Travel

First two days on the road to Italy

~ Kate Wilson ~ 3 Comments

I’m on the road and the b****** mobile won’t let me send blog posts so here is a quick one sent from the most wonderful campsite in the world!
Or that is how it seemed today when I was swimming in the river.

Here are a few photos from the trip. Hope to connect again soon from the next wifi zone!
Day One

It all starts with my first cup of hot chocolate in France! It’s runny! The ones in Catalunya are thick

We stayed in a campsite by the Midi Canal – they were friendly people and let us set up camp on a patch of ground by an unused cabin as the site was actually full.  It is August in the south of France so each night is a test of faith in the angels who watch over us.  And I give thanks for the blessing of Pep who does the asking!
The walk along the banks of the canal was lovely with a mixture of barges – some deluxe with a swimming pool on top and others just simply beautiful

Day Two

We are by the river near the Gorges du Verdon at the campsite in Salernes.
Duna watched from the river bank but had a quick dip later!



And a campsite delicious dinner


Swallows

~ Kate Wilson ~ 4 Comments

I usually leave the van in here when I leave Cornwall

But it will have to survive a summer outdoors.
There are new residents building a nest in the garage and I don’t want to risk disturbing them nor provide a ledge for cats to lie in wait.
It’s the first time they have nested in there, using the broken window at the front and with an emergency exit through an air vent at the back. Hopefully when I get back here they will have a large family preparing to fly south.
Sorry there are no swallow pictures – I waited for a long time at the window but they chattered loudly on the wires and waited equally patiently for me to go away!

And here is General Prim

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In one of the main squares we also found this statue

It is of Joan Prim – Marquis of Los Castillejos, Count of Reus, Viscount of the Heather!
He was a soldier and politician in the 19th century and there is a street in Granollers named after him!

 

Travelling to Falset

~ Kate Wilson ~ 1 Comment

At the weekend we drove south to a town called Falset in the province of Tarragona. On the way we stopped for lunch in Reus, a beautiful town with many modernist buildings. It is the birthplace of Gaudi and although there are no buildings by him there are many by other famous Catalan architects such as Lluís Domènech i Montaner.

The beautifully named Jesus Street

Too much to see in a short hour

There was also this bronze statue  – La Dòna Treballadora – Homage to the Working Woman by Reus born sculptor and printmaker Ramon Ferran i Pagès (1927).
It is in a small square and was inaugurated in 2003. It is an image laden with symbolism as are many of his works. Under her right arm she holds a honeycomb. Her left hand is raised as if crying out. The whole image is one of strength and connection to the earth.  I had never heard of Ramon Ferran before and the information on Wikipaedia was in Catalan – I think the classes are finally bearing fruit – I understood most of it!

The combination of travelling with an eighty-something year old aunt and a hot Springer Spaniel meant we only paused to eat and take a quick stroll around town.  Then onward to Falset.

A Few Weeks in Lamorna

~ Kate Wilson ~ 1 Comment

It’s not all been vets and impossible lists of things to do.
There have been many happy days in Lamorna.
So many sunny days too – living in a place where you can’t rely on the weather it feels like a gift every day when you wake to blue sky and sunshine and birdsong.

A line of collies in the field.

Waiting for  the ball

Building an inipi for a sweat lodge that we did on the night of the Spring equinox. From outside it looks small but when covered with rugs and blankets (and dog towels as we ran out of stuff to use) it transformed into a magical cave with plenty of room inside for up to 8 people. But in the end there were the two of us.

The bonfire that heated up the stones to put inside the inipi.

A daytime bonfire.
 Clearing an alleyway of light through the trees I planted over ten years ago. It’s so therapeutic to burn a big mountain of brambles and twigs. The bigger branches were cut up and stored for firewood.

In the midst of so many unanswered questions it has been wonderful to be outside, cutting and chopping the wood and brambles and after a few hours of work – seeing a result.
It really begins to look and feel like a wood.