Exploring The Countryside

After surviving the more or less nonstop rain for all of April, we are starting to see some sun again in May, however we are suffering from some icy northeasterly (I love words that are their own opposites) gusts that will chill you to the bone if you're not wearing a good sweater, the same sweater that will make you unbearably hot the moment the wind stops. As a result, it's really not comfortable to be outside, no matter what you are wearing. On Sunday, however, we braved the elements to take a walk up to Colindres de Arriba, an older part of town, which I've mentioned before. I love being a short fifteen minute walk away from the green ovine-speckled countryside. Here are some photos from our walk.

The walk up there takes us under the motorway that connects us very conveniently to Santander to the west and Bilbao to the east. I liked how the arrow was pointing right at the Laredo skyline.

Springtime has brought us some adorable little calves. These calves seemed happier than mine after walking up the hill to get there.

The lush green mountainside.

Each of the thirty or so times I've walked up to Colindres de Arriba, I have been unable to avoid taking this photograph of the medieval church with the Pico Candiano behind it.

The coats of arms on the houses are those of the families that have owned the land for centuries.

We finally made it up to the church. Nora walked the whole way, but requested the stroller on the way back.

Just then, we heard some bells and saw a shepherd walking up the cobblestone path with about fifty sheep behind him.

Can you count them without dozing off?

The sheep were headed down to a relatively new park to graze. We went down after them and were impressed by the seemingly effortless control the shepherd, with his dog, had over controlling where their captives went.

I took advantage of this foreground subject to capture the view of this old haunted-looking mansion we can see from our house.

Sheeple and steeple.

The visibility was great, and we could clearly make out the hermitage on the Pico de las Nieves.

My walking companions.

A maternal kiss.

On the way home, we stopped at a park to see and saw for a bit. Then we went home and fried up some fresh anchovies for dinner.

We had a lovely day, and I hope you enjoyed these photos.