Author: Kate Wilson

Back in Sant Nicolau

~ Kate Wilson ~ 3 Comments

I am back in Sant Nicolau.
It’s a wonderful feeling to drive up the AP7 and see the mountains in the distance, getting closer, until at last you see Mare de Deu del Mont and seemingly beside it, but actually much farther away, the peaks of Canigo, covered in snow even though it is April.

Then the drive down the bumpy sandy lane, through the woods until the sanctuary of Sant Nicolau comes into view.  Getting out of the van there is a smell of pine and herbs and a cuckoo is calling.
Dogs come out to greet you first. Bob is a deeply satisfying mountain of a dog with gentle eyes and large strong paws which he folds one over the other when he is lying down. Lucy is steady and solid and calm. And at the moment there is another guardian of the house – Nero is waiting to be rehomed in Germany and is having the best time of his life so far, chasing balls in the garden here.
Bonnie made an instant friend. They have a shared love of chasing balls

We arrived and settled in and just as I felt myself start to relax completely, Bonnie got sick. She’d been off her food and slightly peaky for days but that first night she began vomiting and was getting very thirsty and troubled.
So off to the vet the next day who diagnosed gastroenteritis – an inflammation of the whole digestive system. We went to the Canis vets in Figueres who were wonderful and calming for my anxious nerves. I hate it when an animal is sick and with Bonnie I am especially good at worrying and catastrophising. It is almost a year since Blue died here and I want to believe that Bonnie is still  young and strong but she will be 11 in June!
Several injections and a few pills later she began to perk up and we drove to the sea to cook up some white rice and chicken for her invalid lunch in the van. She was very hungry – it had been three days since she had a proper meal.
We stopped at Roses, parked beside a little sandy beach and went for a walk along the rocks

It was lovely but oh dear, look at that hill covered in houses and flats. They are so tightly packed in together that you feel dizzy looking at them. However often I see the  coast-line developments here, I can’t stop myself asking “How could they do that to such a beautiful place?”  I actually feel it was criminal. Money and greed must have been the motivation and the extreme beauty of the beach and the sea only makes the ugliness of the buildings more painful.
However, it was a great day. The sun was shining and Bonnie got stronger and happier by the minute.
The sea was a little too cold even for me to swim in but the sun is shining and the birds are singing lustily at the Mas.   Cuckoo  cuckoo cuckoo cuckoo cuck!

Potatoes

~ Kate Wilson ~ 2 Comments

I have complained before about the potatoes here – basically they are either red or white and that is how people chose which ones to buy. Sometimes they have a label with a name but there is nothing here to compare with the wide variety of potatoes we have in the UK – and especially the wonderful ones from Scotland or Cornwall.

This year I decided to grow my own and when I went to London in January I bought two little bags of seed potatoes. (Friends here said they just plant the ones from the greengrocers. Oh, maybe that’s why they are so tasteless?)   I got Pentland Javelin and Charlottes – playing safe!

A friend of a friend (thank you for the introduction Tiffany) agreed we could plant them on his large allotment in a town just 10 minutes drive from here.  It’s a little paradise by a small river.

 After chitting them in our workshop we planted them out on March 11th – New Moon

 We also have two sacks on the terrace to see how it works growing them in the bag method.

Yesterday we went to take a look at the allotment and it was wonderful to see the little green bushy heads popping out of the Catalan soil. We weeded and earthed up in the Spring sunshine and look forward to eating our own delicious potatoes in a few months time.
How lovely it is to be gardening – wearing any-old-clothes!  I felt as if I was getting back to normal!
You can see the weather has changed a bit since we planted them.

Look at these tulips in Catalan colours!  Growing in Marc’s lovely ‘hort’


Windy and Wonderful Ametlla del Mar

~ Kate Wilson ~ 2 Comments

Before those days gently slide away into the past I want to write a little about the rest of our trip to Els Ports and the Delta.
The campsite began to fill up on Easter Friday and as it wasn’t very special staying there we decided to move on. There was nothing wrong with it but I’ve become fussy about campsites after visiting so many in the past three years and this was one of the ones, for example, with no toilet seats!
We thought we’d set off early and have breakfast before going to hear some drumming.
The van had other ideas

Luckily a campsite is a great place to find experts in almost anything and we had two car mechanics arguing over what exactly was causing it to refuse to start.
Then there were at least 12 people who helped push-start us and we were off to visit Vallderoures a beautiful walled town over the border in Aragon, with a castle and church and a bridge leading into the old central square

There was a special Easter celebration of drumming at 11am and even with the van problem we got there in time to find a shady parking place very close to the town but far enough away so that Bonnie wouldn’t be frightened by the sound of 100 drums.
Everything was easy and we went first to look for a cafe with wifi and found one overlooking the river and the town

Thank goodness we had ordered our breakfast before finding out their password was ‘vivaespaña’!  While this sounds innocent enough to any British person who remembers the song, to a Catalan it is a code for something not so light-hearted!

With Bonnie safely sleeping in the van, outside the city walls, we squeezed into the square to listen to and feel the drums. I got interested in all the faces – this guy for example.

By the castle there is a garden with a Via Dolorosa – a walk taking you past each station of the Cross. Here is the fourth one – Jesus meets Mary on the road.

Later we drove to the coast meaning to find a campsite by the Delta. But Ampolla was full and too much of a culture shock after our quiet walks so we continued east to Ametlla del Mar. There we found one of the best campsites in the world. It was dark when we got there but the following morning we woke to find the sea only minutes away down a quiet cliff path and the sound of the waves all around us

I liked Ametlla del Mar very much – even though the Tramontana was blowing and the internet wasn’t working in the campsite and the harbour cafes were a bit expensive.  It was one of those places where you arrive and immediately start planning when you can come again!
Oh and the campsite is called Camping Nautic!

On Sunday we set off for home but it was so hard to leave that we took a little diversion to a Naturist beach. And had our first swims of the year!  No pictures – sorry!

Els Ports de Beseit

~ Kate Wilson ~ 3 Comments

We drove first to Falset to see the Auntie and not wanting to disturb her by expecting a bed to sleep in, we decided to sleep overnight in the van

Camping wild!  It’s always a bit of a risk as even when you think you are in the middle of nowhere, there are eyes all around you. And true enough – we were deep in peaceful sleep when the police arrived. I woke up hearing voices, feeling the throb of a running engine and seeing a strong light outside our curtained windows. In the end they did nothing and after presumably taking a note of the UK number plate they drove off down the narrow country lane and left us to try and relax again.

The next day our journey took us further west, to the edge of Catalunya and nearly into Aragon.
The Ports of Beseit, or simply The Ports, are a limestone mountain range which have narrow deep gullies with crystal green water running through and filling large natural pools

 We stayed in a campsite this time – nothing special but a good base for exploring the area.

What I really want to show you are the images of the rocks and the river

 It was how I imagine it could be walking through the Garden of Eden

So clean, pure, natural, beautiful and somehow virgin

Day 1 was incredible with long stretches of water carved pools

Wild rosemary growing all along the paths

I thought it couldn’t get better but Day 2 was amazing

There were more people around but still it felt totally unspoilt

A stone staircase is washed and polished by running water

This stone completely took me by surprise

If you put your head inside the hole and hum or sing, it hums and sings back

 The whole journey was worth it just for this experience alone – doesn’t it make you want to go there?