Now we know what it's been like in the UK!

At 6am each morning Brinkley wakes me to go out. Now, it's normally still pitch black at 6am, so I open the front door just wide enough for him to get through and while he's out I make a coffee to take back to bed. Brinkley will paw at the door to get back in, and I again open it just wide enough to let him in and to keep out the cold weather and we all go back to bed for another couple of hours.

Yesterday morning when I let him back in - he was covered in snow. Now, this wasn't forecast. Heavy rain was forecast with snow above 1500m (we're at 1000m). After towelling him dry I peeked out of the door to see a light covering of snow on the car, pretty much like previous occasions, so I closed the door and went back to bed.

A couple of hours later, I knew we had a fair amount of snow as the tv signal started to break up on ITV, indicating the satellite dish was probably filling up with snow. Neil very chivalrously offered to don big boots and dressing gown and went up onto the roof terrace to clear the dish.

That was when we realised this was not snow like before. This was snow of mega-proportions. This was 'snowed in for the day' snow. It was 6 inches deep and still falling. We decided we would go back to bed for another hour as we wouldn't be going anywhere today.

By 10am the snow was over 8 inches deep, the dogs were struggling to walk through it and were jumping like tiny deer. Brandy was desperately looking for somewhere to pee, but the snow was upto his willie and he couldn't work out what to do!

We both decided to shower and then have breakfast and literally, as the last egg was finishing cooking - the power went off, then came back on, then went off again. After a few more on-off moments, it went off for good.

We kicked the calor gas fire into action to keep the house warm, and as we have a gas hob which doesn't require electric we were alright for cooking.

We decided to clear a little of the snow away to make an area that the dogs could walk and do what they needed to do, with out the snow freezing their little what'sits off, and then, as we still had no power, out came the cards and dominoes.

One thing about living close to your neighbour is that you can always check if their power is on/off too, or if it's just you. Here, well, we have a real hike to our neighbours through deep snow but with no electric, no phone, there was little alternative. So, at mid-day we got all our waterproof golfing gear out and started the trek up the hill.

By now it had started to warm up a little and the snow had turned to rain. I was so tempted to turn back, it was really difficult to walk uphill through snow which at times was upto our knees as it had drifted. The rain was heavy and blowing into our faces, but we decided to continue. We had plenty off layers on, we were in waterproofs and it had taken about half an hour to get dressed to leave the house - we were going to continue!

I have to say, if I thought the walk to the ruin on Sunday was hard work, it was a stroll in the park compared to walking through deep, fresh snow! We took several short rests on the way up but we finally made it. To say Janet & Graham were amazed is an understatement of enormous proportions. We happened to arrive just as Janet was making some Cola Cao (hot chocolate) and it was so welcome, especially after she offered to add some Brandy.

We stayed for a couple of hours and began to put all our waterproofs on again for the trek home. The whole valley looked wonderful and the walk home was easier as, in the main, it was down hill.

It was still raining and the snow was thawing rapidly. Whether it will all go before the temperature drops again tonight is anyone's guess. We are due some more rain overnight, but the snow level has been changed to 800m so if it does rain, we will get it as snow.

After 7 hours the power finally came back on, but we kept a candle lit for the rest of the evening..........just incase!

Now, be honest, how many of you though Southern Spain and Snow went together? Well, there are ski resorts around Granada - it's not all about sea & sun!