Glock, glock glock…
That rithmic sound, snow melts and drops falling from the roof on the window ledge, was my alarm clock that day. Immediatly my eyes were wide open. Yeah, at least! I murmured excited to myself. Cold wind from Central Europe plus East Mediterranean moisture brought the long-waited snowshower to Antequera, my hometown, last Thursday.
Time flew thus, whithout thinking twice and fighting against lazyness I set a very unambitious plan to fellows and partner. We´d drive, as far as the road allowed us, towards Torcal and after a sttuning walk we could be back home to have lunch.
Twice hours later, there on top of that impressive cliff, a soft, freezing breeze brushed my face meanwhile I enjoyed gazing those lush whitish meadows and how Villa river looked like a huge black snake crawling through that pale valley. Far away, Papabellotas castle and Antequera city turned up between clouds.
We had fun guessing and matching, as a crossword, footprints and wild life. The most striking trace was the one in which we could appreciate the “perfect fox walking” (rear legs are usually placed exactly where the front foot had been) bisecting with the track of a small bird jumping on the snow, what are almost certainly a pipit or a lark ´cause there was a thin line drawn between both feet.
Letting imagination run free, it it could done by a pipit or a lark bird that, in order to fix and isolate its groundy net, it had been dragging a twig that morning. It is well known that almost pipits and larks are ground nester and last night was extremely cold, especially for such tiny animals. Unfortunately, none footprint steped on other, thus I couldn´t guess which animal had walked there first but, knowing their cleverness and the lack of red blood in nearby areas, I had put all my money on the fox.
The play avoiding karstic rocks covered with white cream let me back completely focused, meanwhile, the stress that had built up over the past week disappeared without a trace. The same happened with that snow when the sun’s first rays hit the scenery. For doubters, just wait for a year.
Autor del post: Damián Gómez Soto
