Yesterday – sunday – I went out to QL with Raco to try and clean the top acequia, which has dried up, due to the madness of spring I guess.. algae and such.

My cleaning technique was a mixture of cutting back growth, then scoping out all the stuff blocking the path of the water.. pretty soon I was covered in mud and cuts from brambles, but at least there was water to the end of the run, before the channel turns and runs downhill towards the spot I plan to put the van on wednesday.

After on particularly back-breaking stretch, having shifted a few big lumps of granite that had fallen from a low terrace above, I deceided to join Raco on the bit terrace and take some spring sun.. only to look down the hill towards the Sierra Estrella and see a huge fire!

I thought about how poor my Portuguese was, and then realised I did not know the magic number to call.. I took a guess that, like Spain it might be 112 – which it was.

Turns out someone else had already reported it, and within an hour the smoke was much thinner – but with a strong wind, so still giving a sort of A-bomb plumb..

Fire is a real problem here, due to the huge amount of pine forest, it was the same in Spain 10 years ago, but now most of it has been felled or burnt.

I’m happy to see the first real rain in about 3 weeks today.. and it’s still only spring, going to be a hot year.

No photo.. I’ll try and remember to document things better..