Jackie in pictures: Today we froze

My travelling companion and I are spending so much time together that we're talking at cross purposes. I just told him how many page views I had yesterday and today and he thought I was giving him temperatures for Honiton (in the UK)! He must be feeling nostalgic for home because he's been checking out 'home' temperatures.

We took off for local pastures new this morning, to check out a recommended (by the bird book - the third person in our marriage) walk in and around the gorge of the Rio Riaza, a few miles north east of Sepulveda. Apart from a few mad public holiday weekend motorists on the autovia, it was easy to find (not always the case). Again, some of the scenery was vaguely Dartmoor-like and with the sun shining, all looked and felt beautiful - from the inside of the car.

Outside it was freezing, thanks to a truly bitingly cold wind from the north - most likely from Beer (home). We were only going to pop out and walk for a bit, so didn't particularly wrap up or (more importantly for me) take any food. As my paces are counted in an app on my phone, I can record that we clocked up 16,091 before we returned to lucky Sylvia. She was left basking in the sun and had a full tank and so wasn't hungry.

I stumbled on a stone in the otherwise flat road on the way back and was partially lame and hobbling, at the same time as hallucinating about 'proper' food. Cooked food. Mushrooms, onions, sprouts, pumpkin (?), onion gravy, nut roast, bubble and squeak, fried eggs, chips (!), carrot (singular), petit pois (?), not brocolli.....

We had some nice fish last night (Merluza) (Hake) - I say night, because it was very late - and that was it, just fish. I should mention before we leave tomorrow, that our hosts are lovely. It's good that they don't speak a word of English because it means that my every word of Spanish counts. Mr. host explained in Spanish this morning that we wouldn't see any corking birds unless we took off in the car. 'The car' was pretty much the only bit I understood, but the rest was gleaned from his body language and exclamation of 'perfecto' when we showed him where we were intending to go in 'the bird book' (or he wanted us out for the day).That book has a lot to answer for as it's ten years out of date.