police,

Finally through to the airside domain

And get settled down with a glass of champagne.

Let the holiday begin!

A year on

 

Well its a year on from what was to become the most surreal day of my life.

After  nearly 6 hours of writhing around in  pain in my hotel room in Mljet,Croatia, I was transferred to the National Park medical station, and after being dosed up with mega doses of tramadol, I was then shipped and ambulanced to a hospital in Dubrovnik ( 3 hours away).

More tramadol, and diagnosed with gallstones, told my gallbladder would be removed that afternoon,

 well no it wasn't!! I got patched up and supplied with 'drugs' to get me home. as I requested.

Being let loose in Dubrovnik  absolutely unaware of what day it was, let alone where I was, I managed to book myself a room in a guest house in the old town and get there. That was the last I knew until waking up the next morning.

Its hard to believe it was a year ago, so much has happened in that time.

I feel like the last year has been one of those 'flip books' you made as a child, and sometimes you flipped too fast and missed a page, spoiling the effect.

At other times I feel as if the year was on a go slow or on hold until I had my operation ( June).

Other things that happened this year have pretty much stopped me in my tracks and made me take a long hard look at life, this year has been a year that keeps on giving and not giving kindly.

And so one year on, I've made peace with a lot of things that were out of my control and I am forging my own way forward as I like to do. Sometimes it takes a few knocks in life to push you back onto your path.