It’s hayfever season.  It’s also the seasonal change from hot to scorchio and here in Almodovar we’ve been reminded of why this river basin is called ‘The Frying Pan’ with temperatures getting as high as 38 – in May! As is traditional in Cordoba we missed the week-long celebration of Hypocrisy known as Feria.  It’s…

If you are a fan of Game of Thrones then you’ll know Almodovar Del Rio. You’ll know the castle here that dominates the skyline for tens of miles around. It is something quite spectacular and seeing it every day never fails to bring about a sense of wonder and awe. But is Almodovar, our home…

We have been blessed lately with visits from family members who, frankly, have been lucky with the weather here.  Not too hold; not too cold.  My sister came over for my birthday with her husband and Sonalee’s brother came over for this Saints Week with his wife. Naturally the dogs have been spoilt rotten.  In…

It has, finally, stopped raining.  It has not really stopped since mid-December and now, at last, we have sunny warm weather. Thank God! Our rented place in Almodovar Del Rio did get flooded one day but fortunately I was at home on one of my part time days so I was able to stop it…

It’s a new year!  Another one.  Another one where we stayed at home to see in the New Year because of the fireworks that freak out the animals, this year mercifully short-lived.  Seriously, it went on for 30 seconds.  It was surprisingly okay. The start of 2026 has, after finally having an extended break from…

Campo Nubes is a very small village (a pedania) near Fuente Tojar that comes under the jurisdiction of the town of Priego de Cordoba. It has roughly 30-40 residents, no shop, no bar, no school, no surgery, no noise. The dirt road from the village, part of the Colada of the Camino Real, leads to…

So being without Dante and Sparky is the new normal here in the castle town of Almodovar Del Rio.  It will take some getting used to.  We all miss them both a great deal  and it has very much contributed to our collective feeling of, well, feeling low. We have a new car, which is…

Following the death of Dante, September 2025 gave us even more reason to hate it when, a week later, a driver fell asleep at the wheel of his car and ploughed head-on into our van.  Then two weeks later we returned to Almodovar Del Rio to find that Sparky was dead, poisoned.  It has been…

We lost Dante today.  He passed away on the sofa at home with his mummy by his side after a relatively short illness from a cancerous tumour that grew aggressively during the latter part of the summer. He was eleven and a half years old.  Now that isn’t bad for a dog who was found…

Firstly, apologies for the quantity of photos. Or maybe not; they’re probably better than reading my inane thoughts. Anyway, we went to Ireland for a trip that we have been telling ourselves we should have arranged for a few years. It was a holiday but it was also a sort of pilgrimage to see the…