Montfrague 20^th April 2008

A big challenge was being able to say ‘Zumo de naranja’ like a Spaniard would. Mind you, the Spaniard might also have trouble with the translation ‘Orange Juice’. Actually, I don’t think that’s a really accurate translation. For me, orange juice comes in a waxed cardboard carton, and is stuffed with E-numbers, When I asked for ‘Zumo de naranja’, the man threw a few oranges into a liquidiser to make it on the spot.

And, this was in the Spanish equivalent of a ‘Little Chef’ !!

We stopped here on the way to Montfrague, where we arrived around lunchtime. It says the hotel is ‘just on the edge’ of the Montfrague National Park. This may well have been true if you brought a car with you, but a bit too far to walk, especially in the 50 minutes allowed for a ‘one to one’.

In the evening, we had our first ‘one to ones’, and with Gonzalo, my first Spaniard, I decided to check out an unpaved path to the south of the hotel. It was an unsurfaced track, bounded by drystone walls. It led us past field of horses, sheep and cattle, and I thought it might make a complete circuit of the hotel, but, three-quarters of the way around, we found the way stopped abruptly. The lane led into a field of sheep, entrance to which was barred by a metal gate and several strands of barbed wire.

So, we retraced our steps, but agreed it was a nice walk anyway.

These late Spring mornings, one of my first tasks on getting up is checking the level of water in my garden fountain. Note, by the way, I said ‘fountain’; I refuse to call it a ‘water feature’ lest people think I have nothing better to do than watch gardening programmes on TV.

Anyway, at 6.30 yesterday morning, I was doing my thing when … one of the pebbles in the fountain moved! At least, that was what it looked like; at that time of the morning, I didn’t have my glasses on.

Closer investigation revealed that the pebble was, in fact, a frog!

But, how did it come to be here? I live above the spring-line, nearly at the top of a hill. And, I’m nearly a mile away from the nearest open water.

Whatever the reason, I’m glad to see him. I haven’t seen ‘Spiny Norman’ or ‘Mrs. Tiggywinkle’, a pair of hedgehogs that used to stop by occasionally, for a while …I wonder if they succumbed to someone’s slug-bait?

Question is, what do frogs eat? There’s plenty of flies around, but not much else. However, I did hear about ‘Hannibal’, a frog born in the Lakes Aquarium. They put him in a nearby pond, reasoning that he would return there at breeding time.

But, he didn’t! He made his way through about a mile of woodland, across a road and an extensive car park, then entered the Aquarium, up two flights of stairs, past two playful otters (who eat frogs) back to the tankwhere he was born.

Maybe Hannibal would be a good name for my frog? It’s a bit more imaginative than ‘Kermit’, anyway!

 But, as we alighted from the train at the end of the ride, I saw my friend Roger in the waiting crowd on the platform … and he said, later, that at least he could claim to have been among Mariloo’s first fare-paying passengers!

Thanks to Glenn Brewer for sending me this link to the report on the Queen’s visit http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/hampshire/7384399.stm

Madrid 19-20 April 2008.

As I’ve said in previous posts, Vaughantown programmes start with a ‘Tapas Party’ to meet and greet the ‘Anglos’, as the English-speakers are known. Last September, I almost missed out … by the time I got there, all the tapas had gone. Thankfully, there was some wine left.

This year, I wasn’t going to make the same mistake. My hotel this time was only a couple of stops down the Metro line, and I wasn’t going to ride the Metro in from the airport; I was going to ride on the shuttle bus which I booked through the hotel. This, ordinarily, is a rather expensive way of doing things, but I only paid €11. Comparing notes afterwards, I guessed that it must be subsidised by the hotel in some way.

But, all went well; I guess now I know what Fernando Alonso does on his day off! Until we got to central Madrid, where a demonstration was taking place. What’s it about? I asked. The driver, I think, didn’t want to tell me, because he suddenly forgot how to speak English. Judging, though, from some of the rude things they were saying about the King on some of the banners, it was probably a Republican movement of some kind.

I did make the tapas, though … only 15 minutes late!

My hotel was the Best Western Arosa, on the Gran Via, and what can I say? It wasn’t their fault that just about every police car, fire engine and ambulance in the province drove down Gran Via all night, at ten-minute intervals, with their ‘blues and twos’on!

So, when we boarded the bus to Montfragüe in Eduardo Dato Street the following morning, I wasn’t feeling much like talking to the Spaniards, as we’re supposed to. Fortunately, most of them went in their own cars, so I could go to sleep with a clear conscience!

To learn more about Vaughantown, see my entry at

This morning, my copy of Close Up, the listings magazine of the National Geographic Channel, came through my letter-box. In prominent letters on the front, it said ‘Stonehenge Decoded’. But, accompanying it was a picture, not of Stonehenge, but of Woodhenge … or rather, Woodhenge as they think it looked when it was used as a temple.

As it looks now … well, see my picture! They didn’t know it existed till 1926, when Squadron-Leader Charles Insall flew over it, and recognised the dark patches in the crops for what they were.

As ‘regulars’ will know, I was up at Woodhenge to see the Riverside Project last year. The archaeologists there exploded my theory it may have been a model for Stonehenge … they were pretty sure it had been built at the same time, or even slightly later.

Professor Mike Parker Pearson, the Director of the Riverside Project has postulated a new theory about Stonehenge, which states that it wasn’t a temple on its own, but only a part of a vast complex of temples covering a considerable area. This is more or less what they told me at the Riverside Project.

More will be told on the National Geographic Channel … the programme is being aired on the 1^st June at 8pm BST … and, if you have any interest at all in Stonehenge, you’re in UK and don’t have National Geographic Channel, can I suggest that you befriend someone who does!

There’s been a dig going on at Stonehenge in recent weeks. The general public can’t actually see it, but can view it on CCTV. I may call in if I happen to be passing by Stonehenge soon, but I’m not making a special trip to see it.

I’m going to devote this entry to pictures and video I took in Spain, some of which I haven’t even seen yet.

Some people who saw the stuff I took last year commented that it was very nice, but where were the people? Vaughantown is about people!! My only defence is that, at Vaughantown, the secondary purpose is to take pictures; the primary purpose is to talk English to Spanish people. And, I don’t think it’s fair to them to video when I should be talking, although the occasional still picture is OK, providing I don’t go overboard about it.

So, most video-ing up to now was done in the early morning, before anyone was up, or during siesta time, when few people were about.

This year, I tried a different tack on video. I filmed during my free time, with the words ‘Give me fifty Euros, and I won’t put this on YouTube!’ I don’t plan on retiring on the proceeds any time soon, so I guess everyone was happy with the idea. Whether or not the video is any good remains to be seen.

I thought, too, I’d try something new with my ‘people pictures’. Instead of putting them up on Flickr, I’m putting a slide show here, although I don’t know if you can print or download these.

If you have any difficulty downloading or printing, if you email me the serial number which you’ll get by hitting the ‘All Pictures’ button, I’ll send a copy to you. Sorry about the lack of names, but, once bitten … I’m still trying to sort out the ‘Four Fernandos’ from last year!

Madrid: 19th April 2008

I’m back … and the first thing, of course, is blowing my own trumpet. My latest article is up at http://www.travelthruhistory.com/html/historic6.html . I’ll be putting Travel Thru History into my blogroll later, because, if you’re into old stuff, it’s a fascinating site.

(I’m off the words ‘interesting’ and ‘nice’ for the moment … I listened to a podcast on the aircraft, and I swear they were the only two adjectives the guy being interviewed knew)

Anyway, the place we went is Montfragüe … (say ‘Mont-frag-way’). Like ‘Gredos’, that’s what we call it; it’s the name of an area, rather that a specific place. If you have Google Earth, search out a Spanish village called Torrejon el Rubio, and, about a kilometer to the north, you’ll see a complex shaped rather like a bird’s footprint on the left-hand side of the road. That’s the Hospideria Parque de Montfragüe, where we did our thing.

But, before we get there, I suppose I’d better correct some of the slightly negative things I said about Barajas Airport in http://travelrat.wordpress.com/2007/11/19/madrid-airport. Terminal Four must indeed cover a lot of ground, for, on the way out, I found plenty of shops … and seats. But, I couldn’t find the bar which gave a superb view of the tarmac while I ate my panini last year.

And, it didn’t seem to echo so much. Did they do some work on the acoustics, were there more people in it, or just that I was in a different part of the airport?

That could be, because I didn’t have to take the train between Security and the departure point, as I did last year. Does the fact that last year, they used a BA aircraft, and this year, an Iberia aircraft (the service is code-shared) maybe have anything to do with it?

(I prefer BA … on Iberia, you have to pay for your coffee and sandwich!)

This will have to be a quick one, because theres quite a queue to use the computer!

If you can´t find Montfragüe on the map, it´s near a village called Torrejon el Rubio; up near the Portuguese border. The weather´s quite pleasant, with the occasional shower … if I have any complaint it´s that they give us far too much food … I feel like an overfed python!

I started to make my video yesterday morning, and my camcorder went all hinky. I used some free time to try and sort it out, and succeeded … and found out that the footage I filmed did record. Trouble is, I can´t remember what I did! So, if it happens again, the video clip may well become a slide show.

Hals und beinbrucke! (We aren´t allowed to speak Spanish here!)

Keith

I wasn’t going to post any more till I got back from Spain, but I was just finishing my packing when I noticed a sticky note which I’d forgotten about in my ‘Spain Notebook’. On it was the address of a blog by Mo, who I met last September at San Zoilo … she’s the dark-haired lady in the left foreground of picture illustrating the post ‘I’m Back!’

She’s reciprocated … the only picture of me in her blog is a rear view, too … as usual propping a bar up. (I was only drinking Red Bull, I swear!)

Anyway, it’s a super blog, well researched and well written, with some great photos and videos, and a very descriptive account of our few days at San Zoilo  … but, be warned, it’s a blog to sit down to with a mug of chocolate and a plate of biscuits and savoured. I didn’t have time to more than skim through it, but I fully intend to have a deeper read when I get back from Spain.

It’s at http://whatisoutside.blogspot.com

And, that really is it till the 27th!!

Well, not quite! I still have to get my suitcase and Little Red Bag down from the attic … and, in actual fact, the packing is the easy part. I’ve long since had what I call the Five Day Warning:

The trouble with going away these days is the amount of ‘ticking off checklists’ you have to do. No more ‘Passport, tickets, money; that’s it, let’s go!’ Let’s see … done a top-up for my mobile phone; charged the batteries on my camera, camcorder and voice recorder. I’ve got two 2GB memory cards, so I’m not taking the laptop this time. Chargers, charger leads, Continental adapters, notebook, spare pens … does it ever end?

Toilet bag … I keep one already packed, so I don’t have to scoop toiletries out of the bathroom at the last minute, but I must make sure it goes in my checked baggage. And, my medication must go in my hand baggage, in the pharmacist’s box.

MP3 player … that thing really is a Godsend when you have an hour or two to wait, but must go and buy some AAA batteries today. Travel alarm … jeez, it’s still on Sydney time! Business cards … Madrid street plan, Metro map …. oh, and DEFINITELY the Trip Diary!

After all that, the clothes are a doddle!

Hasta la vista!