Fab weekend away in Jerez (very bottom left tip of Spain near Cadiz – chasing the last of the summer sun) last Fri, Sat, Sun with Greeners, Janine & Jane – no Sarah this time as she was heading back from a week – in Spain! – with Paul on the same day.
Great little city, especially if you like sherry (which I don't!) – but the girls had their hooters firmly stuck in a variety of Oloroso glasses, none of which seemed to cost over 1.5 Euros a pop, bloody marvellous.
Luckily my needs were well catered for, with the delights of the Spanish 'free pour' approach to gigantic gin and tonics Jane here with her eyeballs popping out as the nice man just … kept… on … pouring….!
And I had the first of my early birthday treats – a fantastic lunch of hams, salamis, cheeses, peppers, breads, tomatoes in every colour from Jerez market – love a tapas-y, picnic-y scoff-fest. And in 25 degree heat, right by the pool in our very nice AirBnB – we lucked out there.
And I suppose any trip to Jerez wouldn't be complete with the obligatory trip to a sherry bodega / winery – so off we went round the Gonzalez Byass one. Complete with some very cute features – a red train that drives you round some of the enormous estate. A little tiny ladder leaning on a large sherry glass in the production area, for the 'Happy Mice of Jerez' to climb up and sup the liquid delights. Even a set of barrels signed by various 'celebs' – from Margaret Thatcher to Bobby Charlton, quite bizarre.
OK, so my feet then swelled up to giganteous size from all the walking, and it took my 3 days when home to even get my trainers done up again, plus I was puffy as hell rushing to the bodega tour in particular, so there are always reminders of what I can't do and what's wrong. But it was still a weekend where far, far more was very, very good and time away with friends in the warm, laughing, chatting and forgetting the rest of the rubbish is a very precious and much appreciated thing.
Thanks again girls – and as we were saying, here's to the next one. San Sebastian? x