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There And Back Again - A Yorkshireman's Tale

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 So after nearly 9 weeks away, 5,800 miles and a surprisingly small amount of alcohol consumed, I finally got back to the Dale last night…….. So the Key Questions which need to be answered... 1.    Where was the Perfect Merguez? It was a surprise, but these meaty gems were surprisingly hard to find, and were not a staple on every menu as I had perhaps expected.  I probably had a good dozen different ones whilst I was there including sausages made from lamb, the traditional mutton, beef and even camel. All were good but were less spiced that I had previously experienced and whilst well flavoured lacked the heat that I expected.  One of the reasons for this is that the Moroccans  rely on accompanying dips and sauces especially Harissa paste to give this heat. The long and short therefore is that actually the best Merguez I have had in the past year is one that Tom and I (the creative hearts of sausage making at the Townend Farm Shop) created from some locally farmed mutton which, whilst
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Second Most Original Muséum in the World

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I decided to break my journey from Cordoba to the Ferry Port of Santander at Toledo, famed throughout Europe in medieval times for its steel and in particular the quality of its armour and swords (for the film buffs, you will all remember Christopher Lambert’s Toledo Salamanca from the 1986 classic Highlander 🫣).   What else could I do but go to a museum…. The Chromática Elected the second most original museum i n the world …..by the Travel Museum Organisation, this place is a unique museum of musical instruments painted by 32 artists of different styles and nationalities who have captured their art on 72 pieces located in a labyrinthine space where music, architecture, painting, leisure ….. and booze…. share space in a building with 1200 years of history.  Sod sword making museums, this sounded much better. Live Music In the space, live music ( a mix of Jazz, Blues, Cajun & Zydeco and all other major genres 😉) is performed every day, morning and afternoon, performed by 8 reside
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Location: Santander, Cantabria, Spain
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Nobody Expects the Spanish ……. Black Pig?

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In the early years of the 16th century, to combat the rising tide of religious unorthodoxy, the Pope gave Cardinal Ximinez of Spain leave to move without let or hindrance throughout the land, in a reign of violence, terror and torture.  This was the Spanish Inquisition...I will do my best to avoid Monty Python distractions.   The headquarters of the Inquisition was in the Alcázar of Cordoba (pictures above), where I have spent the last couple of days.  On reflection however I have been spending too much time on the architecture, art and ‘flummery’ of the beautiful places I have been visiting (and Cordoba ticks all of those boxes in spades) and not focussing enough on the things closest to my heart…….food😃 The Black Pig (not the Captain Pugwash Variety) So firstly, meat and in particular, pork, and the Iberian Black Pig. Found roaming in idyllic “dehesas” (Spanish for “meadows”), the noble Ibérico pig spends its days feeding on the native wild grass and the acorns that can be found str
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Location: Córdoba, Spain
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Wetter than a Haddock’s Waistcoat in Megacity One

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I arrived back in Europe yesterday and headed along the N7 coastal road to the Costa Del Sol as I have never experienced this part of Spain before………huge shock to the system both in terms of the weather but also the place; more of that later😉 My last day in Fès was fascinating as I was invited to lunch with one of the few remaining Jewish Merchants who still lives in the Medina after I had spent an hour with him discussing (and finally buying), an old ornate silver embossed plate at a price both he (and I) were happy with….but more than I will admit to Viv 🤫🫣 His shop was in an old City synagogue which was closed in 1979 when his father, the last Rabbi, died.  He converted it into a shop selling Jewish pottery and silverware as well as local goods.   Unfortunately, he explained that whilst the Country is religiously tolerant, he really suffered from the local guides refusing to bring tourist groups to his shop (without significant ‘baksheesh’ payments) to the point he was thinking o
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Location: Benalmádena, Málaga, Spain
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Are you the Judean People’s Front? F**k Off we’re the People’s Front ofJudea

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  I can’t help myself whenever I walk round Roman Ruins but think of the definitive film of that era ie Life of Brian…..an all time classic😉 Things got a bit lively in Ifrane forest with winds gusting to 80km so I headed north to Fez with the intention of going to the vast Roman town of Volubilis; this was at the extremity of this part of the Empire and is a huge site of c. 40 hectares although only about 20 have been excavated. I arrived at about 10 on a cloudy but dry day and cannot have seen more than 50 people in the 2-3 hours I was on site.  All is in the open and uncovered and I was free to walk round and look in awe at the dozens of unrestored but nearly perfect mosaics.  At the risk of boring I have added some photos below. Love the mosaic of the guy riding a horse backwards…..reminds me of  The Boy’s equestrian prowess when he was a kid and we went riding in Cornwall🤪.   Whilst in Fez, I also took the opportunity of testing the one bit of kit on the Landrover I had not used
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Location: Fes, Morocco
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Hey Hey We’re The Monkey’s

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  What a difference a day makes……two songs in the first lines, got to be a record (pun intended 😉). After Todres, drove round the east of the High Atlas over to the Mid Atlas range (not the most imaginative of mountain range naming, I admit) and what a difference 250 km makes! First there was more greenery and the start of almond and walnut orchards and then moved into a plateau where there was grassland! This was at a height of approx 2100m. The change of temperature was great (dropping to the low 20’s) but of more note was the huge improvement in air quality as I moved from the dust of the desert. I have spent the day around the town of Azrou, and in the surrounding cedar forests where I have been ‘lucky’ enough to encounter the Barbary Macaque’s which inhabit these wonderful woods…..great to see truly wild Barbary ‘ape’s’ unlike the colony that live on Gibraltar. As I never discussed how ‘Ape-proof’ the  Darche roof tent was when I bought it, I took the cowards way out and went to
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Location: Ifran, Morocco
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