Kiersten Rowland

Wanderings on and off the Alta Via 2 trek in the Italian Dolomites

2024-08-06T00:00:00Z

First of all let me say that this report doesn't cover the whole Alta Via 2 trek. If you are looking for a complete trek report and tips I can recommend you visit Brooke Beyond

This report details my experiences on the Alta Via 2 trek (AV2) in July 2024. My wife, Kiersten and I completed the first half on the AV2, but the possibility of stormy weather had us heading for lower ground. We spent the second week of our holiday mirroring the AV2 but at a lower level. We enjoyed this alternative experience but it was only the possibility of further unsettled weather and a touch of accumulated fatigue that kept us from rejoining the AV2 trail.

It is quite a long and comprehensive read but the hope is it may help give information to others who are thinking of visiting the area.

Firstly, a 15 minute video of the trek to set the scene

Day by Day

Getting there

We flew into Treviso (unfortunately with Ryanair). Treviso is a lovely city and the airport and train station are but a short walk or bus ride from each other. Our friends, Jill and Pete, were flying in the following morning so we stayed just outside the city at the Hotel Al Giardino (good). A 45 minute walk in the next day to the train station to meet our friends.

The train leg of our journey to the start at Bressanone (Brixen) involved a change of trains at both Vicenza and Verona. Unfortunately we got confused, got off at the wrong stop in Verona and missed our connection to Bressanone. What dummies. We alighted onto the platform to a deserted station reminiscent of the movie "Once Upon A Time in the West" (see video below) or Butch and Sundance arriving in Bolivia!

Feeling foolish we eventually connected with a later DeutscheBahn train to Bressanone. We had paid extra for reserved seating but in fact had to spend the entire two hours of the journey standing up with our bags in the aisle. Complaint incoming! Nice scenery though.

Early evening and, just a couple of hours later than scheduled, we arrived at the start point of the Alta Via 2 in Bressanone and went to our comfortable shared room accommodation (Hotel Alter Schlachthof). A nice night was spent enjoying Beer/Aperol Spritz refreshments sat in the street bars of this lively town.

Logistics

Train travel is reasonable value if you can organise the connections and you don't get off at the wrong stop!

However, we found local bus transport the most cost effective and easiest to use. Trentino Transporti has a good app that we found useful. Important to check in though prior to departure (as per airlines).

Prices we paid:

Passo Rollo to San Martino di Castrozza €2 per person
Fiera di Primiero to Feltre €6 per person
Feltre to Treviso €6 per person

Refuges

In general they all are of a very high standard but need to be reserved in advance especially for July and August. This undoubtedly means a lack of flexibility when it comes to route choice or weather dependent objectives. It's a bit rigid.

All refuges offer some small dormitory options, some even with personal rooms. Food is wholesome and good in most cases although we did find the prices high. I guess being the only alternative around in most cases means that they can charge what they want? In the north the food is Germanic/Italian and the further south you get it slowly turns to pure Italian.

All refuges had free WiFi except the Rifugio Rosetta which has us worried for a while at the lack of communication from our friends.

Expect to pay between €80 and €90 per person per night half board. Being a member of an alpine club will get you discounts (maybe €17/night) in CAI affiliated refuges.

Hotels

Using Booking we stayed at hotels in the towns of San Martino di Castrozza (Miramonti) and in Fiera di Primiero (Hotel Castel Pietra). Both super lively towns with lots of bars and restaurants around. We ate out and enjoyed staying there. Much better value than eating at the hotels themselves.

We also used Booking to reserve our accommodation at Cant del Gal (Val Canali) and at Hotel Chalet Giaseni (Sagron). These were the only options around, lovely places to stay but expensive.

We spent the final two nights in the town of Feltre (Via Paradise 32 and Hotel Doriguzzi)

Breakfasts throughout were amazing.

Expect to pay between €100 and €160 for a double room in the towns for bed and breakfast. Cheaper options will exist if you search around.

Meeting fellow thru hikers

One of the nice things about long distance trails like the one were on, is the people from all walks of life that you meet along the way. The common denominator for all is the trail itself and it unites.

We have met people from the US, Korea, Germany, UK, Spain and Romania amongst others. Each night we meet up at the next refuge and talk about the day adventures and discuss plans for the day to come. Much chat and ideas about lightweight gear normally ensues. An eye is also kept out for them at the next refuge. They become trail mates and a certain camaraderie develops.

Packing List

We had to carry all our belongings for two weeks on our backs. You have to be ruthless. Our base weight (excluding water) was 6.5 kilograms.

Looking back on our itinerary and the condition we encountered, we didn't really need Via Ferrata gear nor Micro Spikes. In Mid July there was no difficult late season snow to cross that wasnt soft. The protected cable sections were easy (Grade 1 Via ferrata) so no need for gear. Those items would have saved us 700 grams. I also didnt use a puffer jacket (150g) nor trousers (229g).

View our full Packing List

Aftermath

First week was on the Alta Via 2 and the second week making our own way on deserted trails, over narrow passes and alpine pastures. My watch tells me we have covered 130 kilometres with over 7000 metres of ascent/descent. No wonder the old legs are showing signs of accumulated fatigue.

And what a blast it has been. We loved it. Even carrying all our gear over the mountains for two weeks! Apart from the dramatic scenery we have met some interesting people, stayed in incredible places and eaten great food. We are already thinking of coming back and using some refuges as a base for via ferrata (see below).

Thanks to Jill and Pete for their organisation and companionship on the AV2 and of course to Kiersten for being the ultimate hiking buddy.

Future Plans

Our bodies when we returned to Spain told us we had done the right thing by having an easier second week. We were both tired and worn out, not only by the hiking, but by the travelling too.

However it did leave us with a feeling that we had missed out on some of the more technical sections of the AV2. To this end we intend to return, maybe in September 2025 to do a series of pure via ferrata routes in the Pale de San Martino range. We can use a couple of refuges as a base and from there do hikes or more technical via ferrata, without the constant pressure to get from A to B each day. To this end, the AV2 trek has been a very useful source of information.

Day 1 - Bressanone - Prose Hutte - Rifugio Genova

16 km and 1067 m ascent

This was supposed to be a gentle introduction, but I still found this a tough first day on the trail, even though we utilised the gondola from San Andrea to get to 2000 metres rather easily and rapidly. A steady uphill saunter stretched the legs and got us up to the Plose Hütte within the hour. To the south we could see many spectacular, jagged mountain ranges disappearing into the distance. Our route to come over the following days.

Then it was a descent initially through open alpine pastures and then steep forested hillsides to the Passo Rodella where we probably made the mistake of stopping at the Rodelalm (1880m) for apfel strudel and cold beer. Enjoyable but a mistake nevertheless, because the following two hours were very hard work in the afternoon heat and humidity as we ascended steeply to the pass at Forcella de Putia (2360m).

The walk round the head of the green upper valleys to the Rifugio Genova (2306m) was delightful, amid swathes of wild flowers and the adorable, chirping marmots.

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Day 2 - Rifugio Genova - Rifugio Puez

10 km and 838 m ascent

A bright clear morning as we left the refuge to traverse the jagged mountains of the Parco Naturale Puez Odle range. We stopped at the delightfully situated Medalges-Alm for a coffee before continuing our ascent, now more steeply, zig zagging up towards the pass of Forcella della Roa (2610m). This is a dramatic place with mountains looming in all directions.

Here we had a choice. To continue on the AV2 or take a shorter, more direct option that would involve our first taste of handling via ferratas. Of course, we chose the latter. The access path to the via ferrata was probably the worst part with steep loose terrain all around. At the base of a cliff we geared up and started ascending fixed cables. In reality this was pretty simple, much easier than the via ferratas I was used to back home in Spain. Just a question of clipping into the cable for protection and then not letting go! There were quite a few cable protected sections and, towards the end, a short ladder to climb. Good fun that we all enjoyed. All too quickly we emerged on the broad slopes of the Forcella Nives (2745m).

The long descent from the barren mountain uplands to the green meadows near the Rifugio Puez (2475m) was a delight and very straightforward. An interesting and rewarding day crossing the Odle mountains.

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Day 3 - Rifugio Puez - Rifugio Pisciadu

10 km and 809 m ascent

Kiersten and I gave breakfast a miss and opted for an early start on the trail. A glorious romp around the rim of the Puez plateau with glorious mountain views in the early morning sunlight. Saw nobody until Jill and Pete caught up with us as we reached the Crist de Crispeina pass at 2470m.

Contouring around the head of the Val de Chedul we easily reached the spectacular Forcella de Cir pass (2460m). The Cir pinnacles were an amazing sight especially with the backdrop southwards to the Piz Boe and Marmolada ranges. Up to now the four of us had walked in relative silence, enjoying the isolation and vistas. On the descent towards Val Gardena this all changed when we were met by a constant stream of noisy humanity coming uphill to meet us. The contrast was massive and somewhat disturbing after the quiet of the mornings progression.

We stopped for drinks at the popular, but expensive, "Jimmy's" restaurant before heading down to the busy road pass at Passo Gardena (2110m). We didn't loiter long as we had a big ascent left to do but we were glad to leave the pass with its loud motor bikes, cars and overly vocal people.

The difficult part of the day was reserved until the end. This was the climb up the Val Setus. This deep gully is steep, loose and still contained some small snow crossings. To make matters worse the path had plenty of people on it. It all came to a bit of a standstill at the protected cable section as people dithered and dallied about how to progress upwards. Once past these people we started to enjoy the steep, scrambly ascent. After 400m of gnarly ascent at 2620m we emerged onto flat ground and our overnight destination, the Rifugio Pisciardu (2587m) but a stone throw away.

Yes, a tough day, the beers on the terrace were very welcome. Overnight the rains came down.

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Day 4 - Rifugio Pisciadu - Rifugio Castiglioni Marmolada

16 km and 935 m ascent

Threat of afternoon thunderstorms had us leaving refuge early, without breakfast, at 6am. Had these glorious mountains to ourselves for the next 4 hours as we climbed steep snowfields and scrambled along cable assisted passages crossing over the alti plano, barren, lunar landscape of the Sella Group.

We climbed up to the highest point of the whole Alta Via 2 at 2960m and then passed west of l'Antersass (2906m) on an entertaining but easy cable assisted traverse to reach the Rifugio Boe. This very modern refuge made a pleasant stop for a coffee break.

We had made the prior decision to use the cable car descent from Sass Pordoi and save our legs the 600m descent to the road pass at Passo Pordoi. The traverse to the cable car became more and more crowded with day trippers the closer we got to the Rifugio Forcella Pordoi.

The cable car was most welcome but, as with previous road passes, the motor bikes, cars, shouts and screams at Passo Pordoi contrasted greatly with our early morning walk in solitude and silence.

Worse was to come as the next stage took us into a nightmare. Heading south eastwards we arrived to loud music blaring out of the Rifugio Baita Fedarola. We didn't stop. The next stage to the Rifugio Veil dal Pan is most beautiful but, again, spoilt by the amount of people on the trail. The green alpine pastures of the Viel Dal Pan contrast with the glaciers and snows of the Marmolada mountain range to the south. We did stop at the refuge for a beer though.

The final section down to Lago di Fedaia and the Rifugio Castiglione Marmolada was lovely and arrival at the lakeside refuge most welcome.

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Day 5 - Rifugio Castiglioni Marmolada - Passo San Pellegrino (Hotel Costabella)

15 km and 1065 m ascent

We couldn't see the point of walking close to a road so we "cheated" and got a taxi to take us down the 9 kilometres to Malga Ciapela at 1450m, our start point for the day. I thought this would make a very tough day easier but as it turned out, it was still a very hard day with over 1000 metres of ascent.

The low altitude start point meant that there was heat and humidity in abundance as we ascended through the pine forests. Together with walking on forest roads meant for an uncomfortable first hour. These dirt roads eventually turned into grassy trails and as we broke out of the tree line we could see the pass ahead. The Forca Rossa (2480m).

The interminable zig zags (there were 15, I counted them) that led up to the pass were tiring on legs that were beginning to feel the strain of the previous 4 days accumulated kilometers. A rest at the pass and then it was a nice gentle descent through colourful alpine meadows lined with wild flowers to the Rifugio Fuciade (1980m), where we stopped for a drink before continuing easily down to our overnight at the Hotel Costabella at Passo San Pellegrino (1920m).

5 days on the trot were beginning to tell. Thankfully we were near the half way point and had built in 2 half days for the next section to the Rifugio Mulaz. I was looking forward to a short break and easier days to let the legs and lungs recover before the difficulties still to come.

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Day 6 - Passo San Pellegrino to Rifugio Passo Valles

6 km and 24 m ascent

Short rest day today so a lie in, leisurely breakfast, gondola uplift and then a 6 kilometer downhill stroll to our overnight refuge. All very pleasant and easy. Just arrived at the pleasant Rifugio Passo Valles at midday as the heavens opened and an incredible rain and hail storm erupted. What luck we had not been caught up high. I tucked into a "gnocchi con ricotta affumicata" (delicate potato dumplings with smoked cheese) and listened to the thunder.

Multiple weather alerts suggested we were in for a few days stormy weather which suggested bad weather building during the morning and appearing in the afternoons. I think Kiersten and I didn't really fancy running ahead of the storms every day over the Pale di San Martino range. We made the decision that the following day we would divert from the AV2 at this point and keep at lower level until the weather cleared and we could rejoin. Sadly we parted with our companions at this point as Jill and Pete took the decision to keep on the AV2.

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Day 7 - Rifugio Passo Valles - Passo Rolle - San Martino di Castrozza (Hotel Miramonte)

11 km and 526 m ascent

It was overcast with low clouds on the morning of our departure from Passo Valles. Pete and Jill had left the refuge early, we had a late breakfast while we finalised our route to Passo Rolle and onwards to San Martino di Castrozza.

Following the Refugio Mulaz trail we arrived in 40 minutes at the Forcella Venegia pass. Here we started dropping slowly down and contouring the hillsides and alpine meadows. There were no others on this beautiful trail until we reached the base of the Val Venegia at the stream of the Torrente Travignolo.

The skies seemed to be clearing and dramatic mountains appeared above. The rains had cleared. Instead of following a dirt road (I hate them!) we decided on a faint trail through the woods east of Monte Castellaz (2333m). This brought us out at a broad pass above Passo Rolle which was then easily reached. From there we caught a local bus down to the chic alpine resort of San Martino di Castrozza and to our hotel (Hotel Miramonti).

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Day 8 - San Martino di Castrozza - Val Canali (Albergo Cant del Gal)

13 km and 511 m ascent

Next morning we could have easily rejoined the AV2 by catching the gondola and then short walk to Rifugio Rosetta. But, we didn't. Although bad weather had not materialised it was still forecast. I also suspect Kiersten and I had enjoyed staying in our own hotel room rather than shared refuge accommodation. The previous day has been a nice change of scene for us and we had really enjoyed it.

We took the decision to keep on at a lower level and aim for the Hotel/Alberto Cant de Gal at the entrance to the Val Canali valley. From there it wasn't far to regain the AV2 at the Rifugio Treviso if desired.

Heading south east from San Martino we passed through mature forests & stunning alpine meadows, again hardly meeting another soul. A few hours later we emerged at the Forcella Col dei Cistri (1579m) and the magnificent peaks of the Val Canali appeared ahead.

A downhill trudge brought us to the gushing waters of the Rio Pradadali and just beyond, our welcoming hotel.

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Day 9 - Val Canali - Passo Cereda - Sagron (Hotel Chalet Giaseni)

11 km and 394 m ascent

Today we clocked over the 100km accumulated mark as we made our way to Passo Cereda. We had decided against heading up to Rifugio Treviso. Again, possible bad weather and we had met others bailing out of that section of the AV2 route. We had also got into a routine of making our own way. My legs were beginning to ache on the uphill stretches due to accumulated fatigue. With rain in the air, we took the sensible option.

Our route took us around the southern slopes of the range through forests and trails towards Passo Cereda. A quick stop there and then it was on another 4 kilometres to a little gem of a hotel we found. Yes, no refuge for us tonight, a bit of a treat. Hotel Giasenei in the tiny hamlet of Sagron, situated on a raised alpine meadow surrounded by stunning peaks. Just glorious.

We stayed here for two nights as bad weather was certainly coming in. We planned for just a short local hike the following day.

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Day 10 - Sagron (Hotel Chalet Giaseni)

Local walk: Val delle Moneghe 7 km and 324 m ascent

Local hike near Sagron today as heavy rain around. We did a 7km loop to the Val delle Moneghe. A marvellous viewpoint and evidently a winter ice climbing playground. Then on up through the forest to the refuge of the same name. Bit hot and humid!

Got caught in heavy rain after leaving refuge but was all downhill back to our hotel.

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Day 11 - Sagron - Fiera di Primiero (Hotel Castel Pietra)

14 km and 531 m ascent

Leaving the hotel we retraced our steps up to join the AV2 above Passo Cereda. Instead of dropping down to the pass we continued upwards and westwards to arrive at the lovely Malga Fossetta refuge (1550m). Here we had coffee and were entertained by the local refuge kitten.

Descending slowly through beautiful woodland glades and forested areas we came down to the lovely town of Fiera di Primiero where we easily found our hotel for the evening.

And that was it for our adventure. A fitting end to the trek. All that remained was a celebratory Aperol Spritz and pizza. The next day we were to catch the local bus to Feltre where we would be reunited with our companions.

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Memory from this day 2012

2021-08-26T00:00:00Z

Walks with a Siberian Husky and Leonberger puppy are never boring!

I was out early yesterday before the sun came out. Walking downhill on a mule track through a neighbour's olive grove, Khumbu goes down in to killer stalk mode, frozen in the "if it moves its dead". I'm holding on to him, and the 50kg 10 month old puppy Kyra, I'm straining to see what he has seen, cat? bird? fox? wildboar? nope cant see anything. I walk forward with Khumbu walking one paw at a time still in his "I'm so low to the ground nothing can see me" mode, suddenly he launches through the air and pounces on something, making both me and Kyra jump.

It was a piece of plastic hidden in the long dead grass!!! My brave husky 🙂

Humid dog walk

2021-08-25T00:00:00Z

We had a delayed dog walk this morning due to a storm, which sadly never arrived. Rita was convinced it was going to come and she refused to go on the walk. So just Arko and I ventured into the 97% humidity 🥴 but we were treated to some pretty nice views.

Upper Lanjaron Valley overnight

2021-08-18T00:00:00Z

We walked up the Lanjaron Valley to the far end and came back via the spectacular Verea Corta. It was a surprisingly hot couple of days. We had some great close up encounters with wildlife including Golden Eagle, Griffon Vultures, Ibex and lots of butterflies.

See more pictures from the trip

Day 5 of the heatwave

2021-08-15T00:00:00Z

I've been calling this place home for 15 years today, what a ride it's been. Thank you Lanjaron ❤️

This afternoon we have smashed yesterday's all time high record, which now stands at 43.8C (110.8F). Please don't let tomorrow, day 6 of the heatwave, be like today 🙏

Day 4 of the heatwave

2021-08-14T00:00:00Z

My idea of posting a picture same time same place during this heatwave episode didn't really work as the view was mostly the same 🤦 The Sahara dust didn't effect the view either 🤷 So it's back to normal service. Here is a picture of the cats. They say it's to hot to do anything other than lie flat 😂

So it seems yesterday was the warm up for today. We've just broken our all time high we've ever recorded at the house 🥵 It was 41.6C that was recorded in July 2017. Hopefully we won't see to many of these days.

Day 3 of the heatwave

2021-08-13T00:00:00Z

Day three of the heatwave. I'm late with today's picture because we took the dogs for a swim, so the picture was taken at 11.50am 32.7C In keeping with the 11am theme the temperature at 11am was 34.2C (93.5F) Our area is on orange alert today for high temperatures, expecting up to 39C (102F). Other places in Spain are expected to reach up to 46C (114F) 😳🥵 We just have to make it to Tuesday when the temperature is expected to drop by a lot 🤞

It seemed a good way for the dogs to keep cool when it's 29C at 7am. They both learnt to swim today, they had a lot of fun. Hopefully on the next visit they will have more confidence.

https://youtu.be/jwqSjICftB8

Day 2 of the heatwave

2021-08-12T00:00:00Z

Day two of the heatwave. Errrm it's 24C with 78% humidity at 11am. That's 8 degrees cooler than yesterday at the same time. It's been a strange morning with lots of cloud around and even the occasional cool breeze blowing through. The Sahara dust appears to be less as well. Let's hope the heatwave for Lanjaron continues this way 🤞

Day 1 of the heatwave

2021-08-11T00:00:00Z

Day one of the heatwave. I thought, out of curiosity, I'd try to take a picture around the same time each day. The idea is to see how the view changes the further into the heatwave we go, and the more intense the Sahara dust gets. 11am 32.4C (90F)

Don't forget to put some water out for all the animals out there that are going to struggle in the heat 🥵

Strange animals

2021-08-10T00:00:00Z

Not sure any of our animals are normal 😂

Keeping cool

2021-08-09T00:00:00Z

Keeping cool walking in the river

Mission accomplished

2021-08-03T00:00:00Z

Mission today was to locate the 5th Gentian that can be seen in the Sierra Nevada (there are 6 apparently). The mission was successful we managed to find the incredible teeny tiny Gentianella tenella.

Thanks to Mick for pointing us in the right direction of where to find this.

Gentianella tenella

Gentiana boryi

Marsh Gentian

Parnassia palustris

Queen of Spain Fritillary

Is my cat mad?

2021-08-02T00:00:00Z

She's not all there 😂

Visitors to the kale

2021-08-01T00:00:00Z

Fluffed up badly on the dog walk today 🙄 Two Bee Eaters and a Golden Oriole in the same tree, went to take a picture and the camera told me "no can do you stupid person left the SD card in the computer" 😂🤦 So you get some pictures of visitors to my kale this morning instead 😆

Dogs and Cats

2021-07-30T00:00:00Z

I love to see the interaction between the dogs and cats, so relaxed with eachother, even when Sweep kicks Arko in the face 😂

Vasar de Mulhacen

2021-07-27T00:00:00Z

The national park bus dropped us off, it was nice to feel the cooler mountain air. The clouds enveloped us on and off. A big boom of thunder decided where we would spend the night. Only a drop or two of rain fell on us, we were lucky the storm stayed to the north of us. The wind picked up, we hunkered down in our sleeping bags and awoke in the early hours to a brilliant starry sky until the full moon arrived. An early start was needed because we couldn't get to our planned bivvy site due to the storm. The next day was cloudless and perfect walking conditions. We had a brilliant two days.

It was quite humid up there which gave us some great entertainment from the clouds rolling in and out

Enjoying sunrise looking towards Laguna de la Mosca and Alcazaba

Our beautiful visitor

Crossing the vasar

Timarcha a type of leaf beetle

Heading down to Siete Lagunas

https://youtu.be/HVLUG5Qm5Fg

View more photos

Full report by Richard

Happy Arko

2021-07-25T00:00:00Z

Someone is happy about the cooler temperature this morning 😂

https://youtu.be/1qX9sC-En6Y

Iberian Marbled White Butterfly

2021-07-24T00:00:00Z

butterfly

Iberian Marbled White (Melanargia lachesis) butterfly getting photobombed by another 😂

Random pictures and videos from the mobile

2021-07-15T00:00:00Z

Sweep in the towel basket

Arko's facial

Rita and Arko at the ermita

Passion flower

Arko applying his facial

https://youtu.be/xEgHiRHNbgs

Crazy Sooty

https://youtu.be/urt1bQalbyY

Ladder Snake and Calima

2021-07-11T00:00:00Z

Bumped into this beautiful Ladder snake having a snooze, warming up, or whatever he was doing, on the dog walk yesterday morning. Rita must have trotted straight over it, I managed to get hold of Arko and walk him around it, so he didn't tread on it and scare the life out of himself, we all know how scared of snakes Arko is 😂

Not just heat but a really thick layer of Sahara dust calima over Lanjaron today. So far we've been lucky and escaped the worst of the heatwave🤞

Cerro de los Machos

2021-07-06T00:00:00Z

We took the national park bus up into the Sierra Nevada. Then we dropped down into the impressive Corral de Veleta and started our ascent up Cerro de los Machos. After descending we took the Paso de los Guias before descending to Lagunillas and walking back to the cars.

As always it was a spectacular day out in the high mountains.

Heading down into the spectacular Corral de Veleta

At the summit of Los Machos admiring the view

The fabulous little Alpine Accentor

Crossing the Paso de los Guias

Video

https://youtu.be/hJklmuwRQH0

View my pictures

View Richard's pictures

A round of the northern peaks

2021-06-29T00:00:00Z

This time we did an overnight camp to enable us to do this round trip. It was a short walk on the first day to our overnight camp spot at Lavaderos de la Reina. The second day was an early start before the sun hit us to make an ascent of Picon de Jerez. Then we traversed the main ridge covering 3 more 3000m peaks. We took a good rest before a very long and hot decent back to the cars.

The north faces of Alcazaba, Mulhacen and Veleta

Camp

Ibex at sunset

Ascending the Picon de Jerez

Starting along the main ridgeline

Video

https://youtu.be/cmC6zU0IF4A

View my pictures

View Richard's pictures

Cats

2021-06-28T00:00:00Z

Get cats you won't have a mouse problem!! We've had more 🐭 in the house since these two came to live with us than all the years before!

No idea why but Sweep likes to sleep in a box

Sooty does not like to sleep in a box

Ribbit

2021-06-27T00:00:00Z

Doggie bath time

2021-06-26T00:00:00Z

The annual bathing of the dogs happened today, Rita is super white again 😎 Arko is dirtier than before 🤷 Washing a waterproof dog is hard work and you end up wetter than the dog 😂 Washing the dogs is a quiet affair these days without Khumbu being here screaming for his life ❤️

A walk up Cerro de Caballo

2021-06-22T00:00:00Z

Another grand day out in the mountains this time we went up Cerro de Caballo (3009m). The beauty in the mountains at this time of year is just remarkable.

Griffon Vulture

Ibex

Refugio and Laguna de Caballo

Sierra Nevada Violet

Video

https://youtu.be/okJl8HN_GKY

View my pictures

View Richard's pictures

Some pictures taken with the mobile from the past week

2021-06-20T00:00:00Z

We beat the sun up to this point this morning. About 500m of ascent.

A very cool tree

Yep he did it again. He clearly likes a mud facial

Do you think Sooty is relaxed?

Robust Marsh Orchid

First 4'O clock flower this year.

Excuse the quality, I zoomed in. Does not look comfy

Eeeek blurred but I love the Mexican face

Grumpy clouds. Actually they reminded me of a snow tunnel

A grand storm

2021-06-16T00:00:00Z

We had the most amazing storm. Ahead of the storm some very cool Mammatus clouds formed. You have to forgive my indulgence in rain and storms, we don't get much of it here, but when it does happen it can often be quite dramatic.

Video

https://youtu.be/tYCOSQYDz8U

Khumbu

2021-06-10T00:00:00Z

Two years you've been gone from my life Khumbu, I think of and miss you every day 💔

My favourite walk in the Sierra Nevada

2021-06-08T00:00:00Z

We had the most amazing day today, again 😉, in another of my favourite mountain areas and it didn't fail with it's beautiful display of wildflowers, many endemic, and nature. Gentians of various sorts, Violas and carnivorous plants, hundred or so Griffon Vultures and one very special Lammergeier.

It's an overload on the senses. No words can do it justice, photo's capture some of it, but it's best to be experienced first hand. Take a look through some pictures and then click on the galleries to see more pictures.

Griffon Vulture

The carnivous plan Pingüicola nevadensis

Bearded Vulture or Lammergeier

Our little walking group

Campanula

Griffon Vulture

See more of the pictures I took

See more of the pictures Richard took

Facial

2021-06-06T00:00:00Z

Arko is trying out a new look, he heard it's good for the skin 😂

To rain or not to rain?

2021-06-05T00:00:00Z

Will it or won't it?

Will it reach Lanjaron?

The answer is - yes it did 😂

https://youtu.be/WU6xksbCRPY

Above the Lanjaron Valley

2021-06-03T00:00:00Z

I appear to be at my happiest when I am in the mountains. Some people are not as fortunate and will never get to see the beauty we did today.

360 view high above the Lanjaron valley

https://youtu.be/bYveHsNsSB4

Mad cat

2021-05-27T00:00:00Z

Sooty was hiding in the TV cabinet 😂

A day on Penon de la Mata

2021-05-25T00:00:00Z

I've been hanging out in one of my happy places today 😎

Video

https://youtu.be/MB4VSj_l-cE

View more photos

Dog Walk

2021-05-24T00:00:00Z

A wonderful 38mm of rain fell yesterday. Today normal service is resumed.

Dog Walk

2021-05-23T00:00:00Z

Different type of dog walk today, no blue sky and we got wet 😍

Got up early to walk the dogs before the running race and our roads are closed. It's never good to meet runners with Rita, she likes to chase them 😂 I was distracted by the cloud formations from the coast up to us up in the Alpujarras and failed to notice was the rain moving in from the west. We arrived at the ermita and it started to rain big blobs of rain on us, so we had to run home, still got rather wet though. Turns out the running race is next Sunday so didn't need to get up early 😂

Rainy day ☔ Most we've had this year, good job I got up early after all 😁 So far 37mm and more to come by the look of it, only a dribble was forecast so I am very happy. Shame I forgot about the onions that were on the roof terrace drying 🙄

Cerro Lucero

2021-05-18T00:00:00Z

We had an amazing walk up Cerro Lucero. Again we spent the night close to the start of the walk. We stayed in Competa, first time we've stayed there.

Video

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Dog Walk

2021-05-14T00:00:00Z

Another beautiful day here in La Alpujarra.

Hoya del Portillo Circular

2021-05-10T00:00:00Z

Another fabulous walk.

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Dog Walk

2021-05-07T00:00:00Z

The temperature has cranked up a notch these past couple of days, I fear summer will be early this year ☹️ The dogs are thankful for the water that flows in the acequias.

Agave

2021-05-06T00:00:00Z

We get rather big asparagus in this part of the world 😂

Cerro Alfaro, Tabernas

2021-05-04T00:00:00Z

We had a night staying in the town of Tabernas so we would be close by for our walk up Cerro Alfaro the next day.

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Clouds and a butterfly

2021-05-03T00:00:00Z

Crazy clouds around today and a very obliging Scarce Swallowtail butterfly.

Peñabon

2021-04-29T00:00:00Z

A walk up Peñabon

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Dog Walk

2021-04-27T00:00:00Z

Managed to nip out with the dogs during a break in the very welcome rain. The cats said to wake them when it stops 😹

Dog Walk

2021-04-18T00:00:00Z

Today's dog walk from high above Lanjaron.

Dog Walk

2021-04-17T00:00:00Z

It was a beautiful morning.

A walk in the Sierra de Huetor

2021-04-13T00:00:00Z

We had a great walk in the Sierra de Huetor.

Video

https://youtu.be/l6DGVFF-X-o

View more pictures

A walk in La Taha de Pitres

2021-04-07T00:00:00Z

We had a walk through the villages of La Taha.

Video

https://youtu.be/rcvzRHB6q4s

Bee Eater

2021-04-06T00:00:00Z

One we all love to see.

Trying to beat the rain

2021-04-04T00:00:00Z

Change of route on our walk today to beat the rain. Didn't believe it was going to, but it did and we got wet, 10 minutes from home 😂 Plenty of flowers to see, shame we were in such a rush. Sun back out now ☀️

An ascent of Giralda

2021-03-31T00:00:00Z

A hard walk in the hot sun.

The view from the top of Giralda.

We were in another Saharan dust phase so the view was not as good as it should have been, Mediterranean sea to the snowy peaks of the Sierra Nevada. It was a hard earned summit and a hot one.

Sooty

2021-03-30T00:00:00Z

Southern Early Purple (Orchis olbiensis)

2021-03-28T00:00:00Z

Today's dog walk took us past another orchid spot. I only know of this one spot locally for the Southern Early Purple orchids (Orchis olbiensis). I didn't expect to see them in flower yet, the last time I past here there was no sign of them. Mobile shots.

Pink Butterfly Orchid (Orchis papilionacea)

2021-03-27T00:00:00Z

Don't tell anyone 🤫 but I'd forgotten about this particular Pink Butterfly orchid. I went to check on it on the dog walk today to find it in full flower ❤️ Hopefully no one will stumble across this one like I did a couple of years ago 🤞

Feety feet

2021-03-20T00:00:00Z

Cats and dogs feety feet 😍

In search of the Naked Man ....... orchid

2021-03-19T00:00:00Z

Went in search of the naked man ..... orchid today. Didn't find it, hopefully it's just we were to early and a visit in a few weeks time will reward us. We saw the usual suspects on the orchid front, had a nice potter around in a new area, the dogs enjoyed it, we enjoyed it, so it wasn't wasted.

Barbary nut (Moraea sisyrinchium)

Mirror Orchid (Ophrys speculum)

Asphodelus

Sawfly Orchid (Ophrys tenthredinifera)

Grey-leaved Cistus

Yellow Bee orchid (Ophrys lutea)

Red Squirrel

2021-03-17T00:00:00Z

The dogs met a red squirrel today. The first squirrel they have ever seen. It was hilarious watching them and the squirrel interact. The squirrel was a feisty little thing, it would mock charge the dogs down the tree squeaking at them 😂 Super cute.

Sawfly Orchid (Ophrys tenthredinifera)

2021-03-15T00:00:00Z

My back allowed me to get down to photograph this Sawfly orchid today. That's a good improvement. Getting up was a different story though 😂

Anyway yesterday, I found a brand new Sawfly orchid growing, it's the first year flowering but I couldn't even get close enough to see that I was taking a picture (with my mobile) of it upside down 😂

Yellow Bee Orchid (Ophrys lutea)

2021-03-14T00:00:00Z

First of the Yellow Bee orchids are coming through now.

Happenings Today

2021-03-10T00:00:00Z

Walked up the hill today to find these two sat waiting for us in the shade.

I think Rita has a big smirk on her face at the face Arko was making

The land that was poisoned is now turning brown and dying. Makes me angry.

Sunset this evening.

The Mezquerina Acequia

2021-03-04T00:00:00Z

This has turned into a regular longer dog walk for us.

Video

https://youtu.be/KW04o64kSxo

Swallowtail Butterfly

2021-02-28T00:00:00Z

This beautiful Swallowtail butterfly, who looks freshly emerged, came for a feed this morning on the Osteospermum, but only the purple ones! I only had my mobile with me, so it's a snapshot, better than nothing.

Conehead Mantis

2021-02-25T00:00:00Z

I went out with the macro lens to photograph wild orchids. This little guy came over to see what was going on. He's a Conehead mantis (Empusa pennata) nymph. One of my favourite insects.

Incoming Storm

2021-02-23T00:00:00Z

A storm arrived in Lanjaron. It had a fast moving lead Arcos cloud. It was pretty dramatic watching it approach and unload!

A short video filmed just after the rain had started over the Arab castle area.

https://youtu.be/Tjua1PGqtJY

This cloud was moving super fast, the video has not captured the speed of which this cloud was moving!

https://youtu.be/gvoZBnX_58E

We had quite an interesting sunset thanks to the storm and days of Sahara dust.

Fan-lipped Orchid (Orchis collina)

2021-02-13T00:00:00Z

I found the first Fan-lipped Orchid (Orchis collina) of the season today. Seems a bit early to me. So that's 3 types of wild orchid out at the moment 😎

Windy day snuggles

2021-02-12T00:00:00Z

Sweep is snoozing cuddled into Rita's feet.

Same view different day

2021-02-09T00:00:00Z

One view, one sunset, one sunrise. What a difference a few hours makes. Today appears to be less dramatic and stormy.

Cover of an Album

2021-02-08T00:00:00Z

Is it just me or does anyone else think my dogs look like they should be on a cover of an album?

Home made wine

2021-02-07T00:00:00Z

The neighbour has given us a couple of bottles of his wine. It's actually very good. Practice makes perfect I guess he's been doing it for long enough and we've tasted some awful stuff 😂 This though is good.

Good Morning from Lanjaron

2021-02-03T00:00:00Z

Good Morning from Lanjaron

The life of an almond tree blossom

2021-02-01T00:00:00Z

In less than a month this almond tree had done it's thing.

January 9th

January 16th

January 19th

And then the wind came for day after day. I never did get the chance to take a picture of this tree in full bloom!

February 1st

Audition to be a GIF

2021-01-31T00:00:00Z

Sooty auditioned to be a GIF! We've had some crazy winds, again, in Lanjaron, we recorded 70kph in the early hours of today.

Proof of the wind can be seen in the short video clip from the dog walk

https://youtu.be/v81caiCMkn4

But the funny story is from this afternoon. I was searching for my secateurs that had blown away, Sooty ran up a tree, she likes to do this. I looked at her and told her it was not a good idea in this wind, so she ran higher up the tree! An enormous prolonged gust came, I checked on her again to see she was hanging on like a cartoon character by her front two feet and her body and back feet were blowing in the wind.

I was helpless with laughter and trying to get my mobile out my pocket to video it 😂 Needless to say I failed at videoing her as it was all over so quickly. She did hold on but as soon as the wind eased enough she ran down the tree to the ground.

Sooty is recovering from the windy fun by sleeping on Sweep. Me, I'm still shedding tears from the wannabe GIF known as Sooty.

Good Morning

2021-01-30T00:00:00Z

Good morning from a windy Lanjaron.

A new dog walk

2021-01-28T00:00:00Z

A beautiful new dog walk today, high above Lanjaron passing gushing water "acequias", with extensive views to the coast. Should have had shorts on, it's rather warm here at the moment. As usual none of my pictures contain humans and I stuffed up the wildlife shots, so none of those either!

Trips to the wild and windswept Patagonian Icefield

2021-01-27T00:00:00Z

Oh Patagonia. You've got to love it!

Then all hell breaks out. What feels like hurricane force winds hit us face on. Any tracks left by the others vanish in seconds. We manage only a few steps at a time before we dig ice axes into the snow and brace ourselves for the next gust which tries to rip us off the planet. We have to keep going. We are beyond the point of no return and safety lies ahead of us not behind us. Daylight is running out, our energy is running out and we need to make camp.*

We build snow walls to protect our tents from the ferocious winds. Too exhausted to think about food, its all we can do to drink. Snow is being picked up and dumped on our tents. I wake and find that we have been buried. I manage to crawl out of a tiny hole at one end and dig the tent out.

2006

I first ventured here in 2006. A wild, untamed land at the edge of the world. To stand on the great icecap, the largest glacier in the world outside the polar regions, is one of the most humbling and isolated feelings one can ever have. I have a love, hate relationship with the place but will always yearn to return.

Patagonia Icefield Expedition Diary - report from our 2006 expedition

2010

Caught well above the seracs when the weather turned, we fought against high winds and cutting spindrift in a bid to reach the icecap before nightfall. The shelter provided by the Garcia Soto refugio was too far away in worsening conditions. We headed for the open icecap. Half an hour after crossing the Paso Marconi we prepared our snow walls and erected tents just as the light vanished. During the night, tents had to be repeatedly cleared of snow to prevent burying or collapse.*

Surviving Patagonia 2010 - a report from my wife Kiersten Rowland

The Climax is the Coming Back from a Dangerous Place - a summary of the Spanish Highs Patagonian Icecap Expedition 2010

2011

This year our expedition was blessed by windless and sunny conditions, unusual on the Patagonian Icecap. A far cry from the year before. We managed to complete the full itinerary and had some of the most amazing mountain and wilderness views any of us had ever seen.*

2011 Patagonia Poem by Michelle Wakeley

2014

The original plan to visit the “nunateks” of Witte and Viedma had to be cancelled due to warm and dangerous snow conditions. Instead we reverted to the normal traverse down the icecap from the Paso Marconi to Paso del Viento. This was completed in generally good weather and light winds (for Patagonia!) with the loss of only 2 days to the weather.*

Expedition Report 2014

2015

A small trip by comparison. 2 clients who werent fit enough for the icecap so we spend days trekking and bivvying out along the easier trails

2016

Expedition to climb Cerro Mariano Moreno. Marconi Glacier in dangerous conditions so we approached the icecap via a different route. Poor snow conditions so we ditched Cerro Mariano Moreno and revrted to the standard Icecap Traverse.

Expedition Report 2016

Deliverance (The Sequel) - In The Wilderness No One Can Hear You Scream

2021-01-13T00:00:00Z

So there we were. A nice warm day, no clouds. What to do? So why not try that flat topped mountain that we can just see from our house that's in an unknown and remote location? We've named it "Flat Top" just to be original! So I looked on the internet to find out information re approach, access etc. It turns out that a Spanish forum was the only site to mention the peak that is in fact called...."Giralda". Its small, only 1400m, which I guess is almost as high as Ben Nevis, so maybe not that small after all. Apart from that you can evidently walk to it from a village called Guajar Farahuit.

So off went Kiersten and I in my little white van to the village. The journey took 1hr but we arrived in a small white village with narrow streets where time had obviously stood still. It seemed like the last outpost of civilisation, a frontier town if ever we saw one. The tarmac road ended and we started on a dirt track up a gorge. By the way, there was no sign of our mountain. We couldn't even see it!

So far so good but after another hour of travelling things were not looking too bright. For a start, the track we had come up would be difficult, dangerous and probably impossible to reverse. With big drops on both sides and loose, steep tracks this was definitely not the place to "lose it"! There was nothing for it but to continue onwards.

After another nerve wracking, irreversible ascent up a loose scree we parked at a small col below the mountain. We were miles from anywhere. We climbed the fine mountain, had great views from the summit and returned to the car. Now for the hard bit. Where do we go now?

The dirt track continued from the col, so we followed it and then down into a strange valley. The track didn't get any worse so we continued onwards, hopeful of an exit to safety. At one particular bad section where there was a hump in the road I stopped and asked Kiersten to make sure the underside of my car was clearing the road hump. She went ahead and signalled me to continue. I inched my way forward and heard a short grating noise. "Are we OK?" I shouted. "No problems" she replied so I inched further forward. At that time I heard a scraping sound not unlike that of the Titanic when she hit her iceberg. Yes, we had well and truly grounded. The van was like a beached whale sat with front tires in the air. "Ooops", said Kiersten, "I can't see anything with these dark glasses on".I have to say that, from my airborne vantage point, I remained perfectly calm. No histrionics, no outbursts.

For half an hour we tried all we could to free the car. forwards, backwards, sat on it, bumped it, pushed it, pulled it. To no avail. So we started digging. The afternoon heat was at its fiercest. We dug and dug and dug. No luck. The car wasn't moving. I then reviewed our situation. Three hours until nightfall. At least a days walk to a village. Provisions ................. a biscuit, half a litre of water and a sleepy dog. Hhhmmmm. Not good eh?

Then, miraculously, we heard a car coming up from behind us. This battered old 4WD truck came into view. Memories of the film "Deliverence" and "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" came to mind as a one eyed hillbilly got out of the car followed by a funny looking wife and a child carrying a banjo (just joking about the banjo, by the way!). With clenched buttocks I approached the guy and asked in my best classical Spanish for help. A strange, gutteral sound emerged from his twisted lips. Some combination of Spanish, Andalucian, or even Mongolian for all I could ascertain. Anyway he proceeded to help. In fact he bumped our car with his and a few minutes later we were hurtling on our way with him behind us in case "Los loco ingleses" got stuck again.

After 30 mins he waved us to a stop and asked us to get out. "Payback time eh?" I thought. But no, how wrong I was. He wanted to show us his mushrooms......YES MUSHROOMS!!!!!!! He and his family had been mushroom picking all day. We then had chapter and verse about, yes, mushrooms. He even gave us some. What a nice man! 30 mins later we were back in Lanjarón with a cold beer. Funny old world isnt it?

Ice Ice Baby

2021-01-04T00:00:00Z

I'm back, and I'm bringing my blog back to life! Why? Because I've lost too many years to Facebook and it's time I had a memory of my silly ramblings and pictures rather than them. I have a lot of catching up to do, some pretty major events in my life happened while I've not been blogging. Oh and the dogs blog Tails from the Pack will be getting updated too.

For now, until I catch up, here's one from a rather icy day in Lanjaron recently. It's not often we get below zero and certainly not often that it happens for a prolonged period of time. It was good to see and made for some nice pictures of ice sculputres.

A short slowmo of the icy water

The day Griffon Vultures came to town

2020-11-04T00:00:00Z

Yesterday it was stormy and forced Griffon vultures to come down in Lanjaron. They spent the night mostly on the crags opposite town. The odd one was dotted around and above town.

There is a vulture sat on the end of the ridge, seeing it still there made my decision to go and visit them. The sun was starting to come out, a breeze was picking up, I thought it won't be long before they leave.

I went to check on the Lanjaron 7 this morning after shopping. Turns out they were the Lanjaron 20 or so! As I was driving from home I could see that they had taken to the air, but I thought I could catch up to them while they were catching the thermals, so I continued on. By the time I managed to park the car I couldn't get up the hill fast enough to catch them on the other side of the ridge, so I missed the early risers.

These three were hanging out doing pre flight checks

However there were 4 late risers left, so I managed to snap a few shots of them as they decided, one by one, it was time to get up and catch up with their friends.

I had no idea that number 4 had taken off, it just suddenly appeared above my head

The wind turbines were off (not that they flew in that direction), coincidence, or on purpose, I don't know. How great it was to have these visitors spend the night here.

Pre flight checks complete and lift off

I missed number 3 because I was concentrating on number 4 but I caught number 2DSC_2930.jpgFantastic to get such views of them in Lanjaron

A walk through a cork oak forest

2017-10-25T00:00:00Z

Laura and I decided to go for a walk yesterday. She had recently been in this area and I said I would like to see the freshly harvested cork oak trees as I had never seen them.

We met up in Orgiva, drove into the Contraviesa and parked at the restaurant of Haza del Lino. It was a beautiful autumn day, just perfect for walking, not too hot, not too cold, no wind and nobody else around. Wonderful colours on the trunks of the trees after the recent harvest.

We walked up through the cork oak forest, stopping to take lots of photos along the way. Cork oaks are the only tree that can have their bark harvested without killing the tree. According to some reports I have read, this is the highest cork oak forest in Spain. Eventually we arrived at the top, close to a fire look out point, to stunning views of the Sierra Nevada mountains, Las Alpujarras and, when you turned around, views of the Mediterranean sea. I attempted to have a conversation with the man who was manning the fire look out, I swear he was not speaking back to me in Spanish haha.

More photos were taken up there, before we turned around and made our way back through the forest collecting discarded cork along the way. I shall use my cork to float in the pool so when small critters fall in they can at least get out of the water until I fish them out for good.

Arriving back to the road there is a big old ruin and a fantastic old tree that screams at you to take it's photo, so we obliged. The cloud had crept up from the coast and made a great back drop for the tree.

While taking photos I noticed two big birds in the sky, just silhouettes because they were in the cloud, making it difficult to identify them. They were making a lot of noise and we noticed a 3rd bird that was attacking the two. Once they moved into the clear blue sky I could see they were a pair of Golden Eagles getting mobbed by a Bonelli's Eagle. I have been lucky to witness this once before, many years ago, it still never fails to excite me seeing these big birds of prey, but seeing these birds interact in this way, well that's just super special! What a great way to end the day.

Comments

Linda martin: Lovely article nice read and amazing photos. The cork trees look fantastic with all the colours etc.

The Ao4: Wow, what stunning views! Well worth the hike to get up there, I'd say! I'm still fascinated with the cork oaks! AND EAGLES!!!!!!! I love the old tree with the cloudy/foggy background! What a day you had!!! KZK

carol: Lovely post, love that stretch of the Contraviesa, the lavender there in Spring is fabulous too.

Peter Roberts: Great story. Was by there during first fall of snow this Autumn. Am very interested in the wild life which is tolally dependent on these forests. Very interesting. Thanks.

Out of my comfort zone and onto the NW ridge of Tozal del Cartujo

2016-07-15T00:00:00Z

This is my version of a day scrambling I had in the Sierra Nevada on the NW ridge of Tozal del Cartujo. Thankfully I was in the competent company of Richard, Felipe and Andrew, who all helped to keep me calm, make me laugh and make me feel confident. Yes I can do it.

The four of us met in Lanjaron and drove to the ski centre above Granada to catch the gondola to the middle station and then the chair lift to below Veleta (in July and August the ski chair lifts are open and give you a good bump in altitude to help a good mountain day).

At this point ~~we left the crowds~~, Okay so in reality there were only a couple of other people about. We headed on down to the beautiful Lagunillas and carefully passed through the unique ecosystem of the Sierra Nevada known as Borreguiles.

Here I admit to getting distracted by all the flowers, insects and birds who call this place home. Many photos later I caught up with the others who had reached Laguna Misteriosa. Another beautiful and rarely visited area, shhh don't tell anyone about it.

Two hours after leaving the chair lift we had a rest, putting on our helmets and harnesses and my nerves began to tickle away in my tummy as I took in the (to me anyway) enormity of what I was about to do. The start was pretty straight forward and a nice way to get you into the day, but soon enough the rope was brought out for me to give a little confidence on the exposed areas we were now on.

I've had a number of scrambling days over the years and thoroughly enjoyed them once I've argued with the "I can't do this" voice in my head. However, this ridge is different from any of the other days I have done. It is one long high altitude ridge with sustained exposure. The voice in my head was different today, it didn't say "I can't do this", it said, "what the hell are you doing here, how are you going to get up, down and over this", I thought this was progress and maybe me and the voice in my head are coming to an understanding!

At some point during the day Richard took off to go explore and see if he could find a way around the 'crux'. It was decided that I would have more interesting scrambling by sticking with Felipe and Andrew, I should have known better! We arrived at the 'crux'. Now for most the 'crux' is the short abseil into the void and (in my opinion) a near impossible climb back up the other side.

For me there was an added 'crux' the piece of rock you need to down climb to get to the abseil. I'm short, the rock has no hand holds at the top and the foothold is cut away underneath the rock out of view and out of reach of my feet! It's only a short distance to drop down but exposure started to get the better of me, and I was having a serious argument with the voice in my head at this time. I had to ask Andrew (Felipe was setting up the abseil point) to push on my backside to push me back into the rock as I attempted to lower myself down the rock. Sorry Richard and Andrew but there was no other choice other than a helicopter coming to get me ha ha. When I look at the photos of this section I laugh at how something like that could cause such fear in me, but that is exposure for you.

Comments

KZKryschtal: That was awesome - in the true sense of the word! You did amazing things. I was almost getting dizzy just looking at the photos!!! KZK

I got married

2015-07-31T00:00:00Z

Actually I've been married a month now. Richard and I ran off to Gibraltar and got married on 30th June.

Paperwork had to be handed in to the registry office between 8.30am and 10am at least a day before the wedding, so we decided we would drive down on the 28th to get the paperwork sorted on 29th and the wedding was booked for the 30th.

Neither of us had been to Gibraltar before and we had a great time with Steph and Steve. Thanks to them both for kindly allowing us to stay with them and agreeing to be our witnesses, they also became the photographer, videographer, entertainers and tourist guides. We saw a lot of the rock but will have to return again to finish what we didn't get time to fit in.

The actual wedding day was very relaxed and fun and lasted under an hour from leaving where we were staying, getting married, taking some photos, getting back to get changed and head to the bar. We thought we had arrived 20 minutes early for the wedding, when in fact we had turned up 10 minutes late ha ha. There were just four of us at the wedding, no fuss, very little expense and just how we wanted it.

It was great to eat food we can't get in Spain, drink wine we can't get in Spain (ie anything that isn't Spanish) and Richard enjoyed drinking proper beer, which you can't get in Spain! We were lucky there were no problems crossing the border in or out. We headed back home on July 1st, picked up Mum and Dad, who were coming out for their annual holiday, from Malaga airport on our way back. We had stocked up on food and wine from the supermarkets in Gibraltar and still are drinking those today. We enjoyed an Indian meal among many other yummy foods.

Went dolphin watching after the wedding. I wasn't very good at getting photos of them. A mixture of moving boat, dolphins moving and probably a glass too many of wine!

What night time visitors do we get in the garden?

2015-04-09T00:00:00Z

Have you ever wondered what night time visitors you get in your garden? Well I did, I know we have them, they leave evidence behind, some more so than others! So I set up a camera trap that I'm lucky to have and hope never to have stolen.

The original idea of having the camera trap was to locate where my Booted Eagle was nesting and attach it near there (obviously before nesting season so as not to disturb them), but that is still work in progress. In the meantime to learn how to use this I set it up in our campo, please excuse some of the dates that appear, we have not moved on twenty odd years. The biggest visitor without a doubt has been Mr Juan Jabali (Jabali = Wild Boar) or JJ for short. I knew he was visiting because of the destruction he left behind, so campocam was placed in his favourite area. As you will see he is enormous. I think it's fantastic that JJ has chosen to visit our land, mind you I wouldn't want to bump into him at night! We have put him to good use, he helps to rotivate the land, we water an area, he will rotivate it for us.

They can do quite a bit of damage but they are looking for easy soil to root through. Generally they are not after the vegetables, but grubs and roots that are below the soil, just sometimes they dig up the veggies because the soil they have been planted in is soft. The soil in our area can turn to concrete very quickly, especially during the summer, so nicely watered vegetable plots are an easy visit. I had to stop posting about Juan because local people saw the posts and wanted to shoot him! He has safe passage on our land.

A number of foxes have made their way through the land. This pair I named Mr and Mrs Scratty, the reason why you will see in the video.

Recently a wild boar has been visiting again, I was keen to find out if it was JJ or another. I placed campocam in a different part of the campo to see if we could capture him/her. Unfortunately he has not been back since, but campocam did capture two very exciting creatures which I have never seen before. First up was a Genet which has been visiting almost daily in the early hours. If you have not heard of a Genet before it is closely related to Mongoose. They are mostly nocturnal, have extremely long tails, are very agile and opportunistic feeders. They mostly prefer small mammals, but will eat birds, bird eggs, scorpions, centipedes, figs and olives! It is a disaster if one should ever get into a chicken coop. The locals here generally do not like them because of the carnage they can cause with chickens. Well me, I think once again it's fantastic that these animals are living so close to us. If you don't want your chickens eaten, then make your chicken pen Genet proof.

The final night time visitor so far has been a fantastic Beech (or Stone) Marten. I had to get this identification from The very helpful Iberian Nature Forum as I had no idea what it was. Again mostly a nocturnal animal, more of a plant eater than the Genet, but will plunder birds nests and take smaller birds. My biggest fail has been trying to capture a European Eagle Owl which comes at certain times of the year and uses our TV areal as a convenient perch. I have yet to find a substantial pole to attach campocam to that can withstand the wind, movement and weight of the camera trap. Hopefully by next season I will have come up with a better idea. A few cats and rats have also been roaming around. Daytime visitors are mostly birds, I will try and put a nice video together of the different species and what they get up to. There are plenty of snakes around and I would love to get one of these on video.

I find it fascinating that these animals share our lives, but we very rarely see them. Campocam has done a great job.

Comments

david: Fantastic post Kiersten.I like it very much and very glad you have already achieved to capture Genet and beech marten. Try to entice them with sardines and you will check the excellent results (if there are cats around, provide a few fishes more :) )...

david: Sorry, I had forgotten to say that.If you have a look on my flickr account you could see so many birds I 've captured with my scouting camera so far. The address is as follow: https://www.flicker.com/photos/94137302@N08/

How fragile life is

2015-04-04T00:00:00Z

A poppy seems, to me, a good example of how fragile life is. I photographed these beautiful poppies in the morning, a few hours later they were gone, gone for good.

On Wednesday we were out in the eastern Sierra Nevada, as I slogged my way up a very wet and hot scree slope to the top I wondered why on earth I was doing this. I had to take a selfie on the summit of the mountain as Richard and Dexter had gone another route climbing up a snow gully and were not at the top when I got there.

I had two missed calls on my phone, I tried to phone my friend back, but with no luck, so I took a 360 video from the top. As you can see it was beautiful and worth the hard work of getting there. I met up with Richard and Dexter about 20 minutes later and was told the devastating news about the sudden death of a close friend. How can that be, he was having breakfast with us watching the early Malaysian F1 GP on Sunday. It's wrong, I am angry, incredibly sad for his family and myself, he was taken far to young. It is important that we live our life to the full as much as possible, our time on this planet can be far to short.

Goodbye my friend I shall miss you very much.

Sunset - the ever changing colours of the sky over Lanjaron

2015-03-23T00:00:00Z

As you know living here in the Alpujarras, the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, we are often treated to spectacular sunsets over Lanjaron (the gateway to the Alpujarras).

March 8th was one of those evenings that didn't disappoint. I took so many photos I thought I would share some of the forever changing colours. I have collected photos of the skies here for quite a number of years.

I even took a short video.

Why not come and see for yourself and maybe take a walk. Spring is the perfect time to visit the area, the temperatures not too hot or cold, wild flowers are blooming, many of our wonderful birds have arrived back from Africa. There is always plenty to see and do.

A trip to Penon de la Mata

2015-03-14T00:00:00Z

We had a recent trip to Penon de la Mata in the Sierra de Huetor north of Granada. From here you get spectacular views of the Sierra Nevada. So while a group of friends went off scrambling, I went off with another friend to see how much Spring had sprung and if I could locate my bogey bird the Ring Ouzel.

The Crocus nevadensis can grow above 2000m. It was once thought to be endemic to the Sierra Nevada, but it also grows in the Sierra de Huetor.

I nearly trod on this caterpillar. If you know what it will turn into please let me know.

I have been unable to ID these next 2 Crocus photos, so once again, if you know, please let me know.

There were a number of small herds of Ibex around.

A Golden Eagle came soaring towards us, but just has it was getting real close, a Kestrel came along and saw it off. I understand, but was rather annoyed at the Kestrel ha ha.

Any help with the correct ID of the butterfly? Update - Identified as a Large Wall Brown (lassiommata maera) Thank you Stephen

If you are wondering if I saw my bogey bird, nope I didn't. The scrambling group, who were way ahead of us on the way up because I'd already stopped taking photos, saw Ring Ouzels but I missed out, again!

Comments

Stephen Powell: I think you have a Large Wall Brown there Kiersten, lassiommata maera

Kiersten Rowland: Brilliant, thank you Stephen, I shall update the blog post

Macro - February wild flowers

2015-02-23T00:00:00Z

A selection of macro shots I took during February 2015

My website has had an overhaul, I hope you like it and if there are any problems do let me know. I will no doubt be adding more stuff to it over time, especially to the galleries. Today's post is of some more macro photos but this time of flowers. They are not perfect but I like them. I have named the flowers but if you see I have labelled one incorrect please do tell me so I can correct it.

These are all wild flowers that I see daily (when they are in flower) during my dog walk and in and around the campo of my home. The first three pictures are of the first Orchids to show themselves this year.

Everyone loves almond blossom, I am sure you will see plenty of photos as I try to get the "one shot" I am after.

This has to be one of my favourite flowers. The Bermunda buttercup only opens up when the sun is on it. They make such great subjects. The first photo was from the dog walk, then I went back a while later, the sun was fully on them and they were open as in the second photo.

These are tiny blue flowers that I often end up laying in mud or dew to try and get a shot of these.

With the Purple deadnettle, they are also tiny so once again you will find me on the floor!

The Caper flower speaks for it'self, it is beautiful.

These Narcissus have such a wonderful smell.

Again another yellow flower but it takes such a good photo.

Comments

jose: Is the Paperwhite narcissi a wild flower from the Alpujarras?

Kiersten Rowland: Hi Jose According to Wikipedia the plant is native to the Western Mediterranean region from Portugal to Greece.

Macro - Wasp

2015-02-14T00:00:00Z

Someone on Facebook said "I think you should be selling your photos, not giving them to FB". While I am not sure about selling them, it got me to thinking, yes why am I giving my photos to Facebook when I have a perfectly good blog here that I have neglected for quite sometime. So now I shall be putting my photos, that would normally go on Facebook, to my blog, usually once a day, but at least on here I will be able to put more photos on at a time.

So I recently came into possession of a macro lens (thanks Steve Jones for the recommendation, do go take a look at Steve's photography it's stunning), which I adore. I love getting up close and seeing a completely different world. Today's post is of a wasp! Yes I know to some not the most exciting of insects and often one that we wave our arms about at trying to swat. Take a look at these photos did you even know they looked like this?

I am still learning the art of macro, Okay not just macro but photography in general, it's a minefield and it blows my head up sometimes. Focusing, aperture, depth of field, metering, light, the need of a tripod for most shots (which I haven't used yet because most of the time I'm laying in the mud), the sensitivity to the slightest movement of the lens, just breathing will put the focus out.

I hope you will enjoy seeing if, and how, I progress. You can click on any of the pictures to get a bigger shot and you can also check out my photos on Smugmug these are usually at higher quality. If you know what type of wasp this is please let me know.

Comments

Mark: Great pictures.I love macro photography, insects especially,

Rex Jarvis: A decent macro is on my shopping list. Playing with reverse lens macro at the moment.

The Kamchatka Expedition Part 6 - Last few days in Russia

2014-10-28T00:00:00Z

Autumn is arriving here in Spain and another expedition is fast approaching so I thought it's about time I finished this Kamchatka blog before the Patagonia expedition arrives.

24th April

Richard's birthday today and we have to go back to Petropavlovsk to the Centre of Migration for him to get his finger prints taken which they forgot to do last time. Elena arrives and we all head off for a tourist day in Petropavlovsk. It's a grey drizzly day. We get the local bus into Yelizovo, then swap buses to get to Petropavlovsk. First stop is the Centre of Migration where Richard not only gets his finger prints taken but also his palm print!!! Next we head to an Orthodox Church to have a look at. We take some fun photos outside. Then on to the tourist shops. Boys want Russian hats, me and Jules want Kamchatka t'shirts.

I was shocked on entering one shop as it was full of stuffed wolves, bears, wolverines, moose, and fox, the furs of the wolves, bear, wolverine and fox also. Made me feel ill. I never understand hunting, especially in place like Kamchatka that has such wonderful wildlife and untouched land, surly you can make more money bringing tourists to see these animals alive rather than shoot them and get them grotesquely stuffed? If hunting is allowed to continue the way it does in Kamchatka then they can kiss their wildlife and the tourists goodbye. I believe due to hunting that Kamchatka has no big old (30/40 years old) brown bears left because they have all been killed!!

We go for lunch in a cafe and meet up with Igor to discuss the plans for the rest of our stay. Once again the weather is not good but there maybe a small window at the weekend for a 2 day ascent of another volcano. We head home having brought nothing from the tourist shops. Warwick and Elena are cooking dinner, a roast, we are having a small party for Richard's birthday. Igor came over and gave us a slide show, he had the chance to fly in a helicopter over Tolblachik during it's eruption. Richard didn't want a birthday card, so he got an Easter card instead that everyone signed, he also had a cake! So it was the usual drink lots, eat lots and have vodka shots. Andre played his bayan with incredible passion (it's a type of chromatic button accordion developed in Russia). This was our last night as guests at Andre's house, tomorrow we move to Marthas.

25th April

Some sluggish heads this morning, but not mine. I listened to the locals who say never mix beer and vodka, so I didn't! Everyone going to the ski centre, I'm staying home, going to help Martha move our stuff to her place. Went with Martha and took her two beautiful dogs for a walk, feels good to be out with dogs again. The others come back from skiing, Richard not well. Tonight we go out to eat at a restaurant, a treat from Martin. Restaurant does not take credit card, none of us have any cash, lots of nervous giggling and wondering how long we have before we get arrested and if we could do the washing up in return for payment. Emergency phone call eventually made to Martha to bring some cash and bail us out. Early to bed as it looks like a weather window for the 2 day trip will arrive. 5am breakfast!!

26th April :- Richard still not well so we are not going on the trip. I got up and had breakfast with everyone. After they had left I went for a drive with Martha somewhere to take the dogs for a wonderful walk. Would so love to see this area when it is not in the grips of winter. Very cloudy today. Richard has slept for 12 hours. I didn't do a great deal other than read, sleep and use the internet. Richard felt better around 5pm. Martha was heading out so asked her to pick us up a bottle of Chilean wine. Wow that wine was good. Early night again.

27th April

Had breakfast around 9am, another day of hanging around. Weather looks to be picking up. Jet washed the ski bags off. Took the dogs for a walk again with Martha and saw what I believe to be a Rough-legged Buzzard, the only bird of prey I've seen. Prepared dinner for when the others get back. Julia, Warwick and Martin arrive back, no summit, Julia unwell. On the first day they got to the shoulder around 2000m but turned back due to the late hour. The next day they didn't get far due to Julia being unwell. Those guys were very tired so an early night again.

28th April

Well here it get's interesting because for some reason I stopped writing my diary, so I'm having to rely on my memory and Julia's memory, which between us is not great ha ha. So I'm sorry this will be a quick ending. Today we are going to have a bbq so Martha took us shopping to buy food and drink. It was great getting to see the different shops and markets. After shopping we packed up ready for our departure from Kamchatka to Moscow the following day and then we just messed around until time for bbq. We had a great evening eating and drinking lots.

29th April

We leave Kamchatka. We said sad farewells to our wonderful hosts. Outside the airport a stray dog decided that the pulk was nice and comfy and that he would like to come home with us, unfortunately we had to get him to move and leave him behind. There was the usual chaos at the airport with trying to get a better deal on our excess luggage and I tried to book a vegetarian meal for all of my onward journeys. The long flight back to Moscow was pretty uneventful, watched movies and got a veggie meal! We were picked up at Moscow airport by the hotel we were staying in, although they seemed to have forgotten how much luggage they had so had to send for another vehicle. Again we ate and drank and said our farewells to each other because our flights are at different times of the day.

30th April

Richard and I are transported to Moscow airport at some unearthly hour and soon run into trouble at checkin with excess luggage. The visa card would not work, even though the bank had been notified to expect action in Russia, we are told there is a bank downstairs, so we head to the bank but it is shut because it is very early in the morning. We wander around the airport thinking how the hell are we going to get out of Russia when we stumble upon a money exchange place that had just opened up. We changed some euros, ran back to the excess luggage place, while there I noticed a man with 2 guards being checked in to our flight! Anyway we then back to checkin with our receipt of excess luggage paid, checkin, go through security (full body scanner) and just about manage to catch our flight. Once on board we are told our plane is going to be taking a detour to Prague!!! What did our plane get hijacked?? or was this the work of the guy with the two guards. Anyway more time is added on to our 5 hour flight so we just settle down as there is nothing we can do about it.

What can I say about this trip? It has been very very tough at times, the weather was particularly unstable that year, Spring was late in arriving, the scenery is stunning, it is worth every hardship we have endured to be able to see and experience what we have. I absolutely love Kamchatka and it's people, it is somewhere I have to go back and visit again. Thank you Julia Pickering for the invite on your expedition.

The Kamchatka Expedition Part 5 - The escape and a very long bus ride

2014-08-09T00:00:00Z

It's now summer in Andalucia and the heat of August has made me decide it's time to venture back to the freezer known as Kamchatka to cool myself down and try and get this story finished. Some of the photos in this post are again courtesy of Martin Hartley, who has now returned from his expedition in the Arctic.

22nd April :- -22C at 7.30am the day of escape. Everything is frozen solid. Trying to pack the gear away in these temperatures is very difficult. Everything you touch you end up being covered in ice. The tent is emptied and backpacks are packed by 8am, can't hang around in these temperatures. Only had tea for breakfast didn't fancy food just wanted to be on the move. It took a long time to dig the tent out from the frozen snow in the meantime my feet froze even though I'd got emergency hand warmers in my boots. Warwick gave me 2 sets more, feet came back to life after half an hour. Eventually we get the tent dug out and packed away. We have a quick team photo before me and Richard have to head off to our meeting point (emergency camp)to stop my feet from freezing again. Julia, Warwick and Martin do a little filming and more photographs.

I have a great time skinning across the plateau just me and Richard for as far as you could see, what an amazing feeling. The wind picks up but is behind us so is helping us for a change apart from the spindrift that is being blown. Kluchevskoi looks beautiful but she has high winds on her, you can see the snow being blown down her flanks. Igor and Elena pass us on the snow mobile with the gear and head off to the meeting point. Still no sign of Julia, Warwick and Martin yet. Out of the spin drift come 2 snowmobiles, Anatoli and Andre who were due to meet us at emergency camp but are heading to base camp to pick up the rest of the gear and Julia, Warwick and Martin. We exchange quick hellos and hugs and they carry on leaving me and Richard to continue on our way. Very close to the hill below emergency camp the snowmobiles arrive with everyone on board. We jump on for the short ride to the base of the hill and walk up the hill. The wind is now blowing strong. Emergency camp is being taken apart and packed up. Once again freezing while waiting around.

After everyone has regrouped we are on our way down, everyone is back on their snowmobiles. Snowmobiles going well over the frozen snow moving easy. Fantastic scenery but because the weather is closing in behind us there is an urgency to get down lower to more shelter. Wow how things have changed in the time we have been away, Spring has reached lower altitudes. We stop on a frozen lake. Igor takes Julia up a slope, comes back and gets Martin, drops him off on the slope. Julia is going to snowbored down the slope and Martin will photograph her. They do this a number of times. Great watching and enjoying being lower down. Before long we are on the move again. Igor is like a man possessed with his driving. He launches his snowmobile Warwick was hanging on to the sledge for all it he was worth and Martin was thrown off! All a bit of fun.

The scenery is simply stunning, getting wonderful views, but nobody can take photos as everyone is hanging on for dear life. We eventually reach the dreaded forest again, but a trail has been cut so not too much branch slapping. The roads now have no snow on them. Me and Elena get off at the first road and walk back to the hotel. Anatoli takes the snowmobile to his 4x4 to bring back to the hotel. We lost the others in the forest, they went a different way to us. They ended up at the house of Andreas, unloaded everything then were driven back to the hotel.

How nice was it to be back in some sort of civilisation, it was bliss. Warwick was first in the shower, then me, Julia, Richard, Martin, Igor and Elena. You have no idea how good warm water feels, we are all feeling great. While everyone was showering Warwick went and brought beers. It seems we enjoyed ourselves we went back to the shop two more times and brought a bottle of vodka and 30 beers all in all. Elena cooked dinner. A very happy tired and relaxed group. Igor went with Anatoli and his family to eat. Sleep came very easy tonight.

23rd April :- Awake early, it gets light around 6am, pack everything up. Breakfast at 8am. Igor and Elena are driving the pickup with the snow mobile and all the gear and we five are being let loose on our own and catching the bus from Klyuchi to Yelizovo, this is going to be such fun, nothing like traveling in a country where you don't understand the language. The bus will leave at ten to ten and will take ten and a half hours-ish.

Well the bus eventually left at ten past eleven, it had to wait for another bus coming in from the coast that was late and had people on it that were booked on our bus. The novelty of being on the bus wore off after 2 hours. It stops often on the side of the road for toilet stops. Travel in this area is difficult, more so for woman who have to clamber over snow banks and into the forest. I was too scared to go wondering in the forest, I did not want to meet one of those big brown hungry bears that were waking up! Eventually the bus stops in a town and everyone gets off.

Turns out this is our lunch stop for half an hour. We follow everyone into what looks like a working-mens club but in fact it is a cafe. The toilets were disgusting, even worse than Spanish toilets. The food was good apparently, Richard and I didn't eat, we had enough goodies to keep us going. Warwick just pointed at random stuff on the menu, he had no idea what the food was until it turned up. At another stop many hours later we managed to point our way to buying crisps, coffee and soft drinks.

Eventually we arrive at the place where we are to phone Martha to arrange a pick up. We arrive in Yelizovo at 10.30pm where Martha picks us up and god bless her she had ordered us pizza, yay, we stuffed ourselves, had a beer, then off to bed.

Only one more post to go now.

The Kamchatka Expedition Part 4 - Deteriorating weather

2014-05-15T00:00:00Z

Here we are onto part 4 of the expedition. Most of the photos are Martin's, there were difficult times and photos were not on our minds, but obviously Martin was the expedition photographer, it was his job to capture life in camp. I'm sure you will agree he did a great job.

18th April :- Woke up to a frozen tent and no wind! Richard feeling better. After breakfast Martin did some Berghaus shots of Richard, I went along to take photos and learn from an expert. Crazy landscape everything has turned black and white from the ash. Makes Richards bright Berghaus gear look great though. Igor and Elena went back to first camp by snowmobile to pick up some stashed food and fuel as it looks like we will be here longer than planned. Out on the plateau they said it was really windy and mini tornedos were all over the place. Looking up at the volcano you can see the snow being blown off. Richard went for a little ski to test his bindings. I took some pictures of him, then we restrengthened the snow walls (told you it becomes an obsession). One mistake we realised we had made was not leaving much room between the tent and the snow walls to allow for snow falling (I have a paranoia about being buried in the tent after a near miss in Patagonia once).

Warwick and Martin were out doing more Berghaus shots so I went to visit Julia in her luxury tent (well compared to ours it is much bigger), she platted my hair in an attempt to keep it under control. While we were chatting we heard a strange noise, it sounded like a bird, wow it was a bird, in fact two Ravens had come to visit us, the only wildlife we had seen in what feels like forever. After the initial excitement of seeing something else alive, I begin to wonder what they are doing here, are they messengers of doom? During dinner a Russian turns up!

He was part of the group of 12 who had attempted to summit today. Turns out they left the volconologists hut at 4am, got to 4000m but the wind was too strong. He asked if he could join our group but we do not have the food or fuel or tent space to have another person along. He had a warm drink then left to catch his companions. Weather forecast still showing bad weather. We had a game of 20 questions which was hilarious, we had to choose people that all nationalities would know. Richard chose Big Chief Sitting Bull!! Needless to say none of us got that one. During the night the wind became very strong, I used ear plugs to try and dull the noise. One of the worst things about camping in places like this is having to get up to go to the toilet in the middle of the night, having to put on extra clothes and boots, but at least my emergency toilet got used.

19th April :- Woke up to no wind but it was snowing and only -9C, another going no where day. The Ravens were sat on a rock in camp this morning, I am now convinced they are messengers of doom, you always see Ravens in horror movies, maybe I've watched too many horror movies or maybe I'm loosing the plot being out here in this harsh environment. But I'm full of admiration for them they don't have a tent or sleeping bag to protect them and none of us have any photos of them!! Only had a cup of tea for breakfast I'm just not hungry, it seems all I do at the moment is eat, drink, pee and sleep. It is starting to get tough mentally being confined to four walls of the tent with not much room, constant bad weather and everything being in black and white but at least it's not raining and has enabled Richard to get better. Summit plan number 3 was made today, if this snow does not get blown away we can go back to plan number 1, the quickest and easiest route up and down Klyuchivskoi. We were planning to redo our snow walls on our tent so we could dig ourselves out if need be, we got cold while in the kitchen tent so ended up back in sleeping bags to warm up and never got round to doing the snow walls. Now let me describe the kitchen for you. It is an area dug out of snow, deep enough so you can stand up. Benches to sit on are cut from the snow as are shelves for storing stuff and even a table has been made. The whole thing is covered with a flysheet from a tent. The news on the weather front is not good. It's time to dig in and make ourselves safe as possible. Wishing we had re done the snow walls. So cold in this wind and by 9.30pm the tent was frozen.

20th April :- Didn't sleep much, very strong wind and my getting buried by snow paranoia came into play. Once it was daylight, the world seemed a safer place. Sides of the tent are buried in snow. Porch only half buried but with such strong wind it blew most of it away. No visit from the Ravens today, can't say I blame them. It's quite difficult to stand up outside in the wind. Richard climbed over the snow wall and dug the sides of the tent out. I got dressed to help but Martin decided this weather was a good opportunity for me and Julia to do a struggling through bad weather Berghaus shoot!! So much for modeling clothes being glamorous. We have minus who knows what windchill, enough to make your hair freeze, getting blown over and covered in volcanic ash. The wind is so strong it is picking up volcanic rock and throwing it at us. Blimey it hurts when it hits you, I've been hit 3 times just doing the photos for Berghaus! Well we survived and Martin got the shots he was after. Me and Julia had a warm cup of tea with Elena afterwards.

Richard had to go to the toilet, said he thought he was going to die getting hit by rocks, not the way he wanted to go ha ha. Martin then took Warwick and Richard off to do photos of them. It's quite amusing seeing someone come in from outside as they are covered in volcanic ash. After warming up I went and rebuilt the snow walls and toilet (it got blown down) for the rest of the day. Had lunch and made a few more alterations to the snow wall where the wind had knocked it down again (we are expecting extremely strong winds tonight).

We have a bit of a competition going on with snow wall building, team Russia (Igor, Elena and Martin), team England (Julia and Warwick) and team Spain (Richard and I). Team England and Spain believe team Russia will build the best snow walls, they are the experts! We, team Spain, expected to come off the worst as our walls looked like turtle shells, we never calved our snow blocks, just stuck the shovel in and pulled. The sun came out for a while, it was nice to see but it didn't stay around long. You can hear the wind coming towards you, you turn your back brace yourself for the onslaught. I was watching Warwick repairing his snow wall and saw him get blown over ha ha. Igor has built a toilet snow cave, wow this is luxury, so quiet and warm in there. Time to rest and warm up before dinner in 3 hours! It has started to snow again and the wind is increasing. Had dinner but didn't stay long.

21st April :- Holy shit someone turned on the winds turbo button! What a night, the strength of the wind was incredible and it snowed all night. Hardly any sleep. The wind contained the volcanic rocks which weakened the snow wall and part of the snow wall ended up collapsing onto the tent, the snow is very deep in the porch. The rocks were blowing right through the tent, luckily for us we only got hit 3 times.

Very early in the morning we thought we could hear voices but were not sure, didn't want to stick our heads out the tent and thought if help was needed then someone would come to the tent. Turns out Julia and Warwicks tent got destroyed in the early hours and they had to evacuate into the kitchen tent. The volcanic rocks had blown straight threw their snow wall, through the tent and out the other side. They had to wear helmets in their tent, packed up ready to evacuate when it became obvious too many holes were appearing in their tent and the tent would not hold it's strength against the onslaught. They eventually left when Warwick was outside trying to mend the snow wall and the wind blew him through the snow wall and onto the tent!

Richard got up and dug the porch and side of the tent out, my emergency toilet had been destroyed! The wind is blowing everyone over, impossible to do much, trying our hardest to repair snow walls, everyone's tents getting ripped by the flying volcanic rock and for safety helmets are being worn in and outside the tents. Everyone is covered in snow and ice.

Emergency meeting called. Discussions about the rest of our time here. There appears to be no break in the weather for the next 5 days and we only have 4 days left before having to make our journey out. It seems Kluchevskoi is not going to let us set a foot upon her. After lengthy discussions and various scenarios thrown around, the decision is made, we get the hell out of there tomorrow in the slight weather window that should arrive.

With such a short time left here, only a spare summer tent left, which Julia and Warwick will use tonight, wet gear, frozen people, and the chance of getting stuck here by bad weather. It's very disappointing for everyone but there was no other option really. When things start to go wrong it does not take much for things to escalate out of control in an environment like this. A very hard (but obvious) decision for Julia with the pressure of sponsors for a successful trip, team members lives on her hands and also her own ambition of wanting to board this volcano.

As far as we were all concerned the right call was made. After the meeting we all help to put up the summer tent, build snow walls around it. It's still snowing but not blowing as hard but bitterly cold. We both had to come into our tent and warm up, my feet are incredibly cold again, they have become a bit of a problem and are really annoying me, but at least we are heading down tomorrow, weather gods permitting.

The rest of the day is spent in the tent warming up and drying out. The weather has turned sunny but cold with little wind. Please let it stay like this. The Ravens eventually came to visit once the weather had calmed down, you have to admire anything that can survive what just hit us. I fed them left over lunch. Team Spain came 1st in the snow wall building survival, team Russia was 2nd and team England was 3rd! -19C at dinner time. Ate food and went straight back to the tent to warm up feet again. Very calm and very cold night. Had a reasonable nights sleep.

The Kamchatka Expedition Part 3 - Waiting for a weather window at base camp

2014-05-09T00:00:00Z

A lot of what is written in these Kamchatka Expedition trip reports has been taken from the notes and diary I kept. It appears this blog will be in more than four parts, I have more photos and writing than I thought. Again there are a mixture of photos from Martin Hartley (do go see his work) and our own photos.

14th April :- Very bad night sleep due to the high winds, man tents are so noisy during high winds. This morning the temperature is -15C (all the temperatures are not including wind chill), everything is frozen. You move inside the tent and ice falls on to you from the roof, the wind knocks the ice off the tent and on to you, then everything starts to get wet. Breakfast at 9am, discussion about plan for today, we are going no where, conditions are too bad. It is dangerous to wander too far from the tents because you loose sight of them. Towards dinner time the weather begins to break, if the weather holds we shall make a move tomorrow.

15th April :- Good night sleep the wind died down during the night. Have breakfast and leisurely pack up camp, we are on the move. Igor takes most of the kit by snowmobile the 5km to base camp. The rest of us put on our skis and skins and start our ski to camp. Once we reach the plateau the sun is out, it's hot by Kamchatka terms and we get incredible views of Kluchevskoi and Kamen. As we get closer we can see the steam coming out the vent of Kluchevskoi and the closer we get we realise she is not the white mountain she looked, she is covered in ash and just gets bigger and bigger. Igor arrives back to take anyone who wants a lift, we all decide to continue but due to skinning over ash and volcanic rock Richard, Martin and myself hand our skis to Igor so we do not damage them and continue walking to aid acclimatisation. Elena goes with Igor to set up the kitchen tent and have lunch ready for our arrival. I have gained a blister from one side of my heal to the other. We all eventually arrive at camp to cheers from Igor and Elena. Before eating we set up our tents, never trust the weather. Richard has been loosing energy and has a cough. We have a quick lunch, Richard retreats to his sleeping bag to stay warm, I finish off making snowwalls around the tent. What an amazing situation for a camp surround by volancos, can't stop taking photos. Martin is making the most of the good weather and taking plenty of catalogue shots for Berghaus. Dinner at 7pm of buckwheat stew. Decision is made that we will skin up the 800m to a volconolgists hut, our high camp tomorrow, for altitude training and get a look at the route up the volcano. Once again bad weather returns and we seek shelter in our tents, my feet are always cold, there is no room for errors in this place.

16th April :- Slept okay. Richard is still ill and will not make the acclimitisation trip. Tent frozen again. Breakfast at 8am. It's a beautiful morning for our acclimitisation trip, layers are being removed as we make our way through the volcanic scenery towards the glacier that runs between Kluchevskoi and Kamen. As soon as we reach the glacier the wind howls down it funneled by the two volcanos, the layers are quickly put back on. Igor, Julia and Warwick set a quick pace for the 3km to the high camp and soon leave me and Martin behind.

Me, I'm just a plodder, Martin is carrying ridiculously heavy camera gear. Around a third of the way up my right foot freezes solid, panic sets in. I've had frozen fingers before but never a foot freeze like that without warning. It was like a wood. Decision time for me, continue up and risk doing permanent damage to my foot, maybe even loosing it (dramatic I know but it's possible), or turn around and hope I find my way back to camp. Clouds are coming up the valley, decision is made I have to head back to camp.

The 3 in front are too far away and it is far to windy to get their attention. I manage to attract Martin's attention, who is over to one side taking photos, and signal I am heading down. I walk very very quickly back down the glacier, quite strange walking when you can't feel one of your feet, once off the glacier it starts to get warm again, but I can not rest as the cloud is quickly moving up the valley to engulf me and I'm concerned the wind will blow all tracks away. I follow my footsteps back to camp and arrive a bit of an emotional wreck.

I was disappointed I didn't make it to high camp, scared I'd done permanent damage to my foot, scared from being split from the party. Richard and Elena give me big hugs and make me some jam tea, have you ever tried jam tea? Wow it is good and sweet. Took my boots off and started the process of warming my foot up which was not solid anymore but the skin is a waxy white yellow colour meaning I was well into the middle stage of frostbite. The big toe on my left foot was purple a sure sign that the left foot was heading for frostbite! Relax in my sleeping bag and recompose myself, eventually seeing the funny side of my panic. The clouds start to engulf camp and the others are spotted through the clouds on their way back.

Dinner is at 7pm. Elena somehow manages to cook amazing food with such limited utensils. For me it was soya, bean, rice and veg stew. After dinner we discuss (Warwick films) the plan for a summit attempt. Original plan was to make high camp at the volconologists hut, go to summit and ski/board down. This is the shortest route. BUT with half the mountain covered in ash this route is not possible for skiing. Discussions are then held about another line that Warwick had seen on the North West face. A lot of logistics to make this work and we need the weather gods to be on our side which they are not at the moment it's due to be bad for the next 3 days! 9.15pm and the tent is not frozen yet!

17th April :- A rather warm night, -10C is considered warm these days! Going no where today, letting my foot recover, which it has done. Richard is still bad. I spent the day building a higher snow wall around the tent. Building snow walls has become a bit of an obsession. I also built an emergency toilet next to the tent, when the weather comes in real bad again I won't have to fear getting lost while out on a toilet mission. Rather proud of my toilet. After lunch the weather is not to bad so Igor, Julia, Warwick and Martin head out to look at the North West face to see if it is doable. Funnily enough they bump into 12 Russians who are on their way to the volconologist hut to make a summit attempt tomorrow. Igor warns them bad weather is coming. The rest of the afternoon for me is spent helping Elena build a higher snow wall around the kitchen.

The others arrive back with good news, the face is ski-able we just need a weather window. The snow around camp is turning black from the change of wind direction which is bringing the ash that the volcano is throwing out onto us! Had dinner, weather forecast is not good for the next 4 days, 100km winds and snow due. 9.15pm and again the tent is not frozen, strange as it feels very cold.

Comments

Jean Entwistle: Hi Kiersten , I am thoroughly enjoying reading your version of the Kamchatka Expedition and seeing it all in writing. Exciting but also rather terrifying at times I should imagine.

The Kamchatka Expedition part 2 - Leaving Klyuchi and emergency camp

2014-04-28T00:00:00Z

This report is mostly photos as I think they can tell the story better than myself. Once again some of the photos are courtesy of Martin Hartley who is at this moment on an expedition crossing the Arctic.

12th April :- Four snowmobiles arrived with sledges attached to them. Our transport into the mountains. It took a long time to pack the sledges but then we were off. Me and Julia got to ride on the back of the snowmobiles, the others got to ride like mushers (but not as much fun) and hang on to the back of sledges for 5 hours! Driving through the town was hilarious, people were on their way to work wearing camouflaged or dark dull coloured clothing, then there was us in our bright Berghaus clothing, people just stopped and stared as we rode past on our snowmobiles. Talk about feeling like a tourist! Shortly after leaving town we entered the forest, these are viscous forests, as you ride through their branches try to smack you in the face or knock you off, very pleased we wore our helmets. The snowmobile I was on toppled over on an embankment of snow, Elena managed to jump off the sledge but me and the driver were stuck laying on our backs in the snow with our feet holding the snowmobile off us until the others came to help (in the video trailer you can hear Igor say "oh shit" that was him seeing us fall over)! Anyway neither of us was hurt. The weather deteriorated with high winds and blizzards so we had to retreat and head back to the hotel after reaching 700m. On our way back we stopped at an old volcano crater which was still warm, did a photo shoot and had some lunch. Jet lag and lack of sleep was catching up with us all, we slept the rest of the day until 8pm. I phoned mum but credit ran out on the phone, costs a lot of money to call the UK from deepest Kamchatka.

13th April :- Breakfast at 7am. Weather still windy and snowing but cleared by 10am, we had the all clear to go at 11am. Loaded up the snowmobiles again and headed to basecamp. I think the snowmobiles were the scariest part of the trip for me especially through the forest, not so bad once out on the open mountains. We traveled for 5 hours and covered around 40km. We had beautiful weather for most of the trip, the stunning views kept coming and going through the clouds and we got sneaky looks at Kluchevskoi (our target volcano), Kamen, Ushkovsky and the erupting Tolbachik. The good weather didn't last and we had to make an emergency camp 5km short of our destination, the wind and snow made visibility almost zero. I have never experienced cold like here, it gets right to your bones. It was all hands to helping get each tent up very quickly and most importantly the kitchen shelter so we could have some warm food! Wow this is a wild, beautiful and tough environment.

And so part 3 will be arriving soon.

Comments

ALISON EDWARDS: wow. the photos certainly make you realise how dangerous this expedition was! impressed with the balancing skills!

The Kamchatka Expedition Part 1 - Getting there

2014-04-23T00:00:00Z

As most of you are aware a year ago we left to go on an expedition to Kamchatka to attempt to ski and snowboard the highest active volcano in Eurasia. At long last I am getting around to writing about it. It will be in four parts because if nothing else the pictures deserve the attention. I hope it won't bore you too much, for me this will be a little reminder as the years go past of this incredible experience.

17th March :- Start trying to work our way through the complexities of Russian Visa applications. Realise Richard's passport will run out 3 days early. Emergency trip back to UK on 19th to get a new passport. Finish off the Russian Visa applications, send them to Madrid with passports. The visas and passports turn up 4 days before we leave. 6th April drop the dogs off at kennels, hate leaving them. Berghaus clothing does not arrive so have to pack our own clothing just in case it does not turn up in Russia! Clothing turns up in Lanjaron the day after we left!

7th April : - Time to head to Russia. Gordon picks us up at 5am, drives us the five hours to Madrid airport for our flight to Moscow. The Aeroflot team here were great and didn't charge us any extra for our ski bags and the flight was just over 4 hours. Get met at the Moscow airport by someone from the hotel we are staying at. Now for people who are not linguists but can speak a 2nd language we find when you hear a foreign language you slip back to the one you know. I can speak Spanish (of sorts) but if I am in France I will speak Spanish instead of French but when I return to Spain I will be speaking French, the poor brain struggles with more than one language. Quite amusing trying to speak to the Russian man in Spanish, needless to say none of us understood any of each other. Meet Martin Hartley (no relation to Richard) the expedition photographer who was the first of the group to arrive at the hotel. Take the time and go visit Martin's website to see some of the stunning work he has done. I have kind permission to use some of his photos from our trip. We have dinner and nice bottle of Chilean wine at the hotel. Julia and Warwick arrive at some unearthly hour of the morning so we won't be meeting them until the next day.

8th April :- We all meet for breakfast and afterwards sort through gear, there is a lot of gear. Julia and Warwick had to bring 2 sets of extra clothing because ours never turned up and the chances of it turning up in Russia before we left were near on nil and couldn't be risked. The day before Julia and Warwick left for their flight they made a dash to the Berghaus warehouse to get us our kit. We have 8 luggage bags, 5 ski bags and 5 hand luggage, ooops this is going to be fun. We leave for airport at 3pm to fly to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in Kamchatka. Now Russian airports are funny places, you enter the door to the airport and immediately you have to go through security, yep trouble. Imagine us with all our gear, one scanner and lots of other travelers. We started putting our gear through the scanner then realised some of us need to be on the other side to retrieve the luggage, complete chaos and much laughing but we eventually manage to get us all and our luggage into the airport. We go to check in and Aeroflot are not happy with us and all our luggage (they did state on their website that ski bags go free but none of us saw the date it ends), there is a language barrier and a lot of confusion, being sent here, there and here and there, a lot of money handed over along with passports etc. We nearly miss our flight. We have a good flight, personal tv screens on the seats, watched a few movies, drank and ate and crossed 9 time zones and landed just one hour away from yesterday!

9th April :- Arrive in Kamchatka at 10am met at the airport by Martha (logistics and everything else to do with Kamchatka, highly recommend her friendly services) and Igor (expedition guide) who take us to our lodgings for the night. Now I have to say this is an airport with a view, as soon as you are off the plane you are looking at volcanoes. We spend the afternoon relaxing, going through gear and discussing a plan of action. Martha asks for our passports and migration pieces of paper that we were given when we entered the country, we have to be registered with the police, ummm turns out we lost one (Richard's) somewhere along the way in all the chaos at the airport in Moscow! Elena (expedition cook) turns up to meet us, talk about the food for the trip and cook our dinner. We eat and drink again, hohum it's hard on these expedtions.

10th April :- Delay of a day in departing because of the lost migration paperwork. Richard and I have to travel back to the capital of Kamchatka, Petropavlovsk, by bus to sort it out. The others go skiing at the local ski centre and Elena spends the day with us helping translate and takes us to a really really posh tea place to have cheese cake and coffee. The waitress wore gloves!! Anyway paperwork all sorted by very friendly staff, nothing to worry about. We head out to a restaurant to join some guests that are staying at Marthas place for dinner.

11th April :- Today we head to Klyuchi. Up at 5am for breakfast, very difficult to eat at that time of the morning. Two 4x4 vehicles with trailers turn up at 5.30am, start packing the trailers with all our gear that is coming with us. At 6.30am we leave for our 13 hour 600km journey to Klyuchi, the military town and last place of any type of civilisation. In one 4x4 me, Richard, Elena and our driver, in the other Julia, Warwick, Martin and Igor. The roads are covered in snow and it starts snowing again, the tarmac runs out and pretty quickly you are on unsealed roads when you are not on snow! We see plenty of broken down vehicles that have been abandoned. We really want to sleep but don't want to close our eyes and miss anything. We meet up en-route several times for photography and video sessions and then stop for lunch in a village on the way. I had mashed potatoe, beetroot salad, mixed veg salad, cabbage doughnut and fruit tea! You tend to eat lots of small dishes here, bit like Spain with Tapa. This is enormous tough country, as we start to near our destination we began to get a brief glimpse of Kluchivskoi and Tolblachik through the cloud. During the 13 hour drive 2 things I thought of, among many other things, must come back and visit this place again and how on earth did the people from the book "The Long Walk" endure this hostile territory when they escaped from a prison camp in Siberia during winter wearing rags! Seriously read the book. Arrived at our hotel, packed our kit that was to come into the mountains with us, Elena cooked dinner and then it was bed after a very long day.

Now if this hasn't bored you be sure to keep checking as part 2 will be on soon.

Comments

Sumit Sen: Great report!

Alison Edwards: Lovely to hear about the trip now in detail as it seems crazy at the time! Look forward to part two !

Victoria Twead: Great stuff, Kiersten! Looking forward to reading more! Victoria :)

Christina Eberhard: Wow!! Wonderful! Thanks so much for this report. Can't wait to read part 2 - Thanks Kiersten!

Jenny Steiger: Looking forward to the next part Kiersten. All that snow made me shiver, I could not do that! I have to have warmth. Most interesting to read, well done, am wondering if you would ever try it again?

The red palm weevil (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus)

2013-11-08T00:00:00Z

Many times I've stood next to the palm tree in the garden and thought the tree sounded alive. Little did I know it was actually being eaten alive. I have mixed feelings about this tree I hate it because it spikes me quite often and when it spikes you it really hurts and the spikes are incredibly dangerous to the dogs but I hate to think that it is ill and something is killing it.

Anyway one time I was outside and this insect came out of the tree. I took a photo and posted it on Facebook, it wasn't long before I had an answer, the palm tree was infected with red palm weevil and death would follow. There were a few ideas on how maybe to get rid of the weevil but all of this needed poison and that I will not let in the garden. So it was just a case of waiting. In the meantime I'd found out it's best to burn the trunk to help stop the spread of the weevil, unfortunately for us we have not had any significant rain since May, fires are still banned. Burning is not going to happen any time soon.

One month after I put the photo on Facebook we had a windy day and the palm leaves mostly fell to one side. It was time to cut them off. Which I did and got spiked. Then today, Pepe has been here working and pulled what was left of the palm tree and it split open. Well I guess today is the day we have to do something!

The heat from inside the palm was amazing, and the stench was disgusting. There were larvae grubs everywhere but only one adult weevil found. The three of us were gagging, it was like something from a horror movie, yeah okay we are not very brave.

More information on this weevil and it's world wide destruction of palm trees. A short video of today, watch if if you're brave enough!

Vegetable garden is up and running

2013-07-28T00:00:00Z

Well the veggie garden is up and running again. We don't have a huge selection of veggies growing, we have to keep it on a small scale because we don't have the time needed to look after them, but what we do grow is pretty good at looking after it'self most the time. We are lucky that Pepe comes and helps us flood the land every couple of weeks, then it's up to us to water and weed the rest of the time when needed.

The day I met an Ocellated Lizard

2013-05-09T00:00:00Z

Comments

Lainy: We loved it, lots of giggles from the kids. Excellent photos. You were really lucky that he/she came so close. x

peejay: What a fearless fellow. I suppose he thought,"I'm too big to tangle with.",

The next adventure - A land far, far away with fire breathing mountains

2013-03-28T00:00:00Z

Kamchatka is somewhere I heard about many, many, many years ago, saw some photos and thought wow I'd love to go there. Little did I know that one day I would get the opportunity. Richard and I have been invited by Berghaus athlete Julia Pickering to join her on an expedition. The aim of the expedition is to become the first people to climb and snowboard down the largest active volcano in the Northern Hemisphere, Kamchatka in far eastern Russia.

Klyuchevskoy Sopka 4750m is a stratovolcano, the highest mountain on the Kamchatka peninsula and the highest active volcano in Eurasia and one of the largest volcanoes in the world.

If the weather allows the team will also attempt snowboard descents of other nearby volcanos such as Ushkovsy. We fly to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky via Moscow and take a 10 hour 6WD bus journey to Klyuchi. A Russian military base, Klyuchi was only opened up to foreigners in 2010. The following day we will travel by snowmobile to the northern foothills of Klyuchevskoy as far as the volcanologists hut at 1650m. So what are we likely to see there? Well Kamchatka has the largest population of brown bears in the world, who will be waking up from hibernation whilst we are there. The penninsula is also the breeding ground for one of the largest eagles, the Steller Sea Eagle. Other fauna include wolf, fox, wolverine, lynx, big horn sheep, moose and reindeer amongst many other animals. Quite what we will see whilst we are there you will have to wait until we return because I have no idea.

Kamchatka is also famous for it's volcanoes. There are around 160 of which 29 are active. Klyuchevskoy Sopka last erupted in January of this year. It's neighbour Tolbachik has been famously erupting (you may have seen it on tv) and is around 20km from where we will be . Whether the trip is successful or not, one thing for sure is we are in for a trip of a lifetime. You can follow our expedition on the Spanish Highs Mountain Guides website. The page goes live on 10th April. If you have twitter you may want to follow us on there @kamchatka2013 I would like to thank Florian Wizorek for allowing me to use the first photo you see in this post.

Comments

Khyra's Mom: We do a walk or two - But nothing nearly as exciting as what you'll be embarking upon soon - ;-)

Jenny Steiger: I think you are so brave and adventurous, it makes my adventures look like a walk in a very small park. I wish you all the very best, and look forward to hearing your tales of the unexpected! Bravo, y buena suerte. Jenny.

On the trail of the Quebrantahuesos!

2012-10-06T00:00:00Z

The Quebrantahuesos (bone breaker), Gypaetus barbatus, Bearded Vulture, Lammergeier, Lammergeyer or what ever you want to call it, is one of the rarest birds in Europe. Once upon a time it was a common bird in Andalucia, but thanks to poison, poaching and hunting the bird became extinct in Andalucia during the 80's. This left a population only in the Pyrenees.

There has been a successful but slow (takes many years for these birds to reach maturity) re-introduction programme based in the Sierra Cazorla. The Bearded Vulture lives mainly on a diet of bone marrow. It can swallow or bite through bones where its powerful digestive system quickly dissolves the bone. It is probably known more for taking larger bones up into the sky and dropping them to the ground to smash into smaller pieces.

So when somewhere on facebook a picture was posted of one of the released Lammergeiers which is carrying a GPS tracker, showing up in the Sierra Nevada, it was too good an opportunity to miss to go and see if we could find it. Needle in a haystack comes to mind, but you have to get out there and try. A date was set (happens to be my birthday), Richard, me and the dogs met up with Pepe and away we went.

We walked for hours to the area where this bird, called Hortelano, last sent a GPS message from. As it turns out during the month of September 3 released Lammergeiers had visited the Sierra Nevada, which is just fantastic news. Sadly for us the haystack was too big and the needle too small and we never did see Hortelano.

However we did see many Griffon Vultures, showing that the Sierra Nevada is, once again, able to sustain these wonderful scavengers.

I have been given kind permission by Clive Finlayson to use the Lammergeier photos you see in this post. Clive is an outstanding photographer, author of many books, has spent his life studying birds, excavating archaeological sites and researching historical texts.

Golden Wedding Anniversary

2012-03-31T00:00:00Z

50 years ago today my parents were married. Today is their Golden Wedding Anniversary. Next week we shall join them in the UK with friends and family to celebrate this mile stone. Happy anniversary mum and dad x

Comments

FiveSibesMom: I'm not late or anything...what beautiful folks your parents are! Many (belated) congratulations!

An incredible encounter with Golden Eagles

2012-02-23T00:00:00Z

I had the most amazing Golden Eagle encounters yesterday. I was driving up on the Ventura track to extract some Spanish Highs Mountain Guides clients who had been on a 4 day winter mountaineering trip in the Sierra Nevada. On the drive up a Golden Eagle flew right over the car so close, I stopped the car and took some photos BUT the eagle was in the cloud so I have some great silhouette shots as you can see!!!!

I arrived at the meeting point at 2000m far to early so sat on a rock taking in the view in-between the clouds blowing in and out. All of a sudden 2 Golden Eagles flew up the valley below me, I managed to grab some photos of them but they were a long way off and it was not great light.

Then an hour or so later (told you I got to the meeting point to early), in came the cloud. Its quite spooky when your at 2000m on your own in the cloud, your mind starts to play games with you.

I heard a really strange noise. My brain was trying to recognise what the noise was. First of all I thought it was like a freaky mini tornado or similar but could see no vegetation moving, then my logic (yes ok its time I was locked away) told me it was an areoplane with no engines falling out the sky (it was that loud).

But then one of the eagles appeared out of the clouds, which cleared up the mystery for me. It slammed the breaks on and shot off vertically up into the clouds (like an RAF Harrier plane). I know there were 2 eagles there although I didnt see the first one because it didnt drop below cloud level I certainly heard it. I managed to snap the one photo. It was the most awesome moment i've had, the noise was incredible. Just a shame all of these sightings were in the clouds which has meant poor photos, but the experience was amazing. Ive no idea what the eagles were up to, to me they seemed to be having great fun dashing around in the cloud and scaring the life out of me.

Comments

Gus: Wow, Kiersten!!! i would have loved being there with you!!! amazing experience indeed!! awesome creatures, eagles...i bet they were laughing at you, jajaja :))) Thank you for the story and the pictures, i enjoyed them very much! Kisses Gus

Bruno the Leonberger has bone cancer

2011-08-13T00:00:00Z

Bruno started out showing signs of lameness, over a week or so the lameness got worse. He went to the vet who took a few x-rays and diagnosed osteoarthritis. He was put on the anti-inflammatory tablets Norocarp. But Brunos lameness got worse, he cried in pain and wouldnt use his front right leg.

We called the vet out for a home visit. After sorting Khumbus ear out, yes he got an infection, he looked at Brunos leg again. The leg moved fine until manipulation of the shoulder when Bruno would cry. He told the us we had to go to the Veterinary hospital in Granada because they had specialised equipment and would be able to see what was going on.

The appointment was made for the next day. Bruno was put onto the examining table, thats a first for Bruno, all work is normally carried out on the floor because of Brunos size. He went off for an x-ray. An hour or so later we were back in the vets office and were told the devastating news. Bone cancer, very aggressive. Choices were amputation of the leg if not spread to the heart and lungs, followed by chemotherapy, if it had spread then just chemotherapy or euthanize. The oncologist was scheduled to phone on Monday to talk through the options. We were sent away with a concoction of pain killers for Bruno.

On Sunday we met up with a couple who live in the village with their Labradoodle Benji. He had been diagnosed with a different type of cancer last year and only given months to live. They started chemo straight away and although Benji is not cured he looks fantastic and is living his normal life again. They explained to us what we could expect once the chemo was started. We left feeling much more positive.

The oncologist eventually phoned on Tuesday and Bruno was booked in for Thursday. We took Bruno in expecting him to be having amputation. The vet said he was 95% sure it was cancer but could not remove a limb without being 100% sure, so a biopsy was needed. Also an x-ray was to be done of his chest to see if it had spread and his bloods were checked. He stayed in for the day. When we went to fetch him we were told that the cancer had not spread, chest x-ray and bloods were clear. This is great news, although the x-ray appeared clear there could still be traces of cancer there, but he stands a better chance of survival as there are no more large tumours to hit. So we now wait for the biopsy results to tell us what type of cancer he has and how to proceed, but amputation is definite.

There is no cure for this cancer but with Bruno being strong and wanting to live we have decided to go with chemotherapy to prolong his life. The chemo will allow him a quality of life, without it he will be dead in less than 3 months. We are under no illusions that we are all in for a tough ride ahead and im sure there will be times when we question our decision, but if we can get through the tough times we know we will have made the right decision. What time he has left with us is anybodys guess, maybe 9 months, maybe a year maybe longer but so long as our boy is enjoying life we will do everything we can for him.

We have had incredible support from all over the world via facebook and twitter with thoughts, prayers and pawcircles and you know what its worked. It is gut wrenching to hear Bruno cry and frustrating when you feel the medical side of things are not moving fast enough. Everyone has helped us stay focused and positive and we would like to thank everyone of you for your support.

A couple of people (you know who you are) have mentioned the herb wormwood (Artemisinin) in helping fight the cancer cells and have proof that it helps. Dogs who were given just 6 months to live have managed to live a fully normal healthy life for another 3 years or more. Thank you for pointing us in this direction we are in contact with a company and waiting to hear back from them to see if they can help us. This herb can be used in conjunction with the chemotherapy. I found this website called Bone Cancer Dogs which has been a great source of information but we found this page of most interest, how can you not try wormwood after reading it.

A word of advice, should you have a large dog who is lame, be on the safe side and ask for an x-ray straight away. Its often far to late to save the dogs life by the time its been diagnosed, usually the dog gets treated for arthritis etc for months before cancer is finally picked up. We found some shocking statistics whilst searching the internet, 50% of Leonbergers deaths are due to bone cancer! If anyone out there has any more help and advice they want to share with us, please do contact us. Also mentioned to us is the Telomerase cancer vaccine if anyone has any experience of this vaccine please let us know.

So that is where we are at the moment awaiting the biopsy results, awaiting amputation, awaiting chemotherapy and awaiting the big fight and by god its going to get one hell of a fight from us.

Comments

Khyra's Mom: The ugly C word has to be eliminated from our vocabulary - We know Bruno will give it all he has AND then some - PLUS, he's got lots and lots of support - from all over the world! Khyra and The Golden Khousins send H&K - Phyll

Mireille: Hi, We just found out that Montana our leo has bone cancer in her front paw just like Bruno. She is 7 years old. How is Bruno ? Did you go ahead with the amputation? Our vet did an x-ray and confirm the cancer since the tumor was is already 1cm. They didn't recommend the ampution because of her size. We feel that she is too young and she still is so happy and playful. Let me know if your Bruno is still fithing?

Kiersten: Hi Im sorry to hear about Montana, yet another poor baby suffering bone cancer. Bruno is still going strong. Im sorry I did not see your post until now. You can follow his progress on our dogs blog site which is Tails from the Pack Seriously think about amputation Leo's get around just fine on 3 legs. Check out the links that are on the blogs, you will find other Leos and many many other dogs and the bonecancerdogs forum is a fantastic place, lots of help and info. Im going to try and send you an email. If you dont receive one from me get back to me on here and I will share all the info I have with you. Good luck to you and Montana x

Stephanie: Hi Mireille, I had a Leonberger with bone cancer, too. Chico had his rear leg amputated when it broke from the cancer. He really got along well, he was up walking right after the surgery and healed up really quick. personally, I don't think size has a lot to do with whether the dog can handle it or not, if the leg hurts from the cancer they are not using that leg fully anyway. here's my video of Chico progression from the day of his amp, he was 125 pounds.

and here's one I found of another boy with a front amp, his name is Dugan

I wish you and Montana the very best , Stephanie and my angel Chico

zena: I'm so sorry about Bruno how is he doing ? My Rottweiler Fizz had Bone Cancer in her hind leg she was 6 at the time, When Fizz was diagnosed I completely broke down, she was my baby and I adored her, but she showed me over the time from the date she was diagnosed to the date she went to heaven. How truly amazing an animal can be and over time I have realised that she has taught me more in her short 6 years than I had learned in my 40 .............. and we say that we are the most intelligent thing's on our planet ? Fizz had her leg amputated and was walking the next day ! She in fact walked the entire outside of the vet's surgery, while being cheered on by firemen who were outside doing a training exercise ! She then had 3 Bouts of chemotherapy and was amazing through it not only did she never once look ill ?? She would lie on the table for 2 hours without sedation while they put 2 lines in her front legs and she did not move once !!! She finally past a lil bit over a year from her diagnosis and she past all my vet's prediction's ! She past when she was ready too and not before and I think that is something we all would prefer. I know that the last year of her short life may have been her defining part. The stage where everyone who knew her really began to acknowledged how remarkable she was. Because she was much more than an illness, she will always be and will always remain my Best Friend and I don't think I will ever get over losing her, but I think that it may be helped by the telling of her Story and by the helping of others, So I started a Blog so people will have somewhere to come and chat or just vent ...... I hope that Bruno is doing well and just enjoy your time with him and make some amazing memories as it's these lil stories that help us cope in our darkest times Love to you, Bruno and family xxx

Mary C. Hilseberg: My 5 yr and 4 mo old dog has just been diagnosed with osteosarcoma in the right front leg. First biopsy came back, no trace of cancer. However, she continued to limp so I took her to an Orthopedic Surgeon. He feels from looking at the Xrays it is cancer, but did another biopsy. I don't have the results yet but I feel certain he is correct. This is my second Leo, that got cancer at 5 years old. My first one, the cancer had spread to the lungs so he was euthanized. Lola's cancer had not gotten to her lungs yet. I hate to see her suffer. It breaks my heart. The surgeon wants to amputate and put a prosthetic leg. I don't know what to do. Any help is appreciated.

2005 Fire above Lanjaron

2011-02-02T00:00:00Z

I got this video from Pepe's blog. It shows the devastation to the Sierra Nevada from the fire above Lanjaron in 2005

Tibet – Murder in the snow – Video

2011-01-20T00:00:00Z

At the moment I'm reading a book called Murder in the High Himalaya by Jonathan Green. Its about a group of Tibetan refugees trying to cross the border into Nepal over the Nangpa la in 2006 and how the Chinese border guards shoot and kill. Many mountaineers were climbing on Cho Oyu preparing for summit day when the soldiers opened fired on the Tibetans. Most of the mountaineers kept quiet about the incident but luckily some risked everything in reporting this story.

I remember reading on a website in 2006 about this incident and was shocked and sickened at the report. But as time has gone by and more atrocities are happening across the world i'd forgotten about it. Reading this book has prompted me to write this piece and help raise awareness. Whilst searching on the internet I came across this video below. Murder in the snow is a 1 hour documentary, in 6 parts 10 minutes each, do watch it and read the book. If you are able to please pass it on to your friends, it is something that should never be forgotten. The Chinese government thinks it is above the laws of the rest of the world and human rights do not exist. Kelsang Namtso (the 17 year old nun who was killed) body has never been returned to her family but what the chinese did manage to do was send a picture of her naked bloodied body! If you want to find out more about Tibet then visit the website of International Campaign for Tibet. I guess I will never be allowed a climbing permit for the Chinese controlled Himalaya, but then again what do I care, why would I want to give my money to the Chinese so they can continue to slaughter the Tibetan people! Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

White-throated Caracara in Patagonia

2011-01-19T00:00:00Z

Thought you might like to see one of the characters I met whilst in Patagonia recently. Its a White-throated Caracara (phalcoboenus albogularis).

We had walked to the Laguna Torre to get a nice close view of one of the most iconic mountains in the world, Cerro Torre, whilst admiring the view the Caracara came along and gave us a great half an hour or so of entertainment. Even people who had no interest in birds were taking photos and video.

In the books it is described as shy and wary, well I can say I think the books need to be re-written as our bird seemed to thoroughly enjoy its encounter with humans. If you want to see more photos then have a look at the Smugmug Gallery.

Comments

Emma: Wow, that videos fab, bless him. Their not bothered by you in the slightest are they!

Khyra's Mom: Nothing like a raptor to take my breath away!

The Video of our 2010 Patagonia Expedition

2010-12-10T00:00:00Z

Ok here we go, the long awaited video from our trip. Hope you dont get too bored!

Icecap Trailer. This just shows a period of 36 hours in which we got onto the icecap and then managed to retreat from it in appalling weather conditions. 7 mins 44 seconds long.

Patagonian Expedition 2010. This is the full video including the Icecap Trailer (above). Also shows the before and after segments including trekking round the incredible peaks of Mt Fitzroy and Cerro Torre. 23 mins 38 seconds long

Comments

FiveSibesMom: Wow! Kiersten, first the scenery is gorgeous! I'm sitting here watching the video, looking at the photos and realizing I'm freezing and my legs hurt...and I didn't even leave the chair! That is amazing - what stamina! I'll have to see these again to be sure I didn't miss anything! Thank you for sharing them! So glad you had a great trip!

norwood: Thanks for sharing the videos. Amazing, Stunning. I'm glad you retreated that whiteout was absolutely frightening. Oh.. but the video ends well with wine, beer, beef, men sining and your prized vulture sighting. norwood

David Spreadborough: I am even more gutted that I am not joining you all on the next trip! Take care out there and look forward to seeing you all in the Spring.

Surviving Patagonia 2010

2010-12-09T00:00:00Z

Two taxis arrive to take us to the trailhead at Rio Electrico. From the trailhead we walk a few hours through a forest to our camp at Los Troncos. You have to pay a small fee as you pass over private land but on the plus side there is a small cabin where its your last chance to get food and drink. We did treat ourselves to one last bottle of wine but I could not pursuade the others to one last pizza!

The next day we move on to camp at La Playita (the beach). Here we stay put tent bound for 4 days due to rain, snow, rain and high winds. One night we even get flooded, we wake to find the floor of the tent like a water bed, immediate action is taken by digging channels around the tents to drain the water from around our tents. There are a handful of other teams stuck in the same position as us waiting for a weather window.

Finally day 5 that weather window arrives. We have a late set off because it was still raining at 9am but the skys turn blue, we pack up and head off up the valley towards the Marconi Glacier, allowing the other teams to get ahead of us. Summer in Patagonia = wind but this years weather was more unsettled than in previous years. To get to the Marconi Glacier you have to cross horrible moraine and carrying a backpack as heavy as ours, being as small as me and with the wind battering you, you WILL fall. I did on numerous occasions, luckily never seriously hurting myself, but the strength it saps from you is incredible.

Onto the glacier we go, up towards the serac barrier. This is a dangerous section because the seracs are almost continually falling down but usually you can avoid most of it. Also this section is heavily crevassed but this year most were snowed in and safe. We rope up and head up the steep section to the icecap. We are walking straight into the wind which slows our progress even further. Whilst taking a short break 3 rope teams of 2 Argentinian guides come raceing past us, thanking Richard for breaking trail for them. They have light sacks on and are moving fast on a training mission with radios. Then all hell breaks out. What feels like hurricane force winds hit us face on, any tracks left by the other 3 ropes vanish in seconds. We only manage to move a few steps at a time before we have to dig ice axes and walking poles into the snow and brace ourselves for the next gust which tries to rip us off the planet.

We have to keep going, we are beyond the point of no return and safety lies ahead of us not behind us. Non of us have ever experienced anything like the 36 hours that that we lived through. Words can not describe what the 4 of us went through and a special bond will be with us forever, our team became one and only the 4 of us can talk about it. No matter how we try to speak to others, unless you have been through something similar you can not and will not understand. The hours pass and we seem to be getting no where, thats a white out for you, daylight is running out, our energy is running out and we need to make camp. We spend the night in Chile!

With just a little day light left we start to dig down into the snow and build snow walls to protect our tents from the ferocuious winds. One little bit of luck, the winds abated enough to enable our tents to be put up in relative ease. Nobody ate that night, too exhausted to think about food, its all we can do to drink. The wind returned at full force sounding like a train coming at you. The snow is being picked up and dumped on our tents.

I wake and find that we had been virtually buried, thankfully our tents have 2 entrances and I manage to crawl out of a tiny hole at one end to go start digging the tent out. Every hour after that I have to dig us out. Richard is so physically exhausted after breaking trail most of the day and mentally exhausted after navigating us through the white out (his navigational skills are exceptional) he is unable to do much but support.

When daylight arrives again and we take stock of our situation, which is no better than yesterday, we make the decision to retreat. We have no other choice. So now the wind is on our backs which presents different challenges, at one point all 4 of us are picked up and thrown onto the ground. We eventually make it safely down to the Marconi Glacier, still getting battered by the wind and back over the moraine to La Playita camp.

We are greeted by a group who apparently had been 2hours behind us yesterday, spent an awful night below the seracs and retreated back to the camp the same day as us. The Argentine guides were so happy to see us, they said they had been concerned for us. Nice to know someone was watching out for us without us knowing. We must look in a bad way because lumps of cheese and meat started turning up at our tents for us to eat. People can be so kind, a small gesture like a lump of fresh cheese is like heaven.

The next day, guess what, the weather is good, the other group head up to try their luck again and we pack up our rucksacks and make for El Chalten via the cabin at Los Troncos where we have a well deserved beer and pizza. You can now arrange for the hut to take your rucksacks to the trail head for a small price, so we happily hand them over and have an almost pleasurable stroll out to the trailhead. We meet our rucksacks and the man who had driven them out by quad bike and trailor, he then drives to an estancia to phone for a taxi to come pick us up. After half an hour we can see a trail of dust approaching and our taxi pulls up and drives us back to the warm and welcoming hotel Confin Patagonico.

More photos from the trip can be seen here

Comments

Khyra's Mom: I think I can only come up with one word to sum up this post: WOW!!! Thanks for sharing this experience - I'm thinking Khyra might find this a bit too 'khold'

Two contrasting videos from our trip to Patagonia!

2010-12-03T00:00:00Z

Blizzards, snowdrifts, gales, frostbite, snowblindness, buried tents, floods, hardship, cold, sleepless nights. It must be summer then in deepest Patagonia.

What better way to celebrate a return from the mountains than with bottles of Malbec and a rendition of "Alouette" with a load of drunken frenchmen! Filmed at "Como Vaca" steakhouse, EL Chalten, Argentina.

Comments

Marie: Welcome back you mad women !!!!!!!! glad to hear you are safe and sound back from Patagonia, Buliva, Begonia or where ever in the world you have just been....... playing in the ice fields you should have come back to Brum we have had our own ice fields to contend with......... have just watched your two videos I cannot believe you are still in one piece and not some frozen statue still in your sleeping bags in your tent (although it looked more like a large sock !!!!!) the second video looks like much more fun and seeing as you were in tee shirts a heck of a lot warmer..... I expect the alcohol helps to warm the inside so I hope you drank copious amounts of it to thaw yourselves out. Anyway glad you are back safe and sound. Love from a very warm person in her centrally heated bungalow watching the Birmingham ice fields rapidly melting and after watching your video trying for the life of me to understand why you would ever want to go to some giant ice cube with gale force winds in the middle of nowwhere.................................... Love Marie x

Patagonia 2010 has arrived

2010-11-13T00:00:00Z

Well the day has nearly arrived for us to leave to one of the windyest wildest places on earth, yes Patagonia. But it is one of the most beautiful places on this planet ive ever seen, it is worth the hardship you endure to be there. This year we have dehydrated our own food, rather than make the mistake of last time (soya mince, packet soup, & pasta for 7 days, no variation of this boring food).

The photo above shows the food we are taking on the icecap for 10 days. That amount of food will feed the 2 of us! Dosnt look alot does it. We do have a few more bits to add to it like dried fruit and nuts. This time we have bulghar wheat chilli, north african stew, curry, rice, pasta, couscous, and mashpotato. If you want to follow us and find out more information about what we are doing you can do so at the link below, Richard has set up a webpage with lots of information on it, even photos from our last trip there in 2006 and an interactive map. So all that is left to say is wish us a safe journey.

Comments

Dena Rowlands: Wow! I think you are very adventurous! It sounds fabulous! Hope you have a wonderful time and please keep safe! Very impressed that you've made your own dried food! How do you do it? take care x

Kiersten: Hi Dena Thanks for your comment, I dont get many on here at all ha ha. Re the dried food we brought a dehydrator machine so we make a meal, make to much of it and dehydrate the rest. Once it is done we have vaccume seal the bags so it can last a long time. Its a great way to get the meals you like and they are very lightweight. If you want more info, let me know when I get back x

A wildfire at the end of the season

2010-10-30T00:00:00Z

Today we have had our first and only major wildfire this summer. We nearly made it to the end of summer without one. I grabbed the point and press camera before taking the dogs out this morning, quite a normal thing for me to do. Whilst walking I thought I could smell smoke, I looked around and to my amazement the hillside opposite Lanjaron (Sierra de los Guájares) was in flames with smoke billowing out. How I had not seen that before ive no idea, must have been sleepy still.

I took photos with the little camera and even a short video and when I got home I got the big camera out and recorded the days events, which sadly I have to say are still going on. The fire is now well under control but as I type this at 6.30pm there are still 5 helicopters and 2 planes trying their best to get it out before the sun sets and then its over to the ground crew for the night, who I assume will stay over night to make sure it dosnt start again. Very high winds are due tomorrow so fingers crossed its all safely out by then. Click the link for more information on wildfires. Having just seen an on line paper it looks like the fire was arson, at the moment the paper reports that over 200 hectares of forest has been burned, 12 helicopters, 3 planes, 152 specialists, 20 environmental agents, fire engines and 6 other vehicles have been in action all day. Apparently it started at 1.30am!!

How the emergency services co-ordinate something like this is beyond me. With 15 airborne devices and a huge amount of ground crew, how do you make sure that everyone is where they are supposed to be so they dont get drenched or retardant soaked, or how helicopters and planes dont fly into one another. All credit to these people for they do an amazing job. An interesting blog I came across a few years back was this one named Wildland Firefighter written by a firefighter from Granada, well worth a look even if its just at the photos and videos.

Sierra Cazorla for my 40th Birthday

2010-10-10T00:00:00Z

My 40th birthday approached and I did not want to go out to a bar and drink too much and wake up the next day feeling rough, so we decided to go away for a couple of days instead. We ended up in Cazorla staying at Cortijo Los Abedules a lovely group of cortijos run by Roger and Diana, highly recommend if your in the area to stay there.

The Cortijo is located at the foot of the Cazorla Natural Park which is very handy for what we had in mind for our trip. The town of Cazorla was very Spanish we enjoyed a few drinks and good food over the couple of days. Lots of walking in the area and the birdlife is incredible. We spent a long time with Griffon Vultures, watching them come home for the night on to the cliff ledges. I really enjoyed my birthday, nice to get away from home and see somewhere we had never been before, we shall certainly be returning. Thanks to everyone for their birthday cards & pressies & birthday wishes.

Comments

jordi: Sierra de Cazorla is a good place for a birthday... congratulations. great pictures!!

A holiday in Mallorca 2010

2010-10-06T00:00:00Z

Had a weeks birding and walking holiday in Mallorca at the beginining of September. Claire and my nephews were also on holiday and were leaving the day we landed. We tried to meet up in the airport but turned out an impossible task. Shame as it would have been great to see them all even if only for a few minutes.

This time a couple of friends, Dora and Dexter from the Isle of Man, joined us. A lesson learnt very quickly - Do not go to Mallorca for mountain and scrambling during the 1st week in September as its still too hot do much after 10am!!

Our first trip out to do the Cavall Bernat ridge scramble had to be aborted because a) we didnt get up early enough and b) it got to hot and we didnt have enough water!! So our holiday turned into not much of a holiday as we were up most days before it was light to get out and get the up hill parts of our walks done in the cool. But still we all had a great time.

In between and during mountain days I managed to snap a few bird shots. Richard has put together a video of us doing the scary Cavall Bernat ridge. No doubt we will be back in Mallorca again sometime soon.

A weekend trip to London

2010-09-26T00:00:00Z

At the end of August we decided to go to Wembley to watch the rugby league Challenge Cup because Leeds Rhinos had got through to the final. We arrived in London early on Friday morning and spent the day sight seeing and visiting the outdoor shops. Believe it or not we even saw Sam Pepper from Big Brother 11. At one point we ended up in the Westminster financial area of London and were suprised by all the negative symbolism, everywhere was gold on black, Barclays bank and even McDonalds had changed their sign colours to fit in with the area. We spent the night in a 5* hotel for 90 pounds, wow how the other half live!

On Saturday we met up with Richards brother in a pub, who had also come down to watch Leeds Rhinos at Wembley. After numerous drinks were consumed we all headed off to Wembley. What a fantastic place the new Wembley is. Very easy access, very easy entry to the grounds, plenty of services. Sadly Leeds lost, in fact Leeds got stuffed.

After the game we headed into the china town area to get something to eat and then headed back to Gatwick airport. Some friends, David and Anna, had mentioned to us that there is a hotel within the airport where you can pay by the hour for a room. The Yotel is an excellent idea and it enabled us to have a few hours sleep before our flight back home to Spain.

Gota Fria arrived again

2010-09-18T00:00:00Z

Remember this? My birthday in September 2007

A Gota Fria is :- _Gota Fria or ‘Cold Drop’ occurs when warm air saturated with water vapour rises and meets a much colder layer high up in the atmosphere. The sudden change in air temperature causes the water vapour saturated air to cool quickly and as a result the water vapour coalesces and falls as extremely heavy intense rainfall. The conditions necessary for a Gota Fria to form are often found in the autumn when the sea temperature is still high but upper airstreams are much cooler. A Gota Fria is usually very localised and can be accompanied by high winds, hail and lightning.

The phenomenon is particular common in the western Mediterranean but not limited to this area often occurring on the Atlantic coast in the summer months. The term has passed into popular language and is often used to describe heavy spells of rain even when these are not true Gota Frias. The power and intensity of a Gota Fria can be severe causing widespread damage and even deaths. Like a hurricane the Gota Fria depends on the sea to gain energy and so easterly (Levante) winds which are the commonest winds in the Valencian region blowing along the length of the Mediterranean can increase the risks of Gota Fria. Also like hurricanes the effects of Gota Frias are usually most intensely felt on or close to the coast.

Winds have been known to gust up to 140 kilometres per hours, strong enough to uproot trees and lift roofs but are usually short lived._ There are many examples over the years of particularly powerful and devastating Gota Frias. Some of the most famous are the 1891 Gota Fria in Almeria which caused widespread flooding throughout the province with rivers overflowing their banks and many deaths; the flooding on Alicante in 1982 and again in 1997 also resulting in loss of life; closer to the present day Almunecar and Nerja in 2007 and Alcalá de Guaraíra also in 2007.

Well its that time of year for a gota fria to happen. I had taken 3 clients on the GR7 walk from Soportujar to Lanjaron via Canar. We woke up to a storm, then when Richard dropped us off in Soportujar another storm arrived, so me and the 3 clients headed straight to a bar and waited out the storm. The locals were telling us not to go, but the sun eventually came out again so we headed off. A few more landslips have happened again along that section. We got to Canar just in time as the rain arrived so we took shelter in the church doorway.

When it stopped we headed out of town onto the next section of the walk to Lanjaron. 5 mins into the walk it was obvious another storm was blowing in, we made a hasty retreat to the only open bar in town. After that storm we headed out again, 20 mins out of town this time, a storm arrived right over our heads, no warning no nothing. Quick discussion, we headed back to town, phoned Richard and called it a day, enough was enough with rain and storms. Whilst we waited for Richard to pick us up we watched another storm roll in, we were enveloped in cloud, booming thunder, heavy rain. Good decision.

Glad we did call it a day here is a video of what blew in later on.

Thread-waisted Wasp (Sceliphron spirifex)

2010-08-08T00:00:00Z

Living here in the campo of Lanjaron in Andalucia you get used to seeing some strange insects. I photographed this one the other day. It is a Thread-waisted Wasp. No need to worry about these they are solitary and non-aggressive unless mishandled.

4 of what I think are my best recent photos

2010-07-27T00:00:00Z

Not alot to say about these as they are self explanatory. Hope you like them. Whilst taking photos from the roof terrace of Bee Eaters all hell started in the olive tree next to me, there was thud, flapping of wings and birds scattering all over the place. I noticed a bird jump out of the tree, I jumped up on the wall just in time to capture this photo of a Sparrow Hawk flying away from the scene empty handed.

Whilst visiting some friends on the other mountain above Lanjaron to pick up a herb window box, Bee Eaters were flying around and this one flew directly over our heads.

Whilst mum and dad were over on holiday recently we took them on a whirl wind tour and one of the places we visited was El Torcal. Richard and I climbed up onto the ridge under the flight path of the Griffon Vultures and I managed to snap this picture before the Vultures got wise to us being there.

Once again whilst on a recent visit to El Torcal this beautiful Swallowtail butterfly sat still long enough for me to put the camera into manual focus and snap this picture.

Comments

Richard: Nice photos. You should be proud of them!

Dena Rowlands: 4 great captures Kiersten. Impressive! Ones to be proud of as RIchard said.

Chiz: Nice ones - particularly like the way the feathers of the bee eater are backlit, and the light under the wings of the griffon vulture - well done! Captured the "missile on a mission" look of the sparrow hawk really well too! Butterfly nicely composed (and well done for getting that close!!), but I suspect could possibly do with being a tad lighter (not much though!) - but a bit hard to tell on laptop screen! Good ones - you should be proud of them!

FiveSibesMom: The Griffin is an awesome photo!

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama celebrates his 75th Birthday

2010-07-17T00:00:00Z

On July 6th the Dalai Lama celebrated his 75th birthday.

This is a section taken from his website in the "A Brief Biography", the website is very informative and interesting, well worth a visit. _His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is both the head of state and the spiritual leader of Tibet.

He was born on 6 July 1935, to a farming family, in a small hamlet located in Taktser, Amdo, northeastern Tibet. At the age of two the child, who was named Lhamo Dhondup at that time was recognized as the reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso.

The Dalai Lamas are believed to be manifestations of Avalokiteshvara or Chenrezig, the Bodhisattva of Compassion and patron saint of Tibet. Bodhisattvas are enlightened beings who have postponed their own nirvana and chosen to take rebirth in order to serve humanity.

Long live the Dalai Lama and lets hope one day the Chinese government hand back Tibet to the Tibetan people.

Solar cooker

2010-07-16T00:00:00Z

Harness the power of the sun, so we did, we brought a solar cooker! Its called a Sun Oven and was purchased from these people who run a very efficient site.

It arrived late Wednesday evening and by the end of Thursday we had cooked Patatas a la Pobre and a whole chicken. The Patatas a la Pobre took around 2hours to cook (maybe less but we were had gone out) and they actually cooked better than either of us can cook them ourselves. Usually our attempts turn into mush! The chicken cooked in around 3hours and the meat apprently was lovely and was moist.

The good thing about this cooker is 1) its free, no electricity, 2) it does not warm the house up on top of the natural heat of the day because it sits out in the garden 3) you can not burn food in it, 4) you can not over cook the food. Its like a slow cooker and has no intense heat underneath the pot, the heat is all around it. Today we have chilli!

Its going to be a big help to us when we have had a long day in the mountains, our dinner will be ready for us when we return. Its a great purchase if you live in a sunny climate.

Snow climbing in June in the Sierra Nevada

2010-07-03T00:00:00Z

Yes this has been an exceptional year in this part of the world weather wise. All the rain we had during the winter has given us plenty of snow this year. So last week we decided to go snow climbing above Lanjaron near Cerro de Caballo.

We started very early in the morning along the 4wd track. We walked for a couple of hours until we reached the area we were interested in. Ive never done snow climbing before and was looking forward to having a go.

Comments

Lisa: Would love to try something like that someday! Lisa

A 2 day crossing of the Sierra Nevada in June

2010-07-02T00:00:00Z

This year the Sierra Nevada is different, its still covered in snow, not just a little bit of snow but metres deep amount of snow, thanks to the amount of rain that fell on Andalucia this winter.

In fact Andalucia received 4 years of rain in just 3 months! So our 2 day crossing was a rather interesting affair, it was full on winter conditions. There are quite a few pictures for you too look at so im going to keep the writing short and let the pictures tell the story.

We got dropped off at the Hoya de Mora above the ski station at a height of 2500m at 21C. We headed South and hit snow at 2700m. We spent the night at the Elorrieta hut (3180m), which used to be a TB hospital!

It was freezing cold up here, we had to have all our layers on, and even got into our sleeping bags early to stay warm, yet it was a barmey 30C in Lanjaron. The next day we headed over Tajos de los Machos and down towards the Cebollar hut, crossed the Rio Chico and back to Puente Palo where we got picked up and driven back to Lanjaron.

Comments

A Husky Life: Wow, amazing!

Lisa: Wow! Amazing Pics! Looks like a gorgeous place! Lisa

A day out with mum & dad

2010-06-08T00:00:00Z

Mum and dad came for a weeks holiday just recently, this a report of one of our days out. Don't forget to click on the images to enlarge them to get a better view. The plan was to drive to the village of Riofrio, walk to the birth place of the rio and have lunch.

Then we would drive on to Laguna de la Fuente de Piedra. Drive on to Antequera to the wolf park and then on to El Torcal nature reserve. Rio Frio is a famous for its trout, you can tickle the trout as you walk up the river in the "no fishing" zone, before heading up to one of the many resturants that serve this fish.

We have a particular resturant which we like, but cant remember the name of. After you park walk following the river up the road, the first resturant on the left you come to beyond the river is it. Our good friends Dora and Dexter from the Isle of Man introduced us to this place on a recent trip over. You can get a smoked trout and salad for €6 here. Me being a veggie obviously eat something else. You can also walk a short way to the birth place of the Rio Frio which I suggest you do as it is located in a beautiful place, the river comes straight out of the rocks!!

So after the walk and lunch we drove on to Laguna de la Fuente de Piedra to see the Flamingos who call this place home. It is an amazing sight to see so many flamingos in this lake. Unfortunately our tight time schedule allowed for 10 minutes here, but I managed to snap some shots of the flamingos and other residents and mum and dad got to see the flamingos.

We had to be at the Lobo Park (Wolf Park) just outside Antequera for the 3.30pm tour, we managed it by 5 minutes. Another amazing place, they look after 4 types of wolf, the Timber, Alaska Tundra, European and Iberian, yes there are wolves in Spain. The wolves are so well cared for here, they are not like caged animals in zoo's where the animals pace all the time, they are relaxed and calm. If you are in the area I can recommend a visit to this place.

After our tour around the wolves, we drove on to the El Torcal nature reserve.

This place is stunning and has to be seen to be appreciated. It is known for it's unusual limestone rock formations and has resident Griffon Vultures, so a perfect opportunity for another chance to get up close and personal. We walked out to the viewing platform at the visitors centre when Richard came up with an idea to climb up to the ridge and hide amongst the rocks directly below the vultures flight path. Mum and dad stayed in the valley wondering what us idiots were up to now, nothing surprises them anymore. Well it paid off, I got some great photos of the Vultures flying overhead.

So after a full on day, we returned home to Lanjaron, had a few drinks on the roof terrace before heading to bed. This is a long day out but if planned well you can fit it all in. Each place is worth a visit.

An update on the chickens

2010-06-07T00:00:00Z

As you are aware we got chickens a few months ago so I thought I would give you an update on how they are getting along. We now only have 2 left. No 3 died, not sure what of, but she is no longer with us even though I tried to nurse her she was too weak.

Once again they have been re-named from Blanca and Giant to Blanca and Bully! Why Bully, obviously by her name it's quite self explanatory.

We are rather fond of Blanca and Bully, they provide us with 2 eggs most days and are very easy to look after. We let them out on the evenings, when we are at home, to have a mooch about, whilst we sit on the roof terrace making sure the dogs dont try to barge the fencing.

Funnily enough when they are out it is Blanca who makes the decisions on where they go, and when she calls, Bully goes running to her! They even put themselves to bed when it starts to get dark, all I have to do then is go and lock them away just in case any of the dogs or a fox manage to get in the outside fencing.

We think we could have the strangest looking chicken going, Blanca. We were unsure if she is self harming or if Bully was pulling her feathers out. But I have seen Bully in action, hence the name change. Well thats about it from the chicken run, lets hope they continue to do well and we dont have any more mishaps.

Comments

Victoria Twead: Poor old Blanca. She probably won't win any beauty contests. :( Our girls have bald moments too, but it soon grows back. Victoria

Scorpion! - Buthus occitanus or Buthus ibericus

2010-06-06T00:00:00Z

So there I was minding my own business weeding away in the veggie garden, when I felt a sharp pain in my finger. I took my glove off to investigate what the problem was but noticed movement to my right ........ a scorpion making a run for it! I think I had been stung by the scorpion but luckily because I had gloves on they stopped the full impact.

So after my encounter with the scorpion I started using a trowel to dig up the weeds, which then I managed to dig up a Scolopendra! Ive mentioned these before in a previous post. That evening whilst sat on the roof terrace keeping an eye on the chickens who had been let out for a run around I heard something crashing about below me. I looked down to the swimming pool terrace to see a snake about a 1.5m long trying desperately to get over the fence. I did not take a photo of it as I was trying to get the dogs inside as they were a little to keen to find out what was making the noise. But it was big, dark and moved incredibly quick. Ive given up weeding for now unless im wearing full body armour. Word of warning, if you do go into the garden to weed in Spain, wear gloves, long trousers, long sleeved t'shirt and boots. DO NOT wear no gloves, shorts, t'shirt and flip flops!

Comments

Dena Rowlands: It's stories like this that make me think twice about my plan to someday sell the business and live on campo! (currently live in small Spanish town) Still, it's probably a small price to pay for outside space and CHICKENS!

Victoria Twead: How come you attract these pesky critters? I've never come across any of them, touch wood. Except a very shy snake once. Perhaps I don't do the weeding enough? :)

A new oven, how hard can it be?

2010-04-05T00:00:00Z

We had to buy a new oven! Our old one, which was only a year old, was way past its sell buy date.

We do not have space in the kitchen for a normal oven so we have to buy worktop ovens. Now you would have thought it was a simple job to replace the old one. Not so! Every shop we went into had ovens the size of microwaves! The most important thing for us to cook in the oven is Yorkshire puddings. None of these silly little ovens were big enough to take the pudding tray. How come a year before it was a simple task in buying an oven and this year everything has shrunk. Our good friends David and Anna, happened to be visiting and mentioned a shop in Granada that sells commercial kitchen stuff and they were sure they had seen an oven that would do the job for us. So off went me and Richard, found the shop, looked around, could not see the oven they mentioned but we did find another one. So we brought it.

We are then told it will go next door to the workshop to be checked over, turns out we have brought a 2nd hand one. Only in Spain can you buy an oven for it then to be sent next door to get it working! So after an hours wait, men prodding and probing the oven, we finally got the all clear to take it home. Its not until we got it home we realised the kw are too much for the house. We have to be careful of what electric we have on whilst cooking with the oven. When we stood it next to the old oven we realised how big the new one was. But it cooks food great, we can cook lots of things together rather than one at a time. So we are quite happy with our new monstrosity of an oven.

We got chickens!

2010-04-04T00:00:00Z

We have discussed getting chickens for a good year now, first of all we decided we were not responsible enough to have some, then a couple of months ago we decided we were. We settled on 3 to start with to see how we got on.

Our good friend David gave us a spare A-frame pen, known as an Ark and Run. We built this on the top terrace where the dogs are not allowed and foxes cant get in! We mentioned it to our Spanish neighbour who then, a couple of days later, turned up with a bag! Inside the bag were 4 chickens. Hmmm 4, the pen is really only suitable for 3 but us being polite British we accepted the gift from our neighbour. The dogs were very interested, especially Khumbu. They managed to scale the vertical swimming pool terrace and would not leave them alone. Unfortunately within 24 hours, we had 1 escape and Khumbu caught it, needless to say we now have 3 chickens! We have erected more fencing to stop the dogs from annoying the chickens.

They are a strange looking bunch but rather sweet, they have odd little habits and make rather cute noises. We get 1 egg most days, I think its the white hen who is laying as ive caught her in the act!

Richard built them a nesting box to encourage the other 2 into laying but so far, still just the 1 egg. Words will have to be had soon with the other 2.

I did name them before we got them, Aspen, Vicky and Ann! But im beginning to have a re think, maybe Blanca, Giant and scardy pants might have been better?? I would like to thank Victoria Twead (author of Chickens, Mules and two old fools) for her help and advice on the chickens, she has had to put up with me emailing her with ridiculous questions.

Comments

Victoria Twead: Awww, they're lovely! Naughty Khumbu, but the remaining 3 seem settled. When the younger ones start laying, you'll get an egg 6 out of 7 days a week from each. (Well, we all need a day off, don't we?) And your questions weren't ridiculous. We knew NOTHING about chickens when we first got ours. Victoria PS Never had a chicken called after me before - very proud!

You learn something new everyday!

2010-02-28T00:00:00Z

Having given up on the top veggie terrace a long time ago, I didnt even bother to remove old veg, broccoli of various types, potatoes etc. Well ive been up to the terrace and investigated what was happening up there, and things have grown! I have potatoes popping up all over the place, ive even got broccoli that has grown.

I'm beginning to wish id never removed some of the other stuff that I thought had failed, as it obviously hadnt, it just needed more growing time and the amount of rain we have had must have suited there growing conditions. So below are a couple of pictures that ive taken. Ive cut the broccoli now and shall be eating this over the next few days.

Never ending rain and a blocked drive

2010-02-18T00:00:00Z

Yesterday we ventured out in between the rain to go buy some plastic to try and stop the leaks in the house. It is then that we noticed our neighbours land was on the move and was partially blocking our drive.

When we came back from Lanjaron we decided to move the cars lower down the drive because it was inevitable that the land was going to keep on coming down and block our drive. Are we glad we did that, we sure are because over night it came down and blocked the drive completely and is still coming down now.

Spain is getting so much rain this winter and we are not the worst hit, some areas, land and property are standing 2m deep in water! On the Andalucian news last night it showed a sheep farm where nearly 1000 sheep had drowned. Sadly animals seem to be the worst affected with horses, foals, donkeys, dogs, chickens etc drowning because they are all penned in.

Our house sprung leaks again, we have a weeping bedroom wall, the bathroom ceiling is dripping and our spare room has 13 buckets collecting water! Good job this weather is not normal, mind you if it was then house's would be built water tight.

It seems we are getting what would normally be the UK's winter weather ie rain and the UK is getting cold weather. We normally only get maybe 3 days of bad weather a month during the winter, not this year though. Landslides are a problem at the moment because the land that the locals have with olive trees is stripped of weeds, these weeds are what holds the earth together.

So when it does rain, the land gets washed away. It is easier for them to collect the olives when there are no weeds but its this action that causes landslides. All they need to do is strim the weeds and keep the roots to bind the earth together. I guess its all part of the fun of living here in this beautiful part of Andalucia, warts an all.

Extra virgin olive oil

2010-02-16T00:00:00Z

So there we are in the kitchen, Richard is asking if we have a smaller jug to put the olive oil in, the 5 litre bottle is no that easy to manoeuvre oil into yorkshire pudding trays, so I bend down, open the cupboard to look for a smaller jug, next thing I hear is Richard swearing and a thud, I then feel liquid land on my head run down my face and onto my clothes.

Yes you got it, he dropped the olive oil bottle, which hit the work top and tipped the oil onto me! Although olive oil maybe good for the skin & hair it is not good for the eyes, it stings them and your vision gets blurred. Laugh we laughed so much it hurt.

A few photos

2010-02-11T00:00:00Z

Here are a few photo's ive taken recently, as always click on them for a larger view.

Comments

Victoria Twead: They are brilliant photos! I don't think I could choose which is my favourite. Victoria

Pepe: Buenas fotos!

Charlotte: Sunset's my fav! Gorgeous pics.

The dogs get their own website!

2010-02-10T00:00:00Z

Yes its been a while since I last did a blog, today im going to write something. So I thought I would tell you the dogs have their very own blog called tails from the pack go take a look at it its rather good even if I do say so myself.

Their videos are published on You Tube and Daily Motion and Khumbu has a Twitter account where you can follow him at Khumbusibe. Some of their doggie friends have been on the website and commented. There is still a bit of work to do on the site like galleries to add.

Chickens, Mules and Two Old Fools

2010-01-24T00:00:00Z

Chickens, Mules and two old fools is the title of a book I recommend you to read. The book was written by Victoria Twead and was awarded the HarperCollins Authonomy ‘Gold Star’. It is an interesting and hilarious read about life here in rural Spain. It seems every rural town/village has its characters, I know ours does, they are part of what makes these places special.

This book will entertain you enormously. You can purchase the book in many different places like Amazon and you can even get the book signed by Victoria herself with a personal message and a handmade, feathery bookmark.

This is what is written on the back cover:

Perhaps if Joe and Vicky had known what relocating to a tiny village tucked in the Alpujarra mountains would really be like, they might have hesitated... They have no idea of the culture shock in store. No idea they will become reluctant chicken farmers and own the most dangerous cockerel in Spain. No idea they will be befriended by an 85 year old spliff-smoking sex-kitten orrescued by a mule.

Life is never dull as they embark on their Five Year Plan. At the end of five years they must decide. Will they stay or return to the relative sanity of England? Vicky and Joe’s story is packed with irreverent humour, animals, eccentric characters and sunshine.

Comments

Victoria Twead: Thanks so much for this! I really appreciate it. We are so lucky to live in the Alpujarras, aren't we? Writing 'Chickens' was a real pleasure because I laughed all the time I was writing, and the fact that it was all true made it even better... Victoria

New Years Day – An attempt on a day in the Sierra Nevada mountains

2010-01-03T00:00:00Z

We stayed in on New Years eve so we could wake up fresh for our early start on New Years day. The plan was to go to Puente Palo and climb to the 3005m summit of Cerrillo Redondo in Spain’s Sierra Nevada mountains.

Our good friends Wael and Orla also joined in. The 6 of us met on time, no hangovers in sight and away we went driving to the start point at Puente Palo. We started walking up the forest track and quickly wished we had not left the snow shoes in the car!

But we had a lovely walk through the forest for an hour and half even if the snow was deep in places. We stepped out of the forest at 2100m and got hit by spindrift, gale force winds and no view. After half an hour of not getting very far, group decision was to abandon and head back down to Lanjaron.

At a height of 1700m us girls were kicked out the car and I walked the 4 of us back down to Lanjaron via the Rio Lanjaron following the Camino de la Sierra. At first we were hit by winds that knocked us backwards but as we dropped lower we left the strong winds and snow behind us and basked in the warm temperatures and sun.

Progress was slow as we were wearing our winter mountaineering boots which are not designed for the terrain we were walking through. 2 hours later we met Richard and Wael in one of the bars. Nobody in the bars had any idea of the severity of the weather just a 1000m above town! Dont forget to click on the image for a bigger version.

Happy Birthday Khumbu - 3 today

2010-01-03T00:00:00Z

Wow Khumbu is 3 today, does this mean my Siberian Husky may actually have matured, not a chance! On todays walk we met Ibex, just above our house in Lanjaron, great fun for Khumbu and Bruno to try and drag me over the mountain edge. Later on he came out into the garden with me, ran off chasing a cat. As always for a larger picture click on the image.

Comments

Life With Dogs: I'm a little late, but belated birthday wishes! :)

After the rain comes more rain

2009-12-30T00:00:00Z

My last post about the weather here in Andalucia "Whats with the weather in Andalucia" was written before the great deluge that arrived on our town of Lanjaron on 24th December, yes Christmas Eve. We recorded a massive 81mm of rain on that day!

Needless to say there has been damage in Lanjaron with our house included. Nothing major luckily just more jobs to add to the list of things to do. Our house sprung a weeping wall in our bedroom at 2am, the spare bedroom had leaks, the lounge had seepage through our nice newly plastered wall and the bathroom wall just seemed to soak up the wet from outside. There was a landslip into the acequia above our house which made all the water gushing down the acequia run down the side of our house, hence the weeping bedroom wall. A terrace has collapsed on our land taking out the kiwi vine and trying to bury a lemon tree.

The gentle Rio Lanjaron became a raging torrent and has made itself wider, taking potatoes, trees and goodness knows what else with it. The look out over the river has been closed off as the river is trying to take that with it too. Newly tarmac roads up the mountain have been cut off due to landslides, trees, and rocks. On one of the new roads the tarmac has bent over the edge of the mountain and is starting to break up. The school was struck by lightning, a terrace collapsed on to a car, many houses have been flooded. The well trodden path to the Poqueria Hut is no more, landslides, bridges washed away and flooded areas have made access via the Poqueria Gorge an adventure.

Today we have had clients abandon what is normally a gentle walk along the GR7 because the paths have been taken away by landslides and made route finding impossible. So whats the forecast for the next week? Guess what more rain! 1st and 2nd January 2010 are due to be dry, lets hope so. This picture shows our attempts at making our house water tight. Also shows the new extended chimney for the aga.

This picture shows our collapsed terrace, with the kiwi vine gone and the lemon tree just about holding on, we removed a big rock that was against the trunk.

This picture shows where the landslip into our acequia happened, the rocks removed and my attempt at a barrier with sand to make the water run down the road rather than our house.

This picture was taken from our house on 24th December as the Rio Lanjaron started flooding, you will notice the difference 4 days later on the pictures below. The Rio became a great source of entertainment to the locals as they had not seen the river like this for many many years. Notice the position of the white trailer.

These last 2 pictures show the damage caused by the Rio Lanjaron. The white trailer you can see is now only a few meters from the edge of the river. On the 2nd picture you can see the view point being washed away, the nice building behind is the water museum!

Comments

mike shannon: Unreal!!! Was anyone hurt? I will be moving to the Lanjaron area June 2010. Opening a Backpacker retreat...hopefully get some land not so prone to mudslides.(Any ideas?) Cheers Mike Shannon

Whats with the weather in Andalucia?

2009-12-23T00:00:00Z

Having basked in temperatures of 18C for the first 15 days of December and having a never ending summer, its now been raining here in Andalucia since the 16th December! To start with we in Lanjaron thought great, the long awaited rain has arrived, time to get the land rotivatord, crops planted, snow will arrive in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in time for the winter season. Everyone was happy, now 7 days later, enough is enough, we cant do anything, land is flooded, landslips everywhere, houses are flooded, in the Sierra Nevada today there were winds of 150kph and tomorrow its worse!!!!!!!! Ski centre has been shut for 3 days, 15 cars are under water in Motril, sand has disappeared from beaches, trees have been blown over, roads have collapsed and houses are full of water.

This prolonged rain is not normal for this part of the world, 3 days a month in winter is what you can expect, we saw light at the end of the tunnel with a fine spell forecast for 27th December, now it turns out we will get 2 dry days before the return of the rain and wind. Ive walked the dogs every day in this weather, have tried different coats but no matter what I put on, I look just as wet as the dogs when I get back. I guess on the bright side we should have plenty of water for summer and a great year in the snow once it has consolidated, it will be very dangerous in the mountains until then, but knowing where the avalanche black spots are makes things safer. Snowshoes are going to be a must if your going to want to get anywhere.

They say the British talk about the weather all the time but I can tell you, the Spanish are just as bad as us. For those heading to the Sierra Nevada make sure you check out the latest forecast which can be found on the Spanish Highs Mountain Guides site. Today I managed to take some photos during a break in the rain, quite atmospheric I thought. Go on I dare you to click on the weather forecasts, have a good look at them, you wont believe the amount of rain we have had, we are supposed to be turning back to desert!!

Spider - Araneus diadematus

2009-12-13T00:00:00Z

I found this spider hanging out at a friends house above Lanjaron, its been identified as :- English - Cross Spider Spanish - Araña de la Cruz Latin - Araneus diadematus. This species of spider is "Spider of the year 2010" and is being studied by the Iberian Aracnologic Group who are collecting data and detailed pictures. If you have any data or photos on this species please either contact the group or me with the details. This type of spider often move home at night eating it's web and any insects that have been caught during the day.

A doggie day out in the mountains

2009-11-21T00:00:00Z

We had to go in and extract a client who had very bad blisters, he was on a 5 day traverse of the Sierra Nevada, so we took the Khumbu and Bruno with us for a day out. We left Lanjaron at 9am sharp, drove to the Hoya de Mora above the Sierra Nevada Ski Station near Granada and parked the car as you can go no further by road.

The dogs were very excited as this was their first "winter" walk since the summer, Khumbu made us walk a little faster than we would have liked, but thats what you get for owning a Siberian Husky. We walked for about an hour and half up and beyond the telescope area, that is set up in the mountains, and dropped down in to an area I love called the Lagunillas which has lots of lakes and great views.

We met up with the client, he and Richard started walking back out at a very slow pace (due to the blisters), so I continued on for a while until I hit the lakes. Khumbu and Bruno loved it, they were in and out of the water, Bruno almost had a swim whilst Khumbu slip slided about on some ice. I started to head back after half an hour or so, and caught up with the others.

We stopped at a patch of snow so the dogs could have a good old romp about. The patch of snow is there because the ski station is making snow in an attempt to be open at the end of this month, with the temperatures we are getting at the moment its not looking likely. I let Khumbu off the lead, having assessed the area we were in and deciding it was safe to do so. I ran around on the snow and Khumbu and Bruno chased me, they were having a great time but alas it was time to move on. It took us 2 hours to get back to the car where we sat outside a little bar, had a drink and watched as Griffon Vultures flew over head, I ran to get my camera from the car but missed the best opportunity for photographing them, although they did briefly reappear again but a long way off. I did mange to get a shot of a pair of Choughs though. Khumbu and Bruno were shattered having exerted themselves so much enjoying themselves. Needless to say the dogs slept very well that night. Its great to be able to take them out with us into the mountains, they seem to love it as much as we do.

Comments

Victoria Twead: Makes me feel invigorated and exercised just reading your blog! Beautiful countryside, beautiful dogs.

The Thundering Herd: Any day out in the mountains is a good day as far as The Herd is concerned.

Battle of wills - Siberian Husky V Human. . . . .

2009-11-15T00:00:00Z

This post is written as seen through Khumbu's eye's!

I'm Khumbu, you will probably have heard about me, im a nearly 3 year old male Siberian Husky who loves to run, dig, talk, jump and destroy. I particularly like the snow and water. I'm an intelligent sort of chap, inquisitive, playful, stubborn and charming.

I was born in Spain, not in Andalucia where I live now, but in an area north of Madrid near the Sierra Gredos, I don't remember much about it there as I left when I was young, in fact I was the first of the family to leave home.

You know what they say about Siberian Huskys? "_they always want to be where they are not" _do you know how true that is! My humans decided one day it would be a good idea to harness the suns energy and worked out the best idea for them would be to get a solar water heater. "Great idea" all said, "save money on electricity", "use something we have plenty of"!

The men came, removed the electric water tank/boiler and installed the new solar one. Some of the pipes are covered in insulation, how much fun is that for a Siberian Husky!! Humans realised straight away there was a problem with where the solar water tubes had been installed, it was on MY favorite terrace. They have tried various defences against me, they built a wall, I pulled the wall down, what do you expect when they don't cement it together, they put up a fence, I broke the fence, ive jumped the wire fence and broken a gate.

At the moment they have tied pallets to the wall with wire, this is stumping me a little, so I have taken to going up my usual way, which is up the bank by the swimming pool. They have put a pallet and an old chair there but this has not stopped me. I have a bit of fun in the early hours of the morning I go up onto this terrace and the best part is I cant get back down because their defenses stop me going down safely, so I sit by the gate and continually bang it until they come and let me out.

I always make sure im looking my cutest and wag my tail when they come stomping up in the dark, it always works a treat. I have to agree with them though, it does look a mess now until they come up with something better.

Comments

The Thundering Herd: Ah, yes, we are very familiar with this ongoing battle. Our humans have many baby gates - despite no babies.

A holiday in Mallorca

2009-10-31T00:00:00Z

Ive just returned from a weeks holiday in Mallorca, what a great little island it is. We landed in torrential rain, gale force winds, thunder and lightning! Woo hoo round of applause for the pilot of Air Berlin! Now that's an airline that deserves a plug, cheap, hassle free, 20kg of **free **hold luggage, free drinks and snacks on board and when booking you can even choose what seat you want to sit in, puts other low cost airlines to shame.

We picked up our hire car, a little fiat panda, who needs anything more? and set off to our apartment in Puerto Pollensa which was to be our base. Puerto Pollensa is a really pretty place to stay and full of every type of food you can imagine. For us this was great as we can not get a chinese meal, curry, fish and chips, sunday roast etc living where we do. Our apartment was great and even had heating which we used on a number of occasions. We settled in to our apartment, had a walk around town and the beach front, had some Mexican food, a few drinks then headed off to bed.

Day 1:- S'Albufera Natural Park

As it was due to rain on and off all day we decided a trip to the wetlands in the Albufera Natural Park would be a good idea rather than getting soaked in the mountains. Turns out we had left the bird id book back in Lanjaron so had no idea what we were seeing unless someone was able to tell us. What a set up this is, a huge area with hides dotted about so you can watch the comings and goings of the bird life. We saw all sorts of birds and most of them I have no idea what they are but shall be getting them identified soon. Some of the birds I do know we saw are Marsh Harriers, Osprey, Herons, Hoopoe, Egrets, Lapwing, Snipe, Black-Winged stilts, Sandpipers, Zitting Cisticola, Stonechats. We thought we had seen a Purple Swamp Hen, when we got home, looked in the book, turns out it was a Moorhen! That evening the heavens opened again, tree branches were falling down, signs falling over, even chairs taking off up the road by themselves, by the time we walked to an internet cafe we looked like drowned rats. We had a curry at a restaurant called the Mirch Masalla, great curry, very tasty even if a little expensive.

Day 2:-Puig Tomir (1103m)

Our first mountain day, so obviously the weather had blown itself out, well the rain had gone, it was cloudy on and off but was still quite windy. Great little mountain this, an hour and a quarter up the short steep side to the summit and back down the longer not so steep way. We had some fantastic views of Black Vultures, they were with us for most of the day. These birds are massive and it was a complete honour to have them flying over head whilst we were on our 5hour walk. There was a lot of other wildlife around as you pass through various habitats. That evening we ate at the Codfather fish and chips takeaway and restaurant, yes even I ate a piece of fish. Definitely recommend this place if you stay in Puerto Pollensa.

Day 3:- Massanella (1367m) The highest mountain on Mallorca that you are allowed to climb.

Our 2nd mountain day was a clear and rather warm. We set off from the quieter side of the mountain near Cuber, obviously it was not going to be the easiest way up, hence its the quiet way! A long walk in following an acequia and then into a forrest which pops you out to great views of Black Vultures and maybe Griffon Vultures. We had to climb up a short section and then scrambled our way up to the summit. It was rather windy on the summit so didn't stay too long before heading down to the warmer lower levels and the great views of the vultures again. This walk took us about 6 hours. We stayed in and ate our own food that evening.

Day 4:- Day off

We spent the day driving to Formentor and then onto Cuber. Something to be aware of in Mallorca, Sundays are very busy and parking is very difficult. We sat next to the Gorg Blau lake and had a picnic. We had again great views of vultures, seagulls of various shapes and sizes, cormorants and a red kite. That evening we went to a pub called the Nags Head, watched the X-Factor results and had a great Sunday roast. We had a good laugh at the people in the pub who went in specifically to watch the X-Factor.

Day 5:- Albufera again Today was hot and cloudy, we wanted a day off so we went to the wetlands area of Albufera again thinking we would sit in the hides all day, wrong, we took a wrong turn and ended up walking around the whole of the park which took us 4 hours! Eventually we got back to the hides, hot thirsty and tired, but all the usual suspects were there. That night we had a chinease 4 courses for €7.99. Not the best but enjoyable.

Day 6:- Cavell Bernat Ridge (350m)

Oh my what an experience this was on our hottest day of our holiday. After a short walk in of about an hour (we didn't have to drive as our apartment was opposite this ridge) up to the col you are faced with a wall of rock which you have to climb up, Richard put a rope on me for confidence as this ridge is for experienced scramblers and rock climbers (I'm neither) and you need a good head for heights as one side of the ridge plummets straight down into the sea. The vegetation is vicious and the rock is very sharp. Its a very slow and hard day. You face various difficulties on your way over the ridge and have to down climb, sometimes you have to go back up what you have just down climbed if you forget your rucksack!!!

We saw 2 Eleonora's Falcons which we believe are quite rare these days so felt rather privileged. We were very tired and hot when we finished so treated ourselves to an expensive meal in a great restaurant just outside Puerto Pollensa called Ca'n Pacienci, nearly opposite the supermarket Euroski. Absolutely recommend this place the food was amazing, the restaurant has been there for over 30 years and is still run by the same family. So that was our holiday.

Comments

D.K. Wall & The Thundering Herd: Love seeing a part of the world I have not been to. Looks like a great vacation.

Squash anyone!

2009-10-12T00:00:00Z

Yesterday I started to collect some of our squash in from the campo. We grew 3 different types this year, Spaghetti Squash, Butternut Squash and ive no idea of the name of the other but I call it Orange Squash.

Some of the plants are still alive and producing squash so I shall leave them until the plants die off. The Spaghetti squash were a success as always, the Butternut are small and the orange squash are a mixed bunch. I planted these with the help of my mum and dad whilst they were here on holiday in May.

Dragonfly - Southern Hawker (Aeshna cyanea)

2009-09-27T00:00:00Z

Yes we have had the new lens for the camera a couple of weeks now, the Bee Eaters have gone to Africa so we have taken many photos of Sparrows but the best picture by me so far has been this beautiful female Dragonfly she is a Southern Hawker (Aeshna cyanea). She was flying around the swimming pool area ovipositing. She even landed on my leg but was too close to be able to take a picture of her with the new lens.

Khumbus new game

2009-09-08T00:00:00Z

We all know Khumbu loves the pool and this Siberian Husky's latest game is to take the floating chlorine dispenser out of the pool and try to destroy it without getting caught. Un-lucky for him he was caught with it in his mouth so it has now been removed from the pool and he has half a tennis ball (yep he destroyed them which is why its only a half a tennis ball) thrown in the pool for him to play with. Below are a couple of photos and a very short video of him caught in the act and playing with the ball in the water.

Khumbu by Marialanjaron

Comments

The Thundering Herd: Maintain the Siberian legacy there, Khumbu! We salute you.

Bee Eaters

2009-09-08T00:00:00Z

I knew Bee Eaters were here in this part of Andalucia but I had never knowingly seen or heard them, now I do and I see them everywhere. They are a very pretty bird with a very distinctive voice and all I want to do is get a decent photo of them, what a mission that has become.

They fly over my home, up the valley, ive seen them on route to Cerro de Caballo, on route to Mulhacen, the road to Otivar, Sierra de Huetor, on the road to the electric station above Capileira, everywhere.

But can I get a good photo, NO I cant. They are timid and very flighty, they look beautiful as they fly over your head and the sun catches their colour but they just wont stay still long enough for you to creep up on them. Im begining to wish i'd never been introduced to them.

But we have a new weapon on its way, a bigger lense for our camera, now the only problem is hopeing that they don't all take off to Africa before the lense arrives! Below are a selection of my attempts so far to capture these flightly little devils.

And if you want to hear them watch the video on the post titled Khumbus new game and you will hear the Bee Eaters!

Almonds

2009-09-07T00:00:00Z

So the veggies are not doing great this year, its not just us but most people in town, no idea why, maybe a bad moon???!!!

But i've been and picked a bag full of almonds this morning, they are lovely and plenty more to come yet. Hmmm now what can you do with almonds.

Bob

2009-09-03T00:00:00Z

It is with a sad and heavy heart that I have to write this post, my good friend Bob Redwood passed away on 31st August 2009 after suffering with brain tumours for 2.5 years.

I had the pleasure of knowing Bob for 10 years and had many happy and eventful trips into the mountains with him. My last trip with him in the UK was just before I moved over here to Spain and we did the Snowdon Horseshoe and tackled Crib Goch.

Bob was looking forward to early retirement and was going to be coming over to Spain to help run the ski mountaineering trips for Spanish Highs Mountain Guides when they had clients, amongst many other ideas he had.

When Richard and I visited the UK in June of this year we were grateful to have had the opportunity to visit Bob and his wife Mo, not realising that this would be the last time we would see him. Together with our friends Wael and Orla, Richard and I are heading off to Bolivia in June 2010 with the aim of attempting to climb some high peaks.

We are doing this for the Brain Tumour Research Campaign to help raise awareness and money for this worthy charity. I am shocked to find out that there is a lack of funding into brain tumour research, maybe becuase of its complexity due to its connection to the brain, compared to most other forms of cancer!

Help us reach our target by donating to the **Just Giving** page we have set up.

The tree that never dies.

2009-07-11T00:00:00Z

At last it looks like the tree that never dies is at last on its way out! Simple solution - Dog pee!

Cerro de Caballo Valleys in full bloom

2009-07-04T00:00:00Z

Whilst driving to the Ventura trailhead above Lanjaron at 2200m in the Sierra Nevada, we rounded the corner and were met by beautiful these sights.

Ive never seen this before so it can only be the due to the fantastic winter that we have had. Normally this time of year the mountains are a dry and dusty scene of browns and greys but this year the valleys are yellow and green and the mountains still have snow on them.

Comments

The Thundering Herd: Gorgeous pictures!

Todays photos of the dogs, Tapa, Khumbu & Bruno

2009-06-15T00:00:00Z

I took the dogs for a walk this morning and it was rather warm at 29C at 9.30am, so when we got back Khumbu and Bruno went straight in the pool to cool down. I took a few photos of them and got these odd pictures.

What happens when you let a Siberian Husky run free

2009-05-30T00:00:00Z

Now here are a few photos of Khumbu when he was allowed to run free. It wasn't until we put the photos on the computer that we could see the crazy facial expressions from Khumbu. They will make you laugh. This is not a daft one but a nice one of Khumbu and Bruno together

These are a set of photos showing the facial expressions of a husky putting every effort into running

A close up of the above shot showing a husky entering psycho mode!

Comments

Emma: Hiya, great flicks, love them. The best photo is the last one, look closely at Kumbus back legs!!!!

angela: great pics!! oh this made me laugh. My husky maysie gets the same way when we run and when we - VERY RARELY - let her off the leash. if we let her run free, she runs like this until we can tackle her or she gets tired. Not exactly fun. thanks for the chuckle! great blog!

Robin: Great pics!!!!

Some nice photos of Khumbu & Bruno

2009-05-30T00:00:00Z

Here are a few nice photos of Khumbu (Siberian Husky) and his best friend Bruno (Leonberger) on the day they played in the acequia. Bruno showing off his big tongue.

Comments

Doreen: Hi Kirsten I don't know if you can do this but I wanted to thank you for your story about your dog with Leishmanitis I found your page while searing for help with my Dog Jack. I live here in North Cyprus and he has been diagnosed with it. I can't afford the injections so he is on the Alluporinol tablets but he keeps getting a sore on his front paw but is otherwise fine. I am too frightened to take him to the vets as they have not been helpful to me and want to put him down but he is not suffering I know him. It helped to read your story, Thanks Doreen

Opium Poppy - Papaver somnifera

2009-05-30T00:00:00Z

Whilst out walking recently I came accross these pretty poppys. I took some pictures, got them identified yet again by the forum I use and it turns out that they are a type of opium poppy!!

Nosed grasshopper - Acrida Hungarica

2009-05-30T00:00:00Z

So again whilst out walking this little insect jumped in front of me, now when I looked at it I thought it was some sort of stick insect but it turns out its a Acrida hungarica, nosed grasshopper to you and me, identified by the knowledgeable people on the Iberian Nature Forum!! Cute and strange thing. Nosed grasshopper (Acrida hungarica)

Moths - striped hawkmoth, small blood vein, purple marbled & leopard moth

2009-05-30T00:00:00Z

We had a particulary dark night a few evenings ago and there were lots of moths fluttering about, even the gecko was getting a feast. I took some pictures and got them identified by the helpful forum that I go on Iberian Nature Forum. They are not the moths that im used to that are just brown and quite dull to look at. They are as follows:- Striped Hawkmoth (Hyles livornica)

Khumbu, Bruno & the acequia

2009-05-30T00:00:00Z

An acequia is a community operated waterway and most were established more than 200 years ago. The Arabs brought the technology to Spain during their occupation. The acequia is how we irrigate our land and is a source of great entertainment for our dogs. Our water comes from the snows in the Sierra Nevada and is collected in a lake called the Laguna de Lanjaron high up in the mountains. As the snow melts it flows down the various channels. When we want water we have to drive to an aquaduct that is higher up our mountain, open a gate that allows the water to flow down our side of the mountain, close off other acequias until it comes down to our land. After the recent rains there was a landslide that blocked our acequia so Richard and a neighbour spent half a day digging it out and getting bitten by mosquitos. Their hard work paid off and the very next day we watered our land and entertained Khumbu and Bruno who spent a good hour in and out of the water.

Our Experience With Canine Leishmaniasis

2009-05-29T00:00:00Z

Leishmaniasis is a disease caused by the bite of a sandfly. When the sandfly bites the parasite is passed on to the dog. It attacks the immune system which leaves the dog unable to fight infections and disease's as well as a healthy one. The maximum risk of infection in our part of Spain is between May - September. At the moment there is no cure for canine leishmaniasis as the parasite continues to live in the bone marrow but there are drugs available to manage the disease.

The main drugs used in Spain are Glucantime, Alopurinol and Levamisol. Glucantime - An injection given into a muscle in the back leg - Kills the parasite Alopurinol - Tablet - Given to protect the kidneys Levamisol - Tablet - Antiparasite and increases the dogs defence's There are ways to protect your dog although none are 100% effective. A Scalibor collar seems to be the most effective, they are still active when wet and also control tick and fleas. Care should be taken when fitting a new collar as some dogs can have a reaction to them.

Symptoms of leishmaniasis can include - severe weight loss, lethargy, depression, hair loss, lesions, dermatitis, distended stomach, nose bleeds. Rocky - Black Labrador, Bruno - Leonberger and Khumbu - Siberian Husky We first noticed something wrong with Rocky when his coat became dull, had scurfy skin and began to loose weight even with a good appetite.

A local vet took some blood and put him on a course of tablets. Some months later he was still loosing weight, was loosing hair and began to get lesions. We took him to another vet, an English speaking one, who again took some blood. The results came back as leishmaniasis positive and a count of over 5000. He immediately started treatment. I had to give him 2 injections of Glucantime every other day for 12 days, 6 days of injections.

The injection is given in a muscle of the back leg and can become progressively more painful as the course goes on. There is also a nerve that runs down the leg so you have to be quite accurate. Rocky was hit quite badly by his treatment, imagine your body being ill already and then having to be pumped full of poison to cure you, I guess its similar to treatment for cancer! We were warned that he would feel quite ill whilst the injections were happening.

I would cook him chicken, sit in the kennel and hand feed him. Day by day he got a little stronger and when the injections finished he started the tablet medication. He was also put onto a food to help protect his kidneys. He had one of each tablet every day. He was re-blood tested and the count had gone down to 2560. He continued on his daily tablets and we got our cheeky playful Rocky back. One day Bruno had a nose bleed, it stopped, then a few hours later it started again. We took him to the vet who gave him something to stop the bleeding and took a blood test.

His results came back as leishmaniasis positive, with a count of 80 which is low but still positive. The vet asked us to bring our other dog Khumbu a Siberian Husky to be blood tested and he came back as negative. Bruno started a course of the tablets but for a short time only. Recently we noticed Rocky being a little off colour, nothing much but he just wasn't himself. He was still wagging his tail and coming on daily walks. He went back to the vet for a blood test, his yearly test was nearly due, and the result showed that his count had gone up.

All the dogs were given new Scalibor collars and Rocky started his injections again, it is common for dogs to have relapses. We then took Bruno and Khumbu for their nearly due blood test. Khumbu now had a count of 40 which is an inconclusive count and has to be retested in 6 months time. Bruno's count had come back as 2560! Rocky finished his injections but was not responding well at all, we knew he was going to take a knock from these injections but this time something was different, he was behaving as if he was blind.

The vet tested his eye sight and found that his pupils were slow to react to different light. It turns out he had had a reaction to the newly fitted Scalibor collar whilst having his injections. This is where Rockys story takes a sad turn. His collar was removed immediately, his neck was washed and he was given various medications to try and combat the poison. On his last day, he was a happy dog, wagging his tail and walking to the car for his trip to the vet (I honestly thought then that he was going to get over this). That afternoon he deteriorated. He was passing liquid diarrhea with a lot of blood in it.

In a matter of 2 hours, unfortunately his kidneys could not rid his body of the toxins and the kindest thing for Rocky was to put him to sleep. He is now out of pain and at peace. Because all this was happening, Bruno's treatment was delayed until it was understood what was happening to Rocky. Bruno started his injections yesterday. I have spent a week researching this awful disease and trying to work out what is best for Bruno. The research all pointed to immediate treatment. I nervously gave him his injections, (I had lost my confidence from dealing with Rocky) but he was a good boy, stood still for me and concentrated on his biscuit that he was being fed.

Hopefully with Bruno being young and otherwise healthy dog he will be one of the lucky ones and not get anymore clinical signs. Our vet has been great and was always available for Rocky. We thank him for all that he tried to do for Rocky. From doing some research and "forum"ing, we have found that black Labrador's seem to be very susceptible to this disease! Is it coincidence? Bad breeding? Who knows. On a brighter note there is a vaccine that is in the later stages of its trial, should it prove succesful, then it maybe available in 2/3 years time and could be a revolution for animal and human health in many places in the world.

A good information site about canine leishmaniasis is called Leishmaniasis I'm not sure how up to date it is but the general information on understanding the disease very useful. A study has been carried out in the Alpujarras region of Andalucia and this link will take you to the [results page](https://www.cdc.gov/EID/content/15/5/795.htm). If anyone has any other sites that maybe of use please let me know what they are. I think there is a lack of information available to the people like us, who came originally from a country that is canine leishmaniasis free.

Another disease that I have been informed about which has very similar signs to Leishmaniasis is Ehrlichiosis and is transmitted by ticks. As you can see it is a complete minefield out there, I'm no expert, these are just my thoughts and my experience with canine leishmaniasis.

Comments

Nicki: I feel for you. Just found out our one dog is suffering from this and have started on the injections. He is suffering badly with nose bleeds which don't stop for hours at a time. It is very distressing for us all. I hope Bruno has responded well to treatment.

Ann O-A: So sorry for you all. My Boxer (Sanchez)is in Cyprus (I have moved back to UK)due to unavailable flights he has been kept tnere in kennels for over 2 wks. He is losing weight and 2 tests have been done but they are not positive but probable. I am hoping to get my brother in-law to take him and start treatment and then I will go back out next wk and continue his treatment. This has been the worst wk of my life and Sanchez will be so stressed. I truly hope Bruno and Khumbu are responding well to there treatment and they will live long and happy lives.

Joanne Harris: Hi my rescue dog was diagnosed with Leishmaniasis in March 2009. It took 3 years to get her diagnosed due to the way tests are in the UK. She was basically dying and we were so worried about her. The disease had affected her muscles, eye and skin. Further investigation there was kidney damage. I have done alot of research into the subject and myself and my vet are doing are best. My dog started on Allpurinol, she weighs 20kg and is on 400mg per day. She had this for 1 month and then was put on a new drug called miltefosine for 1 month and still taking her allpurinol. She has just finished her miltefosine and is a different dog. Her blood tests have all improved and urine protein/creatinine ratio was 12 it is meant to be below 1, last test showed it is 2.9. She has blood tests, blood pressure and urine every 2 weeks and is due her next today.

Michelle: I too have a rescue dog diagnosed with leishmaniasis. At the moment he seems to be doing well on allpurinol, but I am always aware it can return. he was diagnosed 1 year ago. I didn't know it's best to keep blood tests up to date, my vet has not mentioned this, but then again they know very little about the disease. I will get him tested this week. If anybody has any tips or info on medication that I can pass on to my vet I would be most grateful, I would hate for something to happen and there was something I missed. Harvey takes 300 mg twice a day - he is 28kg. I sincerely hope your dogs get through this and we have happy endings......

ulver elenh: levamizole is not appropriate for treating canine leishmaniasis,it can kill your dog the proper therapy is alopurinole + miltefosine which is the most effective method with minimum side effects and i am a greek veterinary doctor and have been researching leishmania for the last 7 years

Ginny: We have just adopted a wonderfully natured 2 year old German Pointer in Spain. Within a week he was having nosebleeds and has spent 5 days in canine hospital with severe kidney problems. The diagnosis leishmania. He returned home yesterday and has been presecibed miltefosine 2.2mg a day and other drugs temporarily to help his kidneys and other problems. The vet is not sure if his kidneys will recover. He is very very thin and drinks an awful lot but otherwise seems healthy. We are keeping our fingers crossed that he pulls through and making the most of the time we have with him. He will be on a special diet for dogs that can not deal well with protein for life....

Karen Shaw: Hi there, Today we found out that our beloved rescue dog Nev has leishmania. Four years ago when he was thrown from a car and came to us he had a small bite on his muzzle, our vet treated him and there were no signs on anything bad. Nev has been a very healthy and happy dog ever since with regular booster shots, frontline and his scalibor collar. In the last week he has developed itching with such ferocity that he has bled, dry and dull coat and sticky eyes. At first I thought he had a reaction to pollen or cement from work being done at home but then I feared something worse and so he went to our vets. He is now on a course of injections backed up with antibiotics and other tablets we have to wait 15 days to see how he responds to treatment. The worse thing is that this disease has laid dormant for 4 years to attack Nev with no warning signs, we just hope and pray he will be ok.

Lesley: Hi My dog has also just been diagnosed as well as having Erhlichiosis. She is on alpurinol and miltefosine. She seems much more lively but we are waiting results of blood tests.

Olivia: I was looking for information on the sandfly disease when I came over this forum. The information out there seems to be everywhere and I can't get my head around it although I normally have no difficulty searching. Your comments feel so close to what we are passing through. Suzy my two year old has just been diagnosed with the disease after s traumatic nose bleed where she could not stop. The vet managed to get it under control but she lost so much blood that she has been given plasma twice. Apparently she had the disease for one year with no indication to us except the nosebleed coming out of nowhere although in hindsight she was never a great eater. Today is day 5 after the noseblood, she has taken one round of injection and three days of double dose pills. She pees and poos ok although we are worried for her liver. She has also been given antibiotics and medicine for her kidneys. Has been one of the worst weeks of our life seeing her like this and all wondering if she is suffering. We are also trying to understand if with such a case she may actually recover from it? Any comments or thoughts are appreciated it. Tommorrow is her next dose of injections, we are fearing her pain in taking them but then if it's some pain for a better life ..... We try and keep the bigger picture in mind. Reading similar experiences has helped feel closer to someone who understands what we and the dog are going through. Sometimes we feel at a loss what to look out for or what more information to give to the vet. How do we know she is really getter any better? Is it when she starts eating on her own or is the disease just hiding to spring up again? Trying to take one day at a time at the moment as the larger picture feels overwhelming to take in....

Melissa Vero: To give you all a bit of hope - we have a rescue dog ( in Portugal) who tested positive for leishmans when he was 2. He was very thin and looked as though he would die - however after he had all the jabs and then Alopurinal - which I had to stop after a while as it made him sick, he completely recovered. Buffy is now 10....... It has, unfortunatley, come back in the last month - manifesting itself as an obviously very painful front leg. I do not think that the story will have a happy ending this time - but he has had a great life with no signs of illness or discomfort except for a sore on his ear that never heals.

Charlie mason: I am wandering if a dog can catch leish by being bitten by a contaminated dog? We have had a problem with a wild dog in our garden in Portugal, who has lesions on his legs, is very skinny and has blood coming from his mouth. Yesterday my 8 yr old Cocker Spaniel went after the dog and got in a scrap with him, returning with a bleeding eye. We took her to the vet and she has been given antibiotics and eye cream but we are waiting a week before having her blood tested for leish. We also discovered that our 10 month old Heinz 57 rescue dog had a strange lesion in his ear, which the vet was very concerned about and we are waiting for the blood test result, which we should get tomorrow. I am just wandering whether leish can be passed from dog to dog, without the help of the sandfly. Very worried for all my dogs, as also have a 7 month old Cocker Spaniel who plays with the Heinz 57 a lot. They all have Scalibor collars. Any information would be appreciated, we are worried sick.

Sandra Walsh: My dog has also recently been bitten. Checked her immediately for any serious wounds. No blood and couldn't find any teeth marks but the wound hasn't healed after 3 weeks and is very red and bald in that area. The dog is constantly scratching it eventhough it is difficult to reach (on the middle of her back). I only noticed that it hasn't been healing after stripping her yesterday. I've been avoiding the grooming because I've read that the longer and more hair they have the better it may be for protecting against leishmaniasis. All the vets are closed on Sats & Suns so couldn't get professional opinion. I guess I'll have to wait until Monday. My dogs come from Holland originally and did NOT have any illnesses. Since we've come to live in Spain the older one, who was bit, walks like she has no energy and doesn't jump anymore; She jumps with great difficulty for her favourite treat. She is an 11 year old Jack Russell and was very energetic until about 6 months ago.... and has gotten less energetic with time. I'm not sure if she's just got the senior blues or perhaps she contracted the "L". In the last 3 weeks since bitten she has gotten weaker but always surprises us with a spurt of energy to hunt. Goodness, I would also like to know if a dog can get the "L" from another dog! Can someone, preferrably a vet answer our question.

Kiersten: It is my understanding that leish can only be passed on to another dog by the bite of a sandfly not the bite of another dog. Hope your dogs have recovered from the various incidents they have been in. There is now a vaccine out against leish for dogs who are not leish positive. Its in Portugal at the moment and I believe it is to be here in Spain soon.

Alicia: Hi my dog has just been diagnosed with leishnaniasis but the very strange thing is that I live in Northern CA. I have been told by my vet that the drugs that are best for treating this disease are not available here in the US. Does anyone know if this is true or not? Also for those of you who have treated your dogs do you think it is worth putting them through the pain and suffering? How bad is for them? I love my dog sooo much and the thought of loosing him is really tearing me up. I have two other dogs and I read that it is very rare for dog to dog transmission. My vet said there has never been a case of leish reported here although there has been some on the East Coast. Any information would be helpful. The vet here is researching this now because they have never seen a case of this. I'm feeling a bit helpless...............

Kiersten: Hi Alicia im sorry im unable to help you with regards the drug situation in US but..... if you are able to get the drugs then do go through with the treatment. It is changing all the time and is less of a problem now to the dogs. Before it was not a major problem more so for us than the dogs. With some treatment your dog should go on to lead a normal life with yearly check ups. Ive asked on facebook and twitter (there are many knowlegeable people in the doggie cyber world) to see if anyone can help. Will keep in touch. This is the most popular drug at the moment :- miltefosine oral treatment of leishmaniasis if you search this you will find lots of info and pass it onto your vet. Now also in Spain we have a vaccine about to come out. It is only for dogs who do not have the disease yet, but it maybe worth mentioning to your vet also its called CaniLeish. This link is also worth reading https://www.ema.europa.eu/ema/index.jsp?curl=pages/medicines/veterinary/medicines/002232/smops/Positive/vet_smop_000042.jsp&murl;=menus/medicines/medicines.jsp&mid;=WC0b01ac058008d7aa&jsenabled;=true Also ive just found this link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canine_leishmaniasis if you go to the section called treatment it speaks about the US Please keep me posted.

Kiersten: Also have a read of this site it may have information for you https://bakerinstitute.vet.cornell.edu/animalhealth/page.php?id=1099

Alicia: Kiersten, I feel much better going through with the treatment (should I be able to get the medicine) hearing from someone that has been through it. I will keep you posted with any new information. Thank you so much for your reply! Alicia

nicki: Hi, I put a message on her 2 years ago about my dog Hugo being diagnosed then with Leish. He had the injections, which did knock him about and it was touch and go but he was brilliant afterwards. We have noticed he is not looking his best again so will be taking him next week for a blood test to see if it has returned. He is just on one alpurinol a day at the moment.

Lee: Hi All, I have two rescue dogs who have the disease. Both have lived healthy happy lives for the last 6-14 years. One is now almost 14 and is dying. I'm in the US and it is hard to get treatment, but my french vet helps. The things that worked for me, is routine checkups and new injections whenever the numbers get high. Daily (twice daily) allopironul. And very high quality food for your dog. Low in protein, lots of veggies, etc. My dogs are a Briard and a boarder collie. The boarder collie's numbers were quite high, the Briard's lower (the vet caught it earlier.) Good luck and keep spirits up. Dogs can live a good long life even with this disease. One word of caution, if you are in the US, the CDC is recommending all dogs w the disease get euthunanized. If in the US, make sure you know and trust your vet. I recently moved and went to a new vet. I told her the dog has leish and she reported it to the feds! There are zero causes of transmission from dogs to humans in the US, but that doesn't stop CDC from recommending euthanizing.

Deb Hinds-Wood: I have just read this and some of the comments because we always test rescues for Mediterranean diseases and one has come back with having Leish but with no symptoms. However, I am looking to find out exactly what the blood tests mean, eg, what is a high count, what is borderline and what is normal. I also need to know when to use Glucantine. The last one was given 1 ampule per day for 30 days and the tablets half twice a day (300mg). The last one recovered extremely well and is now in her new home and continuing to take her tablets. We seem to have conflicting ideas with the vets as to when and what treatment should be started. Do we start straight away on the Glucantine which is like chemotherapy? Or do we just give the pills and have another blood test in a month? What a minefield! If you have any ideas on this, please email me.

Melissa B: Please folks, ask your vet about Ivomec - it is an off-label treatment for dogs with Leish, normally used as an anti parasitic for cattle. Dosage is very important and has to be 100% correct - too much and it can be dangerous, too little and effectiveness is reduced. I treated my rescue mongrel with Ivomec for 4 months, carefully monitored of course. He already had Leish and a number of conditions when we found him - Rickettsia, Ehrlichia, Demodex, and a few more nasties too. His immune system was non-existent and the Amitraz dips that our first vet prescribed did nothing to help this. Obviously my dog's case was complicated because we were treating several conditions at once and if your dog just has Leish, then the dips may prove effective, but they had a negative effect on my dog. Before trying Ivomec, I'd done most of the other treatments which are recommended by vets in Spain, none had any long term effect. Thing is, this treatment is very cheap, one reason that many vets prefer to prescribe other, more profitable drugs. 7 years on, my dog is in good health, and long may it continue Even if your dog already has Leish, please use either a Scalibor collar or use the Advantix drops (every 3 weeks to help prevent Leish being contracted) as another bite can activate the dormant Leish which is always present in your dog, even if he has no symptoms and his blood work is good. Please note that the season for sandfly in the Northern hemisphere can range from March through to October, it peaks at the beginning and the end of the season, so one Scalibor collar is not effective for the whole of that time - I use one starting in March (sooner if the weather is warm for more than several days) and then change to a new collar in July - more expensive, but at least the collars will be effective during the sandfly's peak times. It goes without saying that dogs should be sleeping indoors and not be going out at dawn/dusk (sandfly's most active times) Also DO NOT use any kind of medication with steroids - it lowers the immune system further - my Spanish vet told me this and then prescribed cortisone cream for my dog's terrible skin. I read the label and asked the vet - he admitted he'd "made a mistake" So check and double check everything your vet does - they're not Gods!

Melissa B: Just re-read my (too long) post Sorry for confusion, I didn't mean that the Amitraz dips are for a dog with Leish - it's just that my dog had demodex manage as well as the Leish, so we were treating a number of conditions Often, Demodex is a sign that there is another condition present (such as Leish) and the dips are to kill the mange mites We found the best way to strengthen the immune system is high quality food and lots of cuddles, obviously in conjunction with the meds from a vet that you trust.

roughseasinthemed: Just came over here via Rumpy's (I'm Pippa's person, the dog with the tick disease, interviewed by Rumpy). So sorry to hear about Rocky :(. It is important that we share information about care and treatment which is why I wrote up a lot about erlichia canis. I'll check up the link about the vaccine in Spain and ask our vet next time we visit.

Jacob Bane: Hi Kiersten, I was very sad to read about Rocky and I hope the other two are coping well. I just recently wrote a piece about the Virbac vaccine for Leishmaniasis; it's called CaniLeish. I've posted it here in the hope that it helps - https://www.dog-rescue-spain.com/help/new-leishmaniasis-vaccine-now-available-at-vets/ Best regards. Jacob.

Louise: Hi can anyone help with getting hold of glucantime? V. Expensive via uk importers. Does anyone know how we can get it directly from Spain? Any help welcomed thank you

lesley Lillie: Hi, my son and his partner recently rescued a beautiful cocker spaniel from spain knowing that she has leish. she has been on Allopurinol tablets and was doing so well they stopped giving her the tablets. however within a week or so she has started to deterioate, symptons being nose bleed,weight loss lethargy and anaemia. they have started her back on the tablets, do you think they will be able to bring her back ? she is approx 3 years old,or do you think that she may need a boost of injections ?

Sandra Knott: Chica is a rescue dog. She was diagnosed with elephantiases 3 years ago . She was given firstly injection then a daily tablet for life. She is our life. very nice natured,a natural hunter and oh how she loves her food. A few weeks ago we noticed she had a very sore tongue and took her back to our vet with her three brothers. She was diagnosed with a mouth ulcer and given treatment for it. Because they were all due there yearly jab for rabies etc.. Since then Chica has become very poorly. Her blood count has risen and it looks as though our beloved dog has a battle ahead. The mediation we have to give her has caused her to be sick and very lethargic. She no longer walks and wont eat. Her weight has dropped off her. My partner and myself adore her but don't want her to suffer. Do you think she has a chance of survival. She is seven.

jaine thorne: this is such an informative forum, both my dogs were diagnosed with Leish a year ago, they have had two lots of treatment with Miltefloran and now my black lab is fine and just on Alpurinol but my GSD is now secondary and he is to be looked at in 3 months time, with possibility of more treatment he too is on Alpurinol. He looks fine now and his coat is back to normal, he eats well and is not drinking too much or scratching excessivly, [he will stop if I tell him, which makes me think it is habit as well now] But, he has just started having the nosebleeds again. Not for long, just a few seconds, and had about 3 in last 5 days. Not like the blood before, this is clear red blood. Does anyone else have this experience? I hope it is not getting worse. I am praying that this is just a blip, or even because of the heat the moment or something, as it has got really hot really quick this year in Spain. Any experiences would be so appreciated. Thanks Jaine

len.: i have had an english setter rescue for the last 2 days. he has a mild form of leish. the vet tells me he will give him liquid which he must take daily for 28 days & then he will be o.k. ? the blood test results........ the vet says that all his internal organs are good & that the disease is in its early steges. ????? len. pego.

Fionna Ashman: Hi Kirsten I am so sorry to yea about Rocky. What a lucky dog to have had you. I run a rescue -www.lizziesbarn.co.uk in Wales, UK. & we have taken in a few Spanish dogs for a friend. Who is returning the uk, after years of working with abandoned dogs. All have terrible histories. One, Annoe , a Catalan Sheepdog x , of about 3yrs old, has Leish. She is in remmision & on daily Alopurinol. Does anyone have any info on UK vets who have experience with treating it? I would like to get her count checked, before spaying - also need to know about special precautions for the op ie should she have vitamin k or a lotto g factor before / during / after. Our vet seems uninterested. Thanks everyone. Fionna & Annie

kierst: This is a post from a friend, we decided to share her story. About 6 weeks ago a little dog turned up under our truck to die. It was in such a bad state it was hard to see what sex it was,her fur was completly matted up and her snout and legs,and haunches were covered in big round open sores,also her fur was falling out,her tail and ears had been cut off. We just put a bit of food there and she kept eating a little,after a few days we realised we couldnt leave her like that ,and she stopped eating so we force fed her and gave her water in a syringe,next day she ate really well and has done since. We first thought it was sarcoptic mange,folliculitis,and distemper,so we quarantined her from our other dogs,picked off 300 ticks and a few fleas,and gave her a bath,in hydrogen peroxide,really diluted with borax,this was to kill any mites and clean her up its quite gentle. We started feeding her from then in on the same raw food diet that our other dogs are on. We just wanted to boost her immune system,so we added paul darco tea,tincture of neem,tumeric and daitomecous earth tsp 3 times a day to worm her. Valarian to calm her down and help her sleep,she was terrified, Zinc,cod liver oil,and in the begining high doses of vit c,6-8grams aday cus i thought she had distemper. We put clay under bandages which helped heal the front legs quite quickly,and the haunches and back legs have taken longer ,are healing nicely now.Her snout healed with in days. When she had the nose bleed i started to look at Leish. So now weve started in the last week adding sea salt once a day,and making her drink water with a micro algae in called chlorella,1 tsp in water over the day. Also covering her in mixture of neem,hypericum,lavender n oregano oil. Today she has had her third bath,and the folliculitus looks good,and the sores are smaller and healing. And shes breathing clearly,and her nose is not bunged up,bit of stuff in the eyes. I will update this once a week or so.......xx

Ann: Hi, I have read all the information about this awful disease with great interest. I have two little rescue dogs, Susie who is 13 next week, and Harry who is 5. We live on the Costa Blanca. Susie was diagnosed with it 4 years ago, but we caught it very early. She had a course of Miltephosine for 28 days and we watched her getting younger and younger! She has been fine for the last 4 years, but has regular blood tests every 3 months to keep an eye on it. There is a new vaccine here which prevents the disease, but when we took Harry to get the blood test for it, the vet said it was too late, he already has it. She says he is very sick and that his kidneys are badly infected. He is on Miltephosine as well, and Alpurinol, and stuff to make him eat (not working) and vitamin pills, and he is not his happy little slef at all. The vet said both dgs must have a low protein diet, but this is the first time she has mentioned that, she said she "thought we would know", but how if she doesn't tell us! Now (this afternoon) he is having trouble with his left eye, he keeps scratching it as though he has an eye lash in it or something. I have bathed it with cool water, but it doesn't seem to help. Guess it's another trip to the vet tomorrow for Harry, it's sad, we thought Susie would be the first to go because of her age, not Harry. Ann

SusieB: Hi! Thanks for an informative forum. However treating my rescued dog Rosie who has been diagnosed this week with leish and something else ? possible a tickborn disease means a whole lot of medicine. Vitamin K, doxiclat, and omexaprole. initially. Now something to boost her immune system Leisguard (by mouth) and the hard bit she will begin a month of Glucantime injections administered by me. I have been giving her chcken with her biscuits and she has been eating well with it.. Now I read here that she should be on low protein diet. My vet said nothing about this though....any references about this that are useful please?

EB: Hello everyone, Let's hope they find a cure for this awful disease fast. I can't believe how many of us (people and -- most importantly -- our dogs) are struggling with it! I also have a somewhat happy story to tell that may give some of you hope! And then, I have some questions... My dog was diagnosed with Leish 8 years ago (he's now 10) when I lived in Greece. Our vet there told us to give him allopurinol orally everyday from then on, and the disease stayed dormant for 8 years, until two months ago. The only problem we had were kidney stones, which were controlled when we started to feed him hills u/d. (That's the good part! Now for my questions:) Last month, I took him to the vet's for a bout of fever and lethargy, and it turns out that his kidneys are damaged and that he now has two tickborne diseases (the Leish wears down their immune system and makes them very vulnerable). The vet told me to stop the Allopurinol and prescribed antibiotics for the tick disease for 3 months, and Fortekor to assist his kidneys, but nothing for the Leish! We also started to feed him Hills k/d, but he doesn't like it and he has no appetite. I have been reading about Miltefosine and I also read that omega 3 helps kidney function... I would love to hear if anyone else has these same problems and what your vet told you to do. I am worried because my vet is great but has no experience with Leishmaniasis since there is none in this region. Thanks, hugs to you all and to your dogs!

Claire: Hi everyone... Its sad room read these storys, but also comforting to know we are not alone to deal with such a disease. Max my beautiful boxer cross is now 10 years old, i got him from benidorm pound when he was a year old. At three years old he was diagnosed with leishmania, however he showed classic signs very quickly, white around the eyes and skin lesions on his head. my vet was fantastic, he showed me how to give max his injections and was also put on allopurinol full time. his blood result was 1/160 Over a year or so his bloods came down to 1/140 which kind of means its inactive., so now after 7 years he is on 300mg for the first 10 days in every month with only a few set backs along the way...he is a lucky boy:-) However i and max came back to the UK a year ago, last week was his first blood test and antibodies test on the UK. the result came back at 16...this i don't understand but guess is the same as 1/160 Should this be the case my Spanish vet would Have max back on his mediation full time as this usually means the disease is active. however the English vet states that all his blood tests were ok... is it me am i worried for no reason or am i right to fear that English vets Have little or no experience of this disease??? Would love to hear your comments Xxx clair and max x ps for info only i get all my friends to bring stack loads of allopurinol when the come to visit me as too expensive here.x

Sue: All these stories are so sad. I lost a black lab to this disease several years ago and today have had a blood test come back positive on my little pointer cross. I'm going to treat her as its early stages, but we had to have the lab put down. i've also lost a dog to a snake bite. Living in the Med makes a hostile environment for animals.

Lesley: Thank you for an informative site, it has helped us understand a bit better the symptoms and types of treatments available. Have just heard our 2.5 year old x breed female Midnight has Leishmanaisis. Have to wait til monday to begin treatment. Feel a bit shocked and sad at the diagnosis but more able to ask informed questions to the vet when we visit. Midnight and her brothers were born to a stray in the garden, we were not able to touch the mother but she allowed us to touch for her pups when they were a few weeks old. Two of the pups were blind, one only during the day, it appears he has some type of abnormality in the light receptors on his retinas. All pups had blue colour reflecting from their eyes when light is shone at them (instead of red). The vet thinks this maybe a result of leishmanaisis carried by the mother. The mother and one blind brother disappeared into the countryside never to return. We have Midnight and the remaining male Patch (who is blind during the day) as our companions. We will have Patch tested very soon although he does not show signs of the disease we worry that it may be dormant. The dogs are constant companions, together since birth, we hope all goes well with the treatment. We worry how Patch will react/manage if his sister/playmate is no longer with him.

Flor: Hi everybody! I lost my dog on Friday to these awful desease. I live in argentina, in a province located in the northeast region, last year or so, we were informed of many cases of canine Leishmaniasis in our city, there were even cases of leishmaniasis in humans, so we were all advice to start taking good care of our dogs. By the summer we bought our dog, a lovely 9 year old Cocker Spaniel named Sol (sun in english), the scalibor collar, which was said to be "the only way to protect them form Leish", and she kept it on sinche then. As we were told that it lasted only 6 months we bought a new one a few months ago, to replace the old one by spring, the thing is on wednesday she stopped eating, and slowly stopped drinking water too, she was tired and sad, she has always been a bubbly dog, very active and joyful, I noticed she had a hard time jumping and she was losing some weight so my dad took her to the vet on thursday, they did all the blood tests, gave her some meds and told us she could have a uterus problem or a kidney infection, but we have to wait till friday to get the final results of the test. We thought ok, is not that bad apparently so we just moved on, waiting for the results. On friday I went to college and got back home by lunch time, when I got up the stairs I saw my mother with her hand covering her mouth and a sad look in her eyes, my heart jumped as I inmediatedly realized it was about Sol, but I'd never imagine she would tell me "Sol has leishmaniasis" at first I couldn't believe it, why her?? she had the goddamn collar! then tears of anger and sadness started flowing, I asked her what was going to happend, she told me the vet said we had to go and talk with him about the options (treatment or euthanasia). Then my youger brothers and my father arrived and we talked about it, they said she was too weak to go through treatment, she wasn't breathing propperly in the morning, and she could barely move :( but we decided we will hear what the vet had to say before making a decision. That afternoon I did a little research on the treatments, which I thought didn't exist. At six we went to see the vet, he told us that the bug had affected her kidneys really badly, she had only 30% of one of them working, so the treatment wouldn't do much help. We came back to her, and spend the rest of the afternoon carressing her, she was so weak, it was devastating to see her like that, her eyes were pleading for something we couldn't read, she kept changing positions all the time (the vet told us later that she was gasping for air to breath) I even tried to give her some water with a syringe but she didn't take it, she was only focusing on breathing so it was impossible for her to swallow water, it was awful, the most heartbreaking part was seing her welcoming us everytime we showed up, and slowly moving her tail as she was so weak. We decided putting her down was the best for her, and at 9 we went to the vet, the walk to the place was awful, but we wanted to be with her so that she wouldn't feel alone, when they put her the medicine, she slowly layed donde, finally relaxing, and from one moment to the other she stopped breathing, my heart broke, sitting here right now bring tears to my eyes once again. We then carried her limp body home and buried her in our backyard, I've been crying non stop since I found out what she had, I keep asking myself why her?? And now reading all these stories about dogs who went to treatment and made it makes me ask myself if we did make the right choice?? What it she took the treatment? She could still be with us? I just missed her so badly, we loved her so much! Hope you can help me get through this, I would appreciate it. Ps. Sorry for my english

Lesley: It is really sad that so many of these loved dogs have to suffer. The problem appears to be that this disease can affect the dogs systems for a long time before if manifests the recognisable symptoms. Midnight has started a course of treatment, daily alopurinol tablets for 6 months and an oral dose of milteforan for 28 days. Her kidney function and other vital organs seem to be ok at the moment. The disease has affected her skin, hair and nails. She has lost a lot of weight and was drinking plenty of water. We worried she may be diabetic, but she is ok it was the L disease causing the symptoms. We are hoping the treatment is successful of course, but are aware that we must keep up regular treatments of advantix to keep the sandfly at bay. We will regularly add plain boiled rice and pasta mixed with tuna in oil with her normal food, to help boast her appetite and improve her skin and fur. Has anyone got any alternative remedies/ medicines/ diet that may help these animals combat this disease,

Jim & Denise Devlin: We took a rescue dog home , because we thought he was starving to death in the Dog Pound . We were sent to the Vets as a matter of course . He diagnosed Lieshmania . We are from UK , and had never heard of such a disease . He was placed on a 10day course of injections , into his muscles . These became very painful for him , and his condition , at the end of the course , was very poor . He is now having a 15 day respite , from his treatment , but I cannot see what will become of him . Last night , we thought he would" pass away " in his sleep . But today he is still with us , in a very weak state . Not eating very well , and lying with laboured breathing , and a muscular twitch in his back legs . We are devastated by the effects of this disease on such a lovely dog ( He is a Brittany Spaniel ) and very concerned about the prospects for our own dog , who is also a Brittany . He is having injections to prevent the spread of the disease . Fingers crossed that things improve over the next few days .

Lydia: My vet has mentioned to me that there is a laboratory in Madrid that is making individual vacines for dogs and has a 30% success rate of clearing the disease. The vet will take lymph from the back leg area, send it away and then the lab makes a 2 dose vacine. It costs about 400€. Has anyone heard about this or tried it. I am seriously contemplating it as it might be worth it?! My heart bleeds for both owners and infected dogs. It is a cruel disease. I have 2 dogs and the smaller dog who is more of a house dog has had L. for one and a half years. It is mainly cutaneous and he can go for weeks without any lessions and then suddenly he wil be covered in large weeping sores that spread outwards like 'ringworm'. His tail is almost bald now after being covered in sores but so far, he has not had any nose bleeds or other problems that other people are describing here. He is on 1 and a half tablets of Alopurinol a day and occasional antihistermine for the itching or antibiotics. He had the Milteforan at the beginning when his blood count was off the scale. My other dog mainly lives outside and has now been vacinated against L. so I pray it works.

Andrea: Hi Flor, I am your neighbor as I live in Bolivia. I'm sorry to hear about Sol (Solecito). We have an "adopted" dog we call Vampy (vampirito because he has huge ears like a bat). I say "adopted" because we have a house away from the city and there, our neighbor has 3 dogs which are completely neglected. The person whom takes care of the house barely feeds them and keeps them chained most of the time. When they are not chained, they go to the town looking for anything to eat. Whenever we travel there, the dogs come running to us and stay outside of our house during our stay. During our stay we cook large pots of food for them and feed them 2-3 meals daily. We are happy to give them the food and love they dont receive from their owner. They are such good dogs, specially Vampy. It is sad because when we leave to come back to the city, they chase our car barking, running as fast as they can until they get tired, like asking us not to leave. The thing about Vampy is that he is in such a bad shape that today we asked the vet in town to come and see him again (every time we go we call the vet to come over and heal Vampy and the other dogs if they need it) and the vet said he has Lieshmania and that it will be hard for him to heal, that the best would be to put him down. Vampy does not belong to us but we love him as if he was a member of our family... we dont know if to have him put to sleep or steal him and take him to the city with us and see if he can be treated. Vampy is used to the country and having space whereas we dont have the room he needs, our yard is small and Vampy is a large dog. We dont know what to do, which desicion to make as he is not ours... his owner should be looking after him but he only has us. We dont want him to suffer. So I understand how you feel Flor, the desperation of seeing your beloved doggie sick and the pain of looking in to those eyes that are crying out for help and not knowing which is the best desicion or what to do. My heart goes out to Vampy, Sol, and all the doggies whom had to part due to, or are fighting this awful desease. May God bless their hearts and the hearts of their human families whom lost their beloved four legged friends and those whom are fighting to save their lives and do all that is in their hands to give them comfort, love and support.

jan white: Hi, Our dog, Charlie was diagnosed with Leishmaniosis three weeks ago. He had no signs or symptons, we had taken him for his Rabies booster when the vets noticed a small scabby area on the tip of both ears and immediately said that he needed to be tested, which was positive and they said that his liver and kidneys are fine. They gave him an injection 7.5ml of Glucantime, which he is having for fourty days - 20 injections in all (every other day) and he is having three 300mg Alopurinol tablets a day - he will be on these for life. He went for a midway visit last night and they are pleased with him although he still has the scabs on his ears, and he has put on a kilo. Our other two dogs are fine, what Is worrying is that Charlie had no symptons, he wore his scalibor collar, has boundless energy and eats well. I didn't realise about a low protein diet, so will check his food (they are on Ultima) we feel worse about giving him the injections, but they have to be done and I hope that he won't have to have another course for a good while. Since Charlie has been diagnosedI have been told that they are two types of Leishmaniosis, one affects the internal organs and the other the skin - has anyone else been told this? Our vets are very good and supportive and we have faith in them, but it is an awful disease with so many unanswered questions.

Helen: My dog has started the treatment yesterday and today she can hardly walk. Is this to be expected?

Kate: I've recently rescued an abandoned young Podenco in Andalucía. He has little scabs in his ears, which i think means he's infected. I want to try treating him homeopathically https://www.ainsworths.com/index.php?node=_RemedyStore2&_action=agent.add&remedy=22032 as I think this is usually best and of course it has no bad side-effects. I don't know whether anyone else here has tried homeopathy for this disease. Un fortunately, he's due to go to a rehoming centre in the U.K.,as I'm too ill to keep him myself, but this may delay or prevent it.

joanna: Our dog Rusty an irish red setter, has just been diagnosed wilth leish today - i noticed in the last few days that he has dry sore skin patches so took him today to our vet - she took a blood test and some skin from the dry spots - we waited for the blood result - which she showed us as being posative. She then took another test to check his kidnneys etc. She rang us to confirm that his kidneys are fine. So tomorrow we take him fo his firdt injection and he will start his tretment therafter. We are so upset because we have just lost Sooby who we rescued from the road. he was a cocker spaniel ho we believe had been kept tie up and no room to move as he also had bad hips. We had Scooby for 18months and the leish had taken a hold on him - we pray that Rusty who is 5yrs old can be treated and live a happy life. I will keep you poste - thanks for this wonderfull site - it is so helpfull.

Ann Stone: Our BIG dog Otto, came to us about 5 years ago. He's about 9 now. He belonged to friends in Spain, who got him from a rescue centre there. They moved house & had less suitable space for such a big dog. so we said we would take him - we live on a farm. They got his passport & drove him to England. Some months ago he began to get ill - itchy skin & panda eyes & a bit lethargic, also lost weight. Went to the vet. Couldn't pin point anything. Put him on steroids, he perked up & he's been OK. We knew this was not an ideal situation but at least he was a bit happier in is old age. in October went to stay with different English friends. A little sick stray dog arrived. Off we all go to the vets. It's got Leich & I realise Otto has too! Back in England I told our vet my idea . Vet researched & did more tests & YES he has it. Taken 5 weeks to get medication. Now had injections for a week & is really ill. Nosebleeds! I don't know what will happen but at the moment I'm wondering if we should have just left him on the steroids to see out his life quietly & in relative happiness. Husband at vet with him now. Vet been super - taken an interest. We do our own injections. Dog, so far, doesn't mind them, but he is BIG.

Chiara: The injections killed my previous dog while we had many dogs treated with allopurinol only and they lived happily for many years despite leishmaniasis. I have just found out that my current dog I brought over to the UK from Italy has it too. The result the vet gave me is 68. Does anyone know how high or low this is? I am not sure how they count the antibodies in the UK... My vet in Italy was a bit puzzled by this number...

Sasha: Hi, I am moving to Spain in May 2013 (Alicante region) and have been researching 'L' . It seems to be alot more of a real problem that I thought, My vet has told me there is a vaccination at a cost of £144 per dog, but he knows nothing about it apart from the fact it is a course of 3 jabs. Does anyone know any more? does it work? How ill does it make them, one of my dogs is a chihuahua (6yrs) and the other is a mini Lurcher (5yrs) (whippet size). I am even wondering whether it is worth the risk to take my babies to Spain at all now...very worried...

Chiara: I know there is a vaccine and it is very effective on healthy dogs. I discussed this with my vet in Italy where Leishmaniasis is a too common disease among dogs. In Italy it is available since last April. My vet said that the dogs need to have blood tests first to make sure they can be vaccinated. They need to meet certain paramethers... I am not sure what he meant by that. Leishmaniasis is an orrible illness. I would definetely consider the vaccine if I moved to Spain.

Karon Stephens: I would like to hear a update from a previous comment on here from..... " Kierst" Posted July 7th 2012 ...I am adopting a little dog of 6 with Leishmania , I am at present researching & looking into her health care with my vets to make sure everything health wise is in place for her....I have a homeopath vet that has cared for a Leishmania dog previously , & i'm very confident with him....But i have concerns with the mainstream vet & lack of knowledge of Leishmania & therefor I'm researching the prescription med's , so that i know she gets the right prescription...I'm in UK in Warwickshire .

valerieshevills: Thanks for the information, it is very helpfull, i am about to jab my dog for the first time, i have had the jabs for a week, and have been thinking about doing it, i cant face the thought of him being so ill, but if i dont try, i will never know if it worked or not. val

linda: I am currently treating my 12 year old pointer cross with Mitalforan which I administer via syringe either on to his food or when he isn´t keen on eating I give it straight into his mouth. He has suffered from this horrible disease for almost seven years. I have treated him with Apurinol and mainly normal dog food and occasionaly he has needed special treatment and diet for kidney malfunction. He has always had a shiny black coat and been very lively. However at the end of January I realised he was unwell and blood tests revealed high leishmania levels and kidney malfunction. I bought the special renal diet "pienso" and the Mitalforan which for his size was pricey (200 euros). He is now much happier but has gone off his special renal diet , I am still giving him the apurinol, plus vitamin tablets and Rubenol which helps the kidneys to function. Next week he will go to the vet for another blood test to see the state of his kidneys.. I am currently feeding him tinned tuna mixed with a very little renal "pienso" and have also given him hake (merluza) which I fry using hardly any oil. The pills go straight into his throat as he won´t take them any other way due to his loss of apetite. Just wish I could discover a suitable homemade diet for him. Any suggestions or advice greatly appreciated. Many thanks.

Karon: https://www.buzzle.com/articles/low-purine-foods-for-dogs.html ....there's a group on FB " Living with Leishmania " ...Have now two vets experienced with Leishmania ( in UK) Happy dance my girl has great support :) She will be Holistic & homeopath as well as conventional meds , my other dogs & cats are Holistic/homeopath ...Have a look at that option Linda

kierst: Hi the facebook group is called Living with Leish :)

Karon: Hi Kierst, this is my FB address...I am named as Karon Daisy Charlie ...Edit Contact Info Email karon.stephens.5@facebook.com I can't find that group, :( ...& would be very interested to join.

joanna: Just to let you know Rusty is doing fine so far - he is now on his 2nd session of medicine (leisgaurd - contains - domperidona) which he takes by mouth - he has that for 30 days then has 40 days with nothing - he started the 2nd course a week ago. My vet says she wants him to have this course then another before she does another blood test. Once he has had his blood test and if he remains as he is - she says we may be able to let him have the preventative injection and hopefully he will only have to have the booster once yearly - but that is in the future. To date Rusty has re-acted well and is back to his normal happy self, we are so relieved - because after already losing Scooby to this horrible disease - we were so worried we would lose Rusty - but so far so good. Kind Regards joanna

lucy: The stories on here are so sad and it is awful to hear how much pain the dogs and owners went through. The vaccine thankfully is now available. There are 3 injections given 3 weeks apart and immunity starts from 4 weeks after the last injection. My dog is going to the vet later today to have the first vaccine. Each vaccine costs approx. €80. We will be living in Cyprus in the winter and the island has very high levels of this disease.

Christine Gifford: I have spent this morning reading all the really useful posts here; we found a dog which we thought was starving and frightening the chilren in the square in our small pueblo in southern spain a week ago. Having brought him home initially he ate very well but we still wanted him checked out before we allowed him to mix with our other dogs ( Mr Darcy an old staffie we rescued at 14 weeks with a bad back but who is now 11; a mixto called Pablo the Asbo who we found out was deaf after we rescued him from outside the local hypermarket and the lovely lady Leah who was left for dead in the street and lost all her puppies having been beaten but who is now 'elegante'.) He was covered in ticks so we had them treated and blood tests done at the same time. These came back yesterday -kidneys, liver all fine but a very high reading for Leishmaniasis. He will be starting the injections on Wednesday and then have the tablets. Luckily our other dogs all wear collars which we renewed before we let them mix with him and have also had advantix and vacinations but we will have them blood tested this week just to make sure they are ok. His new name - not surprising no chip, no collar, - will make those of you are English laugh - George (Alexander Louis)! Will keep you posted on how he gets on.................

Laura smith: Enzo Hi, Having read the numerous information and postings on your page, I am looking for some advice relating to the ongoing treatment for my dog, Enzo, a gorgeous little 7kg Heinz 57. I rescued Enzo last year from Spain, and he was abandoned, presumably because his owner knew he had leishmaniasis but could not afford to pay for the treatment. The vet immediately put him on a 30-day course of Glucantime and despite him not liking the injections, it really helped his mobility and general state of health. When he came to live with us in the UK, we were advised to put him on a 200mg daily dosage of Allupurinol and wait for a blood test 6 months later to determine what medication and treatment he would need in the future. During this time he continued to improve and you would not know that he had leish. We travelled to Spain with Enzo this summer, and immediately had a blood test which showed his titre had reduced from 1/1260 to 1/340 and the vet was amazed at how good he looked, so much so that she advised to take a 1 month break on the Allopurinol and then restart it at a lower dose of 100mg per day. Unfortunately during the rest period (June this year) Enzo became ill and on one weekend he was admitted to an emergency hospital where they found crystals in his urine and a kidney stone formed. The stone has managed to damage his bladder, causing urine to get into his bloodstream and toxicate parts of his body, so we had a really anxious (and very expensive) 9 days where he was in intensive care whilst we waited for him to recover from his operation and for his blood to get rid of the toxins. Fortunately, he made a good recovery and we were able to travel back with Enzo in late July, and the stone removed from his bladder was apparently sent to a university in America where they confirmed it was directly related to him being on Allopurinol. I have now been advised not to give him Allopurinol, and to try a ‘one month on, three months off’ course of Leishguard, although this doesn’t seem to really agree with him, and seems to make him itch and scratch. I am now in a position where I am hearing and reading conflicting information regarding Enzo’s dietary requirements and frequency of blood, titre and urine tests, and would very much appreciate your feedback on this, aswell as your advice on what course of medication to give him for his leish. I am in a position where I obviously do not want to put him back on Allopurinol if it will cause another stone or crystals, but likewise, I would hate for the leish to come back. Enzo’s is currently eating Virbac Renal food, which was advised by the vet in Spain, but I have also been told that dry foods like this are not best, and that I should perhaps look at switching to a raw or BARF diet? Thanks.

Jane bailey: We have. Rescue GSD cross Lurcher. Big dog 34 kg. from Spain now in the uk with Leish. She is on alurinol tablets two daily and is in good condition. She was spayed six weeks ago and bled profusely, but seemed to be doing fine. Wound healed, eating an enjoying life, yezterdaymthemwound opened for no reason and she now needs to have further surgery. Can anyone offer advice or even a reason why this has happened. Our UK vet doesn't seem to know why this happened and I am losing confidence in their diagnostic skills.

kierst: Hi Jane I tried to email you back but the email address is incorrect. Im sorry to hear about your troubles with your dog. I don't know if you are on Facebook but if so there is a group called Living with Leish https://www.facebook.com/groups/447077055372021/ They are a great group with people whose dogs are living with leish, it would be a good idea to to put your question to them. I am unable to help you as I have no knowledge of why this would happen to her. If you are not on Facebook I can ask the question for you. Please keep me posted and I have everything crossed for your girl.

Michaela Hubbard: My dog Sundance is on Allopurinol, He aslo had stones a year after being on this medication. The dog need to be on a low purine diet and this will stop the stones forming. We feed ours Royal canine Low Purine U/C and he has been fine since

elaine: hey Laura Smith! If Enzo is passing crystals get him off the kibble immediately! A species appropriate food - Raw meaty bones/Barf (it doesn't matter what you call it) and a little liquidised raw veg and if you can find it green tripe (Panse verde in spanish) will help his immune system to fight the leish AND stop any more crystals forming. and get him to drink cold stinging nettle tea - also to boost his immune system Good luck and God bless!

Laura smith: Hi all. After an extremely frustrating visit to the vets today, I am wondering if any members of this forum can recommend a vet in Essex or Suffolk who have experience of Leish dogs. Fortunately my dog Enzo is doing really well despite having a high titre count when we rescued him in Spain two years ago and having had an operation to remove kidney stones last summer which was caused by Allopurinol. Enzo has beaten the odds and for now we are just managing his leish with Leishguard but we want to get a full blood test to monitor his titre and haematology and compare it to the previous tests we had done in Spain. Our current vet is completely useless and reluctant to get involved in something he doesn't understand so I would like to have a relationship with a practise who at least sympathise with Leish dogs and have a basic knowledge of the condition, so all suggestions are gratefully received. Ps thanks Elaine for your previous reply

kierst: This is a message from Joanna Wooldridge Hi - I have written to you in the past about Rusty our Red Setter who has Leish. He is on Leishgaurd and has been ok until reccentley he as started to bite his front pads and he is tearing lumps out and making them bleed - has anyone else had this problem???? Thanks for your help We are desperate to stop him doing it - curently have them bandadged to stop him from biting them!!!

Laura smith: Hi all. I am hoping for some advice relating to Leish titer tests here in the UK. Up until now we have always had our tests done in Spain, where the titer is presented as a fractional figure such as 1/320 with a base line figure of 1/80 where anything under that is deemed negative. I understand that this is a 'dilution' based result. I have just had a test done in the UK and the results have been presented to me as '29.8' and I have no idea how to convert or understand this figure and after speaking to a few vets I am still struggling. Apparently the base line for this way of testing is 12, but I am hoping someone will have some more information or a better understanding of the way the result has been presented. Has anyone had a test done in the UK where the result is provided as a fraction or know if the figure of 29.8 is good, bad or ugly! Thank you all in advance.

Chris: Hi all, There is so much disinformation on this illness it pains me to read posts from anxious owners or (frankly) completely wrong "specialist" advice. I have been to hell and back with my dog who I saved as a stray from Italy. She had already been infected as a young dog, some 6-7 years ago. I have a quite incredible vet and we have been learning as we go, assisted by the specialists in this disease within the uk, Bristol university. If you have a dog which is diagnosed with this disease, it is essential that you get the right advice. If you do not, your loved animal will die. The things we have learned about this condition in the many years we have been fighting it are too many to write in one post. If you are worried for a pet please do contact me on gallagher2006@btinternet.com. Almost all vets have no experience of this and I can ensure that your vet has my vets number to speak to. A couple of points to note: 1. The disease is treatable but it is extremely expensive to do so. The treatment either involves the injection of glucantime (much preferred option) or the ingestion of another poison which I would strongly advise you avoid (the name of which I forget). The latter option was extremely toxic to my dogs liver and almost killed her but looked like it was working because she improved clinically before a massive collapse and liver failure. Glucantime is very safe though I would advise taking liver readings through blood tests after a week. I would also advise running the course for at least four and maybe even six weeks 2. Keep a thermometer handy and check your dog regularly. LM causes serious temperature increases which will kill your dog if you miss the signs. I used 2.5mg morning and night of predisonol as hers climbed up between treatments and when it was needed daily it was time to treat her again with glucantime. Long term steroids create a huge number of other problems you should review with a vet. Without them though, my dog would have died I could go on but won't for now. I've spoken to dozens of vets and all said "we had an LM dog once but it didn't live long". To date, mine has been alive for 7 years since contracting it and 4.5 years since it was diagnosed and she was close to death. Her liver readings were 3580 against a 120 upper tier of normal. Your pet can survive but it's essential that you know how to treat it. Few vets will know the answers since they aren't trained on it here, something echoed in these posts. Chris

vic: If you are using allopurinol - consistently add apple cider vinegar to the dogs water - No stones, perfect kidney function.

Jo Diaper: Thanks for all the advice. Will definitely try the Apple cider vinegar Vic. My poor boy, Frodo has just come back from the vets after having another flush out of his bladder because of crystals. He's a lovely 6 year old basset. He came from Spain too and was eventually diagnosed with Leish 3 years ago. Thankfully our vets in Salisbury emergency service has a Spanish vet which has been invaluable in treating him. He had the miltefosine initially and did well and whilst he is still currently reasonably well his tests have shown the leish is on its way back. We're now awaiting the injections be imported from Spain and hoping this gives him another few good years. He takes allupurinol daily and eats low purine food. Any other recommendations gratefully appreciated. Jo

Andrew: Hello all, We have recently learned that our 5-year-old pug boy has tested positive for leish. We are based in Germany and rescued him 3 months ago from Malta, so we knew all about the associated risks, but it's still not nice to hear. He hasn't shown any symptoms since he's been with us, though when he arrived he did have terrible diarrhoea, little hunger and was very tired. He also had a scar on his side which the shelter said was a bit from another dog, but looked more like a healing skin sore. He was also very disinterested. He soon recovered well with rest and good eating habits, but we were wondering if this could possibly have a manifestation of the disease? At the time we thought it was due to the trauma of being found in the street, flown to Germany and settling into a new home, but now I have read more it seems he was exhibiting symptoms. He had no medication though, so I don't believe he would have fought it off and recovered so quickly without. Is there anyway of discovering whether a dog has previously had an 'outbreak' of symptoms and if so, when? Is there also a way of finding out when the disease was contracted and therefore when to expect to see symptoms develop? It would be a huge help for us to have an idea of these things. Otherwise, I presume the only thing we can do is take him regularly to the vet for blood/urine tests, monitor his behaviour and renal activity for signs and then treat as appropriate. From your experience, are there any 'sure fire' early signs to look out for, and how vital is it to get treatment started early? All help is of course very much appreciated. Cheers.

Melissa B.: Our dog was rescued from Afghanistan back in Sept. 2012, he was very skinny when we got him home (58-lbs) but otherwise healthy. It wasn't until April 2013 that he started getting white spots around his eyes, mouth & on his nose. We took him to the vet did some initial blood work & found he had a bacterial infection & later the other test came back positive for Leish. He was started on Allopurinol & then we were able to get Milteforan from spain (from: www.wilderstore.com)to treat him. He was on the Milteforan for about 16 wks then retested & we believed we were in remission. Only for the Leish to come back in full swing some 5-6 months later. He never showed any signs that he was sick again. He continues to be on the Allopurinol 650 mg a day, Inteliflora, K-9 Immunity (by Aloha Medicinal) once a day and is on a NO ANIMAL PROTEIN diet, Hill's prescription U/D diet, I also put 1/2 tsp coconut oil in w/ his food. He is also given veggie cheese, tofu, & veggie hotdogs as his treats. His last Titer check was 3 wks ago & his numbers for the Leish is 256, so its still present & we will continue the same treatment plan that we are on for now. I'd like to try the Glucantime but our vet says we would need enough for about 17 wks. And as of now we can't seem to get our hands on any as its not available in the U.S. With what we are doing he is staying healthy, he's happy, very active, but a very picky eater. He now weighs 77 lbs & strong as an ox. He wants the animal protein, but w/ the Allopurinol he is on it puts crystals in his urine. I did read above in another post that adding Apple cider vinegar into his drinking water, could anyone suggest the amount they are adding of the vinegar to the amount of water please?! The K-9 Immunity I buy on Amazon for a tad bit cheaper than I can get it from the company that makes it, & the Hills Prescription u/d diet I buy through www.chewy.com for $75 for a 27.5 lbs bag. Again cheaper than what I can buy at our local petsmart. I hope any of the info helps & you are able to help your fur-babie's live a happy & healthy life.

Pat Hatton: Can I take my dog Micky from this country to Spain, he has just been diagnosed with Leichmane iosis. His earflaps have now become sore andbleeding, is this part of the condition..

Mary: My dog had the leish vaccine but still went on to contract the desease

Allison: Hi. Milteforan is the drug of choice as the initial treatment protocol given at a weight specific dose for 28dys. Allopurinol is used to support kidney function but it helps sny dog who has developed joint issues from the disease. Please be aware that it can cause liver function tests to show elevated levels and to damage the liver in some individual dogs. We have had many large dogs on allopurinol ie 25kg plus and they take no more than 300mg once a day. Smaller dogs on a dose this high do appear to have elevated levels check with your vet on this as after the time and effort you put in to save your loved pets you dont want to lose them to a drug they may no longer need to take.

Orhan: I want to ask how you give the ivomec to your dog because its been given just once for prophylaxis of parasitic disease is that the way you take it for treating leishmenia or how you give it t o your dog may be twice monthly my dog is too ill and would try that way because the other medications didnt work for him

Cecilia: I am in the process of rescueing a dog from Spain that is currently in a shelter. She is due to come to UK in July this year. After reading all these posts I have decided not to adopt her. I don’t make this decision lightly, as I fell in love with her online and have been looking at her photos every day for the past month and really looking forward to having her. However, it has been hard to get information from the UK charity that is arranging her adoption and it has not given me confidence. I don’t know what shelter she is coming from even, and in the last photos I had of her, her coat looked dull compared to in the originals. I asked that she be retested for Leishmania before travelling to UK and for her vet history to be faxed to my vet. I received a text just saying she would be retested. I have done a huge amount of research online since agreeing to adopt and my first action was to get her insured to cover treatment just in case. Now I have discovered that UK insurance policies don’t cover Leishmania. It is in the exclusion section as a notifiable disease. There is no way that I could afford the bills for her treatment if at any time she tested positive, which it seems almost certain that she will as she is only a year old and was rescued from the streets at 6 months. Young dogs and very short coated dogs , which she is, are apparently more susceptible, as are older dogs and sick and starved dogs and it is likely she was also pretty starved though I have not been able to get this information. I really wanted to give her a good home and I do so hope she finds one. Thank you all for the stories you have posted and although it is now 2018, as far as I can tell, very little progress has been made in respect of treatment and diagnosis of this horrible condition. Also new research has indicated that it can be transmitted to a dog by a bitch it has mated with and also passed on to puppies. It will be transmitted through blood transfusion and there is a possibility that fleas can also be a vector. I don’t want to be a scaremonger but reality is reality and it is best to be safe rather than sorry. They say that dog to dog transmitting is rare but it is a possibility. Also the Leish organisms live in open sores and care should be taken by people who have low immunity and also very young children. If your other dogs have cuts or open sores, transmission can take place. So much more research is needed. It seems that as a species we often tend to try and shut the stable door after the horse has bolted! Good luck to you all and to all your beautiful dogs who suffer and have suffered so much.

Kiersten Rowland: Hi I'm sorry you are not going through with the adoption of the dog you fell in love with. Maybe joining this group on Facebook will help you Living With Leish The information about the transmission of this disease that you write about is not correct and it is this incorrect information that is out there on the internet that does not help dogs with leish. This post is very old now and treatment has moved on to a whole new level. Diagnosis is very simple. There has been a vaccine for many years, but if your dog is leish free and living in the UK, it won't need the vaccine. Don't give up hope on the dog you love, it sounds like the contact you have at the shelter is really the problem. Such a shame that the dog will lose out because of the contact. Good luck to you and your search for a dog.

Some very sad news

2009-05-24T00:00:00Z

Unfortunately I am writting about some very sad news. Our lovely black labrador Rocky lost his fight against canine leishmaniasis. This is an awful cruel disease which I hope they find a cure for very soon. Although I had only been in Rockys life for 3 years he knew me as his mum, we had a good bond, many happy walks and lots of silly giddy times. We are missing him lots and the other dogs are very quiet, I guess they miss their friend too. I had nursed Rocky from near deaths door over a year ago, I had to inject him with medication into a muscle in his back leg everyother day for 6 days, give him 2 tablets a day, when he was soooo ill I cooked him chicken and sat in the kennel with him to hand feed him. We were lucky and got him back but this time no matter what nursing or medication we were not getting him back, but at least he is in peace and out of pain now. He has a lovely resting spot under an olive tree on our land where he can keep an eye on what we are up to. Richard has done a **tribute to Rocky** on his blog.

Comments

Marilynn: I am very sad to hear of your loss of Rocky. I picked up a stray in Italy a month ago. He has Leishmaniosis. I have been giving him liquid medicene plus pills daily. I know i will not be able to bring him back to the USA. It breaks my heart. I named him Rocco. He is only 3 years old. I am at a loss of what to do. I dont think anyone would take him, we will leave in Feb of 2010. Best wishes for you. Marilynn

Vanessa: I am so sorry to hear of your loss of Rocky over a year ago. We are so dreading that day with our dogs. We live in the Murcia region and currently have three dogs with Leishmaniasis (dogs that were all abandoned in our street) but whom we love dearly. Zorro our German Shepherd is halfway through his course of the syrup and has zyloric 300mg twice daily along with our other two Willie and Max. Unfortunately Zorro is still having nosebleeds and diarrhea. I have read on the internet that German Shepherds do not respond well to treatment so we just hope with another two weeks of treatment, he improves. Our other two seem to be doing fairly well - they have been on tablets for over three years and so far so good. Like you, we hope and pray that they find a cure for this horrible disease very soon.

Helen: I'm so sorry to hear about Rocky, what a beautiful dog/ I have seven dogs myself and love them all to bits. Unfortunately my Golden Retriever has contracted the disease of Leishmaniasis. She has been on medication of Alopurinol for almost 2 years. She had a relapse this year when one of her paws opened up due to ulcers and had a bit of it amputated. She is back on the medication and is doing really well. I have a lovely caring vet and he checks her every month. I have had her on a special diet of chicken, vegetables and rice for all this time that shes been ill and low protein dry food. I hope this helps.

Lizard - Large Psammodromus

2009-05-12T00:00:00Z

Found this chap in the swimming pool after I had cleaned it out. Luckily there was no water in the pool so after a lot of chasing around the pool with a net I managed to catch him and free him.

Working hard in the campo

2009-05-03T00:00:00Z

Well since the winter season officially ended for **Spanish Highs **on Thursday evening I have been busy in the campo catching up with work that has been neglected for many months. All weeds are now under control and the veggies can now breath and start growing again, although my poor back will take a while longer to straighten itself again.

I have dug an area for the tomato seeds to go in, the ground is so hard it has taken 2 days to dig this area but today the seeds went in. They are a bit late in being planted compared to the past years but this year I had habas (broad beans) growing in their area so had to wait for them to mature and to be harvested, which I have also done these past few days. I have blanched and frozen them in batch's.

All the leeks have now been harvested as they were going to seed. I have collected more white sprouting broccoli and have dug up the kale cabbage as this had gone to seed and I couldn't stop it. The plants this year seem to be struggling and taking a long time to get to a good size, I'm assuming its because of the colder weather we have had, although things are hotting up now, so much so ive been in the garden in shorts and t'shirt and have planted the fussy telegraph cucumber seeds. I have 3 types of squash growing this year, 2 seem to be doing ok but the Spaguetti type seem to be struggling after a good start! Next on the list is to harvest the onions, build up little walls around the cauliflower to keep the water in, a little more weeding among the aubergines and black brussel sprouts, get 20 more aubergine and 5 more courgette plants, once the onions are harvested weed and dig up that areas ready for the next crop, theres no rest for the wicked. Khumbu now sits in the campo with me off the lead, he finds himself a patch of shade and is happy to just watch me potter about, should I go to far away he will wander along with me, fingers crossed he wont try to do a runner!

The dogs had been kept entertained for a short while by a rabbit. Our Spanish neighbour decided he had no use for this rabbit anymore (I'm guessing it was too old to eat) so he threw it over the fence and it took home by our cars. It was a big grey rabbit, rather friendly and was enjoying its self eating all that it could find . We planned to build it a shelter but unfortunately before we could do this on day 3 of its freedom we found it dead without a mark on it! We were rather sad as we had got used to its being around and it kept the dogs entertained for hours running along the wall to see where it was now. We happened to have a client out who was a vet and she told us that lots of things can kill rabbits and probably what got it was either eating too much or eating something bad.

Brushing Bruno

2009-04-20T00:00:00Z

Have just spent the past hour and half brushing Bruno! I think he must weigh a stone lighter now. As you can tell from the photos theres a lot of hair that comes out of a Leonberger but dosnt he look a pretty boy now.

Scolopendra - Escolopendra

2009-04-18T00:00:00Z

This is one of the creepy crawlies that we live with here in Andalucia. In English it is known as a Scolopendra, in Spanish its an Escolopendra. I think this one is a Megarian Banded Centipede. I walked past the swimming pool and saw this chap floating so took advantage of the fact it was dead and took a few photos, as you can see its 11cm long and pretty nasty looking. They can move very fast and have a nasty sting which can cause a very painful swelling, hence the photo only being taken as it was dead.

I have found Khumbu playing with these, now he did end up once having to have an emergency trip to the vet for a swollen tongue and face but we don't know if it was one of these that caused it. We have found them in our bedroom and even in our bed!!!! Just a couple of weeks ago one just walked on past whilst I was sat on the sofa. There is a big market for these on the internet for collectors of these centipede's, maybe I shall have to get brave and start collecting and selling them to earn a bit of money? I couldn't decide which was the best photo to publish so I put all 3 on.

Comments

peejay: Yes it's Scolopendra cingulata, the Banded Centipede. They are amazinly fast aren't they? I've seen some individuals 15 cm body length. The ones offered on the internet are usually larger tropical species 20 cm and more. I expect you see quite a few Mantids too, don't you? I just love all these creatures.

China - Dictators to the World

2009-04-03T00:00:00Z

How is it the Chinese Government is able to dictate to other country's whether to allow the Dalai Lama to speak in their country? Recently he applied for a visa to travel to South Africa to visit the Nobel laureates peace conference but the South African government refused his visa application as they didn't want to "disrupt relations with China".

He has applied for a New Zealand visa to speak at the Vector Arena in Auckland on 6 December but this was under question after the United Chinese Association wrote to Parliament to have his New Zealand visa cancelled, but the New Zealand Prime Minister John Keys has pre-emptively approved the visa.

And according to Radio New Zealand, the Government has confirmed his New Zealand visa application would be processed in the usual way, and that he would have no troubles having his New Zealand visa granted. Surely the South Africans should take a look at their history before they refuse a visa to a Nobel Peace prize winner? Why do so many governments across the world have no back bone?

Why is it that China is so affraid of one man - His Holiness the Dalai Lama?

The trouble with Pine Processionary Caterpillars

2009-03-21T00:00:00Z

Whilst the others were skiing down to the Loma de Dilar from the Sierra Nevada ski centre I had a fantastic drive through the Cumbres Verdes in stunning scenery and started my walk up to meet them from the Cortijuela.

I was on my own without the dogs for a change, which enabled me to get to see some wildlife before it got frightened off by the dogs. I walked up through a pine forest with a stream running through it and plenty of melting snow. I saw lots of birds but im afraid I dont know what they were, I also saw 2 Red Squirrels, one who sat on branch but I couldnt get the lense cap off the camera quick enough so missed out on that photo. Along the track up I came across many lines of Pine Processionary Caterpillars so I was glad I didnt have the dogs with me.

These harmless looking caterpillars (which turn into moths) can be very dangerous to pets (mainly dogs as they are inquisitive) and some humans. When disturbed they shed their fine hairs which irritate our skin causing very itchy rashes, if the hairs get into the eye, nose or throat area, then im sure you can work out the trouble you may get into. Even just sitting under a tree with the nests in can cause you to get a rash. Children have been known to go temporarily blind from rubbing their eyes after picking them up and many dogs have lost their lives or part of their tongue!

They are a big problem in Spain and are devastating forests because they make many nests in one tree and eventually kill it, it seems to be a big problem in this area. These next few photos show you the devastation in just a few trees, let alone the forest. There is alot of information on the internet about these little critters.

So after pottering my way up, taking many useless photos, the skiers eventrually showed up in the far distance, so I sat down and started taking more photos, but this time of them who were very surprised to see that I had found them in the middle of know where.

Comments

Graham: Who`d have thought something so harmless looking as those caterpillars could cause so much harm to humans and animals.

Veggie News - White Broccoli

2009-03-17T00:00:00Z

Today whilst out weeding, seeding and digging I wondered over to my failure of Broccoli plants only to discover that I have a white broccoli head appearing. I was given these plants from our friends David and Aspen, I lost most the plants to some disease but the surviving plants have now produced for me. Ive no idea how long I leave it on the plant for, I shall have to do some asking. The two pictures below show you the whole plant (huge) and the head.

Comments

admin: I know it looks like that to me to but I was told the plants would produce white broccoli. David is going to pop in and have a look to properly identify it next time he is passing. I have had cabbage from cauliflower seeds before so who knows :-)

Mum: Surely that's a cauliflower, isn't it?

admin: It has now been confirmed that the plants are broccoli and are the white sprouting peranial veraity. And I can eat some now!

Linda: I have a packet of seeds Yates Broccoli Late white hearting, beutifull taste not strong tast like cauliflower. I Live in New Zealand.

Claudia: Hi, I ended up with some white broccoli too, do you harvest it the same as green, before the florets space apart? and cook it the same? Thanks!

Kiersten: Hi yes harvest it the same as green broccoli I left mine too long and it went a strange shape and then got attacked by aphids. Hope you have better luck than I did.

Alison: I am glad I have found others with this variant of broccoli, mine sprouted from my compost. I also have turnips growing from the compost, although I have never grown them before, they must be a throwback, produced from radishes or rocket which I let go to seed. It's such fun to get these unexpected surprises growing in the veggie patch.

Taz the cat

2009-03-17T00:00:00Z

We have a cat that has chosen to live with us and 4 dogs. She has been with us for nearly 2 years now and as far as she is concerned she is a dog!!! Today I caught her asleep on top of the kennel in my plant pot!

Latest dog walk

2009-03-11T00:00:00Z

Here are some pictures from the latest dog walk taken on Sunday. Khumbu and Bruno

Trip back to the UK

2009-03-08T00:00:00Z

We popped back to the UK for 5 days recently as we managed to get some cheap flights for a total bill for the 2 of us of €40. We caught up with friends and family and it was great to see them. I would like to thank everyone for coming to visit us and for making us feel like we had never been away, big thanks to Helen, Jenny, Andy, Emily, Joe, Claire, Sharon and Gill for being in the pub! Whilst we were over we also got to see some live rugby league, Richard thought it would be a good idea for me to see a live game, so off we went to see Leeds Rhinos V Manley Sea Eagles of Australia. These teams are the best of their respective hemispheres. Unfortunately the Rhinos lost to the Sea Eagles but it was a fab game and some fantastic fights broke out amongst the players right in front of us. These men really are huge in real life. We also got a visit from Jenny on her Harley Davidson.

The Veggie Garden Expands

2009-03-08T00:00:00Z

Yes its that time of year again and the veg are being planted and this year we have decided to expand, so we had another terrace rotervated. Emma and Jorge are helping out when they can, so we all get some food, well it all helps in a "crisis"! There is a lot of work to do after all the rain we have had, the weeds have grown nearly as tall as me and so the boys had to strim, which has taken a couple of days. This picture is of me weeding amongst some onions and yes I am wearing shorts as the temperature was in the 20s.

This picture shows how the Habas (Broad Bean) are growing well, they will eventually be replaced by Tomatoes and beyond them will be Sweet Corn for corn on the cobs, yum yum. The fruit tree to the left of the picture does not look to healthy. Oh and at the end of the garden amongst the weeds you can just see me and Emma.

This photo shows the new terrace that has been rotervated. We now have potatoes, more onions and habas planted in the raised areas.

This is the same terrace just a different end, in the fore ground we have 50 very small cauliflower plantlets.

Feliz Fiestas

2009-01-01T00:00:00Z

A Happy New Year to everyone who reads this blog of mine and I hope you like the new look of it. Christmas was a quiet affair here at our cortijo in Lanjaron, but we did manage to cook ourselves a proper Christmas dinner which was great. The dogs had the chicken that Richard didn't manage to eat so they were very happy. I grew parsnips for Christmas and New Year, I'm not keen on parsnips but I have to admit they do have a better taste about them when taken straight from the garden and into the oven. According to Richard, Emma and Jorge they all agreed they were the best they had ever tasted. As for the brussel sprouts, well they maybe ready for next year??!!! For new years eve, we went to Emma and Jorges for lunch. We had decided to try the Spanish way of celebrating and so didn't go out until 11pm. We went to one of our local bars called El Volante, this is typically a Spanish bar but was strangely full of British?

It was to early for the Spanish, they come out to play after midnight! As midnight approached Jose, dished out the party bags and handed plates out which contained 12 grapes each. It is tradition here in Spain to eat 1 grape with each chime at midnight for luck or something like that, one problem is that they have seeds in them. At the end of the chimes I still had 5 grapes on my plate, not sure what that means, but keep reading over the year and I'm sure it will become apparent or not. Anyway after the chimes are done everyone is milling around wishing happy new year but all with mouths full of grapes and seeds so its a bit of a messy affair! Jose then got the bottles of Cava and gave them to everyone. At 4.30am we crawled our way back home. I'm too old for this late night stuff, its going to take a long time to recover.

The Aga

2008-11-28T00:00:00Z

Ok so today we are living in windy Lanjaron in sunny southern Spain and its due to get very cold this weekend and even windier!!! Our temperamental aga is being put to the test today for the first time this winter as it is windy.

On a non-windy day the aga smokes us out of our house, but on a windy day it performs perfectly heating up the 2 radiators in the house just enough so we don't have to wear woolly hats. Whilst rescuing the Hibiscus tree and fetching some fire wood I managed to reopen my cut again which is now plastered together, but on a good note Richard has been making a pumpkin (as we do seem to have rather a lot of these) soup on the aga, we have opened a bottle of wine and have taken our woolly hats off.

New dog cave

2008-11-28T00:00:00Z

The dogs have a new cave to replace the unsightly kennel, blends in rather well with the surroundings.

Look what I found in the swimming pool!

2008-11-28T00:00:00Z

Found this little chap in the swimming pool on Monday, luckily for him a big plastic bag had blown in so he wasn't completely submerged. I fished him out, put him in a rocky area in the sun so he could dry out, warm up and slither off, which he did. Turns out he is a Horseshoe Whipsnake, non venenmous, just a fast mover and a good mouser, which is a good job as the dogs and cat are pretty useless at the job around here.

Comments

peejay: A handsome snake. I really envy you seeing all these wonderful creepy crawlies.

China flexing its muscles with Europe

2008-11-28T00:00:00Z

China feels much more powerful than before and wants to impose its rules on the rest of the world. China has postponed a summit with the EU because several European countries are hosting the Dali Lama. China has warned the French president that his country risks losing "hard-won" gains in ties with Beijing if he meets the Dalai Lama! Speaking to reporters in Beijing on Tuesday, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang reportedly said "we oppose any foreign leaders having any contact” with the Dalai Lama. More than a simple diplomatic signal, some analysts said this could be a deliberate attempt by China to try and split nations within the EU.

"There are internal divisions among the EU powers, and this is a squeeze to try and see who will stick to their principles and who believes they mustn't upset China... it's a high-stakes game". Beijing accuses the Dalai Lama of trying to split Tibet from China, which sent military troops to occupy the predominantly Buddhist Himalayan country in 1949, and has routinely protested against countries that agree to visits by him. The Dalai Lama remains deeply revered among Tibetans in exile as well as those in Tibet despite Beijing's relentless attempts to vilify him. His Holiness the Dalai Lama topped the list of most respected world leaders among Western Europeans and Americans, a poll showed Friday.

For the latest stories on news from Tibet visit Phayul.com

Skijoring with Khumbu

2008-11-27T00:00:00Z

Well the training has begun again on teaching Khumbu the art of Skijoring in the Sierra Nevada! Our attempts last winter were not good, he was too young. This winter however it turns out he is a natural so far on the flat snow. For those who dont know what Skijoring is, its using a dog to assist a cross country skier, one to three dogs can be used, so all I have to do is prove we can do this then maybe I can get a few more Siberian Huskys!!

Now our thoughts on it are we could use him to assist us in going up hill in ski mountaineering or ski touring. My biggest problem is what do you do with him once you get to the top of a mountain? As everyone knows you are not supposed to let Huskys off the lead, so how can we get to ski down the mountain making sure he comes with us, but not attached to us, rather than taking off on his own adventure!? If anyone reads this and has any ideas then please leave a comment, all help will be greatly appreciated.

This video shows the training, don't laugh it was our first attempt!

This video shows ideally what I would like to achieve with a husky on a decent, great video and worth a watch.

Latest on the finger

2008-11-24T00:00:00Z

Well this is the latest and last bit about my finger!! We were out in the mountains when the last stitch fell off my finger and showed me exactly what id done. As you can see from the picture it doesn't look much for all the fuss that it caused, how can so much blood come form that cut? Ok so there was a dislocation too. Ok thats it, its fine and virtually mended and nearly has full movement back.

All in 4 hours - Snow to coast

2008-11-08T00:00:00Z

Spanish Highs had 4 clients on Wednesday and having had lots of snow they were split into two groups, 3 for winter skills/alpine introduction with Mike and 1 for ski mountaineering with Richard. We thought it would be a good idea to take Khumbu and Bruno along as well, with me on snow shoes, and see if we could get day one of Khumbu's skijoring career underway. Because it wasn’t the best of days in Lanjaron, ie raining, we umm’d and arr’d about taking the dogs but decided we would as I could always bring them back on my snow shoes. So in 2 cars we drove an hour or so up to the ski centre in the Sierra Nevada. We were unable to get to our usual start point of 2500m due to snow still being on the road, so the un-open ski centre (now due to open 15th November) would have to do.

We started to unload the gear and get ourselves ready for a cold day in the snow. It’s unusual not to have the sun here as it’s known as the sunniest ski resort in the Northern Hemisphere. I got Khumbu out of the car, got him in his harness, he had a little scoot around in the snow and then sat by me waiting for the off. I took advantage of this calm behaviour and opened the car door to get my sunglasses out (just in case) and before I knew it Khumbu had run round the door taking my hand with him and trapping my finger against the open car door. For me the rest is a little blurred - apparently Mike says he heard a small scream and came round the corner to see me not knowing whether to sit or stand, he thought I was going to pass out.

When I first looked at my finger I thought, "Oh, God, I’ve severed it," the cut was so deep. Then the blood arrived!! And it wouldn’t stop! Mike was telling me to take deep breaths and Richard was telling me to put my hand in the snow, and I was saying, "I think I need to go to hospital." After what seemed like 5 minutes it was decided I would have to go to hospital. Somewhere during this time I had also decided my finger was either broken or dislocated, no idea why except I seem to remember it looking rather odd! The dogs were put back in the car and the ski mountaineering client was handed over to Mike. My hand was packed with snow, a mitten placed on top taped with gaffer tape and a buff wrapped around to keep it all tight. A sock was placed around the bottom of this home-made bandage to mop up the blood that was leaking out. We said our goodbyes and left the ski centre car park looking as though a murder had taken place and headed off to the hospital in Granada.

I had my arm above my head but was still leaking blood all over the new car and Richard was saying, "Don’t worry, you have plenty more". We eventually got to the hospital, joined a queue and realised quite quickly that we were going to be there a very long time. Whilst we were waiting we read the notices saying that you need to have your ID. Here in Spain you have to have your ID card (for us foreigners a residencia card and passport) with you at all times. Now, like an idiot I had none of the required ID on me. The bleeding had stopped so we decided we would drive back to Lanjaron, drop the dogs off at home, get my passport and residencia and drive to the hospital in Motril on the coast. We picked up Emma and Jorge in case there were any problems with translation.

So, we get to the hospital, Richard goes off to find somewhere to park, and the 3 of us head into a very modern hospital, so efficient. I was asked for my paperwork and given a sticker to place on me that said ‘Patient’ and Emma was given one saying she was accompanying me. Richard arrived just as we were being ushered through. The boys decided they would wait for us in a bar nearby, expecting not to see us for an hour or two, so Emma and I went through the doors not knowing where to go. We heard a shout from a lady so we entered her room where she took some more details and then took us to another room.

A doctor appeared, I took the home-made bandage off and immediately it started to bleed again. The doctor had a quick look then ran out of the room leaving us wondering what was wrong. He appeared with another doctor and between them they pulled and squeezed my injury, gave it a clean, then started telling me to do various things with my fingers. I was told it was very important to push strongly, one doctor had my hand and the other had my finger (apparently they were putting my finger back where it belonged). Then they cleaned the wound again and applied 5 butterfly stitches and a dressing and taped my fingers together. I was told to sit up and put my arm up against my chest and the doctors left. Whilst all this was going on other doctors kept popping in for a look. The doctor returned and in ‘Spanglish’ told me what to do with my hand and gave me some very strong pain killers.

It took about 20 minutes from entering the hospital to being let out again. How fantastic is that? You don’t get that back in the UK.

The weather on one day in September 2007

2008-11-04T00:00:00Z

Last year on my birthday in September we had a freak storm here in Lanjaron. The sky went green, the wind went wild, the rain lashed and then the hail came! We had to take shelter in the house and the noise of the hail on the house frightened the dogs. To us it seemed like we were in the middle of a hurricane. After the storm there was ice everywhere, unheard of in Southern Spain in September. All of our plants and vegetables were ruined for that year, they looked like someone had taken a machine gun to them, the fruit that did manage to stay on the trees grew with lots of bruising . We took a short video of the goings on. Guess what happened this year on my birthday in September - it poured down with rain again!!! No freaky storm this year though but be warned if your thinking of coming to Spain around the middle of September make sure you bring some wet weather gear!!

Pumpkins and Squash

2008-11-01T00:00:00Z

Ive started to harvest our pumpkins and squash. Here is a selection of 2 types.

My first day skiing

2008-11-01T00:00:00Z

Now ive learnt how to convert the videos here is my first day skiing in 2006!! Promise not to laugh.

The tale of 2 cars

2008-10-15T00:00:00Z

Ive recently purchased a new car, only my 3rd one ever!! I brought a sensible car, good on fuel, good price, lots of space, yep you guessed it I brought a Skoda, not just a Skoda but a Fabia Combi 1.9TDI, the people in the know say that it is a better and you get more car than any VW in its class at a much nicer price.

And do you know what, some idiot of a so called driver has driven into it after it being with us for only a week!! Parked on our land, miles away from the road, impossible for anything to hit it, not that there's any traffic around here as there is only one other house above ours, but no someone came on our land and hit the car!

I travelled a long way to get this car, in fact the whole journey took 8.5hours in some of the most horrendous weather Spain has seen for a while, all the way to Alicante and beyond, so I feel rather attached to this car and was upset that someone could just roll up, damage your car, drive away and not think anymore about it, not even a note to say sorry!! For years the white van has been parked in the same place and nobody has touched it. Do you think that possibly the green eyed monster has been out??

So now onto the other purchase, a lovely Nissan Navarra. The complete opposite to the Skoda, not good with fuel, not a nice price, but I guess it does have shed loads of space. It came from Granada so at least it was closer to pick up, excuse the pun! We have taken it out on a few runs, with clients and with dogs! How great is it that the dogs have their very own area with windows and don't have to mess up the cab for all us humans who travel in it. I think you will see from the pictures that the dogs approve of their new transport.

Tiger moth

2008-09-29T00:00:00Z

This little fella came to visit us last night, he was quite friendly and even posed for a couple of photos. Obviously we had no idea what sort of moth it was so I posted his picture on Iberian Nature Forum and the very helpful and knowlegeable people on their identified him for me. No idea what its function is in life but who cares when it looks like it does.

Romantic meal!

2008-09-13T00:00:00Z

Richard decided to cook a romantic meal yesterday and this is what he produced. He was actually having a dig at Nouveaux Cuisine wondering why we have to pay more for less food and there are more obese people in the world than ever?! Anyway it made us both laugh but I have to say the food was delicious, stuffed red pepper, buttered leeks, steamed carrots and avocado and peach salad. I made some shortbread and custard for pudding and we both ended up with indigestion ha ha.

What to do with tomatoes and Millett

2008-09-05T00:00:00Z

So we have more tomatoes than we know what to do with. Weve eaten them with most meals for the last month, made gallons of Tomato Frito (Puree) and still have left overs. Those remaining are getting very soft and ripe. We need to do something quick! So Richard decided to make his own derivative to Heinz Tomato Sauce. David and Aspen gave us their receipe which is here for you all to try. Last night we had egg, chips and beans so that we could use the source and I have to say it is very close to the Hienz tomato sauce and we ate lots of it. Thanks to Aspen for letting us reproduce her recipe here.

2 kg very ripe tomatoes, chopped and put in a non-aluminium pan (aluminium leaches into food and with an acid ‘fruit’ like this you are likely to get double doses … not good news, as it is a toxic heavy metal)
3 teaspoons of whole allspice (not sure you will get it here so try a combination of spices you like)
2 tablespoons whole mustard seed
Tie both the above spices into a small cloth, so that you can hang it into the ketchup to give flavour, rather than a chewy product! Cook up with the tomatoes until thickened and reduced, about 30 mins
I full cup of sugar, 3 tablespoons fresh basil - finely chopped, 1 tablespoons fresh oregano, 1 tablespoon thyme (if you have an English thyme that is great, but if it’s the local wild thyme, reduce the quantity), 2 cups of cider vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper.
Add all the above to the tomatoes and simmer until it reches the consistency you like. I would keep tasting it as you add the ingredients, so you get a product you will enjoy. If you have any Worcestershire sauce, you could add that. Remove the bag of whole spices, and put into sterilised ‘bottles’
Sterilisation - boil the bottles in water for 10 mins … I use the small juice bottles that have a lid that will seal again. Line the bottles up on a wooden surface to ensure that there is no possibility of cracking, and ladle in the sauce. Seal straight away … as they cool you can sometimes here the lids ‘popping’. If you press the lids when cool, you will know those that have succeeded. Any that haven’t you can keep in the fridge, although with that much vinegar in them, they are unlikely to go off.

We were given some millet seeds some time ago by our friends David and Aspen. Not really knowing what we were doing we did the sensible thing, shoved them in a free part of the “campo” and made sure they were regularly watered. Now they have grown strong and healthy. We have harvested them today as they are showing some signs of bird attack, buggies love this stuff. We seperated the seed from the kernals and used a fan to seperate the chaff from the seeds and now we have lots of clean seed. It seems you treat it like rice, 40 mins of boiling and you have a fluffy grain that is the most nutritional grain about or you can use it for thickening stews etc.

Veggie News

2008-08-24T00:00:00Z

So it turns out the cauliflower is not cauliflower and is cabbage, I've taken a picture to show you the seed packet and the resulting veg! I was a little worried about the parsnip because someone said it looked like celery, and after the fun with the cabbage I decided today to pull up a plant and see what it was, and it is parsnip, so tonight Richard (I don't like parsnip) is having baby parsnip for dinner. The aubergines here are a little different to the ones you are used to in the UK, here they are purple and white stripy things but taste the same. There is a chilli pepper here know by us as the russian roulette chilli but locally its known as "pimientos del pardon". Basically this plant grows the chilli peppers and when you eat them you have no idea if you are getting a hot or normal one as they seem to grow to whatever heat they fancy. Ive picked our first one this morning and we shall have a try of it later on. If you are unlucky enough to pick a hot one be prepared for the consequences! Ive picked our marrow ready to make the marrow rum, keep watching this space to find out how it does.

China

2008-08-24T00:00:00Z

Just another little dig here at China! Before the olympic games protesters were asked to apply for permits to allow them to protest, it turns out that you still get arrested and jailed even if you have a permit!! China eh, what on earth is the prime minister of the UK doing to help the human rights abuse issues going on in Tibet/China, even the American president is starting to shout about things and thats amazing. Has anybody heard on the news about the latest killings of Tibetans by chinese soldiers?? No I thought not. To win the right to host these Games, China promised to honor the Olympic ideals of nonviolence, openness to the world and individual expression. Those promises were systematically broken, starting with this spring’s brutal repression in Tibet and continuing on to the ugly farce of inviting its citizens to apply for legal protest permits and then arresting them if they actually tried to do so. _Along the way, government critics were pre-emptively rounded up and jailed, domestic news outlets tightly controlled, foreign journalists denied full access to the Internet and thousands of Beijing’s least telegenic residents were evicted from their homes and out of camera range.

On Friday, the Chinese police confirmed that six Americans protesting China’s rule in Tibet had been sentenced to 10 days of detention along with a British woman._ Surely one of the signature events of these Games was the sentencing of two women in their late 70s to “re-education through labor.” Their crime? Applying for permission to protest the inadequate compensation they felt they had received when the government seized their homes years ago for urban redevelopment. For more information the on TRUE happenings visit **Phayul.com **and just think, this could be happening to our country one day soon! Come on people dont turn a blind eye and think its not going to happen in our country because if these people get round to being the "super power" what do you think is going to happen to your lovely little sheltered lives, its time to wake up!

Tomatoes

2008-08-14T00:00:00Z

Here is a sample of our tomatoes. We have 2 types this year, the Cherry tomatoes and some big variety. The Cherry's are a little disappointing flavour wise, the ones last year were great. The big ones however are fantastic. We picked over 200 the other day, so you can probably imagine we are eating alot of tomatos at the moment, scrambled egg and fresh tomatoes, tomatoes on toast, pured tomatoes. Weve even frozen some! A little news on the cauliflower is that its not cauliflower its cabbage!!! How does that happen when the packed of seeds has a picture of a cauliflower on front? Makes me wonder if our parsnips are parsnips as they look like celery ha ha. Oh the joys of living in Spain.

Egyptian Grasshopper

2008-08-13T00:00:00Z

We had a visit by this little chap the other day. He is a young Egyptian Grasshopper. Apparently they do little damage which is a good job for our veggies and for the Grasshopper I guess. He was a little camera shy and kept turning away from the camera so we couldnt get his face.

Jigdrel - Leaving Fear Behind

2008-08-09T00:00:00Z

I came upon these headlines today "Tibetan filmmaker's documentary lands him in Chinese prison", and so read a little further and this is what I found out.

LEAVING FEAR BEHIND - 5 minute

Produced by Filming for Tibet_

Leaving Fear Behind (in Tibetan, Jigdrel) is a heroic film shot by Tibetans from inside Tibet, who longed to bring Tibetan voices to the Beijing Olympic Games. With the global spotlight on China as it rises to host the XXIX Olympics, Tibetans wish to tell the world of their plight and their heartfelt grievances against Chinese rule. The footage was smuggled out of Tibet under extraordinary circumstances. The filmmakers were detained soon after sending their tapes out, and remain in detention today. In a remarkable coincidence, filming concluded in early March 2008 on the eve of the eruption of unprecedented mass Tibetan protests across the Tibetan plateau. Shot primarily in the eastern provinces of Tibet, the film provides a glimpse into the hearts and minds of the Tibetan people and their longstanding resentment of Chinese policies in Tibet. The filmmakers traversed thousands of miles, asking ordinary Tibetans what they really feel about the Dalai Lama, China, and the Olympic Games. The filmmakers gave their subjects the option of covering their faces, but almost all of the 108 people interviewed agreed to have their faces shown on film, so strong was their desire to express themselves to the world. Excerpts from twenty of the interviews, including a self-recorded interview of the filmmaker himself, are included in the 25 minute film. The footage reveals with stark clarity that Tibetans are frustrated and embittered by the deterioration and marginalization of Tibetan language and culture; the destruction of the lifestyle of Tibetan nomads through Chinese forced settlement policies; the lack of religious freedom and the vilification of the Dalai Lama; and the broken promises made by the Chinese government to improve conditions in Tibet in the run up to the Olympic games. All are united in their reverence for the Dalai Lama and long for him to return, and as some even dream, to attend the Olympic Games. Quotes from interviewees: _“Actually we would be happy about the Games but much is being misrepresented. China was awarded the Games on the condition that the situation in China and Tibet would improve.” “...outsiders may think that the Tibetans are treated very well and that they are happy. But the truth is that Tibetans are not free to speak of their suffering.” 2 of 2 “For every Tibetan, there are ten to fifteen Chinese. The Chinese are everywhere in these Tibetan areas.” “Even if I had to sacrifice my life for this message to be seen by the Dalai Lama, I agree and welcome this chance.” All twenty of the people who appear in the film agreed to have their faces shown on film–at great personal risk. Wangchen reveals that some interviewees “said that we absolutely had to show their faces, otherwise it wasn’t worth speaking to them,” so strong was their desire to counter Beijing’s narrative on Tibet. _ During the precarious filming Dhondup Wangchen worked under the code name Jigme (“Fearless” in Tibetan). His code name, and the bravery of all those associated with this project, inspired the film’s name Jigdrel, which translates to Leaving Fear Behind. Soon after sending out their tapes on March 10, 2008, Dhondup Wangchen and Golog Jigme were arrested. They remain in detention today. Dhondup Wangchen was last seen in detention in Guangsheng Binguan in Xining (Qinghai). Golog Jigme was last seen in a detention center in the town of Lingxia (Gansu). Their tapes were transported to Switzerland, where the final cut was put together by Wangchen’s cousin, Gyaljong Tsetrin. Gyalijong Tsetrin, who escaped from Tibet in 2002, founded Filming For Tibet to produce this film. Im not able to get the link on their website to work to view the documentry but I have managed to find this 5 minute clip on you tube [leaving fear behind]

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It makes interesting viewing. If anyone should find the full version please do contact me.

Captain Tapa sails for the first time this year!

2008-07-20T00:00:00Z

Its that time of year again when Tapa gets launched! Actually its his 2nd time this year, the first time I was on one lilo and he was on the other and was quite happy floating about the pool. This time he went on his own, he even landed it against the side of the pool, made a jump for it and unfortunately for him his boat moved away from the side and he fell into the water!! The picture is of Tapa after he fell in and swam back to his boat.

Garlic

2008-07-03T00:00:00Z

Today I pulled all of our garlic and now its drying on the roof terrace, not bad considering ive no idea what im really doing. I think there is going to be alot of garlic eaten in the next few months! We may smell awful but it will keep the flys away!

Cucumber

2008-07-03T00:00:00Z

Yes for those who know me know that I love cucumber and living in this part of Andalucia means you very rarely get the cucumbers that we are used to in the UK, so I decided to try and grow some! hmmmm this is what was found amongst the leaves this morning, my very first home grown cucumber, now it may look strange but it tastes ok and I look forward to more. At least my strange looking cucumber has not been grown in artificial circumstances like the ones brought from the big supermarkets in the UK! They use plastic houses here in Andalucia, use cheap Morroccan labour to work in these hell holes, just so straight cucumbers can be grown, perfect red tomatoes etc. These plastic houses have wrecked the landscape on the coast of Andalucia and can be seen from space!!!

Carrots - where did it all go wrong!

2008-07-03T00:00:00Z

Today I decided to dig up the carrots and see what was happening to them! Wish I hadnt bothered. I think it all went wrong when I didnt thin them out as seedlings which has produced strange shaped carrots. Lots of stones in soil didnt help, even the ants had moved into them!

This is the best of the bunch which we will be eating over the next couple of days. Im told tonight we are having "honey glazed baby carrots" mmmm look forward to it.

Under attack

2008-07-02T00:00:00Z

I had the fright of my life today, I was checking on the veg, arrived at the courgettes pondering 'should I pick any' when with my next footfall a 2meter long as thick as your fist brown snake shot out and took off up and away from me (thank god). Unfortunately it moved so fast, and I didnt recover quick enough from the shock, that I didnt get time to identify it and I didnt have my camera to take any pics!!! But I promise you ive seen enough snakes now to cope with them but this was the biggest ive ever seen and it scared the life nearly out of me. I shall not be going out there again unless im wearing full battle armour!

Also whilst out on the veggie check ive noticed our sweet corn is coming under attack from something, only 2 days ago Richard and I were smuggly talking about how well the sweet corn was doing and no rats had eaten it as its nearly ready for picking, but oh how you get brought back to earth with a bump. The picture shows what we believe is having a feast on our cobs, along with the birds!!! So the race is on, can we get the sweet corn to rippen before all the beasts of the Alpujarra have eaten them? Dosnt seem fair as ive nutured them from seed, transplanted the little seedlings into the ground, fed them water, for them now to get over 6ft tall to be eaten by others.

Khumbus Favourite Film

2008-07-01T00:00:00Z

Caught Khumbu watching his favourite film "8 Below" a few weeks ago. For those who have not seen this film its about a team of huskys who get left to fend for themselves in antarctica, you can just imagine what Khumbu was thinking whilst sunning himself in sunny Andalucia!!

Moorish Gecko

2008-06-27T00:00:00Z

This little fellow lives in our bathroom and helps to keep the flys down. Aparently he is a Moorish Gecko. He lost part of his tail a few months ago but as you can see its grown back now.

Butterfly

2008-06-26T00:00:00Z

Found this butterfly whilst out with clients of Spanish Highs walking in the Poqueira Gorge on Sunday, turns out its either a Silver Studded Blue or an Idas Blue!! Only one way to tell the difference and that is by a looking at its ankle with a magnifying glass, hmmmm. The Idas Blue has a limited distribution in Southern Spain but is found in the Sierra Nevada. I use a site called Iberian Nature Forum to help me identify things here in Spain, there are lots of very knowledgeable people on there.

2nd Highest mountain in mainland Spain, Veleta

2008-06-19T00:00:00Z

Yep on Monday we went up Veleta, 5 hour round trip. Bruno and Khumbu made it as well so they are knocking off the mountains well and truly. It was very cold on the way up as it was windy. We all had good fun especially on the way down as there was still plenty of snow for sliding down the mountain which of course the dogs loved.

Again the spent the next day sleeping off their high adventures, they also took a dip in the swimming pool which is up and running now.

Parnassius Apollo - To you and me a butterfly

2008-06-11T00:00:00Z

Whilst going up Mulhacen the other day I saw this little fellow crawling by, so took a picture of him and when I got back I posted the picture on a web forum I use to help identify all things nature to Spain. Turns out its a rare butterfly and very much protected (glad I didnt tread on it) and is endemic to the Sierra Nevada. It is a Parnassius Apollo butterfly.

Highest dogs in Spain!

2008-06-09T00:00:00Z

Yesterday Khumbu and Bruno became the highest dogs in Spain. They made it to the top of Mulhacen (3482) whilst helping 2 Spanish Highs clients make a very important ascent. It took 5 hours to the top and just under 4 hours back to the car at the ranger station just above Capileira. There were patches of snow left which proved very exciting for the 2 dogs. Khumbu had a great day, he pulled the whole time up and down and got very excited about the birds which kept flying away when we got close but more so over the Ibex which he just wanted to chase. It made a hard day even harder being attached to him! Bruno had a great day also joining in on the attempts at chasing but he was very glad to get back to the car, as we all were.

Today we are all very tired and stiff. Khumbu and Bruno are sleeping off their big achievement.

Snakes in the garden!

2008-06-06T00:00:00Z

Just found the husky Khumbu playing "dare" with this little creature in the back garden! About 1.5ft in length but didnt try to unravel it to find out! Gave a big hiss at me when I went to investigate. I've since found out it's called a "Ladder Snake" or to give it it's spanish/latin name ........ "culebra de escalera". It is called this because of the ladder markings down it's back. Non-venemous but scary!

Khumbus Campo Excursion!

2008-06-02T00:00:00Z

Yes the time has arrived for the 15 month old bundle of energy (otherwise known as Khumbu) to take himself off on his own walk!! We took Rocky and Bruno to the vets leaving Khumbu behind which he was far from happy about. We were gone about an hour and a half and when we pulled up at home a soaking wet very tired Khumbu came to greet us. He must have jumped over the wall, about 3ft high with a 10ft drop on the other side and spent the next hour and a half running riot in the campo.

He obviously fell in some water because the only bit dry on him was the top of his tail and the top of his head but luckily he does like to swim. The picture shows Khumbu an hour later sleeping off his little adventure.

Irrigating the land - Camposinos or Muppets?

2008-05-27T00:00:00Z

It's that time of year again. The waters from the snowmelt of the high Sierra Nevada are flowing strongly. Soon this will end, and from mid-June to October or November we can expect little irrigation water. So the time is ripe for all good "camposinos" (country workers) to water their lands before the summer droughts.

Now this may seem a great idea at first glance, but putting it into practice is not as easy as it would seem. For a start we have a 5 min drive to a high "gate" to start the waterflow down towards my land. We then have to dam up a series of small streams, thus eventually getting water flowing through our land.

Eventually is the right wording, as it can take up to 2 hours before all the little nooks and crannies further up the hill have filled with water. So, like all good camposinos, we have a glass or six of vino tinto while we wait. By the time the water arrives we are rather worse for wear and not in a great state for the trials and tribulations to come.

This involves flooding the land by opening the acequia (irrigation channel) gate. The water flows over the land in a haphazard fashion and we have to take our spades (dont remember the correct word for them) and dig channels for the water to slowly creep across the land.

Some 5 hours later and we are covered in mud and have had to indulge in another bottle of vino. Such is life in the fast lane! All I can say is........What a pair of "Muppets"!

In the Wars

2008-05-24T00:00:00Z

Ok so living in sunny Southern Spain and living the life in the town with the longest longevity in Europe due to its water, eating the healthy Mediterranean diet doesn't always keep you healthy!! There are many things out here that are trying to get you, bite you, sting you, maybe even kill you, scorpion, snakes, centipedes even plants!!!

On the 15th May I became ill, fever, chills, achy bones, painful muscles, cramps in tummy, headaches, rash on arm. . . FLU I hear you shout, but oh no not so simple. There is a debate in the local bars on my recent health, the good old gossip mungers are going for pregnancy, strange pregnancies they must have had, but the more serious are hedging their bets on tick fever or euphorbia poisoning.

Tick fever being the obvious as after all we have plenty of ticks around here in the campo but the new one to me was the Euphorbia plant. How could a plant in Spain make you so ill?? It turns out that this plant is world wide in various disguises and can cause some nasty reactions to the unsuspecting passerby. The rash (I use that word lightly) apparently is a sure sign of contact with this plant and ive been assured that it will scar my arm. Now if this plant is ingested all hell lets loose, there is a possibility that I did ingest a little of this stuff mixed with our home grown spinach, because all hell did let loose in my digestive system! So feeling a little better I ventured out into our veggie plot and pottered about, weeding and planting things, when I noticed a spot of blood on my arm. Didn't think too much about it until my elbow looked like a golf ball was stuck inside it and felt very bruised a day later. Now it turns out I have a same bite on my lower leg which now looks like an elephants leg! The search is on to find out what beast decided to feast on me. So do beware of the insects, reptiles, creepy crawlies, fungi and plants when visiting Southern Spain.

Walkies with Khumbu

2008-05-20T00:00:00Z

Today I went with Richard, a couple of clients from Spanish Highs and Khumbu into the snowy Sierra Nevada mountains. We left the 3 behind doing an Alpine Introduction Course and headed on our way up Veleta about a 1000m of ascent from where we left them. Its always an adventure whenever Khumbu is involved especially in the snow. He, as expected, got very excited, he ran, pulled me off my feet across the snow, yapped, dug holes, ate the snow, jumped up and down!! When walking at altitude it is advisable to walk slowly but when attached to a Khumbu that is impossible. Anyway after a few hours we settled down to a little lunch and took a few photos and thought about heading down.

Going downhill has proved a problem since he was a puppy, he has worked out that you are at your most vulnerable and for that reason he takes complete advantage of it. I put my crampons on to help me get some stability but alas he still managed to drag me off my feet a couple of times because he thought it would be a great game to chase the little birds that were flying about with me in tow!

We met up with the others, waited whilst they finished off and headed back to the car.

Kiersten Rowland

Wanderings on and off the Alta Via 2 trek in the Italian Dolomites

Firstly, a 15 minute video of the trek to set the scene

Contents

Day by Day

Getting there

Logistics

Refuges

Hotels

Meeting fellow thru hikers

Packing List

Aftermath

Future Plans

Day 1 - Bressanone - Prose Hutte - Rifugio Genova

Day 2 - Rifugio Genova - Rifugio Puez

Day 3 - Rifugio Puez - Rifugio Pisciadu

Day 4 - Rifugio Pisciadu - Rifugio Castiglioni Marmolada

Day 5 - Rifugio Castiglioni Marmolada - Passo San Pellegrino (Hotel Costabella)

Day 6 - Passo San Pellegrino to Rifugio Passo Valles

Day 7 - Rifugio Passo Valles - Passo Rolle - San Martino di Castrozza (Hotel Miramonte)

Day 8 - San Martino di Castrozza - Val Canali (Albergo Cant del Gal)

Day 9 - Val Canali - Passo Cereda - Sagron (Hotel Chalet Giaseni)

Day 10 - Sagron (Hotel Chalet Giaseni)

Day 11 - Sagron - Fiera di Primiero (Hotel Castel Pietra)

Memory from this day 2012

Humid dog walk

Upper Lanjaron Valley overnight

Day 5 of the heatwave

Day 4 of the heatwave

Day 3 of the heatwave

Day 2 of the heatwave

Day 1 of the heatwave

Strange animals

Keeping cool

Mission accomplished

Is my cat mad?

Visitors to the kale

Dogs and Cats

Vasar de Mulhacen

Happy Arko

Iberian Marbled White Butterfly

butterfly #

Random pictures and videos from the mobile

Ladder Snake and Calima

Cerro de los Machos

A round of the northern peaks

Cats

Ribbit

Doggie bath time

A walk up Cerro de Caballo

Some pictures taken with the mobile from the past week

A grand storm

Khumbu

My favourite walk in the Sierra Nevada

Facial

To rain or not to rain?

Above the Lanjaron Valley

Mad cat

A day on Penon de la Mata

Dog Walk

Dog Walk

Cerro Lucero

Dog Walk

Hoya del Portillo Circular

Dog Walk

Agave

Cerro Alfaro, Tabernas

Clouds and a butterfly

Peñabon

Dog Walk

Dog Walk

Dog Walk

A walk in the Sierra de Huetor

A walk in La Taha de Pitres

Bee Eater

Trying to beat the rain

An ascent of Giralda

Sooty

Southern Early Purple (Orchis olbiensis)

Pink Butterfly Orchid (Orchis papilionacea)

butterfly

2006

2010

2011

2014

2015

2016

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24th April

25th April

27th April

28th April

29th April

30th April

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