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Llíber

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    • Atlantik Tour 2022
      Day 47

      Keine Weinprobe

      November 4, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

      Wir haben bei Google gut bewertete Winzer ausgesucht, bei denen wir eine Weinprobe und einen kleinen Weineinkauf machen wollten. Bei zweien erklärte man uns, dass dies aufgrund von Corona nicht mehr möglich ist.
      Enttäuscht wollten wir in dem gemütlichen Restaurant an unserem WoMo wenigstens ein Getränk nehmen . . . Die machten gerade zu.      Read more

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    • TravelerAb in die Sonne
      1
      Day 67

      Jalon (Xaló)

      January 12, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

      40 Tage in Daimús.
      Es war nett, uns hat's sehr gut gefallen.
      Sind heute ein kleines Stückchen weitergefahren.
      Jalon, ein kleiner Ort in den Bergen, mit einer tollen Bodega und Sonnabends ein wirklich toller Bauernmarkt.Read more

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    • TravelerOstern 2024 Spanien
      Day 8

      Bei Pinos

      April 5 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

      Heute wollten wir den Tag nochmal für eine Wanderung nutzen.
      Es ging von "Lleus" entlang des 0 Meridian immer den Berg hinauf bis "Tossal de Pinos". Unterwegs heute weniger Palmen, dafür ganz viel Nadelhölzer. Und immer wieder schöne Ausblicke!
      Oben angekommen gab es zur Belohnung leckeres Essen.
      Der Rückweg fiel uns dann doch leichter 😉.

      Ein besonderes Highlight war ein Pony, dass von einem Hof einfach zu uns kam und uns dann auch noch ein Stück begleitet hat.      Read more

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    • TravelerRoland Routier

      Illegal immigrant

      December 23, 2017 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C

      When the almond trees blossom in Spring, this valley of Jalon is a carpet of pink and white flowers that attracts many sightseers, much to the irritation of the local peasants discomfited by sharing their road with other cars.
      But perhaps no more, for following the British and Dutch expats a new resident has arrived, Xylella fastidiosa. Not a prima donna on the flamenco circuit as one might guess, but a deadly tree plague. Farmers hereabouts are anxiously fighting the EU directive to eliminate all infected trees, including those within 100m of each one.
      "Laying waste to all the trees, healthy and infected alike, is no solution," gripes Eladio Aniorte, president of the Asaja Alicante agricultural union. "We are not facing isolated cases because the plague has spread to the Marina Baja, the Marina Alta and El Comtat. There is every likelihood that new focii could soon be found," he explains.
      Adolfo Ribes, spokesman for the AXFA growers' association thundered "This is the beginning of the end for our woodlands, towns and way of life."      Read more

    • TravelerRoland Routier

      La llosa de Camacho

      December 8, 2017 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

      Arrived at my next WorkAway just outside a small village called La llosa de Camacho which is 10km inland from Denia. Apparently the villagers dont like foreigners; by which they mean everyone not from the village. There are about 30 native families whose children for several generations have braved the 6 km journey to an altogether more friendly Alcalali in order to socialise and endulge in dangerous thrills such as dancing. But woe betide any romantic liaisons as one lady discovered when she dared to marry one of the Alcalali lads and is now shunned by the good folk of her village. Why she still lives there I do not know.

      The old Frankia struggled up a short goat track to get to the house and is now comfortable in an almond orchard.

      A Dutch couple of my age, Rob and Joanna are my chain-smoking hosts in their self-built house on a hillside. There seem to be a lot of Netherlanders around, competing with the English expats to render Spanish unnecessary in the neighbourhood: the locals speak Valencian which is a dialect of Catalan.

      With musical background provided by the "Voice of Holland" show on the satellite TV, they tell me how they came to stay here 18 years ago on account of the warmer climate and encroaching arthritis. Since they obviously need less money than living in Holland, the Dutch government reduces their pension every year until - next year - it will not be sufficient to sustain them. Returning would mean paying a "re-integration" tax and receiving less social welfare rights than refugees. Having worked in a variety of self-managed businesses, (lorry driving, building, stained glass, restaurant, bar,) they have the capability to survive in the black economy and are starting a Dutch supermarket in nearby Jalon. Getting the shop ready for business by 21st Dec is the priority and I will now become a shop fitter.

      The house is a long narrow building fitted into an olive terrace and reminds me of a Dutch barge layout. Water run-off is collected in a 20,000 litre tank which is nearly empty so showers are brief, like on a boat. Electricity is supplied by solar panels and a wind turbine and stored in a few batteries. This is inadequate for comfort and the small generator struggles if a band-saw and washing machine are used simultaneously. Even the fridge runs on gas. One project will be to calculate their real needs and plan some upgrades. They also dream of making an even smaller, easier to maintain house a little way along the terrace and renting out their current 2 bedroom house. This is what was advertised on the WorkAway site and will be a major project, especially since the entire water and power requirements will need to be upgraded.      Read more

    • TravelerRoland Routier

      Hounds

      December 26, 2017 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

      Either she thinks I am her boyfriend or her slave playmate. Meet Sara, the 14 month old Pyrennien mountain dog. After nearly beeing knocked to the ground a few times, I have managed to train her not to jump up on me whenever she sees me, but mornings are still too much for her to exercise restraint.

      The other dogs are the elderly Pepper, a cross Labrador / Alsatian bitch and the tiny male, Naughty who is something like a Chihuahua and spins on his hind quarters like an out of control merry-go-round whenever he greets me. Both of them too insist on daily tummy rubs from the guest.      Read more

    • TravelerRoland Routier

      Casita

      December 26, 2017 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

      The house built by Rob. It has been built of terracotta blocks covered in a concrete roof, (with only one leak,) along one level of almond tree terracing. So it ressembles a Dutch barge, having a long corridor with spare bedroom and bathroom to one side and leading down to a kitchen / dining / seating area. The main bedroom continues the run. What used to be the dry-stone wall of the terrace has been plastered and visually incorporated into the structure by painting it white. It is difficult to keep clean even if there was time to do so.

      Power comes from solar panels and a few batteries, but insufficient to power the house properly. There is no light in the kitchen for example, and the generator must be started to run the washing machine. The fridge, which tends to freeze things periodically, is gas powered as is the on-demand hot water. Rob made a neat enclosure in the bathroom for the gas bottle, electric water pump and heater though didnt have time to make a vent in case of gas leaks. The hot water does not run to the kitchen. The toilet runs to a cess pit and some form of mechanical aid like a stick is often required to flush it properly.

      The home is decorated with some quaint teapots and six statues of Laurel & Hardy.

      The quality and condition of this do-it-yourself home is best demonstrated in the photo of the corridor lamp. Makeshift.

      After the success of their first building, Rob and Joanna are keen to build another smaller one at the other end of the terrace where all the builders rubble lies. The first is too big for their needs and too difficult to clean. They intend to have one room of about 20 sq m for themselves and the three dogs, with a sleeping alcove off to one side and a small bathroom separate.

      I am now helping Rob build an access path to the new building. It will run over the old pond which will be half filled with some of the accumulated stone / brick / glass rubbish accumulated over 18 years. Rob cannily wants to use the other half, beside what will be the entrance, as a cess-pit for the new dwelling. Unfortunately, it will be the last thing I do, as they have discovered that they do not have enough money to buy cement.      Read more

    • TravelerRoland Routier

      View from the top

      December 22, 2017 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

      I took last Sunday off and walked up the neighbouring hill to take some photos.
      The path disappeared a couple of hundred metres below the summit but I stuck to the plan. Soon I was stuck to the hill. I felt a bit of a prick: in fact many of them.
      The Romans had introduced terracing to the stony hills and once upon a time the entire slope up to the 300m summit had been terraced. Each terrace was only about 2m wide and the retaining walls were no more than stacked stones. The dry-stone walling familiar to Northern climes was not deemed necessary. In recent times the land had been abandoned, the walls had collapsed, and prickly plants have sewn themselves into a cover for the rocks. No way of knowing whether ones footstep will land on hard ground or stomp through scratchy veg for another metre. The predicament is to decide whether to scrape your leg out of the hole and hope for better luck next time, or keep going and let the other leg take a turn at suffering an angry stab strike from the side.
      But I made it and took these photos of the sea at Denia, the gateway to the Balearic Islands, and of the casita where I am staying.

      On my return I discovered that my hosts had vanished leaving the gate locked so I could not leave. Unfortunately I needed by 4 o'clock to be at another Dutch couples place as they had invited me to dinner. Nothing to do but wait and at 5 my hosts arrived and kindly drove me down to the other house.
      Rijn and Else are in their 70's and also live in a Dutch bubble here. She was an HR manager for the now defunct Wang and he was an ex-Burroughs man who had been in the computer business even longer than me, so between us we had a good winge about the decline of systems knowledge and the inability of accountants to understand the difference between commercial and Home computers. Then we watched Dutch TV for an hour because the final of Maestro was showing. This competition is between a number of wannabe conductors who are given the opportunity to conduct a professional orchestra in a variety of pieces. They were surprisingly good and it really demonstrated the difference the conductor makes to a piece of music. So there is a novelty, I found a game show I actually enjoyed.      Read more

    • TravelerRoland Routier

      Huntin'

      December 25, 2017 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

      Woke this morning to the pop-pop of local hunters vainly trying to get some porc for dinner. I didn't realise that I was experiencing the living hell that they have made for expats in the Jalon Valley.

      "We are terrified here," moaned a 70 year old grandmother formerly from Leicesteshire who does not wish to be named. "I had a cat killed, lead shot coming through the window and you just have to shut up."
      Having moved to this scenic area from the coast 15 years ago, she says that hunting dogs often jump her fence and run amok in her garden.
      "The noise from July to February is ridiculous - they begin at dawn and and we can't sleep! They hunt anything and the dogs are destroying the environment. Once I shouted at them from the roof but one just put his finger up. Then they spent hours parked at the end of my drive trying to intimidate me."

      After France, Spain has the largest number of licensed hunters in Europe, amounting to 2% of the population.

      The government has been slammed by animal right's groups for not doing enough to end hunting, and especially for extending til 2020 the planned 2017 deadline for ending hunting in all of Spains 15 National parks. And of course, King Juan Carlos himself an avid hunter when still mobile was roundly criticised and made to resign as honorary president of WWF (Spain).      Read more

    • TravelerRoland Routier

      My host, Joanna

      December 24, 2017 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

      This is Rob's wife Joanna, matriarch of the family.
      She too is a transplanted Dutch burgher who has had her problems, chief of which was a brush with cancer 20 years ago. Having won once, she is confident she could do it again so limits her roll-your-own Drum consumption to before, during and after meals, (where 'after' is the time until the beginning of the next one).
      Jo has been working very hard to get her Dutch supermarket up and running, spending most days down there. She has been helped by one of her children, Jacinta, who lives nearby having married a Spaniard and producing a son. Jacinta's 2 brothers married and moved back to Holland with their own offspring.
      Joanna's mother also lives in Holland. Bizzarely, she refused to acknowledge her daughter's illness and has not spoken to her since. After several rebuttals, Jo has given up the attempt to communicate.
      She leaves plenty of white sandwich loaf with squashed meats and cheese for lunch and on her return home in the evening around 7:30 she insists on frying us up a dinner, for example of meat in breadcrumbs with cheese fried in breadcrumbs.
      With luck she wont discover that I have been stealing lovely oranges from an adjacent, abandoned orchard.      Read more

    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Llíber, Lliber

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