600 + Views

The impressive, huge, awe-inspiring yet oppressively grim monastery-palace of Felipe II is a little softened seen through the brambles! Taken from the Roman road.

Mallow and margaritas by the side of a lane. On "z" please.

A bit of a shock to open the curtains this morning and see this directly outside the bedroom window! (Essential repairs to the spire, apparently!). Madrid, Alonso Martinez / Almagro.

Only a few sections haven't seen the paving stones uprooted and used for building walls and farm buildings. This is one such section. On the ground, this road is not at all a straight line. From the air and on the map it is a typical straight Roman road! The red and white waymark is for the GR10, the long distance walk from Valencia to Lisbon - or Lisbon to Valencia if you prefer. This is recent. I was surprised to see it here as previously, the GR10 passed many kilometres further north, through the centre of the Sierra de La Guadarrama. Perhaps they will be alternating the routes every couple of decades or so in order to give the paths a rest! If so, it is a good idea (although I am told that the GR10 is not much used and I must say that on my many walks using fragments of the GR10, I have never seen any long-distance walkers!)

A walk along the South West Peninsula Coast Path is a joy.

Autumn view from the woods to the iconic palace / monastery. The mountain of Abantos behind.

This path was still there in 2014, and 15. When I revisited in 2017, however, it had gone. such is the inexorable tide of erosion here.

Granite and coastal platform. Bosigran and Rosemergy Farm. Cornwall - West Penwith typicity. Below is Carn Galver engine house. Tin was mined here between approx 1850 and 70. Rather late - Cornish tin was already being out-competed on price from East Asia. It was the end of Cornish tin mining to any meaningful extent. Also, the stone walls seen mid-distance here ('fences' in Cornish dialect) are thought to be the oldest extant man-made stone constructions - still used for their original purpose - of any in the world, at up to 8,000 years old.

It was fun climbing through the fog not knowing if I would emerge from under it! Fortunately I did. And fortunately by this time I was familiar enough with the paths not to be worried about going astray in the mirk!

Shortlands Station. South East London. I visited my brother briefly last year and took this after exiting (amazingly steadily) from the Shortlands Pub.

Sierra de La Cabrera - a late Spring scene.

Spectacular country in Segovia Province, Spain.

The rock is white because that's what vulture guano does to granite over 10,000 years or more! La Sierra de La Cabrera, Madrid Province. That's it from me folks for a couple of weeks. On my return I hope to have fresh Cornwall material to show! Have a good summer!!! Apologies, I now see that I have posted this twice. Oh well ...

Algete, Madrid province. A typical scene here in May.

A granite rock window, La Sierra de La Cabrera overlooking the Lozoya Valley

. The Logan Rock pub, Treen (South), West Penwith, Cornwall. A terrific pub in the far west of Cornwall (and there are so many!).

St Michael's Mount from Marazion, high tide.

The beach is inaccessible except by boat. Even so I have never seen anyone sunbathing or swimming here.