Going up river

I walked into town early to celebrate the midweek Eucharist for Ascension Day in the church shop a day early. There were a dozen of us present, including a couple of visitors from Aberystwyth who come here regularly every year. After coffee and a chat I did some routine food shopping on the way back. There was an email waiting for me on the Chaplain's address requesting a memorial service next month for a British expat living in a village outside Motril, about three quarters of an hour's drive from here. Plenty of time to liaise with the family and prepare for the occasion.

Late afternoon, when it was starting to cool down after 40 degree heat at midday, I went for a walk up the rio Chillar valley towards the sierras to see what birds I could see and photograph. It's my third  walk into the local parque natural in the past two years, and it won't be my last. 

Directly below our urbanizacion, from the valley floor, there were swallows, swifts and house martins hunting for insects. The neighbourhood kestrel was out and about, and I was amazed to see it being harrassed by a couple of swallows as it patrolled a few hundred feet over the valley floor. Eventually, it took advantage of evening thermals to rise a few hundred feet higher, where it could fly undisturbed. I got a fleeting glimpse of a family of siskins whizzing across the river into bamboo thickets. They always move too quickly to snap, when you see them. 

There's one stretch of river which appears to be the territory of a group of yellow wagtails. I got a few shots of one on a high tension electricity cable on the way up,

 I caught a few more of birds in the water in the same stretch on the way back down the river.

 An enjoyable outing, but somewhat tiring. I reckon I walked over eight miles altogether today.

View from the sierra

It was mercadillo time this morning, and I went out and shopped conveniently there for fruit and veg. I was struck by the empty spaces in the lower of the two sections of the market, which is next to our urbanizacion - some stall holders not doing business? I wondered. But when I walked to the upper section, it was extended the full length of the car park, not half the length as was previously the case. Card driving visiting shoppers are now directed further uphill to where there's a field set aside for parking a couple of hundred metres beyond the upper limit of the market. Dreadful if you have heavy bags to carry back uphill in the hot sun, but then ninety percent of the market is given over to clothes shoes and bags.

Determined to do something different today, I headed uphill for my afternoon walk, through the urbanizacion de San Juan Capistrano, to take the footpath to take me up and beyond the houses into the Parque Natural de Almijara. There's a narrow wooded valley which climbs right up to a ridge, and the path continues down into the rio Chillar valley to the south. I noticed, along the path and between some of the houses several apricot trees covered in ripening fruit. There was plenty of bird life too. I came across a chaffinch feeding its young fledgling, no longer in the nest, but parked on a branch where its parents could fly to and fro more easily.

At the start of the walk I saw three brightly coloured birds, which might have been hoopoes or bee eaters, and caught just one in flight below me from where I was standing on the hillside. Without a bird book to check, this remains a mystery.

It may not be a great photo but it captured an exciting moment. There were and lots of different butterflies around too, so much easier to photograph.

I climbed for about three quarters of an hour, up the steep and narrow gully, to about 400m above sea level, before turning back. The path must carry rain water off the mountainside at other times, and would be pretty treacherous if the weather took a sudden turn for the worse. It was a very pleasant hike on this occasion, and one I'd be pleased to repeat.

A Bank Holiday walk

Before I went out food shopping this morning, I thought I'd better call the solicitor making tomorrow's funeral arrangements and check on the time arranged, as I'd heard nothing over the weekend. I was told that the next of kin had intervened and arranged for the Catholic priest in Nerja to take the service today. I had not been contacted because Fr Geoff's contact details were in the office, not at home. I received a lame apology, but there was nothing more to do or say. At least it means my entire day is free after taking Clare to the airport for her flight. What might I do, where might I go, I wonder?

After lunch we walked inland up the rio Chillar into the Parque Natural Sierras de Tejeda Almijara and Alhama, up to the hydro turbine building - as far as I walked on my last visit. It was lovely to share this delightful environment with Clare. I spotted and snapped a black winged dragonfly, but three of my four photos - the ones with the wings open - were out of focus. I don't recall ever seeing anything like this before, and with such unusual shaped wings, as you can see from this.

The profile picture I took is a little clearer, and reveals the length of this creature's body. Amazing!

I also caught a glimpse of a yellow wagtail, pretty much in the same stretch of river as I saw one on my previous visit, but the birds were few and far between on this late afternoon at the end of summer. 

During our three hour excursion, we passed scores of walkers, many in family groups with youngsters. It occurred to me that the school holidays were about to end, and this was a last opportunity to get out and walk together before the routines of pedagogy took hold of everyday life again. Summer Bank Holiday in the UK too, come to think of it.

 

Rio Chillar explored

After a comfortably warm night's sleep and breakfast, I made the half hour walk down into the centre of town to the church charity shop to celebrate the Eucharist at 9.30am for seven people, both shop workers regulars and visitors - two newcomers - who turned up. It's a well established pastoral point of contact with English speakers who either live locally or take holidays here. We celebrated St Barnabas a day late, and afterwards a few of us drank coffee together at Rosie's bar next door.

I walked home in a more leisurely way than I'd walked down, making several attempts to capture images of the hundreds of swifts and swallows which hunt for food relentlessly in the air day by day. I caught some remarkable images of them in a street two years ago. Here's one of the best.

This is one of this morning's better efforts. Will I improve on it with practice, I wonder?

I'm still getting used to a new camera, which doesn't have a separate viewfinder. Its display screen doesn't perform well in bright light - unless I haven't yet found out how to adjust some hidden setting.

After lunch and a rather wakeful siesta, which ended looking at a local map, I went out to see if I could find the path down to the Chillar river valley floor which is on the far side of urbanizacion Almihara 1, but not signposted. There's actually a proper road leading down to a river ford and to the un-metalled track which runs up the valley. It provides access to the several orchards, market gardens and stabling compounds along the sides of the river. The steep ravine separating urbanizacion I & II contains several caves. One of them, high up has been transformed into a dwelling with a terrace, and there's another one further up river right underneath the autovia del Mediterraneo viaduct where it spans a steep gorge. I can't imagine living with the traffic noise there 24/7.

I followed the river valley inland, and after half an hour's walk came to some neglected and abandoned buildings with a large panel in front of them announcing this to be the Parque natural Sierras de Tejeda, Almijara and Alhama, telling you all the things you were not allowed to do therein, warning of the risk of fire, but giving no other information about the features of interest in this limestone river valley.

From here on it was necessary to walk in the wide river bed, and eventually it was impossible not to get walk in the river shallows and get wet feet.

The water proved pleasantly luke-warm and I pressed on, walking for another half hour until I came to a three metre waterfall, close to which hummed a hydro-electric power  generation plant.

At this time I turned for home, having seen dozens of young people walking back down river, it was clear they'd started earlier during siesta and were heading back to spend an evening in town.

When I got back to the entrance area of the Parque natural, a young man, bronzed and long haired, was sitting on the back ledge of a small van with the doors open playing the guitar and singing, with only his German Shepherd dog for an audience. He stopped, smiled and greeted me, and asked first in Spanish with an accent I couldn't penetrate, and then in English, if I was the last walker out, and would I like to buy a drink from his picnic chill box. How enterprising I thought, out here in the back of beyond. I didn't want to stop and chat however, as I'd set my heart on getting back in time to listen to the Archers on digital TV. My little stroll turned into a delightful three hour trek up-river through forest, past bamboo groves, with majestic plane and pine trees. I'm pretty sure I saw a yellow wagtail, and a pair bullfinches, though I must check the colours and markings to be sure.