The Daily Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 3030 by Angharad Copyright© 2016 Angharad

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This is a work of fiction any mention of real people, places or institutions is purely coincidental and does not imply that they are as suggested in the story.
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The views from Santa Agueda are second only to El Torro, the latter being the highest point on the island; however, the trek up to Santa Agueda is much more challenging. It takes about an hour and laden as we were with food and drinks plus a couple of ground sheets to sit on, we easily took that long if not a bit longer. And at times the little ones complained about being tired or we had to stop for someone to have a wee.

We did eventually ascend to the summit of the hill and although somewhat fraught and tired, the kids ran around the place when we got there. Eventually we settled on a place which was safe — there are drops over the side — and sufficiently sheltered from the wind for us to set up camp and serve lunch.

Basically, the meal was sandwiches of cheese or ham with a loose salad of lettuce, tomatoes, spring onions and cucumber with olives for them what likes ’em and crisps for those who aren’t into healthy eating. I also had some apples and oranges for afters, plus of course more drinks. No wonder I was tired, this lot was jolly heavy and full marks to Danielle and Stephanie who helped me hump it up the hill and even the smaller girls carried a bit in their rucksacks.

After a decent repast, my inclination was to close my eyes and nod off to sleep, but we needed to keep them focused on the children who were still buzzing around like a hive of excited bees. Common sense should have told them we had to walk just as far to go back to the car as we had walking up, but childhood is not a state bothered by common sense or consequences, so they ignored my exhortations to sit down and rest for a few minutes.

Lizzie did succumb to slumber while reclining on my lap and I had visions of carrying her back down the hill as well as I had most of the way up. Stephanie was in a similar position with Emily who was snoozing on her mother’s lap. Cate came and sat with us first and next thing she was asleep leaning against me. Eventually the horseplay ended and some very red faced and hot young women came to pester me for drinks. Thankfully, I had just about enough for everyone, plus some more in the car.

At three o’clock, with temperatures of about thirty degrees Celsius, we began the descent of the south face of Santa Agueda. At least we weren’t bothered by snow fields or ice slips, or even avalanches, just some overtired and fretful young women who I suspected needed some sugary drinks and a rest to restore them to their normal energetic selves.

At one point, Danielle took Cate down the path carrying her piggyback — for this to happen, I had to carry Danielle’s rucksack because she couldn’t do both. Trish and Livvie took it in turns to carry the groundsheet and Hannah and Meems helped with the uneaten food — there wasn’t much of it and some of that got nibbled on the descent.

An hour after we set off, assisted to some extent by gravity and full tummies, we emerged out onto the road a couple of hundred yards from where I’d parked my car with Stephanie tucked in behind it in her hire car. We set off back to Ferreries and stopped there for ice creams, which Stephanie paid for. I had a dark chocolate Magnum and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Back at home I sat on the patio watching an eagle soaring over the ridge above the nature reserve while the children played in the pool under Danielle’s supervision. Stephanie, who doesn’t usually walk that far in a week, had zonked on one of the recliners under one of the umbrellas.

A cuppa restored me enough to look in the fridge and, it being Spain, I did a large paella with assorted bits I found in the fridge or freezer plus a mound of rice which I fried and then boiled off the added water. I’ve made nicer ones but they were all hungry and once served it disappeared off the plates quite quickly. According to Danni, Cindy’s mum gets a frozen readymade one you can heat in the microwave, from Lidl, which is quite nice. I might have a look-see next time I’m in Lidl.

After the dishes and general clear up, I insisted the girls call their dad and Tom and chat to them. Tom was there but Simon was up in town at a meeting, so they spoke to their granddad and according to them, cheered him up no end. After half an hour to read, I told them it was bedtime — having put the little ones to bed while they were on the phone to Tom. There were the normal grumbles but within a very short time they were all fast asleep. Danielle sat with Steph and I for a short time but she was tired too and retired early. A little later, Stephanie yawned and declared she couldn’t keep her eyes open a minute longer and after telling me not to talk to any strange ghosts or goddesses, she went off to bed.

I sat by myself listening to the cicadas and aware I was being watched. When I slowly turned around, the gecko which normally hides up under the eaves of the house, scrambled away from my gaze. Last time I was here I tried to photograph him, but he wouldn’t cooperate, vanishing as soon as he saw the camera. One of these days I’ll borrow a trap or trail camera from the uni and that’ll stop his caper. For those not in the know, these are motion sensitive video cameras with dark lights so the lights shine enough to show the object but are not seen by the object which remains blissfully unaware they’re on film. We have some nice ones in the university but I’ve only used them once or twice for my dormice studies — they can be rather difficult to use if you lack the practice. I did eventually get them to roll and we did get photos of dormice eating from the feeding stations we erect when we release them back to their future. Remember these dormice have been reared in captivity and have never had to work so hard for the food they get to eat.

According to our figures, well over half of the hibernating mice are still there — no not in hibernation, listen will you, three years after they were released and supported by leaving natural food deposited by their enclosure feeding station. It’s checked every couple of days by our volunteers who clean off the rotting stuff and replace it with fresh. We have special wire around it to keep squirrels at bay — they can be a real pest.