November: 5 random things from the month
It’s hard to believe but it’s already December 2019. Is anyone else surprised at how quickly this year seems to have rolled around?
For ourselves, it’s been an interesting range of events this year. I finished work in early July and took an opportunity to apply myself to the activities of my sport and focus on fixing up the shoulder finally after the three-year-post-surgery saga.
This year can only be described as active. It started with the trip to Chulilla in March, then there’s the start of the bigger trip from mid-July onwards, part of which ended up in Saint Leger and Malaucene, before that ended up in Saint Leger and Malaucene.
Moved to Spain (for two months)
What a view from the village of Siurana over the Monstant range. Much of the climbing area in the bottom right.
Not a bad view from home (for now).
And since November we’ve been based in Cornudella! I’ve been coming to this location for over 20 years now (hard to believe) so I’m so thrilled to get the opportunity to base myself here for two months and experience living here, not just travelling to here.
Situated 8km drive below the climbing area of Siurana (and less than 1 hours drive from around 5,000 other climbs), Cornudella is a small town on the edge of the Monstant National Park.
We have a lovely apartment, 100metres from the main street in the quiet town (population, 1000, although this varies depending on the number of people here for climbing, biking and running). Life here can only be described as simple: there’s a single bakery, a single cafe, four small supermarkets and a few restaurants. And we LOVE it! The pace of life here outside the city can only be described as less crazy, allowing time to digest, and absorb just simple living.
Can you tell we like it?
So, what’s been happening since we got here?
2. Climbing
Howard H cruising up some of the lovely cliffs of Siurana.
Blurry-cam photo to prove I’ve actually been doing some climbing ;)
We’ve evidently been climbing! This area is one of the original sport climbing regions of Spain and there’s a lifetime of rock to go at here. I’m not kidding - even with at least 13 visits on my part over the years, I’ve only climbed around 20% of all the routes. That means I’ll need to live until I’m at least 130 to tick all the routes. And I may have to become the first person to ever climb 9a in their 90’s ;)
Other than that, 4-5 days per week, we’re out applying ourselves deeply in this amazing environment. Both of us are still only finding our ‘feet’ again in pushing ourselves at climbing so have been getting stuck into refreshing our fitness and strength. I’ve returned to some old ‘projects’ (routes I’m trying multiple times and have not yet climbed) and can only say I’m enjoying the process of getting stuck in once again! Personally, I do hate ‘getting fit’ on a climb and much prefer turning up in good shape, but this isn’t the year for that so instead it’s a case of enjoying the process in this new format. There are definite pros and cons as always: you get intimate knowledge of the climb as you can’t afford any mistakes so need to learn every single movement perfectly. And psychologically, I find this way harder as you require many more attempts - I’ve never required more than seven attempts on an 8a before so I’m having to reset expectations here :) For the climbing nerds, that list of routes includes: Anabolica, Zona 0 and Ramadan….busy busy!
Pete showing off for the camera.
Managed to make it over to Margalef for a day.
3. Friends and Family keep visiting
One of many group photos from the past month. What an incredible community :)
It’s hard to get scale, but that steak is the size of a dinner plate. The Spanish do love their meat….this was for sharing for four people!
When the family comes to visit….. :)
Is it weird/fascinating to think we’ve been here for a whole month and yet, there’s always been friends and family from Ireland here at the same time? It says a lot about the region that so many people are coming here. And it was a real honour to introduce my own parents to my hobby after all these years! They now know what and were Siurana is :)
Regular guests staying over as well as various friends dropping in means it’s always entertaining. It hasn’t helped my learning of Spanish however - after a month here and I still know barely anything! The challenge for December is to try and apply myself at this a bit more now. Naomi doesn’t realise it but she’s getting involved too!
Welcome to the study cave. Even when travelling, always pack a second monitor…. :)
4. We both started Study
When you’ve got some space, why not take the time to improve your knowledge. Naomi and I are both passionate about education and staying fresh, so we’ve both taken the time to pick up courses. Naomi’s been deep in some learning for some yoga.
I’m deep in the weeds of a Grad Certificate in Management of IT Strategy. It’s heavy on assignments and after the first two have been completed, I can only say it’s 50/50 on interest levels so far. Not that the material is boring, but that it’s interesting to learn what topics truly interest you over those that you’ll do, but not something in love with! What has been great is getting the opportunity to think, deeply, about the impacts of technology on society up to now, what’s been overblown, what’s only getting started, etc. I can only describe it as exciting times and with the education background alongside this new course, I’m looking forward to giving a lot of input to some businesses going forward.
Related to work, I was at an event in mid-October on the topic of Conversational Interfaces. For those not in that world, think about your Amazon Echo with Alexa, Apple with Siri, Google with Assistant. I wrote up the event notes and a blog post here on the tech blog for anyone interested.
5. Photos. So. Many. Photos.
I won’t bore you anymore with photos of the region as there’s enough above. However, you’ll get the idea: this place is stunning. We’ve been here a month, and it’s rained….twice? Grateful does not describe it, especially as I struggle in the dark winter months of Ireland, going to the office in darkness, and leaving in darkness!
