Each summer we used to run a double-spread article on the work of Infoca, the fire prevention and extinction service. This year we aren’t because it has been covered and covered again, each time emphasising the fact that Andalucía in the summer is far removed from the lush, green pastures of Northern Europe, and indeed, Northern Spain. However, reading about a German family who came to grief here during last month whilst on excursion in the campo indicates that you can never over do it with these warnings.

The Guardia Civil were already expecting the worst, when they came across a German mother at a gasoline station near Córdoba, disorientated, scratched and bruised.

She had become separated from her 5-year-old son whilst on excursion near the inhospitable and arid zone near the Santuario Virgen de la Estrella (Espiel, Córdoba).

The Guardia Civil immediately mounted a search operation, which ended sadly with the location of the young boy’s corpse in the early hours of the morning. The boy was lying under a bush, were he had evidently sheltered from the intense sun – the temperature had been around 40ºC that day. Lying next to the body were two backpacks and a 1.5l bottle of water – empty.