What´s
New
What´s
New
The snow has vanished. The spuds and lettuce have escaped the threat of frost and the weather is wonderful - sunshine, cloud and just the perfect shower from time to time to keep up the growth. Real Springtime. My only problem is Mr Coal Tit. He and his lady have decided to set up house in the wisteria outside our galería. His worry is his reflection in the window so, to defend his territory he spends a lot of every day fighting it - and it can be quite noisey!
It's now "purple flower time".
The season seems to start with yellow - primrose, daffodil, gorse and so on, then move into purple and end with white - that's in general - or so it seems to me. We've now got wisteria in the garden (with ladybird), squill, violets, columbine and the first orchids in the wild. Though to upset my theory somewhat the wild cherry (white), of which we have a huge amount in the forest, has just about finished flowering.
To give you an idea of how warm the days are: there are grasshoppers and butterflies aplenty and we have 2 beautiful fat lizards about a foot from tip to tip helping to keep the grubs in check in the vegetable patch.
The swallows and their ilk are here and have been for a couple of weeks now. Ignacio (one of our neighbours) swears he's heard a cuckoo - I was with him at the time but I didn't hear it so ...?
Google Earth is our latest 'tool of entertainment'. If one enters Basieda - our tiny village - one can get a good feel for the area. Recently a guest of ours has posted some excellent photographs he took from his apartment terrace last October. These add 'atmosphere' to the overall imaging of mountains and valleys. South West of Basieda you can see the dramatic and remote Fuentes Carriones Valley with Curravacas and Peña Prieta peaks. So very often those who stay with us tell us how much they love walking the local hills/peaks where they can go for a whole day without meeting more than a couple of shepherds or maybe one or two other walkers.
Use the mouse to roam. Basieda is not in the most 'touristy' places of the Picos de Europa - these are indeed very beautiful and you'll probably want to visit them but there will be crowds (bus loads!). For unspoilt, wild beauty and peace Basieda and its environs can't be beat!
Suzanne Strevens - 17th April '08.
The recently published Black Bee "Circular Walks around the Picos de Europa" is proving as popular as we'd expected - details on their website www.blackbeewalking.co.uk . The majority of these walks are centred around Olmares.
Now is the time to book your Spring or Summer visit. Ryanair from Stansted to Santander & Liverpool to Santander, also Stansted to Valladolid. EasyJet Stansted to Bilbao or Asturias. British Airways and Iberia from Heathrow to Bilbao. Best to book car hire through the airline you're using.
Also you can consider P&O Ferries Portsmouth to Bilbao and Brittany Ferries Plymouth to Santander. You can find details of a P&O discount on Holiday-Rentals.co.uk - property 18847
Olmares, Basieda-Lomeña, Cantabria 39574
Tlf/fax (34) 942 735102
(we have a yahoo account which you can try if you have problems with the above e-mail address)
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