Mountain Walk and Polenta Cake

I know this post isn't strictly foodie, but I really want to take you on a walk through the Spanish mountains of Torrealqueria. Plus, walks sometimes end in cake.

As soon as the heat dropped this evening, we headed out for a walk. Can we call it a hike? I broke a sweat, so we'll call it a hike. We rambled up the mountains for a couple of blissful hours,it was an evening away from the kitchen, moments spent totally in awe of the vast landscape and ever-changing dramatic light.

My friend Emily is working for my parents at Rancho Del Ingles. 
I have popped over for the week to cook for a yoga retreat,so we got a chance to catch up and act silly up a mountain.

Emily wanted to swim, so I begrudgingly filled the pool with pails of water from the well. It took forever. ;)

I'm going to have to work out how to upload a video here because the chorus of bells rattling from these goats' necks is one my favourite sounds and I want you to hear it.

We reached the top and turned back to the most incredible view over the mountains and sea, that would you believe, I forgot to take a picture of. There's something to be said for enjoying the moment and taking it in through your eyes and not a lens.

On our descent, we took a wrong turn but made little discoveries we wouldn't have made otherwise. It's easy to feel philosophical up a mountain and we agreed that our walk was like a metaphor for life. Although a  struggle to get up there to the top, it felt like an unknown journey, richly rewarding at times but with the odd wrong turn or rocky slip up on the way.

Excuse me for the iphone pics and who knows if I captured the beauty of this walk for you guys, but if you want to recreate the post walk-let's skip dinner-orange and polenta cake I have made it here before. I added a little set blood orange curd and cold Greek yogurt with thyme flowers as a nod to our escape into the wilderness.