Author: Franco

In Search of the White-face

OK, now to the main reason for our trip into the unknown this weekend. Whixall Moss in Shropshire is home to the UK’s southernmost colony of White-faced Darters (Leucorrhinia dubia). There used to be a colony at Thursley Common NNR

Posted in 2013 Shropshire

Into the Unknown

A couple of things came together to make our current June long weekend – well, longish weekend – our first UK trip of the year. Firstly, winter 2012 began in the UK sometime in April. As far as I can

Posted in 2013 Shropshire

Not Camera Shy

With an overcast day in prospect and chores having taken up a fair chunk of the morning, we thought we’d head over the mountains south to investigate the Fonts de L’Algar, a tourist attraction/trap waterfall uncomfortably close to Benidorm. Since

Posted in 2013 Spain

Double Drat!

About one kilometre down the valley towards Benissa is a lavender garden that is open to the public only on Sundays. Being a fan of the lavender fields of Provence, Francine was keen to stick her nose into this one.

Posted in 2013 Spain

Xalonia Weekend

Spain is one of those European countries where languages get mixed up. Here, it’s a little like driving into Wales and suddenly being faced with a mixture of road signs in Welsh as well as English. I’m not a fan

Posted in 2013 Spain

Ticked Off Along the River

With almost a week of mostly sunny, clear weather in the bag, we thought we’d try a walk up the Jalón river, that is to say, towards Alcalalí. I suspect that the river flows a little too quickly for for

Posted in 2013 Spain

Bereft Bernia

Bereft of life, that is. The Bernia is a roughly Snowdon-height mountain, that is to say about 1000m/3000ft-ish, to the south of the Vall de Pop where we are house-and-dog-minding. There is a spectacular circular walk around its peak but

Posted in 2013 Spain

Sardinian Visitor

Because of the last week of heavy rains, the Jalón river had been more of  a raging torrent. When we took Scamp for a wander around the town. we came across an interesting variation on the idea of car parking.

Posted in 2013 Spain

Yesterday, Part Two

It seems that yesterday afternoon’s spell of sunshine and temperatures approaching acceptable were a flash in the pan. Today we had flashes of different nature, those that accompany heavy downpours and precede claps of thunder, which el perrito definitely did

Posted in 2013 Spain

Things with Wings

Monday dawned with more solid grey but the rain was mercifully missing. Yesterday’s rain was still around, though, covering the garden plants in raindrops. Since it was actually dry outside and raindrops were my only interesting subject, I experimented with

Posted in 2013 Spain