The rain cleared this afternoon but it was still blowing a gale so we headed off to find a walk in a river valley, we have had our eye on the valleys near Naraho and looking on google earth we spotted it had a castelo as well so off we went. The castelo was closed off as it is being restored - that happened when we tried to visit the castel at Moeche and the monesteiro de caveiro in the Fragas de Eume too however we did fond a lovely walk this time and it seems to stretch about 20 km in both directions from here joining the river walk at San Sadurnino and eventually linking to Moeche castelo so there is more of it to explore in future days.
A fairly standard picnic area with a couple of shoogly things and some broken swings and falling apart barbecues but the tables and seats were good and the location was lovely.
Bluebells nodding here and there as we set off and there was a fairly regular scattering of them along the whole of the track
Foxgloves looking lovely although not so spectacular in the photo
A newt reminded me of my one joke from long ago something about a man going into a bar with a newt on his shoulder and and ordering a drink for himself and tiny.... a few more lines then the barman asks why he is called tiny and the chap replies well he is mynewt. Not very good but there we are that was my one joke.
Lovely flowers on long stalks if anyone knows what they are called please leave a comment, actually I think they are a bit of a menace in the wrong place but this was the right place so they were lovely and the bee thought so as well.
It reminded me of Northumberland and of Cornwall oak and hazel and ash and gurgley bits but not one fish to be seen in the crystal clear water.
Glowy grassy bits and hard ferns just starting to open
There are no shortage of molinos - old water driven mills, despite its falling aprtness this one had a feel like they had just walked away with the last bag of flour on their donkey and forgotten to come back. I guess that is the original hopper on the right above the millstones and the box into which the flour poured in front of them.
Lovely green corner glistening like an emerald amongst the fairly drab stuff elsewhere on the floor.
A big stone in the rio
And some more plants
Boys fell asleep in the van on the way home and the weather turned into stormy rainy and horrid, what good timing.
Off to Santiago airport in the morning heading for Chelmsford and some meetings at the university, the airport has only just reopened so I hope to be dodging the dust cloud and keeping my fingers crossed I get back again from the UK on Wednesday.
Bluebells nodding here and there as we set off and there was a fairly regular scattering of them along the whole of the track
Foxgloves looking lovely although not so spectacular in the photo
A newt reminded me of my one joke from long ago something about a man going into a bar with a newt on his shoulder and and ordering a drink for himself and tiny.... a few more lines then the barman asks why he is called tiny and the chap replies well he is mynewt. Not very good but there we are that was my one joke.
Lovely flowers on long stalks if anyone knows what they are called please leave a comment, actually I think they are a bit of a menace in the wrong place but this was the right place so they were lovely and the bee thought so as well.
It reminded me of Northumberland and of Cornwall oak and hazel and ash and gurgley bits but not one fish to be seen in the crystal clear water.
Glowy grassy bits and hard ferns just starting to open
There are no shortage of molinos - old water driven mills, despite its falling aprtness this one had a feel like they had just walked away with the last bag of flour on their donkey and forgotten to come back. I guess that is the original hopper on the right above the millstones and the box into which the flour poured in front of them.
Lovely green corner glistening like an emerald amongst the fairly drab stuff elsewhere on the floor.
And some more plants
Boys fell asleep in the van on the way home and the weather turned into stormy rainy and horrid, what good timing.
another 20 mins and it was time for a picnic under some Hazel trees, "This is the life" they decided
then we explored the creek lots of submerged trees, loads of swooping swallows it seems that more than one still does not make a Summer, 4 herons, 3 cormorants, dozens of ducks and a fair bit of noise from hidden tweeters.
things got rather tight here and there on the far side
on the way back we saw the light at the end of the tunnel
then Callum had a Father Ted moment
Three hours of marvelous green gray type of exercise and we all felt great
A good friend of mine is heading for California so here are some poppies for him on his birthday.
When I was 13 Mrs Pratt our Art teacher brought some Arum lilies in for us to draw and gave me an offshoot, I have had them in every garden ever since, that's our wormery bin in the background
Onion sets are doing well and garlic is just planted
The hens get to help every now and then, we are still looking for some Guinea fowl, they are a lot less scratchy.
Broad beans are starting to settle in and strawberries doing very well.
Snowbird has gone all broody again she is saying "get off my eggs" and she does peck if approached.
oops traffic on the road by our house has got a bit busy
This is what our corner of Valdovino sounds like in the afternoon sorry the hens did not perform well, years of training and when their moment came they let themselves down.
The rocks near the lago are the kind I used to love studying when I did my first degree some neat little shears and boudins 
and they are a beautiful blue or silver or grey depending on which direction you view them from
and kind of surreal at times.
The thrift is glorious just now
as is the hotentot fig, they are stripping a lot of it off the beaches as it is not an autochthonous species and is a bit invasive but I hope they leave a little bit like this here and there.
This strange thing is on the beach just below the town no idea what it was, it looks like something you might have kept fish or lobsters fresh in long ago like the lobster keeps down at Porthgwarra.
and where they snorkeled
and what they found complete with the council strimmer men strimming on the soundtrack ah well.