Yes Rog.... but have you ever seen the collection of snow ploughs and gritters that are permanently kept at SomoSierra 70km north of Madrid ?
Must be at least 50 of them and they patrol that main road north gritting at the slightest excuse !
They put the UK to shame LOL.....
And if you think Spanish drivers are....lets be kind here ....' not that good '.......dont ever try driving with them in ice, snow....or even heavy rain........that really IS frightening......so perhaps its just as well that their cars usually freeze up from lack of anti freeze !!
Lynda
Lynda, you know this, you have lived here but people always have the misnomer that Spain is just a hot country, nearly all the north of Spain and that includes the Barcelona Med coast as well can become very cold, were only 2 hrs from Andorra and its ski resorts, north of Madrid you have Burgos, its always -8 there in the winter for at least a couple of months and colder, we regularly get to -5 here near Sitges although Sitges does not get these temperatures, its protected and has its own microclimate hence the 300 days of sunshine we get, we live inland about 8 kms from Sitges and we are about 750 feet up so feel it, its always at least 4 deg colder here than in Sitges even in the summer, as I type this i have a layer of ice already formed overnight on the pool, but seriously it only lasts for a day or so at max and then we are back to normal cold sunny days
The houses here are the main problem, they simply are not geared up for the cold, its only in the last few years that double glazing, central heating and cavity/roof insulation are becoming the norm, tiled floors are freezing in the winter, hence the big rush to the dry cleaners to pick up the rugs that they store for you over the summer.... We have a woodburner which we keep going for most of the winter, our heating/hot water runs off gasoil (diesel) as we dont have natural gas supply, last year I used 2000 litres and this years it costs €1.06/litre, we use that in the 4 months of winter!!
We have had more snow and colder temperatures here than we ever did in Winchester and yes when it does get bad the drivers over here have no idea whatsoever in how to adapt their driving for the elements, Its either stop or flat out but when that sun comes out all is forgiven!
Yesterday we had the gritters out and today the local schools are closed as its so cold, the snow didnt lay yesterday but more is expected today although looking out the window now all i can see is blue sky and sun although it is minus 4, so as soon as the sun hits the garage i am back to building the bike!!!
Neil
