The Road from Santiago

  Tomorrow we approach Cordoba. Today we don’t.  Today we sweep across wide open landscapes.  Maybe we need some great horde of horsemen are required to thunder down from one ridge to another.  Meanwhile. Five things. Until 31st December 1900 Spain used local time. Up till then Catalonia was truly in advance of Madrid - by minutes.  A Royal decree brought Greenwich Meantime to the whole of the Peninsular, Balearics, Ceuta and Melilla.  The Canary Islands kept their own time until 1st March 1922, when they moved an hour behind Madrid.  All this was a happy state until 1940 Franco wanted to cozy up to his bestie in Berlin and adopted Central European Time.   So it remains, even though in Summer Time Galicia is two and half hours behind solar time. In 1551 Domingo de Soto became the first person to state that a body in free fall accelerates uniformly.  Domingo was born in Segovia in 1494. He studied in the universities of Alcala and Paris and ob...

We are approaching Guadalcazar - which is a bit of a surprise but there you go.  We are 158m above the sea and 28km from Cordoba. We are in the land of the Spanish Imperial Eagle, the Egyptian culture and rufous-tailed scrub robin. I’m rather taken with the idea of a scrub Robin.  Let us find out more. The rufous-tailed scrub robin is brown of hue and can be found from the Med to Pakistan, some migrate to Kenya and others get lost and end up in Northern Europe.  They like dry, open country with the odd shrub, in which they next and lay 3-5 eggs.  This is cereal country. 75% of cultivated land is given over to grains, 25% to olives.  The town got a grain silo during the Franco period - which, today, is used a municipal warehouse. The current population is around 1500.  It bumbled along around 700-900 mark till 1920.  It waxed mightily from 1930 [1414] to 1940 [2413], then went downwards to 2000 in 1970 and drifted down till 1970 and plummeted afterwards...

  It is a five things day.  We will pass the Fuente del Ladrillo.  Jose gives us the knowledge.  ‘ The Brick Fountain is a historic architectural feature notable for its unique traditional brick construction. This fountain represents a testament to the area's popular hydraulic architecture and is part of Fuente Palmera's cultural heritage. Its design reflects the importance of water to rural communities and the construction techniques of the time. It is an ideal place to learn how water supply needs were met in times past. A charming spot that deserves to be preserved and appreciated. ‘ Tariq-ibn Ziyad was the general who decided to bring irrigation and Islam to Spain in 711.  His origins are debated but he seems to have been a berber.  He appears to have been appointed governor of Tangier after its conquest in 710-11.  In April 711 the Muslim Army landed and finding the Visigoth Armies of no great shape, Tariq pushed on, overrunning all of Spain....

  It is a bit of a long day - longer than intended. I better go for a long walk to make up the metres. Well end the day with some eating options but first, the road. The Hacienda Timoteo is by our path. It is a 9-2, 5-8 sort of place on week days only.  Google calls it a function room. The web link is broken.  Five days ago Alicia said ‘ Excellent venue for a celebration. The place is truly beautiful, and the food and service are superb. Highly recommended. ’ Emilio, five months ago, was well pleased. ‘ We got married on July 12th of this year and we want to thank this amazing team a thousand times over! From the first to the last person, they were so friendly and welcoming to our guests, especially the older ones. The food was absolutely fantastic! Everyone telling us how delicious everything was is a testament to their hard work! Without a doubt, they were the best! ♥️♥️ ’ Fuente Palmera is ahead of us and we will divert into it.  10,000 people live here, and why n...