The quieter side to Spain

We stopped in Tabernas, which has an old Moorish castle and the desert like landscape provided settings for the “Spaghetti Westerns”. We drove to this – Mini Hollywood but unfortunatly it was closed, we were just a little too late. Apparently scenes for Lawrence of Arabia were shot around an area to the north east. Here also is a fine church, and beside the church is Circulo Amigos

 

a group of elderly men were playing dominos. I looked in through the window and they all smiled and nodded as if to say do you want to join in, so we both went in and sussed the situation, eased ourselves in and asked if we could take photos. No problems, they were delighted.

 

 

All of them were having so much fun, you dont always have to be fluent in a language to understand what’s happening. As they were playing, they kept hitting one man on the head with a domino when it was his turn as if to say “Think, Think”.

 

 

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Rice farming in Spain

I did’nt even know they farmed rice in Spain, but they do.

I did expect to go to a national park for some photography, and I did. But there were no birds there.

Rice Farming

Then I discovered where they all went. At this time of the year the farmers are tilling the remains of last years rice plants back into the ground. The fields are flooded to about a foot or so deep in water, and they need good tillage machines to chop up the plants. And they need a lot of grip to make it through the ground. It seems they have figured out a way to kill 2 birds with 1 stone, as it were. See for your self!

Rice Farming

Rice Farming required a special type of tilling the land which brings out a lot of birds.

This tractors wheels have been replaced by steel wheels, that chop up the old bits of the rice plants.

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Steel wheels are on their way back

rice farming

and it seemed to be doing a good job too! It must have been churning up a lot of food as all sorts of birds were hanging about.

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East coast for sure

Congratulations to those who passed merv’s test, we are definitely on the east coast!

 

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We decided to stay in a “real” camp site after spending nearly 2 weeks in truck stops, peoples houses, side streets and 1 farm. We practically stumbled across this 4 star campsite, and it’s pretty impressive. They even have a special room for washing your dogs! Merv is taking the opportunity to sort of a few jobs that didn’t get finished before we left, and I’m catching up on my journals. The big attraction is the wifi, as we managed to catch up on a few things.

 

 

 

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The west coast of Spain

We have been having a grand old time, driving down the west coast of Spain. We thought it would be a good idea to hog the coast as much as possible, but it was either high rise tourist trap towns, or industrial plants built right on the coast. We did however find a couple of exceptions to this rule, and I’m sure we drove past many more.

The first spot that we thought was great was Peniscola, where the knights Templar built a castle, and it still stands to this day. Pretty cool spot! It’s got loads of tight narrow streets that are pedestian only, and they really are stunning. After sampling them on a Saturday night where we got caught up in a few glasses of wine and way too much tapas, on the Sunday Sarah went for a run, while I went back into the town to photograph a few streets that caught my eye, This is what I saw:

P.s. only a few folks copped the deliberate west coast comment, you will need to pay more attention!

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Where is moglander jan 13th 2012

Today, I had to see a castle built by the Knights Templar, and I got my wish! Super little town, but it was a 5k walk to the castle. Right now, I am in a bar eating tapas, updating the web and drinking red wine wondering if I could explain to taxi driver where the mog is parked, or am I looking at a 5k walk home!

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A Small step for Mog, and Giant Leap for Moglanders

Once we got underway across france, things went pretty well. Right up until we tried to leave france. More on that later. This next set of images are from our trip so far, including Annecy.

 

 

After all this, we tried to go through the Mont blanc Tunnel, and had a few issues, ending up with a destroyed starter motor. The local MB dealership offered to remove the camper back, to allow them tilt the cab, in order to replace it. They figured it would take no more than a week.  Instead, my brother-in-laws and I got stuck into it and replaced the motor in a few hours, and we were on our way again.

Sometimes, it useful to carry a spare or 2!

 

I guess the camera club part of me has to dabble in a bit of arty photography from time to time!

 

 

 

 

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