Viewing 40 posts - 841 through 880 (of 1,174 total)
  • Buying and renovating a rural property on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees
  • bob_summers
    Full Member

    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….

    spekkie
    Free Member

    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!

    spekkie
    Free Member

    Finally, from tomorrow onwards were allowed to get out and exercise again!

    🙂

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middling Edition

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middlin...
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    Murray
    Full Member

    🙂

    pistonbroke
    Free Member

    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?

    bob_summers
    Full Member

    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!

    poolman
    Free Member

    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.

    spekkie
    Free Member

    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 🙂

    bob_summers
    Full Member

    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.

    poolman
    Free Member

    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.

    bob_summers
    Full Member

    Official definition of pasear is when you drape a jumper over your shoulders I think…

    spekkie
    Free Member

    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.

    pistonbroke
    Free Member

    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.
    Local ride
    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.

    mercuryrev
    Full Member

    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.

    spekkie
    Free Member

    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!

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    spekkie
    Free Member

    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!

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    bob_summers
    Full Member

    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…

    spekkie
    Free Member

    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 . . . . .

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    spekkie
    Free Member

    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!

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    bob_summers
    Full Member

    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!

    spekkie
    Free Member

    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 🙂

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    matt_outandabout
    Full Member

    What. A . View.

    bob_summers
    Full Member

    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.

    spekkie
    Free Member

    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 . . . .



    mogrim
    Full Member

    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 🙂

    spekkie
    Free Member

    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!

    bob_summers
    Full Member

    Excellent.. leaving confinement just in time for tábano season 🤦

    spekkie
    Free Member

    After what feels like forever – our State of Emergency is almost over and our borders will be opening next weekend. . . . .

    mogrim
    Full Member

    Roll on the 21st!

    bob_summers
    Full Member

    @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!

    spekkie
    Free Member

    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!

    Loughan
    Free Member

    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

    pistonbroke
    Free Member

    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.

    spekkie
    Free Member

    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.

    spekkie
    Free Member

    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……. 🙂

    spekkie
    Free Member

    Summer evening ride between Ainsa and Boltaña . . . .

    bob_summers
    Full Member

    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!

    spekkie
    Free Member

    Yep. It’s definately a thing here.

    I don’t mind one after lunch as a “digestivo” but not for breakfast!

    mogrim
    Full Member

    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…

    BigJohn
    Full Member

    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.

Viewing 40 posts - 841 through 880 (of 1,174 total)

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