We subscribe to the online newspaper Diario de Navarra, with the object of helping the development of our Spanish language – even when we’re here in Uist. That said, the various translation tools we resort to can leave us even more confused. Or in this case, polyconfused.
Continue reading →Jonathan > The first day not taken up with building work, I drove up the NA-132 to the head of the valley, and at the summit, turned off to the north and steeply uphill again to the Sierra de Gerinda. Parking by the first turbine and set off along the ridge road through the turbines, and onward into the hills and forests. It was already mid afternoon when I set out, but it was so lovely to be up in the hills that I just kept walking for two hours and more – until the sun had set.
Continue reading →J > Browsing through our Google Photos, as a distraction from the raging storm outside, I soon found myself basking in the reflected sunshine of my trip to Navarra last October-November. To my surprise, I discovered a batch of photos I’ve overlooked in posting about that trip. It was the first Sunday in November, and as it turned out, the sunniest day before I returned to Scotland four weeks later. To be fair, it was a cold day : as in the Outer Hebrides, the clearest skies are associated with cold winds from the north-west. But it was sunny and dry, and I’m used to wrapping up against the cold. It turned out to be the best day out of my trip to Navarra!
Continue reading →J > This year my time in Navarra has been much cloudier and wet than last year : in fact it’s been exceptionally wet. But yesterday was a cheerful day of clear skies, warming sunshine, and – if barely above freezing, it was defnitely dry. Perfect for a day out exploring : I’ve scarcely more than a week left before I must return to Scotland. I headed to the Basque far north east of Navarra, about an hour’s drive away, a land of jagged sierras, soaring viaducts, dry barancos, narrow twisting gorges, vultures, circling overhead, roads switching sides across roaring mountain rivers …
Continue reading →Textbook Spanish only gets you so far. ¡Hola! ¡Adiós! ¡Buenos Tardes! ??? Hereabouts, in the Zona Media of Navarra (Estella – Tafalla/Olite – Sangüesa, roughly) – and northwards, the universal hello/goodbye seems to be … Well, until a few days ago, I just couldn’t make out what word or words were being said, by almost everyone, so casually and at any occasion. But then I was in Estella …
Continue reading →Napal is a tiny hamlet at the head of a very narrow valley hemmed in on both sides by steep wooded slopes and cliffs. Above the hamlet there is a remarkable rock formation – a slab of limestone half a kilometre long, fifty metres wide, and perhaps twenty to thirty metres high. The south face is impossibly hot in summer, so now that temperatures are milder, that’s where Catherine and Ion would be climbing today.
Continue reading →In Uist, roofs are kept low, simple and solid : anything else will result in disaster. TV antennae are installed within the roof void. As for Navarra, well anything goes, from higgeldy-piggeldy ancient, to the self-conscious contemporary.
Continue reading →J > It’s already two weeks since I travelled here to San Martín de Unx, Navarra, from the Outer Hebrides. I’ve travelled on my own this time. This year, no-one was availabe to the boots of us both. There’s building work to our house here in Navarra that needs my supervision ; so D has stayed home to look after all the animals (and lots of other things, besides, I hasten to add – before D does!).
Continue reading →J > Here’s Lur with our grandson Enaut (now nearly two years old), waiting for Catherine and I to finish fiddling with phones and set off for our walk up round the old castle ground up at the top of the hill, here in San Martín de Unx. But first we need to put shoes on Enaut!
Continue reading →At the Eroski supermarket in Tafalla – browsing speciality cheeses, especially those from here in Navarra.
But look there! A cheese from the UK ?
Continue reading →In Navarra it’s high summer, very high temperatures, and high time for a fiesta! And at the San Martìn fiestas, as in so many other towns and villages throughout Navarra, high up above the throng of fiesta-goers are the heads of the gigantes – in this case the four kings and queens. Traditionally, the the giant kings walk – or even dance – thanks to a burly-built human inside each of them!
Continue reading →Kilbride Bay is the small sandy beach across the road from the walled garden ; and Littorina obtusata is …
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