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Whereabouts ?
Algarve - beach at Praia da Luz having walked along the cliffs from Lagos that are in the view.
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Not jealous at all
Enjoy!
I’m watching Beavers Behaving Badly on BBC2 and you should too.
Finally planning a holiday in Spain with our lovely Spanish friends whom we didn’t see for over 4 years. Plan is to spend some time in L’Escala and its environs in May, so if anyone has a good experience with winery visits in Empordà - do share! 
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Not a winery but the best wine shop on cost brava - Vins i Licors Grau near Palafrugell. Haven’t been that way for years but it looks like it is still going strong.
We stayed once in the tiny village of Pau and enjoyed the bargain wines of the local cooperative called Empordalia. Nothing outstanding and some rubbish but they did a nice brut natur cava. The kind of place where you can fill a bucket with wine from a ‘petrol’ pump or go upmarket and buy better in bottles. Sweet reds there too, tasted like it would be a good source of communion wine😀
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Strangely enough, Empordà remains one of the few Spanish DOPs I’ve not spent any time in - despite passing through several times en route.
But you’ll be close to Girona and Pla de Bages, and I can endorse a visit to Mas Oller https://www.masoller.es or Brugarol Celler Brugarol | BRUGAROL - about 30 and 45 mins south of L’escala respectively, or the garagiste natural winery of Solo El Amor https://www.soloelamorsalvaraelmundo.com who also have a wine bar in Girona. You’ll need to make contact to visit their winery which is out of town in the Sticks.
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Thanks, both! I really can’t wait… 
Went for a walk in the Pennines.
Which turned out to be not a walk but a hard slog for several miles mostly knee deep in virgin snow - there are plenty of footsteps in the first photo but just mine further on. Very hard work indeed, genuinely 18" and deeper for every single step. Not one of my better ideas.
So tonight Chilli con carne, in wraps, toasted with cheese on top (sort of enchiladas) - with Fuentes del Silencio Prieto Picudo Viejo, León 2019. I needed to replace a LOT of calories.
Interesting wine…more ‘agricultural’ than fine… plenty of bite, some bitter prunes, plums, in some ways like a Burgundy but without any finesse. I really like the minerality and almost metalic / stony notes. I suspect it will improve given time, but o.o.s so who knows?
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Frustrating day drove 70 miles to watch grand daughter play rugby, for the first time, only for the game to be called off 30 mins before KO!
Having said that now enjoying all the grand children at son’s house prior to decamping to the local gastro pub for lunch . Lots of fun 
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It’s that time of the year once again, the first item on the foraging calendar, yesterday these were found emerging in the woods along with the wild hyacinths, anemones and hepaticas. There will be more over the coming fortnight, but good to get enough for Thursday’s chicken, leek and wild garlic pie for 7.
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I fancied planting some wild garlic
Ramsons; powerful when fresh cut but I’ve found the garlic notes pretty much vanish if cooked for any length of time! a great addition to a quiche, or added to nettle soup.
@Alabaster_cheeks - dead easy to grow, just dig up the bulbs whilst in-the-green and replant in a damp and shady part of your garden with masses of leaf mulch. Mine are around & under the redcurrant bush.
Apparently illegal to dig them up if not on your own land ?
Here they call it Ail des Ours (= Bear Garlic) . Yes you need quite a bit to get the flavour and most recipes suggest totally insufficient proportions, but what we do is make pesto out of it first then add to the sauce / mix just prior to baking the pie - just long enough to cook the pastry top.
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Complete our travel home after a good, on-time overnight flight from CPT to AMS.
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Last ski-day of the season for me here in Tourmalet; I’m back to Blighty at the weekend. The melt is rapidly rendering the non-curated slopes bare and the domaine is barely 60% open. Best snow is above 2000m, but for mid March it wasn’t too bad.
At least no more smug ski-selfies for a few months…
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Gosh I seem to be monopolising this thread… apologies in advance… but must report today’s unseasonable conditions - 23 degrees and wall to wall sunshine - and so it’s a get out there and enjoy the Pyrenean ambience day. I cycled up to the Col de Souacède and from there, left the bike and hiked up to the Pic de Labassere to enjoy this view over to the Pic de Montaigue, my trajet accompanied by the lovely spring flowers en route; gentians, anemones, hepaticas, pulmonarias and celandines. Eh alors que c’est les beaux jours. And how many others passed en -route ? nobody.
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Somewhat less dramatic than the Pic de Labassere… this is Digley Reservoir. Spring is in the air, trees are in bud. Didnt see any hares which is a shame (possibly the wrong time of day) usually there are a few brown hares around, or mountain hares if you get above the farmland.
Exactly a week ago this would have been under 2’ of snow and unreachable by road !
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