7 May - Lunch Out

No rain overnight and woke to blue skies and sunshine. As we were out for lunch we had a walk into Roses in the morning.

The boat to Cadaques came very close to the beach. We thought it was touting for business until we realised it was avoiding a fishing boat with it's nets out trawling.

Up at the end there's been some serious activity getting the new pipework in.

They had to get the pipe under 2 other pipes and hopefully get it to join at each end 🤞🏼

With a bit of a helping hand they managed it!

While they removed lines and sorted themselves out for the final repositioning we went for a coffee, as time was tight this morning. Had to get back to change and get out for 12.30pm lunch at La Cassola.

We had a very filling 3 hour lunch with our friend from the Isle of Man. Mussels, chicken curry and a pear ice cream sundae for me 😋. It was lovely catching up and hearing all of the news from the windswept island and Richard regaling tales from the merchant navy.

Ian and I managed the rest of the afternoon until gone 6pm on the balcony. Lovely and warm - all conducive to getting through about 100 pages of my book.

If tomorrow's another dry day we might get the bikes out again.

6 May - Cycle Ride to Castelleo d'Empuries

Firstly apologies for a few typos spotted by Ian this morning. In case you couldn't work it out, for the picture with the boat it should read 'they were out with a diver' 😄. Now corrected 😊.

Anyway yesterday evening we had a cracking thunderstorm. Lightening and thunder flashing and crashing with some pretty spectacular torrential rain. Lucky for us we are on the third floor so there were no worries about flooding. So this morning it was lovely to wake up to a dry start to the day and our bike ride to Castelleo d'Empuries was on!

Our route took us by the small airport at Empuiabrava.

Another plane load heading up to discharge a group of parachutists.

The fields on the way to Castelleo were full of poppies and wild flowers - very colourful today.

With our bikes secured and my seat covered (to avoid any chance of getting a wet seat and backside), we sat in a cafe in one of the town squares.

We had a great view of all the comings and goings. We were also House Martin spotting as they flew in and out of their nests under the balconies just above the brollies.

We had a potter around. I spotted a cat flap in what could've been a medieval door - or maybe it's for rats🤔.

The Basilica always looks lovely.

As we started our ride back it started to rain, so we took shelter in the old public washing area. The rain stopped but the clouds still looked ominous so we planned our route back via anywhere we could take shelter - supermarkets, cafes, the airport.

Fortunately we made it to our local Mercadona to pick up a few items before the rain caught up with us. The ladies were busy on the ham counter today, thinly slicing cured ham. Whilst we were inside there was a deluge so we had to wait around for the rain to stop. I was so glad I'd put my trusty plastic bag on my seat 😄.

Amazingly we got back for a late lunch in blazing sunshine and a chance to read out on the balcony.

Then it all changed again! Rumbling thunder for the rest of the afternoon.

Fortunately our forecast looks sunny for the next few days so we're looking forward to more opportunities to sit outside without getting wet.

5 May - Sunshine!

This morning I was sitting outside the front door enjoying the morning sunshine. It doesn't come round to the balcony side until about 2pm so I was making the most of it whilst we had it. Just me and the sounds of our caretaker trimming the hedges. I ended up doing a spot of mending before we decided to go for a late morning walk into Roses.

The hedges look in good shape.

After being quite hot sitting in the doorway it was quite a surprise to walk along the prom and be fairly cool. They were out with a diver putting out the swimming area marker buoys. The season is now starting to pick up - also evident from the bars and cafes on the seafront starting to get their seats out and some serious Spring cleaning.

Back at the apartment we enjoyed a relaxing afternoon enjoying our books. Up to page 170  - only 1070 to go!

Hopefully we'll get the bikes out tomorrow if the weather stays dry 🤞🏼.