A fabulous day

Hey there. It really has been a brilliant day today and I'm yawning as I sit here typing this. Curry is bubbling in the slow cooker but none of us are hungry yet. I'm going to do as much of this update as I can though I'm shattered. After this there won't be another one until after the weekend.

A checking the fuel and the oil

So yesterday I collected our guest from the bus where he had struggled for leg room (they aren't the biggest in the world) and then brought him back via the narrow bridge. He got the tour, we all had showers, and then it was out to our favourite restaurant for dinner. It was lovely, the food was excellent and the Lady with the Unfeasably High Shoes sang us a song again which was just brilliant. When we got back I didn't stay up long but went to bed and read. I stayed reading until A joined me but then didn't sleep well at all and eventually I headed to the guest room where I slept much better. By the time I got up (woken by Louise coming and licking my hand as it dangled out of bed) A was already outside drinking tea sat by the wood cutting area. Our guest was having an epic lay in so we chilled out largely but then decided to get some chopping done. I was hungry so I made breakfast while she went out and got the chainsaw running and started chopping up some of our wood rather than the bought wood.

Our guest gets his metal head on

My plan to wake our guest with the smell of frying bacon failed so I ended up with loads of bacon but I wasn't complaining. We didn't disturb him and he woke eventually so we went outside so he could have a play with the chainsaw. We weren't going to be doing much of it and after one log he stopped and we headed inside.

A lake with no water but huge reeds

Our plan for the morning was to take a walk with the puppies up the hill to the lake. We got ourselves ready and headed off, glad that it wasn't too warm today. It was a lovely warm but when we got there we found that the lake was basically dry so Rambo didn't get his swim and we just turned straight round and went back down to the house. It was a nice walk even if he didn't get his swim. We chilled for a bit, had showers, and then headed out to town. We needed to euro for the weekend and then we spent a lovely time showing our guest around the town, had some chicken from the shack in the market, and bought the fireworks we'd seen the other day. Exciting times.

BBQ at the rest area

As we got back to the car I suggested we go for a drive up north of the lakes and everyone agreed so we drove off past the turn off for the fish restaurant and on along that really beautiful road. As always we were enthralled by the scenery and stopped a few times for our guest to get pictures and see it a bit easier then from a moving car. Also as always we stopped at the rest stop we usual use for a leg stretch and to show just how well maintained they are. It has been upgraded since our last visit with a permanent BBQ made out of a car tyre rim; clever.

Water gone away

A little further on was a spot I had taken a photograph from before when the lake was full so I grabbed a picture again showing just how low the lake has become over the past 3 months of no rain at all. It must be at least 20 meters down; just insane.

A really smelly dump

As I was snapping this picture I suddenly smelt a REALLY bad smell. I looked down and was shocked to see a huge pile of carcasses in black bin bags that had obviously been dumped over the edge of the cliff! The smell was horrendous and it clung and hung around for a while as we drove away. When we came back past we smelt the dump from about half a mile away. Disgusting.

An animal skin, left on a post

It seems today was a day for corpses. We were heading for the abandoned power station / pumping station place that I've been a few times now with various people and when we got there we made our way into the main buildings and found the skin from an animal draped over a pole. I didn't want to get too close so I didn't get any more pictures than this but we're pretty sure it was a wildcat of some description.

Cooking spit

Just a little further along was a well constructed spit over a burning pit with some large heating rocks in the middle. It all looked very recent and this was probably proven by finding a plate with nearly fresh tomato peelings on it. If they had BBQd that wildcat then it was probably gypsies as most people wouldn't eat a carrion creature.

Making their way over the stream

We strolled onwards and down onto the stones; the river here is so far down it has reduced to a trickle compared to normal. We were able to hop over the first bit on stones (I was in my sandals and just waded through) and then went on trying to find a tower with a safe ladder for us to climb. It was strange to be walking along what was a fast moving river bed; the mud was still on the stones and in places you could see the stages in which the river had dropped as the mud was dried in lines on the stones.

See the bridge in the distance, dad?

After a little while we spotted a tower with what looked like a solid ladder so I went across the slightly deeper wider part of the river to check it out. The ladder was indeed very solid looking so our guest made his way over at first and then A decided to come over. Unfortunately they left their shoes on the other side so I went barefoot to allow our guest to wear my sandals and A just walked very carefully indeed.

An alternative route up

At first our guest decided not to trust the steps but did a pull up manouvre to attempt to reach the platform. I was pretty glad when he decided to actually use the stairs as getting up that way was fine but getting back down would be quite ropy. We all climbed up but this tower had its door welded shut so we couldn't go inside. It's always fascinating to be here and explore.

Calm water with lots of fish in it

We made our way back over the river, me barefoot this time and I realised the flipflops had actually helped as I slipped and slid on the slimy bottom. When we came back near the bridge / dam thing I decided to cross over to the other side but they wouldn't come with me as it would have meant taking their shoes off again. I think they made the correct choice as it was quite a steep climb and pretty precarious in places. I beat them to the bridge though.

Crossing the bridge

Eventually they turned up so I went down to meet them and we made our way back to Thomas. The drive back was much faster, not just because I was driving faster, and despite a quick break in Lidl to try and get some cider for our guest we made it home before 7pm. The puppies had been left in the bedroom all this time and this time had managed to destroy the cover on A's kindle which is not cool. We chilled out for a bit, played with the puppies, I did the watering round while A and our guest fed the chickens and then I started in on this update. I had to pause briefly for dinner which was the aforementioned curry and was excellent. I don't know if they was any left but both I and our guest had seconds.

So now it is evening time; we're going to sip some local moonshine and listen to some music and then get an early-ish night as tomorrow is a busy day as we take the girls to SandS's then drive up to Sofia for our gig in the evening and then afterwards to our weekend away in Italy. Thanks for reading, and please come back on Monday.