cherry blossom

I do not recall seeing cherry blossom like this on such a small tree before...

 marvelous

spring in the air

There is a proper feel of Spring in the air just now, I still had the back door open at 10.30 last night the air is so mild.

Cherry blossom is quite stunning on two of the trees with hundreds of buds just starting to open.

 This is the thunder storm that marked the start of warm air, just as I got to the top of my ladder ready to start cutting a hole for the new chimney last week the first drops started falling and the first of many bolts of lightning streaked across the sky so I beat a hasty retreat and took photos instead. I have done a lot of strimming but the veg is not really happening this year I just don't have time on my own.

 Rhubarb has come on well despite me eating a fair bit.

 When the moon was at apogee last week the tides at Vilarrube were stunning the photo doesn't convey it well the water in the background  by the rocks was a torrent going right to left towards the sea, in the foreground it is going left to right just as fast and in the middle was a swirling whirlpool, I was wishing I had a kayak with me.

 Silky textures in the sand.

 Its time for thousands of these to wash up, I have met them in NW Scotland right down to Portugal, they cover quite a range.

 The Ortigueira cloud bank was on fine form on the hills behind Cedeira.

 More sand

 and yet more.

 In the dunes the flowers are getting underway, toadflax is one of the first to show.

 These grassy clumps are taller than I am and very painful if you happen to lean on their spiky bits.

 this one is only 5 cm tall and has a very similar habit although no spikes at all.

 Showers of crocuses on the edge of the dunes.

I got home to find the cats where they shouldn't be.

A walk in the Fragas do Eume

Calling it a walk is a bit tame, it was an adventure. All of the images are mapped via Panoramio onto Google Earth locations, click on the link above to go to Panoramio.

There is a nice little map on a bit of slate stuck to the wall of the dam, it has some relation to the reality but not a lot, it suggests 2 1/2 hour round trip with some high dangerous bits and turned out to be over 5 hours with a lot of high dangerous bits, only worth a go if you like edging your way across cliff faces clinging to cables while goats kick little showers of rocks at you or stepping carefully along wet slimy paths little wider than your own two feet with hundreds of vertical meters above and below. I think it would be a lot safer on a dry day...

4 of these were looking into the turning space at the edge of the dam when I arrived, they smell awful.

This is the map stuck to the wall of the dam and gives a vague idea of the route sort of folded up on itself. Tiempo 2 1/2 hours - took me a tad over 5 although I did not rush and did get distracted here and there but I think you would need to jog the lot to do it in that time.

Danger zone - not an understatement, if you have wild young children turn back now :-0

Handy sawn off metal spikes variously either buried in the undergrowth at the edge or right in the middle of the path.

The steps get steeper and steeper and slippery, there is a sort of keep your eye out for Gollum atmosphere about the pool but its better to keep your eyes on your feet and the path ahead.

A lovely place for a swim on a Summer day I imagine.

There are many opportunities to look down with out having to leave the path.

Doesn't look to dangerous in the pic but the path has been wiped out by falling slabs and a handy cable is now pinned to the rock to hold on with, the far end of the cable is pinned to the few slabs that have not yet fallen, not a good place to play Hannibal and take an elephant for a walk. 

That is the far end of the cable and the little ledge I had just stopped being on, goats threw stones at me as I crossed; they missed, gulp ha ha err gulp, I thought and walked on.

Knee deep in leaves this canal winds its way along high above the valley floor. The path is along the top of the wall for much of the first hour of the journey. The wall is built on the edge of a cliff for most of the first hour of the journey. Sat by the little house and burned my lip on the home made veg stew I had in my Berghaus flask, ate some stew, walked on then got burned again an hour later when I ate some more, excellent flask, stew not bad either.

The canal wall you walk along can be seen far right near the bottom, you may need to click on the photo a few times to zoom in, it passes behind a tree or two then you can see a dot where the tunnel starts, it cuts through the buttress and comes out in the trees a few hundred meters later. The path heads off around the cliff, its not very wide but is very high and edgy. After the trees the path exits stage left below that rock chute looking bit. I wonder why they build a canal there, at times I wondered why I decided to walk along it.

It started peeing down, so I took shelter in that tunnel and was drawn in, at first my feet stayed just dry then just wet then I was in over my knees finding my way by the flash on the camera. That bright dot is the light at the end of the tunnel. I found the first of the occasional clusters of bats by brushing them with my head, this lot seemed to stay asleep despite the camera flash.

 I almost picked up my flute when I left home, wished I had; the acoustics were good, the flute would have been better than my grunting out bits of The Lewis bridal song: 

Step it gaily, on we go
Heel for heel and toe for toe,
Arm in arm and row on row
All for Mairi's wedding.

While I checked the depth of the water by Flash.

This lot did not even open an eye as far as I could see. Two to the left and two to the right and one in front by itself - formation sleeping.

And the sun had come out as I came out of the dark into another green world.

More rain so a bit with no photos then just as I was thinking this has to be a couple of hours and it has not started to circle back, it did and lead me up a lovely ancient old track.

After the track is some road then back to views - wow kind of views.

Goats pretending they did not throw stones nor never would, I did not believe them. I saw a lot of goats, they look kind of like they think they are cool and they look confident skittering about in silly places where they really should be belayed on the cliffs but I saw 5 separate lots of goat bones just on or near to the path, they may be reckless, feckless fools who fall off a lot when no one is looking. Most of the ones I saw were fairly young.

Getting closer to the quarry the main path runs way above it but there are others that skirt the top.

I guess a tiny narcissus, extremely shiny and tiny daffodil.

The path is a lot easier up here

Lovely flowers in this strange little dam.

The lovely flowers there are thousands of them less than 1 cm across living in the stream here.

I couldn't work out why there was a tiny dam across this stream or why there is a big bung in a big hole above a lower pipe. I would not like to be the chap who takes the plug out.

Then a big rocking rock it didn't move when I tried but looks like it could be rocked by a few people, rather near a big drop though. The more I look at it the more it looks like an alien ant head.

Not sure what it is but just as I was thinking wow wilderness no windmills, this appeared.

Paths are very well marked not much chance of going off track, reminded me a bit of Dwayne Dibley and his spray can.

Not sure if these are heathers but they look like tree type of heathers and are in full flower in mid March

And close up they almost look like heather

And then it started raining again so no more photos.

Over the seas to Skye

Rather far off from Valdovino is Skye of the NW coast of Scotland, we have been thinking about living on Skye and despite the rather cool climate compared with Galicia the appeal is growing for me. it is a long time since I visited Skye - 40 years but the memories are still fresh and brought to life again through the many photo galleries, Google Earth images and youtube videos I keep stumbling across. Fairy castles and pools, standing stones, tales of Viking princesses, wonderful wildlife and landscapes and, down at sea level a fairly habitable, if a tad windy, climate are increasingly drawing me in.

Walk Highlands is a good site that offers walking info including GPS and Google Earth info.

Staffin and the Quiraing offer a surreal landscape with rugged pinnacles emerging from velvety green in the NW.

Further to the South the Red Cuillins offer long ridges and steep scree descents.

And in the West the walk from Glen Brittle leads to some breathtaking bare rocky landscapes for those with a head for heights and the edgy bits of the world.
The Cuillin Ridge

Nearby the Innaccesible pinnacle can be accessed and may appeal to the more adventurous who fancy grappling with an oxymoron.

The official Skye web site offers a wealth of information including some lovely sunsets and winter photos. Sunsets at this latitude can go on and on particularly in the Summer when the sun only dips below the horizon for a few hours.

A walk with a swimming piggy

A last minute decision to go Vilarrube paid off, the willow trees are fountains of colour

and all sorts of fruit trees are in blossom, sloe

and pink ones too

And there are left overs from when there were houses down here that look ok

While I was admiring some distant trees...

...I heard a grunting and behind me swimming along rather hastily was a wild piggy wiggy who landed and quickly did a runner.

More nice sand the wind and sea have been playing with an old footprint

and making paterns

S for Sand I guess

 the creek where the boys used to play was full of fish again

 it had been a hot day but as the sun dropped the NE wind turned cool blowing ghosty sand and getting colder with each gust, its not quite summer yet. 

Although the wild aquilegia think summer is here.

One last look at the willow and I headed home.