England, Spain, Netherlands and ready for home

We flew from Schipol to Bristol Airport in Devon to visit Jane's family. Covid had prevented us visiting to scatter Pat (Jane's mum) ashes. We stayed with Steve and Terri in Lustleigh caught up with George Jane's Step Dad and even got to see Jane's Aunty Den and Jo before they went off on their travels.

Mum's favourite swimming spot, Elbury Cove with a family gathering to scatter dear ol' mum's ashes according to her last wishes.

George, Seth, Terri, Steve, Ants and Jane at Elbury Cove

One last swim for mum, scattering her ashes

 A few days after our family gathering at Elbury, Terri had asked us if we would like to do the Templar Way walk with the local Rambling club. From the old granite mine on Haytor on Dartmoor mainly following George Templar's granite railway and a stretch of Templars canal all the way to Shaldon at the mouth of the Teign River. About 28kms all up. It was really interesting and, even though, easy walking our legs definitely knew we had done the distance.

A tramway made of cut granite, even an intersection!

It was really great to see Jane's nephew Seth again who left Oz in a hurry with the Covid lockdown two and a half years ago.

Seth's favourite local chilli sauce

The view from Steve and Terri's front room window

Morning tea with the local Rambling club, very friendly bunch, on the Templar Way

The Teign estuary at the end of the Templar way, note Mabli Terri's dog having a whale of a time. Teignmouth was the home of Donald Crowhurst and his boat Teignmouth Explorer. An illfated transatlantic crossing.

Down the road from Terri and Steve's a mine history society has restored a mine from the 1800 to 1900 hundreds. Micaceous Hematite used in particular to make paint. Linseed oil and the shiny iron make Battleship Grey paint. Used on Sydney Harbour Bridge. 

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Visiting Kelly's mine, "shiny iron ore", micaceous hematite,  on Dartmoor 

Terri helping with the washing of the ore. 

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Our Dartmoor "in the rain" walk.

After a week in England we flew to Spain then drove to Trevelez in the Sierra Nevada mountains for some hill walking. Dramatically different being fairly dry and definitely not Dutch flat. Our village was 1500 metres above sea level. We left Wallaby at minus 5 metres!

Trevelez,  Sierra Nevada, the highest village in Spain and home for 6 days.

Horses are a big part of Trevelez's history and present way of life.

On a walk and a regular encounter with horse and dog.

The number one industry of Trevelez is naturally cured air dried ham. One "factory" cures for 12 or more months, 80000 legs.

Our accommodation, a 3 bedroom house, possibly 400 years old but probably older. Moorish design and beautiful. 

Very steep but narrow streets. 

Looking out the "Spanish" door.

A lot of houses had stables underneath. The horses were very well treated. 

Morning traffic. 

Outside our window a big concrete pour, lots of up and back

Inside our house. Typical roof, timber and slate and gravel topped.

Beautiful old door. They were everywhere. 

Drying the capsicums. 

Trevelez,  the home of Spanish air dried ham.

We did a visit to  a Jamon drying museum. The business of air dried ham on a commercial basis started in Trevelez in the 1950s. They now have, like France with wine, appellation control and strict standards. Basically a few days in brine followed by 12 months air drying. About 4 times they coat the ham in butter. All to do with cool air and low humidity. 

In the ham drying area. A vegetarian delight.

One of the quiet local horses. A cross between Apalucian and fibreglass.

The  main reason for going to Spain was the walking. It didn't disappoint. We did 4 main walks and the hills were challenging. Our biggest achievement was climbing Mulachen, the highest Spanish mainland mountain. By taking 2 busses, one in the Parque Nacional, we got left at 2700m. Then over 18km we climbed up to 3487m and down 2000m to Trevelez. One of the crew needed some gentle encouragement at the end.

On the ascent of Muchalen. Bushfire below us.

On the summit 

A friendly local. 

Part of the 2000m of descent. 

A swim on the way back from Seite Lagunas.

Not all dry and hot. In fact springs were quite commonplace. 

We are now back on Wallaby for the last few days before flying home. We are passing her over to the new owners, (actually to their family who live here) and next year Fred and Petra will hopefully get as much enjoyment as we have had on Wallaby.

We had some visitors for Jane's birthday. We met, at various times, Tore and Maude when sailing to Trinidad. They were driving from Sweden to Portugal so dropped in to Zwartesluis, the Netherlands for a catch up. Lovely afternoon and special restaurant dinner for the birthday girl.