The snows have gone, here comes the rain.

The land had dried out nicely after all the snows and driving along the dirt tracks isn't a problem anymore, although the chance of keeping your car clean for longer than 2 seconds is remote.

Yesterday was a friend's 50th birthday and he had arranged a birthday luncheon at Casa Joya, which is accessed down a dirt track which takes about 10 mins to drive, so is some distance. My only concerns about going to Casa Joya is the condition of the track as there are some steep sections to it. Yesterday was a beautiful, sunny morning, if a bit cool, and since we hadn't had any rain for several days the track was going to be in good shape to drive.

The birthday lunch was a Greek menu and there were about 20 of us there to enjoy an absolutely fabulous meal. There was just so much food, so may different dishes to enjoy - it was really, really good. Just after we arrived it had started to rain and it continued the whole time we were there, but I hadn't realised just how heavy a downpour it was.

4 hours later we all began to leave and the amount of water that had fallen became very apparent. I had said I would drive home so Neil could have a drink, as I often do and so I ran across the carpark to the car. This was when I realised my first error - I had open-toe high-heeled shoes on. The carpark was now an inch thick with mud and by the time I got to the car my shoes were also an inch thick with mud, as were my toes!

As we set off there is a fairly steep climb out of the carpark. As I tried to get the car up and round the corner I felt the back end start to slip. Neil was coaching me how best to handle the car in the mud but I had only gone about 200 metres when it was obvious I was not going to be able to drive us out of the Rambla, I was too hesitant. When we bought the car we lived in Terreros by the coast. We had the chance of buying a 4x4 version of the car but we couldn't see any need so had bought the 2x4. We weren't to know that 2 years later we would be living in the mountains, using dirt tracks and Rambla tracks as roads and having to deal with snow, ice and everything else this winter has thrown at us. Oh, do wish we'd paid the extra for the 4x4. Still, we didn't so we have to make do.

Making do yesterday entailed stopping the car on a flat spot and swapping over so Neil could drive us back to the tarmac road. To say it was a bit hair-raising is an understatement. How all the cars managed to get out of the Rambla and onto the road is a mystery to me, I thought someone would get stuck.

Open-toed high heels is definitely NOT the correct footwear for the conditions but Neil very kindly cleaned them up for me when we got home. The meal was fabulous, the company was great fun but next time I'm there and it starts to rain, I think I could be leaving before dessert!