Considering the time of year, the weather today was not that bad – sunny pretty much all day and heading toward 20c. We took a trip over to Orce market, which was a little disappointing but while there we noticed a sign for the museum and headed over there. A small entrance on the outside hides a 16th century very nice building which houses the museum.

Once inside we were welcomed in and given full instructions in English before being left to roam freely, not signs to tell you not to use your camera, no big-brother cameras. Very civilised.

We left the museum towards lunchtime and headed over to Huescar (just a few kilometres apart) where FINALLY after much effort and wasted money I found some solder that actually works at the local Ferreteria. There was most likely nothing wrong with my original soldering iron – just the cheap rubbish Chinese crappy solder they supplied with and sold separately from the irons – hard to imagine as to why a retailer could be so thick as to sell soldering irons along with solder that isn’t suitable for those irons – but there you have it. Anyway, along the way today I took some photos and here they are. You can click any photo to enlarge it.

Enjoy the pics… click to enlarge…

Sunday August 28th 2011: Apart from a few seconds in the morning, for just about the time since we arrived in Southern Spain this summer, not only did it rain…  and suddenly at that, but as we sat having our dinner in Huescar (thankfully inside a restaurant) we saw hailstones the size of peas (click on the photo to enlarge and see the hailstones on the road), for just a short while and then it was all over. In the process I captured one of the best sunsets yet (see next blog item).

Monday: On our last morning, the love affair with the puppy ended as he ripped one of our plants to pieces. We started our long journey back to the UK at 8am, went off into Galera for coffee followed by a trip to the bank and then we started our long journey to our next stop, Zaragoza.

What a scorcher, after a pleasant if uneventful trip to the village last night which ended early despite the band starting up in the town square, this morning we headed off to the ORCE market… fairly average – it’s now fairly obvious that the traders travel from area to area as you see the same faces at each market…. but pleasant.

A quick trip to BAZA where I found a battery-operated pump for the new boat  (and a new GREEN laser) and off we went to the lake where we spent the afternoon relaxing in the water and testing out the new blow-up boat.

I’m now sitting at the computer catching up with emails – and I’m roasting – head’s red, legs are red – I reckon I’ll be suffering soon. Still – keeps me occupied instead of stewing about being embarrassed to be British (see riots on TV)

For those of you who’re in the area on holiday or staying here I’ve created a twitter feed you can follow if you’re interested. I’ll put in updates about what’s going on – if you know of anything in the area I don’t – please do comment.

www.twitter.com/cavehome

We started our epic trip to Spain on 22nd of July with the long and wet car voyage from Wark on Tyne down to Portsmouth – specifically Hayling Island to visit our pals Clare and husband Craig. After atrocious weather all the way we arrived late at night to pretty decent weather and a warm welcome. After an excellent meal, rather too much wine and superb company we went off to bed to build up our energy for the European trip to come.

Saturday morning we set off first thing from Hayling Island for the Portsmouth ferry to Caen, France. We spent most of the ferry trip sleeping but I can tell you that the food on the Brittany ferry was really good and the room, though rather small, was comfortable.

Mid-Saturday afternoon we departed from Caen to head off to see our friends Carol and Graham who live in a small town called St Martin de Sanzay in the middle of France. A typical small French village, the area has a square and bags of personality. We spent the night and as you can see on the right – they have a pretty spectacular garden though you can only see part it it here.

Sunday morning after a typical and superb French breakfast with Carol’s home-made jam and croissants, we set off on our trip down to Spain, suffering at times pretty awful rain (though the temperature never dropped below 18c) and stopping on the way at a couple of French gas stations (where folk like to live the old-fashioned way – see toilet), to arrive late afternoon at our destination of San Sebastian in the very northern tip of Spain where, guess what – it was raining.

Our first hotel in Spain was the Hotel “Pension Ametzagana” in San Sebastian. I’ll save most of my wrath for Trip Adviser and Booking.Com but suffice it to say neither the iPad nor iPhone would even recognise the existence of the well-advertised WIFI and after being told by two staff that the restaurant would open at between 8pm and 9pm, we had a couple of drinks (hence ensuring we could not drive elsewhere) only to discover at 9.15pm that the restaurant does not open on Sundays. The best they could offer was warmed-over Carrefour pizzas (and Carrefour pizzas are awful).

The bedroom at Ametzagana was small to say the least, with a corner bathroom so amazingly tiny, there wasn’t enough room to swing a mouse never mind actually have a bath. The place left me with the distinct impression I’d just visited a Russian jail. NOT recommended. We left early morning accompanied by fog, rain and the promise that our next stopover, Valencia, is super-sunny! The plan is to stop-over mid-day at Zaragoza.

Incidentally to answer any questions about the cost of fuel in France – Diesel there is typically 1.53 Euros or more and up to now it looks like Spain is somewhat better at 1.28 to 1.34 Euros – but no more cheap fuel, to be sure. This must be crippling the less-well-off, especially in Spain with 40% youth unemployment. Still – given what we’re spending on travel this trip, 1.28 is better than nothing. That works out at around 1.13 a lire in British money…

Another sunny day today, warmer than the forecast. After a late start then doing some jobs around the house, putting up the postbox and our “welcome” sign on our new wall, we went off for a late and leisurely lunch at the Monte Carlo restaurant in Cullar – my favourite “Magra Con Tomate” in my case… then we went for a drive around the back of Cullar for no particular reason and discovered the municipal pool!

The pool isn’t in the best of condition but then it is the end of season – and it’s closed – it will be interesting to see what it looks like next summer. There’s a nice bar and restaurant there as well and what looks like a smaller pool for the kids.

From there we went off to Huescar for the “SpongeBob SquarePants” 3-day Fair – which turned out to be just a bunch of migrant types selling cheap Chinese goods – and a fair with rides in the middle of the town square…  when we got there the sun was going down and it looked a bit cheesy – lots of plastic goods and handbags – but to be fair we didn’t see it in full swing.

Personally I think Huescar does a lot better in it’s weekly market on Thursdays than this.

All in all not a bad way to spend a day – but wait for the next blog!