This Park, Really IS a Workout…

(photograph © Kiwidutch) 

The day is hot and it’s taken me until now to figure out exactly where we have stopped.

We are  in Nigrán, across the river mouth Miñor at the estuary of Baiona (Pontevedra) Spain.

Right by the waterside where we found the wonderful ice-cream, there is a wonderful, well planned park.

There are deep avenues of shade trees,  and at regular intervals under and around them, children’s play equipment has been installed.

There are lots of playhouses, swings, climbing frames, a lot suitable for smaller children for whom playgrounds are exciting places to be explored.

I do spy some items for slightly older kids too, even a flying-fox.

At the end of the trees, more in the open there is an installation of park equipment that  is also adult exercise equipment and naturally, along with the kids we all have a go at flexing our muscles and testing our strength.

(photograph © Kiwidutch) 

I’m always rubbish at anything that requires arm strength, and we laugh at my puny attempts to pull the levers down, the kids have a massive laugh at their lack of strength too but give it a valiant effort.

(photograph © Kiwidutch) 

(photograph © Kiwidutch) 

(photograph © Kiwidutch) 

(photograph © Kiwidutch) 

We linger there until the heat  and lack of shade by the exercise equipment eventually drives us back towards the end of the park where there are more trees and suddenly the kids are off, completely distracted and diverted… by what?

(photograph © Kiwidutch) 

…I follow to find out.

Additional note: Updated 01 Oct 2010, I’m having some technical difficulties with WordPress, the post for Oct 1st is on the page where we prepare the posts, complete with photos but when I try and view/preview it, I get an error message that says “Sorry, no posts matched your criteria.” and a blank page.  I’ve contacted WP support and hopefully this is NOT what you will see when this posts just after midnight my time!!) If it is, please bear with me, I’m trying to get the page to view a.s.a.p. Cheers,  Kiwidutch

The Bridge that Leads to Heaven (on a Plate…)

(photograph © Kiwidutch) 

Another day-trip into Spain…  we’ve been sightseeing (more on those bits in posts shortly).

Himself is driving,  we have just driven though a  town and are crossing a modern bridge when I spy an old bridge… and when I say “old”  I mean “ancient” sort of old.

The road we are on curves away before I can point it out to him, so I ask him to please turn back when traffic allows.

Suddenly littlest kid decides he needs a toilet stop soon, so we decide to look for something in the town we have just passed though, and check out the bridge at the same time.

After walking down several streets and finding places that look like cafes, but turn out to be bars,  we stumbled upon a park, and next to the park we stumble upon a cafe….

First things first… I rush a now desperate  Little Mr. to the smallest room, and that mission successfully completed, we emerge into the cool interior to find Kiwi Daughter peddling ideas of ice-cream to Himself , complete with her ” hey-I’m- the cute kid who has been soooooo very, very, very, good“  face and some non-stop chatter about how delicious that ice-cream  on the poster looks… designed to both wear him down and win him over at the same time.

It takes Little Mr a  complete nano-second to zoom in on the topic of conversation one-sided torrent of his sister and in the next instant we have two pleading beseeching children lauding their adorableness and extreme need for refreshment of the frozen kind on show on this very poster, before which they stand.

(photograph © Kiwidutch) 

One thing about being a grown-up is that you are very often exactly that…grown up. From where I was standing I could see something that the kids had not yet noticed, a proper ice-cream cabinet, scoop style.

Himself  hadn’t noticed either, so when he gave his usual his response to their pleas ” If Mama says it’s ok, then it’s ok…“  and I said ” No, I don’t think so, not today” his jaw dropped as fast as the children’s did.

It was very hot indeed and the kids had been very good in the car, so before there was a general outcry, and whilst they were still in shock, I laughed and continued… ” because they have far better ice-cream than that, over here!” .. and pointed them in the direction of the cabinet they had overlooked.

Their relief was audible… and thus we proceeded to work out what the Spanish named flavours were.

Two scoops each… Little Mr ignored flavours like Chocolate and headed for his usual favourites of Strawberry and Vanilla, (well in this case it was a strawberry banana ripple combo) whilst the rest of us got a little more exotic.

(photograph © Kiwidutch) 

Kiwi Daughter thought she’d won the day with hers but the minute I heard the lady tell me one flavour in the cabinet I knew instantly that I had the winning  flavour of the day.

I might not speak Spanish, but any Foodie worth their whisk better know that, no matter what the real translation the words,  “dulce de leche” can loosely be translated as ” Heaven on a Plate“.

What’s more, I have just scored the very last scoop of it.. they don’t have more in stock, they even checked.

The only problem now is that we take our ice-cream to the table and of course the rest of the family want to share flavours.. darn, after tasting my dulce de leche,  Kiwi Daughter wants all of mine… Now I love her to bits, but seriously this is dulce de leche we are talking about.  There are limits you know.

” Quick, look over there at …that bird!!!” she tries…

“No way” says Kiwidutch, wise to the rouse… I’m not looking anywhere until my ice-cream is finished.

(photograph © Kiwidutch) 

And finish it all we did…. making little piglets of ourselves, I even eyed the cabinet and wished that some more could somehow magically appear.

It’s probably just as well that there wasn’t more, I might have been tempted to buy it to “take home” …. how plausible was that as we  were still a decent distance inside Spain? …not at all of course.

What a shame,  we all could have eaten ourselves sick on the best ice-cream flavour on the planet. (sigh)

Some things are probably better to have never gotten the chance to happen.

Delighted with our find and with tummy’s full, the kids look longingly at the park on the other side of a small road, our next stop as they need to burn off some energy.

(photograph © Kiwidutch) 

(photograph © Kiwidutch) 

(photograph © Kiwidutch) 

Colours from the Paint Box in the Sky… (Water Colours, Naturally).

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Late in the Day as we head back  from Spain into Portugal it suddenly clouds over and a short sharp shower ensues…

Dinner is hastily taken inside and eaten but the rain clears more or less within minutes.

It’s hot and the kids want a swim, so as the light is fading the have a quick dip…

it’s dry where we are, but all of sudden I look though the trees and see…

Wow.

Isn’t nature amazing?

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Even the Texan’s can’t beat the size of This one.. no Bull !!!

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

The “Osborne” Company in Spain is famous or it’s Sherry and other Spirits.

Their Logo, a black Bull in semi-profile silhouette became not only a very famous company logo but was also eventually regarded as an unofficial national symbol of Spain.  It became widely used for football memoribelia, souveneers of Spain and on gift items.

The Osborne Company  produced massive billboards of the Bull bearing the Osborne name that were displayed all around Spain. 

In the early 1990′s Spain banned billboards on national roads and the Osborne black bulls were to be removed.

However, since they had become a national symbol the Spanish strongly protested this move and and as a compromise the  black bulls could remain but  the company name of  “Osborne” was deleted from them.

The image is now so iconic and so well recognised that the company name is no longer needed anyway.

The black bull billboards are striking, often put onto hill tops, and are very dramatic… We certainly did a double take when we saw this one.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Camino de Santiago de Compostela, sign-posting the Way of St James.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

As we drive around this area of Spain we frequently see people on the side of the road.

These are no ordinary pedestrians, they are loaded up with rucksacks, some have tall walking sticks and all are pacing themselves in the heat of the Spanish summer.

These are also not  casual “walkers” or “hikers’ in the way you might usually associate with the word: these are Pilgrims and they are, some of them, walking very long distances indeed.

They are walking the “Camino de Santiago de Compostela” (“The Way of St. James”)

So what exactly is the “Camino de Santiago de Compostela” ? Well, it’s not just a single walk way for a start, it’s a multitude of them that traverse over vast distances within Europe, and they are marked by one feature: they are all pilgrimage routes have Santiago de Compostela  in north western Spain as their end point.

And even more stunningly, Pilgrims have been walking these routes for approximately one thousand years.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Some research turns up some interesting facts: there are five main routes…

- The Camino Frances. (the most popular) 780 kms.

- The Via de la Plata ( the Silver route),  follows an old roman road, starts in Seville or Granada, about 1000 km long.

- The Northern Route,  follows the coastline, and at 825 km is the most dangerous as it’s not well sign posted, covers rough terrain with many climbs and descents.

- The Portuguese Route, starts in Oporto (Porto) and is a shorter route at 230 km in length.

- Camino Ingles ( the English Road), starts in  either A Coruna , 75 kms and Ferrol, 110 kms.

I have to admit that I thought I had good knowledge about the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, I knew that it ran though France and into Spain, I knew where it ended, and who St. James was.

I also knew that there was more than one route, and that there are a myriad of hostels and stopping places and facilities especially for Pilgrims,  (reduced rates if you have a special “pilgrim passport” ) but there is also an awful lot that I didn’t know.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

We had seen some signs on the coast road in Portugal coming north from Oporto and that was the first that I knew that the Camino de Santiago de Compostela also had links that faced southwards as well as north, and east.

We stop at one of the signs and I grab some photos.

Wiki tells me:

Besides being the mythical symbol, the scallop shell also acts as a metaphor. The grooves in the shell, which come together at a single point, represent the various routes pilgrims traveled, eventually arriving at a single destination: the tomb of Saint James in Santiago de Compostela.

The scallop shell served practical purposes for pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago as well. The shell was the right size for gathering water to drink or for eating out of as a makeshift bowl.

Also, because the scallop shell is native to the shores of Galicia, the shell functioned as proof of completion. By having a scallop shell, a pilgrim could almost certainly prove that he or she had finished the pilgrimage and had actually seen the “end of the world” which at that point in history was the Western coast of Spain.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Thus  you see on the modern road signs the stylized  “ribs” of the scallop shell….

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

One thing that I was a little disappointed to see was how many walkers we see on the edges of what are almost motorways…industrial areas, and general heavy traffic areas.  I assumed the routes would take quieter, more serene routes … and whilst yes they also do, it was alarming to see just how exposed to traffic some walkers were since there was often next to no footpath area.

That said, I missed a photo of a lovely sign what suddenly pointed off the road and right angles into a path that went through a vineyard.

There is a massive amount of information on the internet about the Camino de Santiago de Compostela,  if you are interested in knowing more then some excellent places to start would be in the following links.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santiago_de_Compostela

http://www.caminodesantiago.me.uk/santiago-de-compostela/

http://www.virtourist.com/europe/santiago/index.html

LookOut, What a View!!!

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

We’ve left the small Spanish town of Padron, and are taking small roads that weave though the hills and down the coast as we head back Southwards to Portugal.

Kilometers pass, and we see a large variety of landscapes, some parts are more built up, industurial, commercial, other parts are very run down and neglected and there is everything inbetween.

Coming over the crest of a steep hill on a more inland part of the route we see below us a steep little hill that almost pokes up out of nowhere… there’s “something” at the top that we can’t make out, and a clear road up to it.

We decide to make an investigative detour.

Our little hill is deceptively steep and have been made useful as it now serves as a Lookout point. A good  place to take a short break from driving, stretch our legs and grab a breath of fresh air.

The short stagger up to the top is worth it… I can see for Miles and Miles and Miles…(or Kilometers in my case)….

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Walking around Padron, some Traditions literally continue today…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

The small town of Padron in Spain is a sweet little place that oozes charm.

Of course we are in the centre where a lot of the oldest buildings are situated and it’s clear that there is a long history here.

I find a small map on a wall that I can’t read but is quite helpful to give you an idea of the lay of the land.

The car is close to the black square at the top right of the map and we have just had lunch in the little triangular building that’s in the middle of a tight cluster of buildings half-way between to black square and the red one at bottom right.

I read that there are also major religious  connections with  artifacts said to be connected with the Apostle St. James here, there are churches to see, museums and on selected days: Padron hosts the largest open air market in Galicia.

Only two things stop us from doing a larger walking tour… the sheer heat, it’s baking down and we are not  used to these temperatures, and the fact that Himself is keen to see what the coastal road has to offer.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

So we avoid heatstroke, leave the Spanish to their very sensible siesta’s and head back through the little streets to the car.

Air-co and sightseeing await.

We will be sure to do a larger tour here one day because a) we love the North of Portugal, Portugal is close by, b) Padron Peppers are always worth a visit to come and get, and c) we are already thinking of arranging to come back  at a time of year when it’s not quite so hot as this.

We walk leisurely back to the car and (come on, you know me…) naturally I’m taking photos on the way.

Let’s take a look at what appeared in the lens:

I spot some wonderful stonework on the “Biblioteca Publico Municipal” (That translates as “Public Library” I assume?)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Buildings and fountains…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

and a very interesting Cross…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Close to the car park area, where’s a statue that commemorates on of the biggest things that this area is famous for.. the Padron Peppers.  The sculpture shows a woman sitting selling her peppers.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

… and just behind the car park wall, a discrete  photo shows two older ladies doing exactly that too…  the tradition continues.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(the only mystery is why the woman in the last photo is wearing what looks like quite a heavy a pullover when it’s close to 40 degrees C.)

Attempting a Restaurant Review when it’s Mostly Lost in Translation.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

We’ve just driven from Hebron in north-western Spain, to Padron a very short distance away.

We drive into the centre of town at midday when summer temperatures are souring and are lucky to chance upon a parking lot thats studded with established shade trees.

The centre of town turns out to be smaller than we thought, and we walk quickly into a little maze of narrow pedestrian streets.

After a short 5 minute walk we stumble on a strange ensemble of old buildings…

Imagine a very irregularly-sided small courtyard that has a myriad of tiny alleyways leading into it from every angle and direction… dotted around the courtyard are restaurants, cafe’s, bars and apartments.

Imagine that the courtyard isn’t very big, but that there is a small triangular free-standing building parked in the centre of it, with the areas around it becoming more little alleys.

That’s the best way I can think of to describe the little triangular restaurant we saw as we walked though the small streets.

A slot machine operated toy car on one side ensured that Little Mr. Stopped dead in his tracks, and the sweets machine next to it equally captivated his sister, Kiwi Daughter. They begged but didn’t get.

However, having been firmly trapped into to the marketing  ploy of a  play-car that rendered our children almost immobile and severely reluctant to move on, Himself and I  decided to pick our battles and left them to explore it in hope for a few minutes whilst we checked out the menu-board outside the restaurant a few meters away.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Looks ok…  Himself goes inside to ask if they have a table available… they do, and even better, it’s out the back, under a canopy in deep shade on the other side of the building.

We pass though the front of the building, the inside of which consists of a bar area, a few tables,  a large screen TV, and then small hallway running the length of the building that lead to the tables outside on one side, the public convenience at one end, and by the bar at the wide end of the building, a door that appeared to be to the kitchen.

It’s clear that in this tiny triangular building this is not much inside space. Still it’s blazing hot and we are delighted with our spot in the shade.

Polite inquiry reveals that the staff speak no English, so Himself’s Spanish is put on full stretch as we tackle menu translation.

I’m severely allergic to mushrooms and want to avoid any translation confusion that might mean that they are enthusiastically included in my meal instead of excluded.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

It quickly becomes apparent that the single page menu is probably more basic than we thought, since we are having difficulty finding salad on the menu anyway.

We  find that “sasuages” are on the menu and think they should be a kid pleaser, that “papatas fritas” are potatoes fries, identify “pork” as the  fairly safe option when I’m  worried about meat that might arrive that the table raw enough to walk away on its own if I’m not watching, and finally, spot the Spanish Omelette to complete our order.

So, with our menu detective work duly half deducted and half guessed, at we sat wondering about exactly what we had ordered and feeling a little nervous.

The meat certainly contained more fat than I would have wished for, but I should have remembered that, having seen the abundance of dried sasuages in the supermarket in Portugal and knowing that the Spanish have more than their  fair share of local sausage specialties too.

The rest was simple and tasty… the bread was good (but not as good as Portuguese bread in my estimation) and the kids were happy… Result!

We get a scribbled hand written bill and some sign language on my part deduces that they have no business card for me to photograph or take address notes from.

Ah well, the staff were friendly in the limited way that the large language barrier allowed… our stomachs are filled for the time being and we were happy to have taken a break.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

The restaurant opposite to where we are sitting… (closed, at least whilst we were there)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Inside ours towards the bar…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

The place where we are…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

and finally, we head back down the narrow shady streets towards the car…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Our Mystery Destination Revealed…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

If you are a regular reader then you’ll know that Himself and I are not what you’d call ” typical” tourists.

Yes, admittedly we do sometimes visit tourist traps but  in general we avoid them as much as possible.

And you might have figured out by now that I’m a Foodie….

So if you are me and you are looking at a map of the northern tip of Portugal where it meets up with the north western section of Spain, and your sweet Other Half says to you, ” I’d love to drive up there into Spain  and wander around for the day, any suggestions as to where you might like to go?” and your eye spies two place names close together on the map, then you have a very quick and logical answer.

Now that was easy wasn’t it? You know instantly where were are going.

(sigh) What do you mean you need clues??? Do I deduce that you have failed Stage one of Sherlock’s Course of Elementary Deduction? Ok. ok… I will help you then: the Two place names you are looking for are: Hebron and Padron.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Has the penny dropped yet?  Ok, ok, before I see you posting photos of burst brain cells in the comments section, here’s your final Clue: http://kiwidutch.wordpress.com/?s=padron

Hebron is the area of Spain where Padron Peppers come from.

We arrive there before lunch and drive around observing rows of  pepper plants everywhere, some in poly-tunnels, many in open fields but also a lot under a tent-like structures of netting to keep the birds out.

The ” main street” though Hebron consists of houses, warehouses and a lone cafe/pub, where we ask  first for lunch and then for directions using the address taken from the Padron Peppers packet I photographed in the earlier blog post.

Lunch isn’t an option as they are now only a bar, but the address we want is almost next door… well almost.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

We wanted the address of J.J.Conde and got C.C. Conde, local Padron Pepper businesses, same family but JJ is the sister’s family enterprise and CC is her brother’s. That’s close enough for us, … we start walking down the street to the building that’s been pointed out to us.

Outside it’s topping 36 C so the cool of the thick walls and inside is a welcome relief. Himself’s Spanish talents are very helpfully dragged out once again as we get an emphatic “No” head shake to the ” do you maybe speak a little English?” question.

Yes, they have peppers and Yes, we may buy some.. How many bags? Well, at Euro 1.25 per bag, Five bags please. Five? Ok we will have to bag some for you.

We wait whilst the two friendly but not very chatty guys stand and sort out peppers. At first I assume they are weeding out peppers that might be damaged or past their best, or not up to scratch for some reason. These “rejects” are added to a large bowl nearby on the table.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Observation after ten minutes has me completely and totally confused… the peppers they are deftly  removing from the pile look identical to the ones the are putting aside for the bags. No blemishes, no damage, they look perfectly fine. What’s going on here? Why bother?

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

We wait patiently until they have finished and have sealed up our five bags full of peppers, finally as we are are about to pay I ask Himself to ask roughly how many hot peppers we could expect to stumble upon in the mix. To be fair it was a very tricky question for Himself to translate and pose but they got there in the end.. the answer ? None.

What??? What’s happened to the “one in 30 has a kick!”  Come on guys, Where’s the fun of playing Pardon Pepper Roulette when there’s no fire in any of the peppers anywhere in the pile?

More halted Spanish and a great deal of effort from Himself leads to us stumbling on the truth… they have removed the hot ones for us. Huh? How on earth could they tell which were which? We certainly looked closely but could see no difference between the two piles at all.  Laughs all round when Himself asks if we could also buy a bag of just hot peppers please…  so we leave with five bags of sweet Padron Peppers and a large plastic bag of hot ones.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

The guys give Himself and I one of the hot peppers to try as we go…

Himself handles the heat well.. Me, well, the kids delight in telling me that my face is very very very red, I finish it completely as we walk back to the car but now my mouth is on fire and my lips are about to explode.

Beer or milk are the obvious answers but the only thing I love about beer is the smell and we have no milk.

Flat Cola Light is my only relief much to the pure delight of the kids for whom my suffering is suddenly brilliant entertainment.

Man… these hot ones pack a punch.

Testing your culinary boundaries can be painful sometimes. But what’s a Foodie adventure without a little risk?

Laughing, smarting and pleased with our purchases we head towards nearby Padron for lunch.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Over the Spanish border and Heading Northwards…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

We are taking the motorway northwards into Spain, I have a specific destination in mind (more to revealed soonest) and it’s almost an hour and a half drive from the Portuguese border. That’s motorway time according to the SatNav.

I calculate the route back via the winding coastal road… almost three hours, so we will do the fast route up and then the long way home with the option of cutting back to the motorway if stomachs decide not to comply with the coastal plan.

Motion sickness pills have been taken so we hope for the best and the day is glorious  and shaping up to be a hot one, so great so far…

We are heading first for Vigo, and then further north… the scenery is somehow quite different to Portugal, Portugal seems neater, more uniform and better kept.

In comparison Spain seems so much more ramshackle and untidy. We see beautifully kept buildings next to disheveled ones, half completed ones, vacant lots. In lots of places it looks really run down and there are billboards and advertising everywhere, other bits are old and beautiful, then you round the next corner and it’s a dump again.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

It’s a region of the country that attracts Spanish tourists rather than international ones, and we are hard pressed to spy a foreign number plate anywhere, Even Portuguese ones are scarce. Certainly when you stop anywhere there is no English spoken, it’s Spanish or nothing…

Fortunately Himself hunts languages in his spare time for fun and his own face pulling admission of ” having a few words of Spanish“  is way off beam once he starts to put it into practice,  he has Spanish enough to chat basic menu’s, ask directions, ask questions that people actually understand… and interpret the replies.

Yes I know, that level of language sponginess is sickening to those of us for whom learning one is a blood, sweat and tears event (in about that order too) but it’s also darned helpful if you are travelling off the beaten track in the non touristic area where no-one is able or willing to utter a single word of English.

We wend our way over beautiful bridges…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

past glistening bays with I think what might be floating mussel farms in them….

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

past a sign that appears to warn fluorescent cars against hitting fluorescent deer … ( does it mean:  “Beware,  in the Twilight Zone our deer hunt cars in pairs!?”)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

an unexpected lighthouse…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

a monastery that serenely overlooks the water…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

and buildings that range from plain crazy to delightful.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

I even spy a Spanish postbox… now, you know by past posts that I like post boxes don’t you?… This one gets top marks in my view… it’s an art form. I’m adding it to my collection here:

http://kiwidutch.wordpress.com/2010/03/06/just-as-i-promised-you-its-in-the-mail/ and the ones featured in this post: http://kiwidutch.wordpress.com/2010/01/01/airport/

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Later, off the motorway, the SatNav cheerfully takes us over a small bridge into a small town where the streets suddenly shrink  rapidly, and we eventually end up taking an unexpected shortcut though a little maze of alleyways that the car barely fitted in.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

After ignoring a few impossible instructions (turn right into a side “street” that was barely the breadth of a single human being, let alone a car) and getting sick of the “turn around when possible” chant. Luckily Ms SatNav goes silent whilst she recalculates our route and we spy some signs that do a better job than she did until she  recovered her wits.

Someone needs to add ” Oops sod it, sorry, Crap, now I’m lost too” to her vocabulary… or at least “ Sorry, fouled that one up royally, didn’t I ?”

Still, in taking the ” scenic route” we manage to see a little more of some small towns than most locals probably do… and I get some funny photographic shots, like this building there someone’s seen fit to put roof tiles on the side of the building … not all of it mind you, just three quarters of it.  Probably they were left over from doing the roof and they just used them on the side as well until they ran out?? Who knows… local eccentricity at it’s best.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

I also manage a very bad shot of a statue on a traffic island of a hiker… it was beautiful but we were about to make a shady slightly illegal, oops am I really in the wrong place? U turn, in order to not end up in another street to seemed to lead back into the ally system that we just escaped from, so this blur will have to give you an impressionists idea.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

It’s an interesting journey and the sudden appearance in the last 40 minutes of the trip of Nintendo’s are keeping two little restless monsters in the back seat blissfully silent in the back seat.  (Nintendo’s in our house are reserved solely for plane and long car trip use and are therefore very much the novelty)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

We are almost there !…..