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| NEWSLETTER September 2008 | |||
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Bootlace Autumn prices remain at 2007 rates despite currency changes! |
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| This edition: The Devil and the Widow of Granada, thoughts about walking, a Bootlacer steps out, Winter Working weeks, special Autumn offers, who is the Man at Seat 61 and more! | |||
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WALKING FOR HEALTH -It’s a fact well known since ancient times that walking is simply good for you. The Spanish take the afternoon stroll, like the siesta, most seriously - and Hippocrates himself said that walking is a man’s best medicine. Every day, as the sun sinks over the mountains my neighbours, from toddlers to great-grandmas, can be seen puffing up the hill or gently strolling back down, arm in arm, chatting and enjoying the evening air, ladened, depending on the season, with the scents of orange blossom, thyme, rosemary or honeysuckle.
The benefits to physical health are clear; less incidence of cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes; but walking is also great for mental and spiritual health, and the activist Satish Kumar employs walking as an act of non-violent protest - extending those health benefits to the planet. It’s a chance to be at ease with oneself or with others in a gentle non-confrontative way, putting one foot in front of the other, allowing the path ahead to unfold in comfortable silence or perhaps sharing thoughts, concerns and joys. No wonder that Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh speaks of walking meditation as a way to connect body and soul with the here and now, to generate peace within our body, our consciousness |
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I have arrived. I am home. |
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Find out about the many benefits of walking and enjoy reading:- |
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http://www.whi.org.uk/ |
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http://www.ramblers.org.uk/INFO/everyone/health |
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http://www.walking.org/ |
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http://www.explorefaith.org/body/tnh_intro |
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jan/16/activists |
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| - nb Fiona gives this article a 5 star rating |
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DOWN ON THE FARM |
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We’re proud of our onions. They’re one of the few crops (apart from weeds and couch grass) that grow abundantly on the local soil - which is layered with veins of the inert, grey, talc-like launa traditionally used on the berber style roofs of the Alpujarra. With judicious application of horse manure (thanks to the assistance of last year’s Winter workers) and liberal watering we’ve our usual bumper crop to grace our covered patio with strings of golden globes. And next the Christmas potatoes… rev up the rotivator, Paul! But wait! This morning I discovered that the fairy ploughman had visited us in the night - It’s all a bit topsy-turvy maybe he was drunk! …yep, t’was the wildboar posse again. We’re now considering how to work with the beasties, letting them into areas to clean and plough and firmly excluding them from places we want to maintain sus scrofa-free… Talking of these pesky fruit and nut thieves, Paul and I were delighted to find a cheery article in the local Olive Press newspaper about a Granadine farmer who adopted a boar piglet only to discover that she’s a sheepboar who has keenly taken up the job of herding his sheep and goats! See One man and his… complete with photos of the dynamic man-boar duo. |
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| WINTER WORKING WEEKS: a gettaway from the gloom - La Dominga needs YOU! (yet again!) |
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| After the success of last year’s Winter working project we’ve decided to run two weeks: 1 - 8 November and 17 - 24 January. Jobs will include freeing up some of our old olive trees to put them back into production, putting in some new watering channels and creating some woodland steps for access. It’s a chance to get away from the UK winter and enjoy the outdoors with some useful productive work and there’s usually plenty of sunshine here at that time of year. We’d love to hear from anyone interested in these working weeks at La Dominga. Email Fiona and Paul at mail@bootlace.com |
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Basic accommodation and food, one day walking excursion and a half day trip up to the Poqueira villages - all in exchange for the princely sum of £50 and 27 hours of physical work on La Dominga projects. |
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Seat61 - There’s more to travel than the destination. It used to be called a j-o-u-r-n-e-y … |
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The Man at Seat 61 - a latter day hero! This is a story to gladden the hearts of those of us who are becoming concerned about their carbon foot print. |
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| “Who is the Man in Seat Sixty-One?” - they cry! He is Mark Smith, who lives in England “in deepest darkest Buckinghamshire, with wife Nicolette, 2 year old Nathaniel and Polly the cat.” He is the creator of Seat61.com a personal website, started purely as a hobby in 2001, dedicated to providing clear, accurate information for “people would rather not fly, or, simply prefer a more civilised, comfortable, interesting, adventurous, romantic, scenic, historic, exciting and environmentally-friendly way to travel”. It’s grown and grown, and has now become a full time job. | |||
| A career railwayman, Mark ran away from Oxford to “join the circus (or British Rail as it was then called)” as soon as he could; he became the Station Manager for Charing Cross, London Bridge & Cannon Street railway stations in London in the early to mid 90s, and later the Customer Relations Manager for two major UK train companies. Until recently, he worked in London for the Department for Transport managing the team that regulates fares and ticketing on Britain’s railways. When not travelling, of course… He says - | |||
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I’ve been lucky enough to travel around the world on trains and ships to many interesting places, and I’ve worked as a European rail agent issuing tickets and advising other travel agents on train travel across Europe. So if you’d like some help with a journey you’re planning, why not ask the Man in Seat Sixty-One? |
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| Why Seat 61? Zaharoff, the notorious arms dealer, would always book compartment 7 on the Orient Express to or from Istanbul. When treating myself to Eurostar’s first class, I would always request seat 61 (in cars 7, 8, 11 or 12) to make sure my seat lined up with the window, one of a cosy pair of seats facing each other across a table complete with table lamp, rather like those in an old Pullman car. It became something of a tradition, and I’ve left London in seat 61 on many occasions, en route to destinations as diverse as Italy, Greece, Malta, Albania, Tunisia (via Lille & Marseille), Marrakech (via Paris, Madrid & Algeciras), Istanbul (via Vienna, Budapest & Transylvania), Aleppo, Damascus, Petra & Aqaba, Ukraine & the Crimea, and even Moscow, Vladivostok, Tokyo & Nagasaki via the Trans-Siberian Railway. Just make sure you don’t book seat 61 when I need it! | |||
| So if you’re thinking of traveling by train to Andalucia Seat61.com is your first destination - have a look! | |||
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THE DEVIL AND THE WIDOW OF GRANADA |
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They say in Granada that many years ago a clever old widow caught the Devil in a glass bottle and buried him in the snow on the top of Monte Mulhacen, which is the highest mountain in Spain. Ten years went by - ten years of peace and prosperity in the world. Wives were patient and long-suffering towards their husbands, husbands tender and indulgent towards their wives, children so good that they might have been angels already. Only the lawyers were unhappy, because no man sued his neighbour and time hung heavy on their hands. |
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| If you would like to find out how the Devil managed to escape and how he got caught in the first place Geoff Mead, our guest storyteller on our October week at Casa De Luz, will reveal all… how to find him is revealed here | |||
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Bootlacer Steps Out! |
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| It’s nice to know when you’ve inspired people to try out something new so I was very pleased when Bootlacer Chrissie Amey told me she was planning a new walking and eating business - a woman after my own heart! Her new venture, Walks and Forks is based in the lovely Quantocks, the first area in Britain to be designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty 50 years ago. Chrissie tells us “today the hills still retain the unique beauty that inspired The Romantic Poets to write some of their best-known poetry. This largely undiscovered area set in Somerset is graced by a broad heather and whortleberry-clad ridge where beech hedgebanks mark out the ancient traders’ routes to and from the West Country and breathtaking views of Wales can be seen across the Bristol Channel, coombes shelter the red deer under canopies of sessile oak and beech trees.” Sounds lovely - especially to someone sweltering in Southern Europe’s late August humid heat! | |||
| Somerset is becoming renowned for its real food produce and Walks & Forks is dedicated to sharing some of the very best with walkers. Many of the traditional methods of food production are still alive and well in this west country area where cider was once more commonly drunk than tea and the rich green pastures inspired the making of the most famous English cheese in the Cheddar Caves. To find out more visit Walks and Forks |
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| Meanwhile back in Spain we’re about to swing into our Autumn Walking season and the good news is - | |||
| the Euro goes up but our prices stay at 2007 rates for this Autumn! | |||
For the latest on the Autumn season and new dates and prices 2009 PRICES AND DATES Oct 2008 - Oct 2009 |
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BOOTLACE KITCHEN RECIPE BOOKLET - |
Tasty Ways to Eat Healthily | ||
| Guiding you through delicious wheat/dairy/sugar-free cooking | |||
| Available at only £10 per copy including post and packing! Contains such classics as the devilishly smokey Baba Ghanoush and heavenly Chocolate and Avocado Tart. A week’s worth of good eating with salad lunches and three course evening meals. To get your copy email Fiona (mail@bootlace.com) with your name and postal address and she’ll send you the payment details. | |||
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And finally, for an interesting take on our consumerist society take a peek at - The Story of Stuff |
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We invite readers’ comments! |
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Thanks Fi, liked the Story of Stuff - bit simplistic at times but lots of good ’stuff’ in it! Geo M (1/9/08) I agree - it is simple, but I think it’s to edumacate them as have no idea - not like us (Bootlace folk)! Good thing to pass onto young folk who don’t know yet! - Fi (1/9/08) Also to old folk who don’t know - I sent it to our U3A chair who agreed that it would be well worth showing on the big screen to our 100 or so members at some point. Geo M (2/9/08) |
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