We've been in the UK for six weeks now, and there's no indication of when we'll be back in Spain at the present time. Despite all that's happened over the laste few weeks, I'm still a 'Look on the bright side' kind of girl, and at least the extended stay has given us more time to appreciate what Devon has to offer. As we're having a spell of good weather, we decided to make the most of it and take a walk each morning before I head for the hospital in the afternoon.
Yesterday, we tried a new walk, along the coast path into Ayrmer Cove, then back along the public footpath into Ringmore - the nearest village to our caravan site. It was a two mile walk with some ups and downs on the terrain, but Tony managed it well, and it was great to be out in the fresh air, with time to just enjoy the views and stop and rest when we needed to.
As we walked, it was brought home to me how different it was walking in the UK to walking in Spain. Where we live in Algorfa, the terrain is pretty level, so we take a lot of walks, and we're always looking out for what's around us. In Spain, we see lizards sunning themselves on the walls, or running across the pavements to get out of our way. We see the vibrant colours of bouganvillea in people's gardens, admire the palm trees, and marvel at the aloe vera plants growing wild.
We take in the aromas from the orange groves - the blossom in may, and that lovely citrus smell as the oranges ripen at the end of the year. We glory in the birdsong, and get deafened by the sounds of the cicadas. It's interesting and invigorating, but it's essentially alien to the British idea of a walk in the country. Even after five years in Spain, some of the sights and sounds on our walks continue to surprise us.
Yesterday, we marvelled at the number of different shades of green on the hillside, identified all the different hedgerow flowers - pink campion, thrift, foxgloves, coltsfoot, valerian, bluebells, and lots more we either didn't recognise or have forgotten. We also conversed idly with a couple of curious cows who wandered across to the drystone wall to inspect us, which was a real novelty, as there is no livestock in our area of the Costa Blanca.
We had to find shelter from the sea breeze beneath the cliffs, but once we did, we had a real sun trap. It was good to be on the cliffs again. Devon may not have the golden sands of the Costa Blanca, but there are no cliffs at Guardamar, so it's a completely different experience.
We returned from our walk tired but happy, and congratulated ourselves that we are blessed to have two glorious places we can call 'home,' with wonderful sights and sounds on our doorstep. Life doesn't get much better than this.
