All Change!

Isn’t it always the way – just when you think you have everything sorted, everything changes! That’s been the week I’ve had. It all started a week ago…

I like to think of myself as a creature of habit. I have my own little routines and I’m happy the way things are. Take the evenings for example. 9.30pm out for a little prebed walk followed by a piece of ham and a few biscuits before a snooze. Well last Sunday 9.30 arrived but the walk didn’t! 9.45 then 10 o’clock. I kept asking when we were going but all I was told was I needed to wait. Why I wondered. I looked at the clock but it only said 9 o’clock but my belly said 10! Then Dad explained. The clocks had all been changed on Saturday night ready for the winter. Noone told me and I hadn’t changed my clock! So first change of the week!

As October changes to November, winter starts to arrive. I’m not that keen on Halloween. We always watch scary films and then they expect me to go for a walk in the dark! Yeah right! It’s the nearest tree and I’m done! This year was a bit different too because Dads were going to go into Peniscola for an hour to watch a TERRORific parade. I decided to stop at home because you can’t have a fiesta in Spain without fireworks and I hate them! That was a good choice because the parade was full of them to chase the evil spirits away! I prefer a sleep on a comfy bed.

The first of November is a national holiday here (like in most Roman Catholic countries). El día del muertes or Day of the dead is a big celebration when everyone visits the graves of their ancestors to celebrate their lives. It should be cold – I remember going in the snow in Hungary – but this year it was 31C! And the town was packed! Well when in Rome… so we joined in the celebration with an ice cream from the local shop!

From the second of November it was all change again! The weather was cold, dark and we had a storm warning with 3m waves and 80kmh wind! All the tourists had left and everything, and I do mean everything, had closed for the season. The hotels, our favourite cafes and restaurants and even the local supermarket! What a change I thought as I remembered the crowds of people on the beach just a few days before.

We had planned to have a few quiet days because of the bad weather but, surprise again, it was calm, warm and sunny when we woke up! Dad had found a nature reserve nearby that is advertised as being dog friendly. Now that’s more like it, I thought, so we jumped in the car and were soon on our way.

The Ebro river delta is about 30 minutes from Peniscola and we were soon turning off the motorway to reach the reserve. This is a huge wetlands area, the second biggest in Europe and is home to over 400 different types of birds. Dad said we could stop at some of the observation spots if I promised to be quiet.

The road was very narrow – just big enough for our car and was risen up above the wetlands which stretched for miles on either side of us. The flooded fields were filled with what looked like tall green grass but Dad said that it was rice! Apparently rice doesn’t need to grow in water but it doesn’t hurt it and the flooded fields stop weeds from growing and the rice from getting pests. It’s a huge industry here and they grow over 425,000 tonnes a year!

Dad makes my dog food for me using meat, vegetables, pumpkin and, yep, rice. So how many dinners will all that rice make me? Let’s see … One 1 kilo bag makes 4 days of food for me. There’s 1000kg in a tonne so 425,000 tonnes makes …. too much for me to eat!

After a while we reach one of the observation platforms and I promise to be quiet so I can go and see the birds. I see a few small ones nearby and think they look interesting but then I spot something pink a bit farther away. Then I see more and more pink. Wow, I think look at all those flamingos! Now we have flamingos living near us back in Seville but not this many. Dad says let’s play a game and count how many there are. One, two, three, four, five, six…. That’s as high as I can count because I’m only six but there are so many I can’t imagine how many. In fact Dad says there are so many that the last time they were able to count them was in 2017 and there were 2700 pairs of flamingos! Apparently this is the only place in Catalonia where they breed so who knows how many there are now!

We decide to finish our visit with a trip to the beach, just a little bit farther away. Oh! I think as we arrive at the massive car park, it’s sand …. again! Don’t worry, Dad says we won’t get stuck, it’s been prepared to drive on!

The beach itself is wide and long, so long that I can’t see the end of it. The small waves splash onto the beach and I’m allowed off my leash! Yeah so much to explore. I sniff, dig and run all while avoiding the waves! What a lucky dog I am!