Having New Year in the UK. 3 years since we were last here - time flies.
We're on the last day of a 10 day trip to the UK. Going to miss my son and our grand daughter when we leave tonight. It has been lovely.
Mrs Spekkie came down with flu between Boxing day and us leaving Spain on the 28th, and I got it the day we arrived here. Thankfully my sons house is warmer than our flat back in Boltana and we managed to keep warm, take meds and get rid of it before it could turn into anything worse. Reading on-line it seems the usual waves of winter Flu are sweeping across Northern Europe. Let's hope that's it now. Our first proper illness in nearly two years.
Today we will do some last minute shopping before packing our bags and heading to Gatwick for a 2 hr flight home.
Tomorrow is a public holiday in Spain - "Kings Day". The day the three kings arrived with gifts to visit the baby . . . .
We will have the day to ourselves, washing clothes and cleaning the flat no doubt, before getting back into normal life - whatever that may be - on Tuesday.
We're hoping for good things this year - nothng extravagent, we dont need to win the Lotto, we just want to set up our business, become self sufficient financially and do the stuff we love - hosting and guiding visitors.
Fingers crossed!
Happy New Year to everyone.......
Lots of Spanish on the pistes in France this weekend thanks to Epiphany. Don't forget there's some building work to do too. 😉
Feliz año nuevo!
Año nuevo? Bit late for that, Feliz Reyes 🙂
We popped in and spoke to one of the banks before we left Spain on our 10 day trip to the UK.
They confirmed what I'd pretty much already guessed - if we can get our business built using private investment, run it succesfully for between 18 months and 2 years and produce a set of accounts showing that everything is going ok - then in principal they should not have a problem re-financing us if we wanted (or needed) to pay back our investors.
Banks - happy to lend you money when you no longer need it . . . . . 😉
Mid January . . . . the sun is shning and the trails are dry....
It's not what you would call "warm" here yet, but dress properly and after the first climb you'll be fine 🙂
Did a ride today up to the village of Sieste, which is just outside Boltaña and then came back down on Zona Zero route ZZ-18. It's a nice little loop with some beautiful views of the mountains to the north and of Morcat to the south.
Parts of the trail that don't get any sun at this time of year were frozen, but not dangerously so.
Was nice to get out there and stretch my legs and my lungs - I have some guiding work this week so I need to be up to scratch!
Love Reading this thread spekkie 👍 I'm so impressed with your attitude and what you're trying to achieve.
Keep on keepin on 😎
I'm jealous still.
Especially as eldest_oab should be out with you soon...
Thoroughly enjoyed reading this thread over the last day. Had the pleasure of almost 2 weeks riding the motorbike in and around Aïnsa a couple of years back and now planning our next visit in the motorhome with the MTBs.
I’ll give you a shout when we’re there! Just joined your FB page too.
All the best for 2020!
I’m showing a guy aroud who's visiting here from the Labanon. On our first ride we expored the Zona Zero Badlands.
It was a chilly start while we rode alongside the Rio Cinca but as soon as we climbed up into the hills we warmed up.
Turned out to be a beautiful day. The difference between riding in the sun and the shade is significant at this time of year - Sunny and warm versus frosty/icy and cold. Thankfully the shadey spots are few and far between!
You can see from the first photo that the Badlands covers quite a vast area……
And in the last photo he' crossing a semi frozen river!
Is that ice?
By 'eck
Yep - Layer of ice on the rivers down in the Barancos! Nothing to worry about though.....
Nehme and I climbed up to the bench on the Partara, then came down the Partara Express. It a good few hundred meters of climbing but the descent is worth it!
👌
There are literally hundreds of Fiestas here in Spain every year. A “Fiesta” is the celebration of the day of a particular Saint and whatever that Saint was the Patron of. Some fiestas are specific to a particular region of Spain whilst others are recognised countrywide. Some of them are also Public Holidays (Bank Holidays), many of them are not.
Last night in Boltaña was the Fiesta de San Pablo (The Feast of St Paul) who was the Patron Saint of Missionaries. This particular Fiesta is big deal locally, and the town council had erected a dozen or so bonfires of various sizes, scattered throughout the town. At 7pm they were lit and the people of the town all met up at the various locations with their cooler boxes of food and drink. Once the fires had burnt down to a reasonable level they cooked their meat on them. We are renting a flat in Boltaña - about 5km from the village of Guaso where our Project is - at the moment and one of the biggest bonfires was on a small green just 100m from home. We took a couple of bottles of wine, some French loaves and a nice piece of Longaniza (the Spanish equivalent of Boerewors) and had a fantastic evening. A huge communal BBQ at each bonfire with 50 odd people cooking their food, drinking wine and talking nonsense!
We took some friends, a local British couple from a neighbouring village, with us and spent the evening catching up with them and with all our local Spanish friends. There’s a great feeling of comradery at these events, talking to people I ride with, people I work for or who sometimes work for me, chatting to the small group of Spaniards who attend the weekly “Learn English” Class – the equivalent of the weekly “Learn Spanish” class we go to.
Everyone wanted to know how our trip to the UK went, and how was our granddaughter. A big bonfire, a drink, a Boerewors roll and a load of friends. . . . . As Mrs Spekkie said afterwards, it’s just what you need sometimes to keep you going when you don’t feel like you’re making enough progress with your “dream”.
Happy days . . . .
Before Christmas I asked the Department of Commerce, who carried out our original Viability Study, to give us an updated version using some new figures that I had for them. Our circumstances have changed a little since the original study was carried out and I wanted to confirm that everything was still in order.
I'm happy to say that all is good and our business plan still holds water. The revised Viability Study shows that our business will be able to wash its own face!
One of the people we're talking to re Private Investment asked us if we could provide some sort of proof of the value of the property we own, since that is going to be the security against anything we borrow.
I asked our Architect, who also owns the local estate agent that we bought the Barn through, and he's come back to us with an official valuation document.
I'm happy to say that the current value of the property equals What we paid for it + the cost of the Architects Project + the cost of the Council Planning Permission + a bit of normal growth in the time since we bought it.
This was good to hear.
Since any and all the money we borrow will go directly into the repair and refurbishment of the Barn, the value of the Barn will increase directly in line with whatever we spend on it until, at the end of the project, the finished property will be worth more than all of the costs involved in buying and renovating it. "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts".....
So whatever loan we manage to find will always be secure.
As a bonus, because there is so little property for sale in this area (and none at all in Guaso village) once the property is finished, if for any reason it didn't make money as a "B&B" we could sell it for enough to get everything we put into it back again, clear any loans or debts and still make a bit extra for ourselves.
Win Win!
Sunny skies, snow topped mountains, dry trails....
Today life is good!
Whilst storm Dennis and storm Ciara before it, batter northern europe, here on the southern side of the Pyrenees we have been enjoying unusually warm weather for the last few weeks.
The days have been sunny, temps have be as high as 21 and 22 degrees and the trails are dry, dusty and fast - when I'm not riding I'm working outside in shorts and a t-shirt..... not bad for February!
It's still cold at night, in fact it probably feels colder after a warm day than it would feel after a chilly day. This week last year we had snow on the ground and there's still plenty of time for that to happen this year - but for the moment we'll enjoy riding, working and hiking in the sunshine.
Yesterday on my way back to Boltana from Ainsa I had a view of the sun setting behind the church up in the village of Guaso, where our "project" is. I took a quick picture thinking it probably wouldn't come out any good but was pleasantly surprised.....
If we ever get a like button, we’d also need a “Green Eyed with Jealousy” button for this thread!
I posted this pic on FB and a friend of mine who lives on the west coast of Ireland told me I was "killing him" . . . .
🙂
Several tough rides over the last few weeks and I'm getting back into it after the winter break.
Always amazes me how quickly the human body can get itself back into fairly reasonable shape . . . but then it also amazes me how quickly the human body can get itself back out of shape again if you take a week or ten days off!
Temps this weekend were in the low 20's again. No one here can believe it because it's really not normal. This time last year there was a dusting of snow on the ground.
I'm loving it, but we may pay for the lack of snow in terms of water come summer . . . .
Temps this weekend were in the low 20’s again. No one here can believe it because it’s really not normal. This time last year there was a dusting of snow on the ground.
It's not that odd - it's my daughter's 20th birthday today, and I can clearly remember the excellent weather that we enjoyed that day in El Escorial. Some rain would be good, though - it's forecast for the end of the week, so let's hope it actually happens.
Same here - end of the week and early next week - but they're only talking about 1mm of rain.
We'll see . . . .
This huge abandonded house - “La Capana” - and its outbuildings, which include a Hermitage and a small Church, are beside the trail of Zona Zero Route ZZ-014 “Camporrotuno and the Treasure of Dineretes” ……
Sadly, just as the season should be picking up speed and people should be flocking to our area to ride the Zona Zero Trails the Corona Virus has stopped everything dead in its tracks.
At the end of last week I had a couple of friends visiting - they arrived from a wet and windy Scotland on Thursday night in their two camper vans for three weeks of riding in the sunshine - and by Sunday lunchtime they were on their way home. Both of them and I are gutted.
Spain enetered a State of Emergency on Friday and on Sunday evening a severe restriction of movement of people was announced. It started at 8am on Monday morning.
The trails are closed and there's potentially a fine if you get caught Running / Jogging or Cycling at all during the next 15 days.
Local businesses are hoping to salvage something of the Easter holidays, which are very big and very important over here - but I think that's maybe a big ask given the scale of things.
I guess we shall see . . . .
Best of health to everyone.
All the best spekkie, I hope once this initial panic subsides that there is a rapid realisation that normal life must resume, and business comes back. You're name is on my list!
You too Tony - you're about to get an email from our Jack confirming he isn't getting on the flight this weekend....
Cheers guys!
We're still allowed out on MTBs on the other side of our hill, Speckie, we just need a piece of paper in our pockets, an "attestation", and to stick in family groups. We took the horses out earlier, it was like being the only the only people to survive a nuclear war, made me think of a book, Die Wand by Marlen Haushofer. Hope your finances hold out.
KBO Spekkie, KBO
Ming
@Edukator, it is not very clear if allowed to ride or not.
Sport minister said we can't but we are still allowed to exercise a little.
My point of view is that if tobacco shops are open so are the trails.
Our trails are definately closed. Zona Zero have said so.
Let's hope it's not for long . . . . .
Trails are definitely closed in Spain, with potentially large fines if you get caught. Whether it's a justified ban or not I don't know, but at least for the moment I'm taking their word for it and staying home.
Fortunately it started pissing down yesterday and the rest of the week doesn't look great either 🙂
All the best to you and Andrea, here in Cataluña life is pretty weird. Now we're told you can't even go out in the car together, only 1 person can go to the shops, get fuel or go to work. Living where we do it's easy to self isolate but not seeing our friends is difficult and I can't see this ending soon. Hope you keep safe, chin up.
Cheers Duncan. Hope you and Trish are well!
Lockdown has now been extended until 25th April. . . . . and it's being enforced strictly here. No room for discussion.
Hopefully it won't be too long now before our Lockdown is over.
It's going to take a while for life to return to something we recognise as "normal" and it could well end up being different to what we've been used to.....but in the end the Mountains will still be silently looking down on us and the countryside will still be there for us to enjoy.
Loving and living in the Pyrenees . . . . .
Hopefully it won’t be too long now before our Lockdown is over.
Just grateful it's coincided with the worst April weather I can remember, Easter was a total washout and the rain hasn't stopped yet. Makes it a lot easier to put up with being stuck inside!
But yeah, looking forward to hitting the local mountains.
the Mountains will still be silently looking down on us and the countryside will still be there for us to enjoy.
So true.
Good luck Spekkie. At least you're locked down somewhere open and beautiful. We're in 65m² city centre flat with a 7yo!
Looking forward to the Pyrenees being the first trip out, with flying off the cards I have an excuse not to go to the UK which has consumed almost every holiday for the last year plus.
The tent needs am outing.
Just a matter of when....
Yep - the weather has been mostly awful since a few days before the state of emergency was announced. Jan was cold but dry & bright and in Feb I was riding MTB in summer kit with just a sleeveless vest underneath my shirt. It was gorgeous. There have been a lot of days over the past 5 weeks where I'm not sure I'd have been working even if we were allowed to.
Bob - keep in touch if you come this way. We'll have a chat.
Keep at it everyone. Can't last forever!
Finally, from tomorrow onwards were allowed to get out and exercise again!
🙂
🙂
I don't suppose it would be Spain if the rules on exercise were simple. As far as I can tell, cycling is restricted to within your own municipality which loosely compares to UK parishes. If the local population is less than 5,000, then there is no limit to when during the day you can ride, if it is more, the times are between 6 and 8am and 7 and 11pm. As everyone is required to carry an identity card, your municipality can be easily verified if you're stopped. We live exactly on the border between 2 so all my riding must be to the North within 60km2 if we lived 50m South, I'd have 120km2 to play in. Still, it's better than 2km laps of our land which I've been doing ad nauseam. How does this compare to your playground Tony?
Pistonbroke, they're simple enough (6am to 10am btw) - just not sure how wise they are. Appreciate it's an attempt to separate old, young etc, but I'm in a city of approx 180k inhabitants - all the runners will be doing the three beaches at exactly the same time, all the cyclists will be on the same climbs etc.
Remove the municipality and time restrictions, I'll be up a mountain somewhere and I won't see a soul all day!
I can do my usual 15k trail loop but as it's the nearest greenery to the city I imagine it'll be a procession.
Funny how Spain coming out of lockdown is stricter than the UK under maximum restrictions!
Yes it will be interesting tomorrow when the town dwellers can get out for the first time. I have a flat in the town but am up in the mountains so feel a bit of a fraud as I can walk and swim. My town flat would have done me in, 6 weeks listening to my neighbours music.
At least it's hot here now, looks like summers arrived it's 28 degrees here tapping away.
Ps...my walk is the extended bin circuit so no rule breaking.
We're getting updates daily at the moment regarding our new Phase of Lockdown. It's very much a fluid situation so that's understandable.
If I understand it correctly, because we live in a place with less than 5000 inhabitants we can go out to exercise between 6am to 11pm. We can exercise for "an hour" (not sure how rigid this will be imposed) and we are allowed to ride "from where we live to the next municipality".
So road riding is good - I can ride to the next municiplaity to the East, South and West, and MTB is good - I can do the same trips but off road.
On top of that, the wet horrible weather that we had for most of April has gone and it's like summer. All sounds fantastic but...……. I've been asked to go in to work for a few days! The campsite has applied for a "Lockdown Work Exclusion Certificate" for me.
Work comes first..... We did have a nice walk along the river side last evening though. Was fantastic to hear the water and the birds and just chill for an hour or so 🙂
Spekkie, the time limits are used in urban areas to ensure young and old don't mix.
If you're under 5000 residents, you've got from 6am to 11pm to exercise solo, or to pasear with one member of your household. There is no 1 hour time limit.
Carry ID that proves you live in the municipality if stopped.
I have friends who live in a historical, exclave of the municipality - was probably hunting land or an orchard or something when the boundaries were drawn up. It covers half a nearby village and is about 0.5km in diameter! I'm not sure if the local plod would turn a blind eye to them crossing the limit or not!
Ps do us a favour and post up as soon as the campsite is reopening! Keen to get the tent out.
Yes I just got back from an early start to beat the heat. I saw a few cyclists as part of the walk goes on a roady climb. Still a bit confused whether I was paseando or senderismo, maybe a mixture of the 2. Missed a coffee in the village but you can't have everything.
The birds and wild flowers are q amazing.
Official definition of pasear is when you drape a jumper over your shoulders I think...
Will keep you posted Bob.
At the moment we're doing pre season maintenance but the owner has no clear view of when he will actually be allowed to open.
Had 2 lovely rides over the weekend, I'd worked out a 100% off road route around the border of our municipi. 32km and 450m of climbing including a long section of singletrack along the barranc that forms the frontera. Saw 2 other bikers and 1 walker which is 3 more than I usually see.
Tony, sounds like the campsite is trying to see you right, I guess a reopening date will also be affected by the French situation given your proximity to the border and the number that must come down to the cheaper, sunnier side of the Pyrenees on holiday.
We had roadblocks over the weekend preventing 2nd home owners decamping for the public holiday on Fri.
The Bielsa tunnel, which is the easiest link into the Ainsa area from France, is closed at the moment and the French Govt are debating what quarantine measures they will put in place after lockdown. Rumour is it won't affect any Schengen countries, only people coming in from outside that area. Which seems crazy but probably the only practical way of imposing some control without sticking border controls on every road.
We (French residents) will also have a 100km travel limit, anything over that only for family or business reasons.
So probably a bit of a way to go until holidays restart, sadly.
First "Post Lockdown" Ride today and it was amazing! A couple of hours of MTB on my local trails. We've been allowed to go out and exercise for a week now but today was my first chance to get out.
Nothing too serious - was just nice to get out and spin the legs. Saw a few other people out - some jogging and some riding, but Ainsa town itself was deserted apart from a couple of people outside the pharmacy.
Was certainly a lovely day for it!
Remembering last summer!
The long, light, warm evenings are nearly here again and I'm looking forward to it.
Our restaurants have been allowed to open this week. Outside seating only and with a space between tables, but it's a step in the right direction!
Looks grand down there Spekkie. It has rained all month here!
Bar terraces here look a bit minging to be honest. Reservation only, observing distance but then there's a scrum of 50 people who've turned up without knowing about reserving and just mill around anyway. None of them would ordinarily consider going out on a rainy Monday evening. I think I'll wait for the novelty to wear off...
Bob - that pic is me "remembering last summer". Weather is currently mostly awful!
The last few days have been wet enough for me not to be able to go to work - but dry enough to shoot out for a couple of hours if I time it right!
Todays ride included a singletrack section through "The Badlands". Normally there's a well worn "line" that you can follow at speed. Currently, due to lots of rain and almost no one riding the trails, the line is gone. Not a major problem until you get to a blind rise with a left or right turn on its peak - where a clue would be nice!!
Anyway I'm happy to be out . . . . .
Beautiful weather yesterday and my ride took me through the Plaza up in the old town. Saw very few other people and none of the bars or restaurants were open. Down in the new town there were a couple of places open and serving drinks to customers seated outside......
Happy we're starting to come out of this now!
Nice Tony! We (and you, I believe) can now cross parish boundaries as long as we stay in the province, so a bit more freedom for the rides.
Sitting in the plaza with a caña is a simple pleasure I'd forgotten all about too!
Slowly getting there Bob! 🙂
Riding up towards the Partara view point above Ainsa, if you stop 5 mins into the climb and look behind you, you see this!
Most people don't think to look back 🙁
Most people miss this 🙁
As an MTB guide, part of my job is to tell people when to look backwards 🙂
What. A . View.
I concur. I actually have a MTB for the first time in a few years so very tempting to get a long weekend down there depending of how it all pans out.
After 6 odd weeks of lockdown it was certainly nice to be able to get out again 2 weeks ago and last evening we did a 6km walk/hike from Boltaña up to the village of Sieste and back.
It was a beautiful evening after a hot day. We had our masks with us just incase, but we didn't need them.
The view of Boltaña was taken from half way up to Sieste. You can see the remains of the historic castle up on the top, the Old Town below it and the New Town down at the bottom. The river Ara passes between where we were standing and the town - just below the shot.
Sieste is a beautiful little village with view points in all directions, a fresh water fountain, a terrace bar . . . .
It certainly feels like summer is on the way, it's lovely here in Madrid, and the countryside's amazing - all the rain we've had means loads of greenery, and it hasn't all turned brown yet 🙂
Yep - After Aprils deluge it's lovely and green here too.
The council have stopped the "gardening" part of their normal workload (and replaced it with "spraying disenfectent") - so everything here, from roadsides to public areas, has gone from manicured back to natural state. It's nice in a way. More birds and wildlife than normal - but have to watch out for little bitey-inseects!
Excellent.. leaving confinement just in time for tábano season 🤦
After what feels like forever - our State of Emergency is almost over and our borders will be opening next weekend. . . . .
Roll on the 21st!
@spekkie bit of idle chat with a mate from Girona, he's home alone all August and we were thinking of meeting up somewhere in between for some riding. Zona Zero seems to be around the mid point! Maybe this summer I'll finally get there!
Be good to see you Bob!
Monte Perdido and the three Marias (Tres Marias) in the Ordesa National Park taken from just outside Ainsa on Sundays ride.
It's getting hot here now - the snows are melting!
What a journey Spekkie! Great read & excellent to see how you’ve got stuck into the local community in all sorts of ways. I wish you & Mrs Spekkie all the best with your project & second half of 2020 sees some great progress for you
How's the situation around you atm Tony, we're hearing that some areas of Aragon have been taken back to Phase 2 due to an outbreak among fruit pickers. We are thinking of a short break in Soria next week but getting there via Zaragoza could bea problem.
Cheers Loughan - appreciate the support!
No problems near us Duncan. Our area is "open for business" now and seeing what happens. Nit sure about Zaragoza - which is so much more densley populated.
For some time now I've been meaning to post an update regarding "Working in Spain", and specifically about US working in Spain . . . . I'll spread it over a few days . . . .
When we came here the intention was not to have to work. Or rather "not to have to find jobs". We knew that the Spanish unemployment rate was fairly high - nearly 15% last year. We knew we were moving to an un-industrialised area - Tourism and Agriculture are the two biggest industries here in the mountains, and we knew that there would be a language barrier. The intention was, as most of you will know by now, to renovate the our building and then run it as a B&B which would keep us both busy and provide us with a suitable income.
People here work different hours compared to what we're used to and there are some old "traditions" that are a way of life here which are different - but you soon get used to them.....
Most businesses open / workers start at either 8am or 9am - depending on the nature of the work - and then close at 2pm for a 2hr lunch break. They open again at 4pm and close at either 7pm or 8pm - again depending on the nature of the business. The lunch break is long enough for you to have a decent sized lunch - the main meal of the day here - and a 20 minute Siesta 🙂
Mid morning - around 11ish - they have what they call "Almuerzo" (pronounced Almertho) which is a 15 minute break for a coffee and a sandwich or a couple of slices of ham and some olives.
Buliders here start the day with a shot or two of Firewater. They're used to working in all weathers and conditions. I don't generally have to work with them, which is good because I'm a bit of a light-weight by comparison...…. 🙂
Summer evening ride between Ainsa and Boltaña . . . .
Buliders here start the day with a shot or two of Firewater.
When I first moved here I often got an early train on Sunday up the valley to do some riding.
Quick 'café solo' in the station bar waiting for the train, the same two policemen would be in there drinking carajillos (coffee with a shot). At 6.45am. TBF they might have been coming off shift, you'd hope so anyway, but no qualms about sitting there in uniform!
Yep. It's definately a thing here.
I don't mind one after lunch as a "digestivo" but not for breakfast!
It used to be like that here in Madrid, although I think the habit is slowly dying out. The long, two-hour lunchbreaks are also slowly disappearing (at least in offices), these days we have an hour which is quite civilised, but does mean a lunchtime trip to the gym is no longer an option.
And in other news: the heat has arrived. Went running with my club yesterday evening, 37C in the shade at 19:30...
I remember driving back from Tarifa to Málaga to catch an early morning flight. We stopped at Marbella services and saw a coach driver having his breakfast. Fag, espresso, massive brandy.