Ongi etorri ! Bienvenido ! Welcome !

Welcome to the new blog devoted to 'urgarden', a project which we started a few weeks ago. We've been living here in Euskal Herria for over a year and are kind of in love with this area - the mountains, the people, the living etc... but there's one thing which really gets our goat, and you would never expect it from a nation who are so proud of their land! And the problem ? The rivers .... could be beautiful but they are full of rubbish, either from people absent mindedly throwing away their litter/car tires/TVs, or from some recent heavy flooding which the area received which destroyed communities and left a big mess in it's way !

So, inspired to do something (as, like in many other places, 'red-tape' and 'pass-the-blame' are also common here), we're started a voluntary cleaning group. The name - urgarden - is formed from the basque words 'ur' (water) and 'garden' (clear). Eskerrik asko Ekaitz, asmaketa oso ondo da ! We chose a basque name as we want locals to participate and the end result will be in their interests. But this blog will be written primarily in Castellano or English (as I'm hopeless at Euskara at the moment !). So don't feel offended or confused if one moment you see Castellano y el otro Euskara irakurtzen ari zara - we like to mix things up a bit, like a bag of pick n' mix sweets :)

We're going to be keeping things up to date with this blog and our facebook group (urgarden), and then hopefully you will also have a nice selection of photos and videos every so often.

We're not die hard ecologists, but when you go for a walk and you see scenery like this.....

                                                          and then later on you come across this:

                                                                            its a bit sad isn't it ?

So, animate !! Come along one day and give us a helping hand - if its cold there will probably be tea/coffee, and if its hot, a beer to inspire you !

                                                                         AUPA URGARDEN !!!