[i]Edukator - Reformed Troll
I reckon those new skills should include DIY. Clearing trails is all very well but it's time you could be using to do stuff you'll be paying slow-working tradesmen to do when they feel like it. Your priority should be getting rooms ready to let and people in them. Get stuck in! Both of you. [/i]
We're ready to roll with our "DIY skills" Edukator. We've agreed with the builder that a lot of the work towards the end of the job we will do ourselves. Need the builder to do the big stuff first though . . . .
What more could you ask for?
A proper mountain? 😀
Vaguely serious answer, if you're planning on marketing to roadies: a 450m climb isn't really that much, what else have you got in a 30km radius from your place?
What more could you ask for?
[i]A proper mountain?
Vaguely serious answer, if you're planning on marketing to roadies: a 450m climb isn't really that much, what else have you got in a 30km radius from your place? [/i]
haha - mogrim, sorry, I wasn't clear. This is just the [i]closest[/i] one to my house. The one almost in my back garden that I can go and play on whenever I get a spare hour to fill.
When we're ready and if we decide to go down the Roadie route, I'll talk about the proper mountains in the area. I'm sure there are a few . . .
🙂
When we're ready and if we decide to go down the Roadie route, I'll talk about the proper mountains in the area. I'm sure there are a few . . .
That sounds more like it! Might even persuade me to come and visit 🙂
@spekkie obviously a key thing for you will be airport access/logistics, I've already plugged the Paris/Spekie route into the Sat Nav and its a loooong drive. As per Doug at Basque MTB its a "fly only" options really.
Keep posting, always enjoy the updates.
what more could you ask for?
Keep going straight past Campodarbe, hang a left at Morcat and follow that road to its end. Hit a left there and arrive to your house from the south. I'm not a roadie but it's a lovely, lovely road. Even in a big van and trailer!
Sorry I didn't manage a beer this week, it was really, really busy. I'll give you a shout, I'm back soon.
The roadies like their climbs....i vd been going out on the road bike on wednesdays and round here, inland from valencia, loads of roadies. Most seem to be on tours from uk operators so i d hook up with them. They seem to stay on the coast as accom cheaper and ride circuits inland. I reckon they follow the vuelta routes just so they can claim bragging rights and justify the cost.
Good luck btw, as said above get some money coming in to keep you going.
[i]doug_basqueMTB.com - Member
Keep going straight past Campodarbe, hang a left at Morcat and follow that road to its end. Hit a left there and arrive to your house from the south. I'm not a roadie but it's a lovely, lovely road. Even in a big van and trailer!
Sorry I didn't manage a beer this week, it was really, really busy. I'll give you a shout, I'm back soon. [/i]
Cheers Doug - I'll try that. Catch you next time you're over this way.
[i]poolman - Member
Good luck btw, as said above get some money coming in to keep you going.[/i]
That's the plan. If we can initially get a couple of rooms up and running then we will be happy. The rest will follow.
I started checking out the "Zona-Zero" MTB routes and Road Cycling in the area when we got here and we've always reported on local places of interest that we've visited - now we've started doing the same for local "Walks".
Here are some pics from a walk we did last week. We started at the "Vultures Dinning Room" (2 mins outside of Ainsa), where we parked the car and we finished at "Partara" which is the viewing point up on the hill that Angel from Zona-Zero dragged a bench up to!
It took us about an hour each way at a casual pace. We climbed from 600m to 859m and we saw lots of birds of prey on the way - from below and later from above! Very impressive but very hard to take pictures or video of!
The Vultures Dinning Room is, as the name implies, a place where local meat companies drop off meat to help feed the local Vulture population (they often "hover" over me when I'm climbing on the MTB!).
Vultures and a variety of Eagles/Kites/Hawks are all indigenous to the area - but I'll talk about that in another post . . .
The view from the top is magnificent. It's not too hard to get to by foot or by bike (it's on Zona- Zero Route 5) and you can sit down at the top and have a picnic.
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The Vultures Dinning Room is, as the name implies, a place where local meat companies drop off meat to help feed the local Vulture population (they often "hover" over me when I'm climbing on the MTB!).
Lots of vultures in central Spain, too - saw quite a few just this weekend in fact. Quite disconcerting when you're dragging yourself up a hill, you know they're just hoping... 😆
March 25th and it suddenly snowed! Two days previously I was working in the sun with shorts and a T-shirt on, one day previously we were hibernating because it suddenly got cold … and then this!
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Our snow only lasted a day or two on the ground down here in town, although I can see that there is still plenty up on the slopes of the mountains.
This guy is hanging around "just in case" I guess.
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This clip of Peter Sagan riding the Stage 7 Time Trial at Tirreno-Adriatico (2017) reminded me of something we noticed when we got to Spain.
In the UK if you want to cross the road on a Zebra Crossing you walk up to the edge of the pavement, look both ways and very quickly cars will stop for you and you can cross safely.
In South Africa if you want to cross the road on a Zebra Crossing you walk up to the edge of the pavement, look both ways . . . wait for a gap in the traffic and run like hell. Safety is for sissies.
In Spain if you want to cross the road on a Zebra Crossing you walk up to the edge of the pavement whilst concentrating intently on your phone. Without looking either way you may walk straight out onto the crossing. It is the total responsibility of the vehicle driver to see you and to stop. There is no such things as "I couldn't stop in time". You must stop in time, end-of 🙂
On the plus side - when you are the pedestrian the same rules apply 🙂
The more French cars the more you have to look 🙂 🙂
I've been watching this thread with interest since it started.
Just a few weeks ago we started thinking about doing something similar, buying a place to spend a bit of time in ourselves and maybe letting it out at others. We haven't even got to the planning stage but we booked a couple of return flights to Girona next week to have a look around.
I'd be interested if anybody has anything to tell us about that area and the feasibility. We're both semi-retired and I spend most of the time doing up houses in the UK to rent, and making fitted bedrooms, studies and other mostly fitted furniture on a self-employed basis. So as long as I can get my hands on an adapter plug I'm fairly handy with the renovation work.
This morning we met with the bank manager, who helped us prepare our responce to some enquiries from the banks head office "Risk Dept". Then later we spoke on the phone with the nice lady at the risk office answering what are hopefully their last few questions. Tomorrow I have to check a couple of things with the builder and get the answers back to the risk dept.
Edit: I might actually phone the lady at the risk dept. from the builders house while I'm there and let them speak to each other!
#finalfewhurdles
Well, we've finally become legit. Yesterday we had an appointment to register as resident in Cataluña, the process involves assembling every single bit of paperwork we've collected since moving here 18 months ago and taking it to the police station to be checked. Our first try was last week when we simply rocked up in our local town, Tortosa, with all our papers. We were told to sit in the waiting room while a steady stream of people came and went, we assumed they were applying for Passports and DNI numbers. After about an hour a policemen came over and asked what we wanted. We explained that we were there to get Residencia, he said oh you need an appointment which can only be made on line and not available until next week!! Oh how we laughed.
So we returned yesterday having made the appointment, paid our fee and gone to the bank to get proof of payment. We also needed proof from the bank that we were solvent.
We marched into the police station, full of confidence, 5 minutes later we were ushered to the clerk who started going through our papers. Heath insurance? Check, we both got out or medical cards for which we pay €70 a month each. No I need the policy and proof you have paid the premium up to date
Shit, that's at home and as we do online banking, there's no monthly paperwork. Cue racing the 40 minutes home whilst on the phone to the bank to get them to print the relevant receipts.
We got back with everything about 20 minutes before the clerk went for the day and she was willing to issue our little green cards which replace our tatty photocopied NIE forms which should have been changed 3 months after we moved here.
Happy days!!
Another step in the right direction PB! Have you done your "long ride" yet?
We start from Tarragona next Friday, 1,000km to Bilbao off-road, self supported, should be fun. I've also entered the Pirinexus on 3rd of June, 350km in 20 hours from Girona over the Pyrenees and back into Spain on gravel roads and off road cycleways. I must be mad. Trish won her category in the double olimpic race last weekend and has an Ironman in 4 weeks. Think we'll need a bit of beach time in July.
Zona Zero Route 5. Towards the end there’s some nice single-track and then a bit of a drop . . . .
Being an XC rider, I haven’t ridden the drop yet but the single track was cool. One day I’ll ride the whole lot I’m sure 🙂
We'll have you down that in September 😆
Looking forward to it PD! Hoping to have a room for you 🙂
Worked with Ramon the friendly farmer on the farm this morning for a while and then did some trail-clearing on the “variation” part of Route 3 Light / Route 9 which goes past our front door.
I do love my “office”
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Trail Clearing today with Angel and his dogs above the village of Escalona, just north of Ainsa. The trail passes the abandoned hilltop village of Muro de Bellos.
A good days work - I will go back in the week and test the trail 🙂
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Trail building with Angel & David up in the hills above Morrillo de San Pedro yesterday.
Sometimes you have to do some “trail clearing” just to get to where you want to do some trail clearing!
Yesterday was mostly breaking and shifting rocks. Hard work, but it is a fantastic piece of single track - I look forward to trying it soon!
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Zona Zero have added a new route to their collection. Route number ZZ-032.
This route runs north from Fiscal (which is west of Ainsa), alongside the river Ara and is categorised as difficulty "Red".
🙂
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Full details here:
[url= http://bttpirineo.co...amino-chinebral ]Zona Zero[/url]
Link doesn't seem to be working?
Been dipping into this thread over preceding months & really enjoying it. Great pics up above. As a wheels on the ground type of guy this is a lot more appealing to me than much of the gnarr stuff that often features!
Keep up the good work.
dying to get down to ZZ, we were going to do a weeks' camping there at easter but followed the better weather to France in the end. It's only about three hours' drive away from here. I've got an MTBing mate down in Girona, so it's conveniently half-way for a meetup in summer!
Any recommended campsite around there, OP?
onlysteel - Glad you're enjoying it 🙂
Try this link:
[url= http://www.bttpirineo.com/en ]Zona Zero Home Page[/url]
bob summers - there are several local camp sites. I'll look in on them today while I'm out and about and let you know how they fare . . . .
Had my first road ride in a while on Thursday evening.
The sun isn't setting now until past 9:30pm and the evenings are warm and beautifully clear. Mrs Spekkie prefers to ride mornings.
The local roads, which are all in very good condition, are quiet and the drivers are considerate and courteous. We rarely have a car pass us that isn't so far away that it's over on the other side of the central line. If there isn't space to pass us safely then the cars wait until it is. No close passing, no horns or verbal abuse.
What a pleasure . . . .
🙂
Thanks Spekkie, appreciated. We spend most of July & August up and down the north coast but I'm trying to convince the family to come up to the mountains, at least for a week or so.
On Sunday I rode with some of the Zona Zero guys - Angel, Rafa, David and Kiko on the new route that we’ve been clearing and building recently. We fitted a few signs but apart from that it was just “ridin.”
Most of the route was rideable on my Epic but on occasions I had to get off and climb over rock obstructions. Angel, David & Rafa rode 99% of the route, Kiko and I were “brothers in slowness” on the descents but I held my own on the climbs 🙂
Rafa supplied transport to take us and our bikes up into the hills and then we all rode along the ridge and back down into Ainsa - via several inhabited/uninhabited villages, fetching the transport vehicle and trailer a bit later on. (It’s nice that you can leave a Merc Combi and Trailer in the middle of nowhere for 8 hrs and it’s still there when you go back for it!)
Beautiful scenery & views, hard but rewarding climbs, wicked singletrack and some demanding descents. A fantastic day with good mates. Perfect.
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The details of the new Enduro/XC Tech route (# ZE12) have been released on the Zona Zero website.
[url] http://bttpirineo.com/es/rutas-btt-pirineo/ze12-maxi-piojo-1 [/url]
All in Spanish I'm afraid but copy & paste to "Google translate" works well!
It's the route built recently and tested last weekend. I really enjoyed it - although it was beyond my expertise level in places, everyone else seemed to manage 😉
There are a couple of Variations available (shown on the map) and several others that I know about that are not on the map . . . . inside information for people that come and stay with us when we open 🙂
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Mrs Spekkie and I have moved into a new phase of our "Adventure".
At the end of May, after a lot of consideration, we moved out of our rented apartment in Ainsa and into a wing of Ramon the Friendly Farmer & Rosa's Farmhouse - which is very close to our own property in Guaso.
They have been on at us for ages to move in with them - I think they've actually adopted us now. I expect the paperwork is in the post. . . .
It will be very convenient when building work finally starts on our Project (I'll cover that point in a separate post) and in the meantime it is convenient for me working on the Bike Park that we are building on Ramon's land next to our house.
It was less than a 10 minute drive from Ainsa to Guaso but by the time you get from the apartment down to the car etc etc it makes "popping over to do an hours work" very inefficient. This will be much better . . .
Plus it's nice to be close to our own place 🙂
🙂
You kept this "Bike Park" quiet, or maybe I just haven't been keeping up to date properly 😀
You have been paying attention but you have a bad memory PD!
When I talked about the Bike Park originally you asked whether it would join up with any of the Zona Zero trails . . . and I said yes, it is very close to where several routes pass.
I'm building it for when we have families or less experienced riders visit us and Zona Zero is a bit "too much" for them.
Keep well mate.
On Friday myself, Angel, William (from France) and Matty (from Argentina) accompanied as usual by Golfo, Lili & Lolitta, cleared & repaired an old trail between Morcat and Castellazo.
At its highest point it is around 1200m above sea level and from up there the views are stunning. It was a hot day and hard work - but it shouldn't need doing again now for quite some time at least 🙂
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bob summers - We had a look in on the local camping site yesterday.
It's called, imaginatively enough, "Camping Ainsa" and it's just past the outskirts of town, to the north east. Easy to get to, looks clean and tidy, and seems to have all the usual facilities. There are some nice pitches under the trees with views of the mountains. . . . .
Camping Ainsa ! Still there 🙂
25 years ago I had to ride my motorbike home from there, two up, panniers and top box, with no front brakes after a disc-lock incident.
[i]25 years ago I had to ride my motorbike home from there, two up, panniers and top box, with no front brakes after a disc-lock incident. [/i]
Over the Pyrenees must have been fun!
This is a great thread, really fires up the dreaming.
i_l_f - glad to be o service 🙂
The heatwave continues. When it's as warm as this during the day you soon learn which jobs to do and when to do them.
Thankfully it's still nice and cool in the mornings, evenings and at night. No sign of any rain near us just yet - but we need it.
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Doug - Can you come and visit please? We need some rain . . . . 🙂
I'm just next door in Benasque all week! It's hot here but not as much as you guys. I was riding at 3000m yesterday and it was even cool 🙂 You might get a wee evening storm tomorrow, would be perfect for the trails, super dusty now.
Hope you are recovered and back on the bike. See you soon!
Not far off 40 here too. We did Cap Nore yesterday. Thankfully only the 65km as it was a bit warm.
Edit: 22:15 and still 32° outside (27° inside)
Craft Beer tasting, Tapas dishes and live music
the Boltana summer fiesta 🙂
Spekkie, just checked back so thanks for the campsite reccie. Going Asturias way tomorrow for a fortnight, after that I fancy a trip down to the Pyrenees so fingers crossed...
Cool! Enjoy.
I had a little accident a fortnight ago. Not my fault - woman pulled out in front of me without looking. I needed four stitches to a cut on my face and there was no damage to the bike. I'm all better now but the accident highlighted some important things that people coming here should be aware of. I'm sure we'll put this little list up on our website when we build it but we'll also remind people when they arrive here.
1) The number to use for all emergencies (road traffic or otherwise) is "112". Then ask for the appropriate emergency service. Police, Ambulance, Fire or Mountain Rescue.
If anyone else at the accident says "they've already made the call" don't be afraid to do it yourself anyway. Two calls are better than none.
2) Normal rules apply if it's a traffic accident - don't move anything, don't leave the scene, do swap details etc.
3) Seriously consider holiday insurance. I had no intention of crashing and the accident wasn't my fault, but it still happened.
UK citizens can apply for a "European Health Insurance Card" to take on holiday with them and so should be covered by their UK National Insurance number abroad. In this case I would have gone to the local emergency clinic 5kms away for free. (This situation may change after Brexit)
I suspect other EU countries will have a similar agreement with Spain regarding healthcare.
The weather map reminds me of "scorchio" on the Fast Show.
It looks fab there, frankly I'm jealous! ;-0
Glad its going well.
Exactly!
When I read your post at the top of the page I was tempted to write a reply to the effect of: yes, the Spanish are generally more considerate to cyclists than Brits but they are also more often drunk, on the phone, daydreaming and there are still a tiny minority of asshats - more than likely behind the wheel of a quarry lorry, big truck or commercial vehicle. Perhaps I should have written it, but I didn't want to appear negative when you're right, norther Spain is generally a safer place to ride a roadie than the UK.
And like most of Europe it's priority from the right which the Spanish tend to apply even when pulling out or their farm track, especially if driving a tractor.
Down towards the coastal areas the big problem does seem to be drink & drugs while driving. We've seen on the news half a dozen cycling deaths here this year - but thankfully nothing near us where the pace is a bit slower and the population perhaps a little older.
Last night Mrs Spekkie and I had my first "Post-Accident" ride along the river bank from Margudged (the village I had the accident in as it happens!) to Ainsa and back 🙂
Seems I'm ok. Just need to reclaim some fitness after three weeks off 🙁
Hows the build coming on Spekkie? I'm sat in a sunny Leeds but already looking forward to my quick Ainsa trip on the way back to the Reef.
We've had a nice couple of days with our British friends from down in Catalonia. They came to stay while they tested out their new camper van.
The trails were a bit wind & rain battered when I took them for a ride yesterday because we had an overnight storm, but they got to see a bit of the surrounding countryside.
Was nice to speak mostly English for a couple of days!
There's been a complete lack of updates recently - the pesky Tour de France has got me all distracted.
On the other hand, I did specifically choose this part of Spain because of the mountains and the proximity to le Tour & le Vuelta 🙂
We will be promoting both of those Grand Tours, and the tour of Catalonia, the Enduro World Series and any other races "within shouting distance", next year.
With stages being so close, it would be a crime not to try and see something. That's my story anyway. .
The World Enduro is the one to watch. You can do a day on the mtb riding trails between stages so you can spectate at several points - and ride them once the last man has gone, or the next day. Hang around at a good view point till you get bored with it then trundle off to the next one. It's end of Summer so not too hot but generally stable sunny weather.
Angel Cheliz, who owns the "Intersport" sports shop in Ainsa and who is one of the founding members of the whole "Zona-Zero MTB" concept - showing off the latest edition of route maps.
There are now 52 official base routes and too many variations and link-ways to even count. Somewhere in the region of 800km of track in it's various forms, Singletrack, Jeep track, Fire roads, Antiguo (ancient) paths . . . the list goes on.
I've barely scraped the surface so far!
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Tony - I may have missed it, but do you have a bit more info, including costs, about next summer? The oab_clan is interested...
matt - ygm.
For the past month or so, as well as watching "le Tour de France" on TV and "live in France", Mrs Spekkie and I have been giving some serious thought as to which path we should take next on our Big Adventure . . . . .
Should we stay here and "soldier on" or is it time to cut our losses, relocate, either to the UK or somewhere busier in Spain, where we can both get jobs, save some money and then maybe re-think in 6 months time?
In a nutshell - all of the banks we've spoken to have said the same thing - they love our ideas - particularly the ones that involve us providing services that will set us apart from your average Spanish "B&B", they approve of our business plan - which is conservative in its estimates and they can see that our passion for what we enjoy in life - essentially cycling & cooking/providing - means that we will enjoy our jobs enough to ensure that we succeed.
However . . . over at the head offices of these various banks, the "Risk Departments" whose hands, post financial crisis of 2008-16, are tied behind their backs, are struggling to approve us the top-up loan we need without us having some sort of independent income.
This is not something we, or anyone we spoke to at the outset of our journey (including the banks!), expected and the game-changer has been the fact that the banks can no longer accept your property as security against a loan you apply for. The reason being that Spanish banks are up to their ears in repossessed properties that they have no hope of selling, possibly for years.
We've decided that we're not ready to give up just yet and so we're going to push on with our dream . . . . but we're going to have to change the way we plan on getting there slightly . . . .
Over the next few days we'll post our various changes and, as always, encouragement and ideas will be warmly received!
Spekkie.
"La Batalla Del Inframundo" (The Battle of the Underworld) - This is the name given to a race being held on 23rd September this year at Zona Zero.
The sales pitch (translated by me!) goes along the lines of.....
"YOU CAN JOIN THE BATTLE OF THE UNDERWORLD - The GIANT TRAIL of ZONE ZERO.
We have good news. We have obtained a sponsorship of the last minute that allows us to reduce the registration to 67 euros and 120 euros for mixed couples.
In case you think it's an easy ride, the man in the photo will be the "broom man". Basically he will be dedicated to "finishing off" the stragglers. (read that as you like! lol)
Come and win the coveted Sword of the Victor engraved with the motto: "PUNISH THE BODY AND RELEASE THE SOUL".
In the Territory of Zona Zero - Survive and be Counted!"
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Zon Zero is a great place for masochistic mountain bikers to beat themselves up and Spanish hospitals at at least as good at repairing people as British ones. This much we've understood, but STWers need somewhere to stay which is where you're supposed to come in, Spekkie.
There's a French saying that you are never better served than by yourself so roll up those sleves, get out at first light and get on with it. There's rock lying around everywhere in Spain and mortar is two parts sand to one part cement. Thats all you need to know to start with. You've made friends, when you need more than sand and cement let them know and see where the grapevine leads.
Right now it's too hot to do anything (mid afternoon) so start drawing up plans as to where all the plumbing and electrics are going to go, that way you can knock out blocks and install trunking as you go.
Thanks for the pep talk Edukator!
You are right, and we ARE making plans! Will post an update later 🙂
From the Zona Zero Website:
"The fate is cast, we have been tasked with defeating Mordor on 23 September - We need everyone's help, get your bike ready and come. And if we don't win, we might as well have a good time"
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The Enduro World Series calendar for 2018 has been published. Stage 7 will be here in Ainsa Sobrabe on 22nd and 23rd September!
Fantastic news 🙂
[url= https://dirtmountainbike.com/racing-events/enduro/enduro-world-series-2018-calendar-released.html ]EWS Calendar 2018 . . . .[/url]
We've had lots of feedback and support since we posted that we had decided to stay here and push on with our project. Thanks for all the private messages and suggestions - some of the ideas people have put forward are things that had crossed our minds and some of the ideas are new to us. In any case it's always good for someone else to suggest an idea that had previously crossed your mind but that you weren't sure was a good one or not 🙂
We're going over everything now and formulating a plan to move forward, at whatever speed we can manage under the circumstances.
These are exciting times for us and as frustrating as it has been not to be able to just "get on with it" up until now, we're slowly coming around to the idea that maybe things going slowly has been a good thing, and maybe we'll be better off for it in the long run . . .
Coming to terms with the fact that this is an "Adventure" to be enjoyed on the way - rather than just a relocation, business start up and then "noses back to the grindstone" asap to pay for it all!
We've certainly enjoyed it so far . . .. Let's see how this goes now . . . .
Tomorrow morning we're having a meeting at our property with the builder we'd like to use for our project. We have a number of issues to go over with him and it's important that he fully understands our changed position - for that reason I've asked a very good Spanish friend of ours who lives in Zaragoza to join us and translate. Mikel and I first met when he visited the company I worked for in Johannesburg to carry out some training for us and he's been helping us ever since. . . .
Our preferred builder is a local guy who survived the Spanish financial crisis of 2008 intact and who lives close enough for me to "go and get him if he doesn't turn up for work" 🙂
We need to establish whether the prices on the quote he gave us when he originally quoted the job are still valid, and if not, by what percentage. Also we need to make sure he's ok with doing much less work than previously expected, because we will be doing more ourselves, and with spreading the reduced work over a longer period of time, as our finances dictate.
Probably not hugely appealing from the builder point of view but let's see what he says tomorrow . . . .
We had a very good meeting with our builder yesterday and everyone is happy with the path we are taking 🙂
The prices quoted last year are still relevant.
He is happy for us to do whatever work we can ourselves and for him to do the bits we can't.
He also understands that we will be stretching the project over an extended period of time and so it will be start/stop/start/stop for him but he's ok with that too. He will fit us in around other projects he's working on.
We had the meeting at Ramon & Rosa's farmhouse, with our good friend Mikel helping to translate for us and of course with the builder being local, it turns out that his parents and both Ramon & Rosa's parent were old friends. I like that.
I think this is going to work out just fine.
🙂
Sometimes in the heat of summer here we have veld fires and because it is so hot and often a bit windy, they can take hold really quickly. So the Spanish Airforce have a fleet of Canadair CL-215 planes that they use to "water drop" when necessary.
Thankfully there are no fires anywhere near here at the moment (Portugal is currently suffering) but because we are next to the Embalse de Mediano (The Mediano Reservoir) we often see planes circling as they practice scooping and dropping water.
I would love to see them practicing close up but they don't do it at regular intervals so the chances of being in the right place at the right time are slim.
Maybe one day I'll get lucky . . .
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We get them, and the helicopters both practising and (unfortuntely) working at our local reservoir. Quite frequently see them go overhead in summer 🙁
It's very difficult to get permission to build a swimming pool in our valley but if you put in a planning application for a water storage facility that is to be used for fire fighting then you stand a much better chance. The downside is that the helecopters can come and empty your pool whenever they want.
Is it difficult because of water conservation PB?
How was yesterdays Vuelta finish in Tarragona?
The downside is that the helecopters can come and empty your pool whenever they want.
Can't imagine a helicopter hovering 10m above your pool is going to do your plants much good either!
Not specifically water conservation, more to keep properties looking original not like holiday homes which a high proportion are. They also frown on large picture windows and outbuildings that don't look authentic.
The Vuelta was interesting, far more laid back than the Tour. The last 2km was very twisty which strung out the sprint line, we were 20m from the line, it was very warm.
Looking forward to the next couple of days, it gets a lot lumpier.