Thank you, Nigel. Are you better from the discomfort in your muscles? I hope so.
Monday 29th January 2007
On Monday after school I went to the Tryp Indalo hotel to meet Sweder to go to Baños de Sierra Alhamilla where we would go down along the dirt track to Pechina. It was a bit rainy. I met the whole team at the hotel. They had been at the sea front having lunch and before that they had gone for a run. Andy didn´t feel like it and Suzie had to stop because of some discomfort in some muscles.
Nigel came with us and drove the car back to Pechina. First, we went to the town hall square and drove along the course that we did last year to the top of the Baños along the road. When we arrived at that oasis in the desert, we took some photos. There are a few houses, the spa which was closed and a hot water spring. We waved goodbye to Nigel and gave him some clothes to take to the car. He gave us his camera to take photos along the course.. There were some palm trees up there. The first kilometre is a very steep down hill. Then, there is a dry river bed but we tried to follow a narrow track although we lost it and had to find our way again. There was little vegetation except some aromatic plants. We went along a wider path to reach some houses with barking dogs. We reached the town and got to the square where Nigel was waiting for us. It took us about 50 minutes. I really enjoyed this run after the half marathon. I think it is something to be repeated every year. I´m really happy that Sweder suggested doing it and I thank Nigel for coming with us and driving the car back to Pechina.
After that, we went to a café in the town where we had some coffee and cakes. We had a good time there. Then, I took them back to the hotel.
At 9 pm, I went to Molly Malone´s where they were having a pint of Guinness with some tapas. I accepted a Guinness and we had a good time chatting. It was raining a little when we went out and headed for “El Quinto Toro”, a typical bar in the city centre with a lot of decoration related to bullfighting since its owner had been a bullfighter himself although he died a few years ago and now it is his son who runs the bar. The name comes from the bull that killed Manolete, a well-known bullfighter in the 1940s . It was the fifth bull, called “Islero”, which killed the matador. By the way, there is a film about him and his love called “Manolete”.
http://WWW.imdb.com/title/tt0491046/
It is starred by Adrien Brody and Penélope Cruz.
Oddly enough, the bar was very quiet with just a TV on. We had Rioja and some tapas such as meat, jamón and some plates of “ibéricos”, cheese, etc. As they were closing at around 11 pm, we decided to go to the National Geographic pub but they did not have any Rioja, so we went to a bar called La Charca Where we had a bottle of Rioja with just a hot potato tapa since they did not feel like eating any more but I asked for it and we all tried it and liked it. As usually, we drank a toast to the absent members of this forum, to other occasions where we will meet and to the achievement of our challenges. Finally, we went to the paseo de Almería where we said goodbye and I felt sad because their stay was nearly over but at the same time happy to have had a very good time with all of them. I´m looking forward to another gathering which I hope will be as enjoyable as this one.
10th Almería half marathon. 28th January 2007
