natjtan Part of of the last weekend of April and May Day can be found here.
I waited until the rain had stopped Sunday morning before running. I don’t mind running in the rain, however the rain was meant to stop half way through my run and as it was warmish I didn’t want deal with running tying jackets around my waist. I took advantage of waiting to get some overdue tidying done. That was until we went to Ikea this week to replace some shelving units, pulled everything out that I’ve still to go through along with rearranging furniture. The changes are better, so much space opened up!
Parc del Garraf
Run done in perfect running weather and hardly anyone out (even better!), I sprint cycled to the zoo to met P afterwards to look around the Earth Day Fair. He had a quick scout around the food stalls before meeting me as usually I skip them, however I changed my mind as the rest of the fair was quite small. I tired my first wheatgerm shot (tastes like spicy grass), debated over getting chips/fries which P solved by saying wedges when we got back. Healthier than chips and more bikini series friendly. As always the animal charities and stalls got all my change in the donation boxes and I may have picked up another tote bag, not that I need anymore, but how could I resist….
I’m not sure if the decoy owl’s there to keep the tamarins in check or someone climbed up and placed it from outside. 
May Day
Both our gyms were open so you guessed, gym workouts before they closed early. You have no idea how it felt to get my workout done early! Can it be like that everyday?!
Taking advantage of having a car (hence the trip to Ikea) and the longer evenings we decided to go hiking in Parc Garraf just outside the city. There’s a buddhist monastery (the only one in Catalunya) we thought we’d try to find and see if there any trails to explore leading from it. Driving further into the park, it wasn’t so much the road was getting narrower we turned back, more the amount of light to if we wanted to walk. We passed earlier a carpark with some trails leading off so turned around to explore them. 
The first path kinda petered out and we thought it continued along the limestone rocks. I’m not sure if most or part of the park is limestone but it looked like the path was getting narrower and narrower until ‘where’s the ‘f(insert your own)’s’ the trial!’. I think if you know the area you’re fine. I remember when we first visited the park reading a notice saying limestone cave openings can be anywhere so stick the paths and don’t let dogs off leads incase they fall down one. This was playing on my mind scrambling over the rocks. There was an notice saying you were in the safe hunting zone but neither of us could see the trail so did our best retracing our steps back the main path with me praying I don’t fall into a cavern! I had images popping up in my mind of me being suspended by my backpack that had caught on a rock edge dangling in some cave.
I loved how plants were growing in the limestone holes. 
P mentioned when we started the trial, he’d love to know how to forage for plants (I did a double what the!). Ironically we ended up being surrounded by rosemary bushes, thyme, fennel so he was happy while I was doing my best to avoid them. I’m not a fan of any of those herbs and the clean air was doing a number with my allergies. Seriously you can’t take me anywhere! I was content just to stop every now and then soaking up the buzz of insects, birds and silence. 
The second path was more Nat allergy friendly taking a closed off road leading I think up to an observatory. Plus there were dogs to say hello to, so even better! 
How did you spend May Day?
I think the fake owl might be a security camera. They have those hidden cameras here perched on top of stores, overlooking the parking lots.
[…] Part 2 here! […]