Another day in our El Cable studio. This morning we have a clear view to the bottom of the valley. A conveyor belt of cloud clings to the opposite hilltops, above it a brilliant blue sky and beneath, rich earthy tones of beech trees turning. This remarkable division created by the band of cloud appeared at eye level, giving me the sense of being able to peer into a world of altitude above and depth below. This sense of altitude becomes the impetus behind the day’s painting.
We ascend the ‘quick way’ in pouring rain, down Canal de la Jenduda; a canal being a gully. This is the only walk-able route to break through the sheer amphitheatre shaped rock face separating El Cable from Fuente De. Needless to say it is steep, almost vertical, added to which quickly falling mist sends our approach slightly off-track so that we find ourselves having to scale a modest cliff that makes up one side of the canal. The gully was steep, but scree and mud allowed us to dig our heals in and edge down easy enough, but if we had to climb up again it would have been a very different story. I was praying I had read the map correctly and not taken us down one of any of the other gullies, all of which emerge above sheer cliffs.
This mini adventure however, was rewarded with a fantastic find; a black, bright red bellied salamander (I cannot find example anywhere, possibly it is a variation of fire salamander or Alpine newt?) scrambling blindly over fine scree and pebbles which would occasionally dislodge sending him cart-wheeling further down the gully.
It turns out the quick way down is not so quick and we arrive home in the dark, soaking wet but happy to have seen such an incredible creature and survived its dank, gloomy environment.
We ascend the ‘quick way’ in pouring rain, down Canal de la Jenduda; a canal being a gully. This is the only walk-able route to break through the sheer amphitheatre shaped rock face separating El Cable from Fuente De. Needless to say it is steep, almost vertical, added to which quickly falling mist sends our approach slightly off-track so that we find ourselves having to scale a modest cliff that makes up one side of the canal. The gully was steep, but scree and mud allowed us to dig our heals in and edge down easy enough, but if we had to climb up again it would have been a very different story. I was praying I had read the map correctly and not taken us down one of any of the other gullies, all of which emerge above sheer cliffs.
This mini adventure however, was rewarded with a fantastic find; a black, bright red bellied salamander (I cannot find example anywhere, possibly it is a variation of fire salamander or Alpine newt?) scrambling blindly over fine scree and pebbles which would occasionally dislodge sending him cart-wheeling further down the gully.
It turns out the quick way down is not so quick and we arrive home in the dark, soaking wet but happy to have seen such an incredible creature and survived its dank, gloomy environment.
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