The picture was taken on day two of five days snow non stop.
Talk about laugh! It was February when it came and so did my bro in law, I,m not sure what he was expecting weatherwise but I doubt it was this! It got to the point where we were not sure if we could get him back to the airport. After day five we had 18" and considering that there was no wind to create drifts it was deep enough as it was.
In the end the JCB from our village 7km away came to dig us out and clear the road in the process. It is essential to guage the weather in the campo, we were islolated for 3 days. The temperature reached -18 every night for a week and froze my car engine solid even though it had a 75% mixture of anti-freeze.
The cave though remained warm, dont kid yourself about all this constant 18-20 degree all year round stuff that you read about, as a general rule its correct but in a hard winter you absolutley need a fire or some form of heating. If you have or plan to buy a cave with a flat roof like ours you will need to clean the snow off before it melts, 18" of snow times by 100sq metres is alot of water when melted so be safe and get rid of it. Firewood can be ordered from various local suppliers and there is no shortage, a trailerfull will cost from 60 euros but by far the most economical way is to order a lorry full, the last load we bought cost us 312 euros if you aim for 10cents a kilo and order 3 tonnes you will have enough Almond/Olive/Oak to last a full winter and more.
All in all the winter of 2004/5 was quite spectacular, the views of the mountains snowcapped until April were beautifull and the fresh air a free and healthy joy. I would not swap it for my old 3 bed central heated semi in a thousand years.
Do you have a good firewood supplier? Huescar/Orce/Castillejar/Cullar/Galera etc? Let everyone know about it! - tell us in the forum.
2 comments:
OMG Not seen snow since I left the UK some 5 or more years ago. So I was right to keep my snow gear then...lol
Used to live in the hills in County Durham so snow like that is not daunting, but it might freak out the mutleys only one of them has ever seen snow but she is so old I doubt she would remember.
You have just inspired me to use my blog, as a record of our trials and tribulations, when we finally get into our cave home.
Yup, it did get a bit hairy for a couple of days although 10km down the A92 the snow was gone. Which part of Durham did you used to live? I only ask because I know the area well, small world eh?
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