Inertia in Andalusia

An unexpected bonus to staying in the Love-home-swap in Lecrin, is meeting the neighbours. Plym and Tony’s house is the middle of three and we meet Hilary and Graham who are on the left and Jenny and Michael on the right. 15 years ago the three couples who were friends in England joined forces and built these houses to retire to. Hilary and Graham live here for nine months of the year and escape back to England for the hot Summers. I am surprised how friendly and welcoming they are to us because the house we are in is frequently rented out.

The pool area is shared and they call several times to say hi. They bring over fruit they have picked and Colm shares the cake he made with Oranges from the garden. Despite the Oranges looking perfect on all the trees in the area Hilary explains that they aren’t fully ripe until December and January. It too much fun to resist picking and eating oranges so we happily eat sour oranges for the week.
Graham has lots of tips on places we should visit.
We ignore most of them because we don’t want to go anywhere. Having the space to spread out in this lovely house and having a break from be in each other’s way all the time is such a pleasure.

One morning we do leave to go on a little excursion in Niguelas, a small village a few kilometres away. Graham has recommended a walk in the valley at the far end of the village. We park at the start of the village as Niguelas, to avoid the maze of narrow streets, which we are learning, is a common feature in Spanish towns and villages.
The walk is incredible, with high jagged mountains all around a fertile valley. We are on a raised walkway over the valley which follows the acequia - an irrigation system that is run by the local farming community. There is water flowing in the channel all along the walk which sometimes diverts through a man-made channel behind the rock and sometimes it runs under us as we walk along a metal grill.
We come across a cave house, the front of which looks just like a cottage. It backs straight into the hill so all inside is underground.
On another afternoon Colm and I hop in the car to check out the nearest beach about 30 minutes drive away in Salobrena. The drive is spectacular and I am sorry to be driving because I can only take side glances down into the valleys below us and up to the Sierra Nevada mountain range above us. The seaside town of Salobrena is prettily perched on a hill and I think I remember noticing it was we were sailing along the coast here 5 weeks ago. We see a row of Octopus being grilled at the beach bar in the traditional/ touristy fashion in a boat barbecue. The beach here is big but we dock marks for its sand. It is the same type of sand as the local beach in Cartagena which is grey and gritty just like builders sand. Our feet are dusty having walked along it.
We travel home on the lower road which in on the valley floor and the mountains tower above us. We see mountain goats and an enormous concrete dam and more stunning views- I hope to be a passenger next time we drive through here so I can take it all in.
On our final day in Lecrin we have coffee and cake in Hilary and Graham’s house. There is lots of intricate and beautiful metalwork in the house and garden which was all made by their son who has also settled in Spain.
While we in their house they get a call from the other neighbours who had left in the morning on a two day trip to northern Spain to get the ferry to England. They have left their ferry tickets behind in the house. We do some quick calculating and figure that we can bring their bag with us when we travel to Córdoba in the morning and save them having to travel all the way back to Lecrin. The four of us are tickled to have a little mission in the morning.Read more