The Long and Winding Road

We're certainly famous for our roads in Ibiza. The last couple of years saw much angst and mass protests against the 'autopistas' being built and now they're finished, the tunnels flood with water to windscreen height every time it rains.

I was on this country road near to Ses Paisses this morning and thought it worthy of a snapshot.

The trick here is that you don't get much idea of the scale of this nice new tarmacced highway with squeeky-clean bright white lines. Scroll down for more..................

Tramuntana Top Tips #1

Should you ever take a hike down to Cala Deia then our TTT#1 is to take a spare pair of trousers, socks and shoes along with you. This will help avoid having to make the 15 mile trek back to civilisation - via vertiginous cliffs, rocky ravines, and past torrents of raging sheep - with 4 litres of sea water in each shoe and turn-ups full of sand.

Medical authorities (my mother) were surprised and amused by the first reported case of trench foot since 1918! Still at least it took my mind off my back pain. It's hard lifting a 40 kilo dog over a stile every 50 metres.

Across Mallorca by Dalmatian

See all the photos of our just finished trip to Mallorca by scrolling down to the bottom of the page. Aided only by our trusty dalmatian Marli, we scaled high heights, bathed in crystal clear mountain streams, and once got up to 4th gear as we negotiated precipitous mountain paths as we visited the twin temples of consumerism, Ikea and the Camper warehouse!

We stayed in Deia, visited Soller, Fornalutx, Lluch, Valldemossa, Magalluf, Puerto Pollenca, Inca, Petra and some other places I've forgotten.

I'm sure I'll be telling the odd tall tale in the near future, so stay tuned!

Meanwhile, as a little appetite whetter, here's the true story of St Ramon, who using only his cloak as a sail, navigated himself all the way from the left of this photo to Barcelona. Which is not bad going as the fastest super fast ferry still takes about 4 hours to do this and then only in the calmest of seas. However, I am absolutely convinced by the evidence supporting the Catholic church's claim of St. Ramon's deeds as, preserved for all to see behind a glass case, is the actual rock from which he stepped into the water!

Figgin' Hell

On my way to intercept new cat Flossie from her hen hunting mission at the top of the lane I noticed Pep's fig tree in fruit, bursting with erotic fecundity.

However, on closer inspection, and after several days thinking about it, I've decided that anatomical is a more suitable word than erotic.

In the Dog House

Our roof terrace has commanding views of the surrounding countryside. It has even better views of the neighbouring gardens............guess where I spotted Spook a couple of days ago? In the garden kennel two doors down!

No wonder she treats our house like a hotel!

Oranges and Lemons

Our Ibiza mornings are drenched in dew and condensation. Take a look at my new crop of citrus fruits

Oranges

Lemons

lemon leaves

However, it doesn't take long for the sun to warm everything up as this shot of the bamboo blowing in the warm breeze an hour later shows.