Random early Toronto, 2016

Some random things I did from the summer! 

One of the things we have to do, is go for Pho....think I went the second day.  Mmmmmmm.

The middle house is where we lived when Eldest was born.  Looks just the same.

I went running here, both of the two following pictures.  It runs along a creek, with woods at the top and meadows at the bottom.  Lovely changing scenery.

I also went to the Brickworks one day, the buildings were cool.  The event, well, it was alright.

Then there is a burger place, near where we keep the boats.  Man, they are good burgers.  Just good, straight up burgers, a shake and poutine.  Oh my.

Went walking today, Puigsacalm

I love that area so much, I've a couple of friends who really like it and we've gone there several times.  It was so nice to go back......I've got to go again with them.  Time to send a whatsapp and get that organized.

Here's a couple of photos:

We went up through the gap on the right, pulling ourselves up iron rods and metal steps it was so vertical, tremendous fun!

View from the top.....

The barn has seen better days, but the cows still use it.

The mountain there, at the top, is dominated by a beech forest.  It was kinda pretty.

I love how the clouds are echoing the shape of the mountains.

At one point also, there was an updraft, and the sky was filled with glittering, floating dipping and diving leaves.  Really high, up at least 100 feet.  It was amazing.  I stood in awe and didn't take a photo.

Sorry.

Holes in the hills

I've been wandering the hills here for quite a few years now, but I still continue to find new things....so here's a feature of photos of holes in hills!  People used to build shelters in the hills, ostensibly for tools, but probably used for any number of other options! 

There's a photo of one that's been unearthed a few posts ago, here's some more:

This one's a little decrepit, but you can see the remains of a fireplace and chimney, as well as a niche on either side. On the left you can make out the remains of the vaulted ceiling.

Someone closed this one up, it more likely was a font, a natural spring.

This last one looked intriguing!  However clambering into old caves when dressed in lycra running clothes alone in the mountains when everyone else is at lunch, is not smart....so this is as good as it got.  It just looked like a small hole an animal dug, till you got closer.  Gonna have to go back to this one.



The hills are absolutely filled with these...I find them fascinating.

Triathlon

This summer, as I was in TO on my own, I decided to give triathlon a go, I had wondered about it for a while, and I had the time free, and no real obligations, so what the heck.  I even entered a mini-tri!  (Came third in my age group no less!!!)

There was swim training three days a week, one in open water and two in the pool, this I loved.  I didn't expect to like it so much, but goodness it was marvelous.  I am still debating whether I can realistically keep up the swimming now. The answer is no, but next summer maybe I'll have a go again.

The running was really intense, and I wasn't into it and didn't want to hurt myself, a lot of intervals and hill sprints.  Instead I decided to run a mile every day.  This I also loved. It isn't a big commitment, but I kept it up all summer.  I haven't been successful with this now I'm back in Spain.

The bicycle training was the most disappointing, I like biking, and they like going around and around and around in circles or riding on the most dreadful roads.  Did one session - stopped part way through to pick mulberries - and baled on the second.  Meh. 

The mini-tri was a lot of fun, a time trial start with a swim in a river, the bike ride along a beautiful cottage country road and the run, which was honestly pretty ugly, but done and it was great. 

Tried a tri here.  MAN the ugliest bit of world I've seen.  They held it is a beautiful town up the coast, and the swim was along the beach, which was lovely.  I had a big group of men starting right after me, so I swam hard to the first mark so I didn't get swum over, then took my time from there.  The bike ride was on the highway, laps....ugh.  I do not like laps, nor riding on highways.  Ugly.  The run was worse.  Through parking lots, around the parking lot of an ugly municiple building, and along a long dead straight go nowhere hot sunny ditch of a path. 

Horrible.

I am not tri material, mostly cause I do not like going around and around and around while looking at my power meter. 

I may keep up the training a bit though and do the same one I did last year in Canada, it was lovely.

We'll see.  Still debating the swimming.  Should do it.

Cactus disease

Over the summer, though probably before, but over the summer we found out about a fungus that is attacking some species of cactus here in the Barcelona area.  These are the prickly pear cacti (?), which bear a fruit that you can eat.  I have picked them, but as the family won't eat them and it is a bit of a hassle - prickles galore - I don't normally bother.

We have them all over the mountain near us, and they are quite the architectural marvels. Though I think that in a years time, we won't have any at all.  The generalitat has decided to not try to do anything about it, they are not native, and the cost of attempting to save them would be very high, I am assuming.  So, they are dying all over the mountain.  It is a little sad to see.  It's good they don't know what's coming anyway, cause they cannot escape it.

On a brighter note, the moon these days has been utterly spectacular!!!!  Have you had a look?

Happy fall!

Toronto, the beginning of the summer

This summer, as usual, I went to Canada for two and a half months.  What was unusual, is that I went by myself for most of the summer.  Chuck would prove to be somewhat traumatized by this, and is still following me around continuously, like glue, in November.  The kids and the man, not so much.

On the flight over, I got a window seat....cause I was flying by myself!  And the ice....these must be a lot of very big chunks of ice.  Global warming and the melting arctic ice shelf in evidence.  If we could see them from 25000 odd feet, these are BIG chunks of ice.

Amazing no?

Then, one of the first things to do.....pho....mmmmmm

I love Canada...really I do.

One of the spots I go running in the mornings, if I go here I am guaranteed to be completely soaked through with dew before the run is over.  It is a great start to the day, and often includes blackberries and this year, bunnies...everywhere!

Further on in the run it turns into forest, and dries out a bit.

Hi Canada!!!

And a burger, poutine and a milkeshake at 'The Dock' in Penatanguishene.  I do dream of this.  SO good.

An alpine peak in Spring

Last spring I went off to Andorra with some friends to do a peak, it was spring, so it had warmed up a bit,  but not that much. 

These guys are pretty experienced, some of them very experienced....one of them extremely experienced, so I felt pretty good about following them up the hill.  It was marvelous.

Andorra is silly beautiful, once you get off the main strip. 

This is at the top...it was some chilly.  I'm in yellow.

On our way up!

Just such a lot of beautiful views.....

See?

Freezing clouds make for hoar frost on everything.  Hair as well.

Ahhhhh....

Haig d'anar hi més sovint.

I haven't posted in so long, it's ridiculous.

I'm looking back through photos and realizing how much I haven't said.  Goodness gracious. 

I've done a bunch of walking....., my parents had their 50th wedding anniversary, we went to Canada, well, I went alone first for 6 weeks, did a mini triathlon (came third in my age group!) the family came, we went sailing, I swam a lot, came back here.

Well, that's a boring version isn't it!

So, let's randomly select this:

In June, shortly before going back to Canada, I went on a shortish solo bike ride, up in the hills behind the house.  It was lovely, and I must do it again, I love how it got dark, and I came down by the light of my lamp.

First off, my noble steed!  Ride this bike a ton, it weighs a ton too, but she's tough, and that's good.

The view...mandatory.

The only thing I didn't want to meet were a couple of nobs in a car, so guess who I met?  The most lost guys in the world, looking for a house, somewhere in the mountains, didn't know what town, didn't know what area, and their friends in the other car had their mobiles.  Hopeless.  I advised them do go down to the beach, have a beer and some patates braves at a beach bar, and call it a night.  Then I scarpered.

The view (more or less) on the way down.  It'd get dull after a while, but was lovely and magical to for that length of time.

A lovely evening

Took the dog for a bit of a trot yesterday, just up behind the house....there was some cool stuff to see and it was a lovely evening.  Here's some photots:

The sun took a long time going down, and was gorgeous, it was a little misty too, which was just lovely.

I also stumbled across (well, not literally) this excavation of an old barraca, a kind of shed in the hills for keeping who knows what in, it had been nearly completely buried.

Nice night out.

Jet lag

Never before have I had so much trouble with jetlag.  This time though?  It's killing me.

Usually, you see, when arriving from Canada to Europe, you arrive pretty damned tired as you've lost a night's sleep on the plane, so the first night, you usually sleep pretty well, cause you're wiped out.  This year, me, not so much, I was awake for a few hours in the night, but OK.  Whatever.

The next night is usually hard, cause you aren't so tired, and a normal bedtime here feels like about 3 or 4 in the afternoon, so it is pretty normal to lie there for a while before you get to sleep.  This year? try 4 am. 

The third night, though, is usually great.  You're tired enough that you crash again, and then you're all sorted out. 

Seems I've just given up on sleeping.  That third night?  2 hours.

Fourth night?  5, I slept from 5 am to 10 am

Fifth night?  3 am to 7:30.  Four and a half hours.

I think that brings us to tonight.  Went to bed around 10:30, asleep a little after midnight.  Awake at 2am.  It is now 3:30 and I have given up.  I am downstairs with the lights on, writing this and doing some work on the computer.

I give up.  I'm now going to approach this like Chuck the dog.  If I want to nap, I'll nap.  If I wake up?  Well, I'm up.  Freaking hell.

Problem is I don't go to sleep as fast as he does, and I have that work thing.

Also, now a headache that has lasted over 12 hours.

So so so so so tired of lying in bed awake and being tired all day.