Cycling B&B in the foothills of the Pyrenees

[ColinJ]

I'm sure when on holiday in Corfu I saw a special 'olive tree shaking machine' to make that job easy ...

Yes - one of these!

 

[Bonus]

Yeah I've seen videos of variations of that online. Haven't seen one in use here - although at the proper commercial olive growing plants they can't possibly do it all by hand, so must have some.

 

[Bonus]

We woke up to a surprise heavy mist this morning. I could barely see 5m out of the windows! By 10am the sun had burned through the mist up in Guaso though and it turned into another sunny day.

We could still see mist down in the valleys so we drove up our hill to Guaso church and took a couple of pics and a video. Snow fell on the higher mountains last night too.

 

[Bonus]

We had the pleasure of meeting up with some FB friends who've been following our story from the Isle of Skye in Scotland when they visited the area a few weeks ago

Mark had contacted me initially via FB some time ago when he was thinking of buying some land over here and we've been chatting on and off ever since. Was nice to finally meet him in person, along with his partner Adele and his daughter Abi.

They came to Spain in a custom made camper van and spent some of their trip camping in and around Ainsa.

While they were here we all climbed the Peña Montañesa together, which I posted about a little while ago, and we did a few rides together. They also spent a day helping us pick olives with Ramon and Rosa and a day helping me with my "Garden wall building".

Was really nice to be able to just speak English for a while!

 

[Bonus]

I think we can safely say that Winter is here!

Beautiful clear skies and warm enough during the day when you're in the sunshine, but cold in the shade and temps dropping to below freezing overnight.

No wind or rain so far . . .

 

[Bonus]

First thing yesterday morning we had snow in Guaso! It settled but didn't last long - but it put us in the mood for a drive up into the mountains to test out our 4WD and just enjoy a sunny Pirenean winter

Still amazed by the beauty of the mountains that are only 40 mins drive from Ainsa.

 

[Bonus]

Last year I remember working outside and managing to wear shorts until a week before Christmas. I was very happy about that because, compared to when I'd lived in the UK, winter here seemed pretty manageable.

This year however, I folded early, much to my disappointment. I assumed it was because the apartment we were in last winter was warmer than the farm house we're in this year, which allowed me to start the day "warm" before leaving to come to Guaso in the car to work in the sunshine . . .

Talking to the locals though, it seems that November and December so far this year have been much colder than in previous years - so last year actually was "warmer until later". Equally, June this year was much hotter than it has been in previous years.

Let's hope the trends return to normal next year!

 

[Bonus]

2018 is just around the corner and with it a new season of the Enduro World Series - which returns Zone Zero, Ainsa in Spain next September . . .

Can't wait! :-)

 

[Bonus]

The first two walls holding up the bottom terrace are finished

We had some help at the start from Ben & Corina (from the next village) and in the middle from Mark & Adele (from the Isle of Skye!)

Before and After Pics . . . . .

 

[Bonus]

Some more "work" photos . . .

Mrs Bonus clearing away the undergrowth for the next stage of the retaining wall. It's longer than it looks!

And me - you need a big spirit level for a big wall :-)

 

[Bonus]

Although it was sunny and warm today, "Storm Ana" gave us heavy rain for the last two days - and in winter when it rains down here - it snows up there!

The Pena Montañesa now has snow on it . . . . .

 

[Bonus]

Last Spanish lesson this afternoon until after Christmas.

We go every Monday at 5pm for 2 hrs. It's free, provided by the local council and the classes are very small - no more than 7 people per teacher.

In our class we have a couple from Australia, a girl from Brazil, a woman from Holland and a chap from Ireland. Spanish with an Irish or Australian accent sounds very funny - but they probably think the same about our accent.

The teacher speaks no English. She's the Mayoress of a local town and she enjoys teaching us - which makes it nice

:-)

 

[Bonus]

"Shortest Day" of the Year in the Northern Hemisphere today.

Here in Ainsa/Guaso we have Sunrise at 8:25:36 and Sunset at 17:29:59 . . . that's 9hrs 4mins 23 Secs of Daylight.

From tomorrow onward things can only get better . . .

:-)

 

[Bonus]

"Rutas Carretera de Zona Zero" (The Road Routes of Zona Zero)

Zona Zero has released details of the "Road Bike Cycling Routes" that I talked about on here a little while ago.

There are 13 Routes in all - 10 are in Spain and 3 are in France, in the district that adjoins Zona Zero to the north and with which Zona Zero is collaborating for this special project.

On the website "https://bttpirineo.com/es/road" each route has a description summary, a map, a hill profile and guide notes.

The routes are all circuits and you are able to join them at any point and "do a lap". You can also combine routes to make routes to suit yourself.

The shortest route, ZR-06, is 45km long with 1300m of climbing.
The longest route is a variation of route ZR-01 which is 189km long and has 3900m of climbing.



I'm looking forward to going out and testing them all in Spring!

 

[Bonus]

We're planning on making this a "Big Year!". . . .

We have buildings to build, trails to ride, mountains to climb, work to find, a language to learn, gardens to plant, fiestas to attend, rivers to swim in, caminos to walk and Casa Vino to drink.

Looking forward to it all . . . Happy New Year everybody!

Bonus & Mrs Bonus