Easter again again again and home.

This is the chap who has been shouting at us from the garden at night I think.

Oh dear its the morning rush hour on the road that skirts the garden.

We had to stay a few days longer than expected as Callum was very unwell so I embarked on a major striming marathon, Carlos and Victoria popped round with some other neighbours to wish us well and show us their new dog Scooby, unfortunately Callum was busy being ill and Rowan was off with Sam and Mel for a beach day.

Scooby is lovely he is only 6 months old and will grow huge but he is really friendly and just totally wonderful. 

I did not get time to do any raking but hopefully the wind will have dessicated and blown away most of the strimmings by now.

I am so glad we put that big window in, Carlos is going to sort out a railing (quitamierdas) to go round the steps before summer.

There is plenty of room to park at the front 

One day I would like to put a big glass door across the opening below the extension, there is a huge space in there, we have some windows ready to go in the west wall so the evening sun would shine in there as well. The rooms upstairs will be a self contained flat one day in theory.

Callum got a little better and seemed able to travel, he was OK but tired on the drive but not long after we left port he became very ill - he does not get seasickness and it was only a 2 meter swell anyway. Every time we leave Santander we say we will visit that lovely long beach but we never have time. I am glad we went for a cabin with a window we spent most of the time in the cabin.

Trying to photograph dolphins is not easy there were hundreds of them over about an hour but this is the only vaguely decent photo I managed. If you go by ferry they usually appear about 3 hours off Santander and are well worth looking out for.

Rowan watched the magic show from a distance, he said it was really naff and from what I could see he was right but the poor guy only had 5 very young children in his audience so not a lot to work with. 

Easter 2013 again again

Cedeira is a pleasant 10 minute drive away and has a sweet shop that sells wonderful pick and mix so we headed off for a treat only to find we were too early by 30 mins so we had a wander around. This is the frontage where the river meets the sea.

A view up river if you time the tide right there is some lovely scenery to paddle a kayak through just up from the town although it is not a long paddle but is a nice little excursion to accompany a paddle round the ria.

Cedeira has s lovely beach, very sheltered and safe and generally fairly warm water.

A trip a few days later to Pantin was lovely, we parked under the pines a few mins walk from the little cove, this is the view as you approach the beach - despite being 24C and 3 pm there were very few people around.

Little Pantin is a sheltered cove from which you can see the surfers over on the bigger beach and still find tranquil water for snorkeling or just messing about in the water.

That little dry patch of sand is the place to be when there are spring tides.

Hard to believe that just round the corner there are 3-4 meter waves.

Jenny and Callum dug holes ...

While Rowan built sandcastles by dripping wet sand.

then found his favourite crumbly rock climbing corner.

Callum and Lorena enjoying a windy swim.

Two bigger boys heading out for some cliff jumping and two smaller boys wishing they could join in.

 They are great cliffs for children to jump off easy to climb on and many places to leap from.

I moved the car round closer to the far end of the cove and met a chap running down the cliff track who had a puncture but no jack.  That was a great excuse to go be a good Samaritan and see if this car could make it to my favourite car park.

which it did with remarkable ease.

That is as close as you can get to the end of the peninsula, I would love to pitch a tent there on a less windy day.

Masses of tiny crocuses and...

Squill scenting the air and...

these little blue ones that I can never remember the name of.

There are loads of tracks like this along the coast and in the mountains, being used to exploring in a Mitsi with proper 4X4 transmission and BF mud terrain tyres I was surprised at how well the Volvo performed although the general grabbers are part off road part on road rated and picked up a few cuts. 

We did not take photos of all the work that went on during the trip - most of the time we were stimming, cutting, clearing, painting re[pairing etc etc. compared with what it was like when we arrived the garden is starting to appear from the undergrowth.

The nearby trees were cut last summer and the garden gets a lot more light in the evening now, it had just hit shadow as the sunset at 9pm - this is April and it is lovely having such long light evenings.

Easter 2013 again

The remains of the tree house had to be removed as wood does not last for ever and goes too soft and squidgy to be safe. The boys took their responsibility very seriously, They also cleared loads of gorse and brambles.

Hard work deserves reward so a trip to Valdovino beach happened later in the day, it was warm, windy  and wonderful. The far end of the beach has good walkway access and is often the quieter end in mid summer.

Wonderful wild flowers I should have taken more photos but I was getting left behind.

Some nice surf that was occasionally overhead and barrelling but a really changeable line up meant most of the best waves were missed. The smaller ones were still well formed and fast though it was a tricky take off in the off shore gusts.

Nice playful size.

Even the inside break was lovely and clean.

Valdovino town only three people on the whole beach that we could see.

Next day round ad forcados Sam was making giant bubble mix, he didn't have all the proper ingredients substituting cornflour for starch seemed to work though. The Piedra de Moeche sink is ancient and was polished up a few years back, weird sinks about two - 3 inches deep and often mounted only a couple of feet off the floor. 

The bubble mix working

Jewel one of our old cats has settled in very nicely.

 Sam really has perfected the art of tortilla, I learned a few secrets so will be trying to improve mine when we get back to Cornwall.

Talking of Cornwall here is a Galician clapper bridge just like the ones we were walking over near Bodmin a few weeks ago.

Trampoline fun.

Even at the full length of the pump line water rockets can be peligroso.

Fortunately it hit Rowan sideways and rolled over his head before heading for the sky.

Milo got a soaking from this one.

Lorena got a soaking off the next one. 

Easter 2013

There was a group of 12 dolphins showing off and having fun about 2 1/2 hours out from Santander, if you ar eon the ferry it is worth being up front for an hour or so around three hours from arrival as that is often where the dolphins are. Catching them on camera is not an easy matter. 

First sight of Spain was a barely discernable shadow under the clouds. 

The lawn had sort of grown a bit, the whole finca needed attention but was not as wild as I had imagined it might be.

 The boys planted a load of fruit stones mostly cherry and some of the wild peach/damson thing that is endemic in galicia. Not sure what has come up but it might be one of each as the leaf colour is very different.

 First trip out after sorting the house was to Vilarrube of course and as usual at this time of yeaer the car park was wonderfully flooded.

Lorena and Stanley were straight in for a paddle.

Vilarrube weird sand

Rowan was straight into the water, He claimed it was warm but I had a paddle and it was just tepid however compared with Cornwall just now where the sea is like stepping into ice cream it was rather wonderful.

Sand stuff making its own contour lines - this was really useful for the boys conceptualising what contour lines on maps are all about, why they are closer on steeper bits etc.

The puddles were definitely warmer than the sea and just deep enough for swimming.

Sand tree.

Bits of the dunes are falling into the sea as the river course eats into the dunes, each clod is a wonderful slice of fine grasses and seaside plants, we threw loads back up onto the dunes.

These trees always stand out like a flame at this time of year.

Lots of current at this state of tide - fun to walk in, less fun to swim against.

I love what the sand does at Vilarrube, details of days gone by saved and mixed with today's artful weathering.

Jen, Cal and Mel on the track back to the car park.

A bit of a bonus - when we got home there was a rather plump bat roosting in the wood store.