Severe Floods in Spain

The unprecedented flash flooding in the Valencia region, taking so many lives and destroying so much has shocked us all. Our thoughts are with the affected families.

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People in the area work together to clear the debris from this unprecedented disaster which has overwhelmed local and national rescue services. There is much criticism of the government rescue effort from the locals. Here's the story in music from Trinidad Urquia (en Español)

Now the storms continue and are affecting Malaga and, to a lesser extent, our 'second home town' of Nerja, thankfully sparing lives as I write this. We look at the images of flooded roads in Malaga and the ground floor of the airport building and wonder if friends due to fly tomorrow will indeed do so. We're flying out to Nerja again next week, all being well, so we'll be able to check our house for the effects of the storm.

Malaga Yesterday:

[video widely shared on social media - origin unknown]

This weather phenomenon is called a DANA in Spain but this one is severe and, perhaps, a wake up call to Europe as the impact of Global Warming is again being felt 'close to home'. 

Here's the BBC's explanation 

 

Here's hoping for less damage and no lives lost over the next few days.

Summer Stuff

Settling back into Leigh and family life after our Portugal trip, we've also managed a bit of UK travelling. 

We took our 'van for a week to the Camping and Caravanning site at Eastbourne, meeting friends, the main objective being attendance at the Golden wedding anniversary celebration of our mutual friends and ex-colleagues; we also did a couple of great cliff walks and some local exploration.

Of course, we've also managed to fit in some of our coastal exploration, this time in Wales, and, as I write this, we've stopped off in the Cotswolds at Moreton in Marsh at the CAMC site here, spending a few days exploring this beautiful area before heading back to Essex.

Two National Trust highlights, for us anyway, were Snowshill Manor and Chastleton House . Chastleton house because it's a unique glimpse at the house exactly it existed some 400 years ago as the declining wealth of the family meant that very little was changed over most of its lifetime. 

Snowshill Manor because its eccentric owner, Charles Wade used the Manor largely to display his varied collection of objects; when he handed this to the Trust, it was on condition that his displays were to be maintained as he would wish and that's exactly what the Trust have done. Wonderful.

Two more of the many highlights of our visit to this area:

The Mill at Lower Slaughter 

Stow on the Wold

We've not fully sorted our travelling plans for the rest of this year, let alone next. We will, though, be in Nerja for October with two daughters joining us for a few days.