|
Memoirs of an Idyllic holiday in the beautiful
Spanish mountain home ‘Le Cencerrita’
By Mary
Fickling – holidaying with her husband Chris from
10th
September to 17th September 2005
Following an eventful start to the holiday (flat tyre on the hire car at
Carrefour, 2 hours after landing!) Chris changed to the spare in sweltering
temperatures, we returned to airport for further spare) and then made our way to
Cartama Estacion to meet our hosts. Being the tough lady driver that I am (!),
I took the drive up with Colleen, who pointed out the important bits of the
landscape/buildings, whilst Chris and Alan went up in their car. I was so
interested to learn of her unusual life/her children and extensive travelling,
not to mention her decision to live in such a remote place, that I hardly
noticed the winding and steep hill we were climbing and the scary sheer drop
edges of the mountain (despite the looks of panic on Colleen’s face as I swung
the car round each bend!). She remarked I was a ‘very confident driver’ and at
that point, I suddenly realised I was perhaps a little too cocky in this unknown
terrain, especially as the sun was disappearing behind the mountain! I was
relieved to park the car up at the house and couldn’t wait to get in for a Gin!
Thankfully Chris (who is scared of heights) felt the same way too!
Alan
and Colleen showed us the view from the rooftop first. Wow, how amazing, how
peaceful, how beautiful. The sun was going down but Colleen said not to be
tricked, as this was just the false sunset. It would develop over the next
hour. How right she was, armed with our large G&T’s, we made our way, all
gowned up, to the hot tub, to watch the remainder of the sunset. Dramatic, is
the only word to describe what we saw, swirling midnight blue’s, purple’s and
pink’s with a little golden light added for optimum effect! The sunsets got
better over the week, viewed from the hot tub, of course, and with ice cold Cava
added to intensify the experience…….
The
next day and the subsequent days, we arose early, ready and eager to make the
most of our time in what I could only describe as ‘paradise’. We had no desire
to move from our tranquil setting and we certainly weren’t in a rush to go down
that hill again – at least not till home time! After breakfasting on fresh
fruit and yoghurts, we trundled up to the roof terrace, which was a marvellous
place to begin the sunbathing, especially 10 – 12. Arwen would normally join us
up there and sit under my sun bed dozing off in the shade. Wasps also joined us
occasionally but there were less well received, as many of them discovered to
their peril. Back indoors to avoid the midday sun, the house was so cool and
wasp free it was an absolute delight to lie on that huge burgundy sofa and watch
a DVD (I am now a Lord of the Rings fan despite saying it wasn’t at all my
thing). On the day we watched that film, we were joined by a gecko (the
friendly little lizards) that seemed to enjoy the cool terracotta lounge tiles
and the film. There’s a whole library of films there, so maybe that was one
he hadn’t seen.
After our spell indoors we would then head back out about 3ish and sit outside
the Cartama room, under the shade of the pergola and enjoy some olives and
possibly a glass of wine or two……….Arwen joined us here most days for a stick
throwing fetching ceremony, if she felt like it, however this was a somewhat a
hit and miss affair, as she liked to just run off with the stick and leave Chris
stranded!
Four
o’clock was a great time to get on that lilo and catch some more rays, dipping
my arms and legs in to cool down and trying not to wet my book, (they should
invent lilo books, all plastic covered pages, what do you think?).
Evenings, post hot tub, were spent at the barbeque cooking our supermarket
delights, Salmon, Veal, Chicken sausages and glorious peppers and aubergines.
We soon learned that the wasps don’t bother you after dark so it’s better to
leave cooking until then. The stars are magnificent, Chris saw a shooting
star one night and the eagles were wonderfully graceful to watch.
We
did try the 15-minute loosener walk but because it was hot and dry the stones
were loose and as Chris is over 6 foot tall I felt a little nervous about him
slipping, especially as were in a remote area. I would definitely recommend
taking a walking stick out with you to aid some of the steeper inclines, if you
are vertically challenged!
We
spent a wonderful evening with Colleen and Alan, which if I recall lasted until
4am. Still, ‘Name That Tune”, can go on sometimes, can’t it? They are
magnificent hosts, very down to earth people with wicked senses of humour (nice
to meet like-minded people isn’t it?), they are on call if you need them but
they do leave you to your own devices, which we really liked. The kitchen is
extremely well equipped, with fab Berghoff pans and knives. In fact, there is
not anything about the place that we did not like. The bedrooms are clean, cool
and comfortable and the showers hot and powerful.
We
shall return next year but will not bother to hire a car, much easier to get
Alan to pick us up and show us the bargains in Carrefour! The funniest thing
about the holiday was the healthy shopping we did and had to stick to for the
week because we had nothing else, by Wednesday, I could have murdered for
chocolate! But, it’s the first holiday I have ever been on where I actually
lost weight! La Cencerrita could be marketed as a health spa retreat; it
certainly does unwind the mind, body and soul………………….Heaven in the Spanish
mountains.
Thank you.
Mary
and Chris.
Nottingham.
|
