Well there is internet access in El Molino so those who follow this thing are going to have to put up with a few bulletins from southern Spain. We are about an hour inland from Malaga and 30 miles west of Granda. The house is an old bakery tucked down amidst the hills which are covered in straight lines of olive trees.

Flying over Spain early this morning we could see snow covering the tops of the mountains and we saw it again driving up from Malaga dusting the tops of the Sierra Nevada in the west. Hopefully there will be clear skies when we go to the Alhambra on Monday and we will have the classic view of the old Moorish palace with the snow covered mountains in the distance.

It was cold when we arrived and I was glad that I had brought my thick Irish wool jumper. But then as the sun sat high in the sky over lunch the air started to warm until you could feel the heat in your face.

There is a pool but it is not heated and the water still carries the cold from the frost that descends at night as whatever warmth may have gathered over the day is lost to the clear sky.

We went shopping this afternoon – mostly to scout out the local supermarket and work out the potential for making Christmas lunch. There were two half suckling pigs that looked tempting – the oven here is big enough to take them both and the old bread oven is still next to the kitchen. Unfortunately it it is not in state to be fired up and is more decorative than functional – but the decoration means that it is now used as a place to store a vast array of large trays and pots – some of which are large enough to accommodate a small pig.

So that is an option. Not too far away the fish counter was overspilling and in the centre there were three blue plastic trays of anchovies silver and quick . You don’t get those in Tesco. They will go down well dusted in flour and paprika and deep fried.