Personal Favourites (2)

Algete garden. Sight and sound: An all time hero, Sixto Rodriguez: www.youtube.com/watch?v=_W978zoLu1w HANWE Everyone!

Portreath outer harbour. Better on large and large again. Sight and Sound. Big Mama Thornton with 'Ball and Chain' made popular by Janice Joplin, but Big Mama wrote it. www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJlBo5KJ3b4

Normally home to many Griffon vultures but they were all out as I clambered over it. An oldie but still a favourite as it gives a good feel for the spectacular granite forms. I 'note' where the vultures usually like to hang out. La Sierra de La Cabrera. Unsure if posted on ipernity previously.

Cornish coast. The figures give the scale. The path down starts at the bottom of the photo, left hand corner and it's not for the faint hearted! So it's mercifully free of the summer hordes! Although surfers like it here and can swamp the place if the conditions suit them.

I like the warm tones of these walls. And taken from the exact same spot as my previous upload. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm9UadB7XvE Sixto Rodriguez. Worth a listen,

It was a large town by medieval standards and the battlements go a long way round! In the distance the Sierra de Guadarrama marking the borders of Madrid and Segovia provinces, although for many centuries this area was claimed by Segovia and they even went to war over it. (Madrid won in the end)..

Another humdinger of a storm this evening with huge hailstones. And predictions for more of the same this coming week. ( - As if we haven't had enough already!). Sight and Sound: Well, it just had to be this: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7G2-FPlvY58

My sister's shot and taken from exactly the same spot as the previous upload of this evening's storm! (totally by co-incidence!) Sight and sound. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm9UadB7XvE&list=RDGMEMSXVAzroJmjGomFuKt8TQEAVMJm9UadB7XvE&start_radio=1

The battlements and a lamp at Buitrago del Lozoya. When I last visited in 2015, there was no access to the castle or battlements (which extend all around what was a large town for the period - late middle ages) due to serious works. I was surprised to see that they only seemed to be about half way there but at least some sections of the battlements are now open. More to follow. Sight and sound: because I like this. www.youtube.com/watch?v=he5Cj3S1iJQ

You can't enter the castle and judging by the state those walls are in, that's a good call by the authorities!

Once the tallest building in Spain (between 1988 and 2007, when the four towers were nearing completion). I'm fond of it. I probably took more classes here than in any one other building in my teaching career in Madrid.

I was amazed when I saw the outline of a map of Spain through this rock window! OK, it's not a perfect outline but you couldn't get much better! La Sierra de La Cabrera and the Bustarviejo Valley.

Apart from 3 sunny days , the weather has been atrocious these past 6 weeks since I returned from Cornwall! The oleander seems to thrive in it though!

Situated on a minor side road between St Day and Chacewater, I only re-discovered them when sent on a detour due to a road closure. I don't know their names. Perhaps worth viewing on large for detail of the stonework. Sight and Sound: I heard this aged 9 at the same time as Penny Lane and fell in love with them both and it was the first time I listened to popular music - I was having a classical musical training. Have ever since loved the 'best' of both! www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDgqIyprGLM

This is the sort of scene I was hoping to see this Spring but the weather was against me and I'm not yet 100% sure I've got quite enough stamina back yet. Oh well ... This is a previously unshown shot from the last time I walked in this granite wonderland; 25/05/2019. Four whole years ago. It doesn't seem real somehow! Sight and Sound. Eric Burdon and War. Tobacco Road. An all time favourite. Long but worth it! www.youtube.com/watch?v=RF87aqqmf4Q

Algete is fairly hilly so there are plenty of alternative steps where I can take my exercise. This one boasts only 45 fairly gentle steps but when I add it to some of the other more serious flights, it all counts! Streets of Algete no. 21.

Tubby's Head, Cornwall. www.youtube.com/watch?v=18620H_z8Uk I like listening to Chopin and looking at the sea at the same time!

This won my 'Best-dressed Bollard of the Year Award' back in 2018. I passed by it again yesterday but it wasn't quite up to scratch so I post another of the shots I took back then, simply because I like it! I'LL BE OFF-LINE FOR A FEW DAYS WHILE MY LAPTOP IS IN DRY DOCK FOR ESSENTIAL REPAIRS. CAPACITY ISSUES TOO (PHOTOS!) I HOPE TO BE BACK IN THE LAND OF THE LIVING THIS COMING WEDNESDAY..