Introduction & Author Biography
The Mining Geeks Guide
I imagine that most of you, like I, going to the Sunday market at Villaricos have seen the small mountain behind the town and seen the abandoned structures along the coast and never imagined the amazing rich history of the area.
Most of us that is except Margaret Davies who, “As the years passed by, I was no further to understanding what I was seeing as I walked in the Sierra Almagrera. For example, what was the “Lost Village” and why was it there? Each visit raised more questions than answers. Nothing seemed to make sense, nothing was logical. I couldn’t work out the how, the what or the why. Finally, I started to research the history of mining in the area.”
And research she did ! The fruit of her research is a 3 volume history “The Mining Geeks Guide”.
Margaret has given us permission to publish a chapter each Friday.
You can find all the chapters currently published on Vera Playa News here: Mining Geeks Guide
Note: you don’t have to wait a week to see each chapter. You can go directly to her website to see them all at any time.
Also you can visit her Facebook Page
Margaret Davies
Born in Stoke-on-Trent, in the days when it still had coal, steel, pottery and tyre manufacturing industries, educated by Dominican nuns, Margaret was encouraged both at home and at school to be curious. After a largely uneventful working life, 20 years as a primary school teacher, 15 years running a design and decorating business and 10 years as an administrator for a carpet retailer, (the only job in which she ever had to use π!), Margaret has reached the golden age of retirement.
Freed from the shackles of gainful employment, with more time spent holidaying with friends who lived in the foothills of the Sierra Almagrera, Margaret became intrigued by the ruins scattered all over the mountains.
Still a child at heart, forever exploring and discovering, Margaret set out to try and understand the Sierra Almagrera’s mining heritage. The result, ‘The Mining Geek’s Guide’ website, is the product of six years of investigation and self-education. In it, the mining industry of the Almagrera is described and illustrated in the book series ‘Then, There Were Mines’ along with other things found on the way.
Still a work in progress, ‘Then, There Were Mines’ keeps her busy researching, and her long standing, long suffering, husband formatting her books.
It’s a hard life!