wet and watery – extremaduran spring

one almost overcast morning I put on my boots and braved the muddy track that last November was impassable, all overgrown with brambles.

at the end of this section the puddles and mud start. unfortunately, despite a ban and a notice forbidding it on the sierra, off-road motorcyclists use this track, and they have made a real mess of it, including breaking through a bridge which crosses an underpass allowing livestock through.

the fig trees were just coming out at this point, and the rock roses along with wild asparagus spears, the lavender and many small yellow and white flowers dotted the camino.

the path zig-zags around the edge of the sierra and the beginning of olive groves

on the right, the sea of grey green leaves

until it takes you further into the sierra again, flowery pastures,

and the little stream that comes tumbling out of the hills, which you have to cross.

water as clear as glass, winding its way through, around and under granite boulders

Tilda loves to paddle, and here is a secret valley, running along a slot in the granite, between two sections of the path.

further along the stream bed opens out amongst big flat rocks, grass and these beautiful white flowers which love to grow in water. I see them everywhere on the edges of ponds at this time of year in Extremadura, and this spring, in the pond at Morston too. it is hard to see where there is water and what is the edge of the brook.