24 May - Bàscara for Human Towers

Before I start recounting today's adventures I thought I'd update you on the seagull chicks ... we've had a sighting of the second one. So it's not been a tasty snack or dived off the roof - yet! 

We have also spotted two new ones strutting their stuff on the pontoon in the canal opposite to us. Quite a window on wildlife from our balcony 😄.

Today we headed to Bascara, south of Figueres, for the gathering of the northern groups of Castellera - human towers groups.

We weren't quite sure what to expect but Bascara was certainly very colourful as the event was combined with a flower festival.

At the centre of the town square we arrived to see the beginning of a flower mosaic. Around the tree in the square's centre an outline of a mosaic had been chalked. Children then had trays of petals, dried fruits, leaves, soil and bark to fill in the chalked areas. The photo above was taken just as they were putting pine cones and pebbles around the base of the tree.

Over in the church square was the vibrant gathering of 8 castellar groups from the surrounding area. All wearing their group's coloured shirt with our nearest group from Figueres in purple. I thought the lime green and orange were certainly noticeable.

If you're wondering what the girl is doing on the left, each member of the group has a tightly wound strip of a thick material around their waist. For most members it provides back support, when they are in the tower supporting others, but it is also used by the barefooted climbers to aid their climb up the back of others to their position in the tower.

At times all the groups had towers being 'built'.

Then when a more complex structure was being made several groups would provide additional support at the bottom.

This ended up being 8 people tall. The little ones at the top were fearless. Just as well they wore crash helmets and there were 2 ambulances nearby.

The finished flower mosaic outlined with daisies and edged with compost.

It was a scorcher of a day reaching 33C on the car temperature guage, and there was very little breeze. We certainly made use of the shade and the cool passageways in between the various parts of the village. It was quite a relief to get back to our cool and shaded balcony - until about 5pm when the shade was gone and the sun more tolerable.

Another thing spotted from our balcony today was the latest edition to the villa's pool across the way. It was quite entertaining watching it being cycled across the pool. Although we're not sure how stable it would be in the sea and if it'll catch on as a reliable form of transport! 😄.

22 & 23 May - Roses and Empuiabrava

Friday morning was spent enjoying breakfast and reading out on the balcony before a stroll along the front.

The beach was looking quite quiet despite the glorious weather.

Further up towards Roses the council have been working on getting the beach ready for the start of the holiday season.

The lifeguard huts come flat packed. There was a team constructing them along the beach.

Following our lazy walk along the seafront and back, the rest of the day was spent being creative (I've started an embroidery project and have recycled some wool to knit a shawl).

Saturday morning we woke to thick fog! We delayed the start of our bike ride over to Empuiabrava until it had cleared a bit.

There is going to be a good loquat harvest this year. We haven't seen so many growing previously - lots of fruit crumble opportunities for someone 😄.

Fortunately it didn't take too long for the fog to disappear and we had a lovely cycle over the nature reserve to get there. It's a decent off road route with loads of horse riders and other cyclists about.

In Empuiabrava they have been reclaiming some of the beach to encourage the Crested Lark to nest - they build their nests on the ground. It's also got the benefit of stopping the sand from blowing across the prom there as well.

We actually managed to see one of the Crested Larks today on our cycle back across the nature reserve. We probably wouldn't have noticed it but had recognised it from the information boards on the prom.

Our weather is probably similar to the weather currently experienced in the UK this weekend. Too hot to sit out in direct sunshine but rather pleasant in the shade. We've also been closing the curtains to help keep the lounge cool as well.

Tomorrow we're off exploring to a place called Bascara that we've not been to before. I think there's going to be some human towers!

21 May - La Bisbal d'Emporda

A bright and sunny start to the day with snow still lingering on the mountains.

We'd picked a loquat (known locally as nispero) off the tree in the apartment gardens, so it was tasting time. The skin and the stone has to be removed (apparently the stone contains arsenic!!) so there was no chewing or munching on the stone!! It tasted a bit like apricot.

Today we took ourselves south to La Bisbal d'Emporda which used to be a major ceramic and terracotta centre.

It's also a medieval town which had a walking trail around to see the main sights.

The castle, which also houses the Tourist Information centre.

We had a very enjoyable potter about and visited a few of the ceramic shops, where the artists could be seen working.

Back on the balcony this afternoon I had to mend my hat again. My basic embroidery flower has now been embellished and a stalk and leaves added. I have a feeling there might be a few more added over time.

This evening was bowling night. For once I did quite well and scored over 100. The next round I wasn't so good 😄.

Tomorrow looks like it's going to be another lovely day. No plans as yet, so it's going to be a wait until tomorrow day.