Summer is here, I continue to work from home, leaving me with ample time to cycle in the morning (as long as I get up at 5:30) and of course on weekends. We continued to emerge from confinement, cautiously, enjoying meals at restaurants where sitting outside on a summer afternoon is just perfect–and safe.
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The big cycling event this week was my first ride to the Carrasqueta mountain pass, one of my “big” rides around here, and since it takes 3.5 to 4 hours, it has only become feasible after the exercise windows have been abolished and we can all go out whenever we want. It is basically a 35 km climb from sea level to just above 1000 meters, followed by the corresponding descent. About 6 km from the top there is a restaurant/bar called Venta Teresa, which specialises in catering to the many motorcyclists and cyclists that pass the spot. And there is a wonderful view, too. The town down there is Jijona:
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People in front of the bar, as seen from the “rest area” across the road:
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Motorcyclists at the rest area:
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Two fellow cyclists on the way up:
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Finally, after 2 hours and 20 minutes of cycling, I was at the top of Carrasqueta, looking down on the world around:
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In the afternoon, I got my reward at another Sunday lunch at Eliot’s house:
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Father and son:
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Assumpta’s doggie, at eye level:
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Staying with the four-legged theme, a snap from Plaza Seneca in the centre:
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One of the nice things about working from home is that I can go out for lunch with my wife during the week. This time we went to one of our favourites in the neighbourhood where we used to live until 2018, a place called La Palloza. As always, we sat outside. One of the many changes brought on by the epidemic is that paper menus have been eliminated; instead, most places have QR codes on the table or on the placemats, and you access the menu with the reader on your phone:
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But the pulpo was unchanged, delicious as always:
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A baked apple for dessert:
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Wednesday was a public holiday, so I spent the morning on a somewhat longer ride, up to Maigmó, a popular mountain for hikers and mountain bikers. I stayed on the road, of course, on my road bike with skinny tires. After 26 km I stopped for a rest and a banana, looking down towards Alicante:
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This is the kind of path the mountain bikers like:
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One of the things I love about Leica lenses is the ability to use them on modern cameras. My 90mm Tele-Elmarit, made in Canada in 1976, is probably my favourite lens. And it works beautifully on a modern digital camera, the Panasonic GX80, as shown in this informal portrait of Eliot’s son Lucas:
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Monica has been using her newly acquired paddle board a lot. Using a shoulder strap, she walks down to the beach (450 meters) carrying the board and the oar. Sometimes I accompany her for a photo session. The following images are a composite of two different outings during the week. Getting things ready:
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Wading past the breaking waves to get to the calmer sea further out:
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Getting started, first kneeling:
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Now in proper standing mode:
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Coming back in about 45 minutes later:
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A few weeks ago, I photographed three chairs outside a house in Aigües, with the middle one occupied by a vase, as if to ensure social distancing in these Covid times. Now, the chairs are closer together, and there is a fourth chair, reflecting the relaxation of the restrictions under which we live due to the epidemic:
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Another Aigües vignette, a mannequin on a balcony. Despite being a small town in the interior of the Alicante province, Aigües has a bit of an artistic community:
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Just before the lockdown in March, a travelling amusement park had arrived in our town El Campello, probably planning to stick around for a couple of weeks. Instead, they ended up stuck for 3 months, with no revenue, just stuck. This week, while passing by, I saw that they had now packed up and were ready to leave. A colourful and rather sad sight:
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On Saturday night, we went out for dinner at an Indian restaurant in the centre of El Campello with our friends Eliot and Assumpta. As always, we sat at an outside table, enjoying the warm evening and the food which turned out surprisingly good:
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By coincidence, Assumpta’s son Alberto and his girlfriend were also having dinner in the same area, in a different restaurant virtually across the street. They came over to say goodbye at the end of the evening:
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Mother and son say goodnight:
