Day 24 - Cabo del Gata National park

Dreamy night- the wind dropped earlier than forecast and no sound but the sea. Unfortunately, the hope of watching the sunrise was killed off by the clouds but it wasn’t long before they cleared enough to enjoy a little warmth. Hung around for a while as the setting was so lovely, had a chat with an English guy, a full-timer trying his first Spanish winter who had based himself on this stretch for a few days. Tea and toast and on the road again….

A few metres  Along the road was an ex guardia civil headquarters that, although now boarded up, had a terrace that gave a great view back to our stop last night. 

There is a large industrial site just along the road that isn’t very appealing to look at then the landscape opens up again with coveted crops and distant hills before heading back to the coastal strip. At Mojocar at we headed inland to the old village. A traditional ‘pueblo blanco’ high above the old town, it had a charm and great views of the surrounding area but mostly it had a lot of gift shops and a lot of tourists!



After joining the hoards buying some ceramic tree decorations we head back down to the palm-lined seafront , sea was a bit too rough to be inviting but was certainly blue. 


From Mojacar the road opens up and there are some amazing views of the road ahead as it travels around the hills. We notice a viewpoint just too late but in this case it’s worth the Uturn to get back to it. 

 Just after Agua Amarga we climb the unmade track onto Mesa Roldan. Further than expected, and much rougher than G was happy with, it eventually reached a viewpoint with a lighthouse and old watchtower. Once again the views were incredible and it was easy to get a feel for the geology of the area which is key to its national park status.

Back down the bumpy track and the road continued past more scrub covered ‘mesa’ mountains. 

We head to Rodalquilar. A small town that is headquarters for the national park but the visitor centre is currently closed. However, we were more interested in walking around the disused gold mine that is in the hills on the edge of town, unlike yesterday this mine hasn’t got the colours and textures in the landscape but it does have derelict buildings and massive gold pans to wander around. Still no health and safety here but at least they have attempted to close the mine shaft!




At Pozo de Los Frailes another windmill caught our eye and caused us to overlook the waterwheel we’d intended to see. But in doing so we overshot and managed to get some salad from a small supermarket before turning back to find the waterwheelsitting squarely in the middle of the road… a little underwhelming as it’s been heavily restored but the irrigation ditches were intact.


So many stories of being moved on by police when trying to wild camp locally so we use a private aire. Really friendly staff and good facilities … and no possibility of a nighttime wake up. 

An evening of planning, some bills and banking and we are ready to go again tomorrow!


Mileage so far: 1235

Steps today: 9,100

Overnight: Cabo de Gata Camper Park, €15 (Easter price) Also supplied us with a replacement Campinggaz bottle €20 !!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 41 - Riberduero to Embalse de La Cuerda del Pozo

Image
 Waking to sunshine and cuckoos, definitely spring now. Really hard to leave with the sun shining so we take our time doing all the necessary tasks when you are taking advantage of staying at a campsite.  A little later than we should leave we hot the road but only for a couple of miles to the limestone castle in the adjacent village of Penafiel. On paper this is a walkable distance but being at the top of a high hill the drive is very welcome.  The castle is unlike any other we’ve seen. It sits along a narrow ridge and to do this had to be built long and narrow. It’s almost ship like with one tower in the centre like a giant funnel. It’s also unlike any other in that the only way to visit it is on a Spanish speaking guided tour and on a ticket that includes seeing the ‘wine museum’ that is housed within the castle walls (€6.60). We tack onto a tour but are unable to keep up with the Spanish, so wander at the tail end of the group enjoying the sunshine and trying to work ...
Read more

Ready to go!

Image
Seems a long time since we were heading back from Scotland and talking about avoiding some of the British winter and taking the van to Spain, but nine months later we are about to hit the road.  The last couple of weeks have been filled with packing and re-packing to make the most compact version of everything. With a vague idea that we might keep going for six weeks and temperatures that could easily stretch from single figures to 30+ deciding what is needed is a challenge! Ten years on I’m still managing to find tiny mods that add space (like the magnetic knife rack holding little metal boxes) …and adding more fairy lights. The long ferry journey will be a new experience. Graham lacks 'sea legs' so it remains to be seem how crossing the Bay of Biscay will go. Particularly as they’ve brought the sailing forward tonight due to impending high winds! There’s also the added complication of having to have some things in a bag to take to the cabin …this destroys my van organisation...
Read more

Spain Day 5 - San Sebastián to Pamplona

Image
Bright sunshine to wake to at last! Off to Pamplona. Mostly motorway but we moved to the smaller road for the last 20 mins or so. Blue skies and snow capped mountains visible as we climbed. Stunning roadside mirador opportunity where we also got our first view of circling vultures and saw trees filled with nests of processionary moth caterpillars high in the pines.  Finally got a chance to make a brief visit to a bigger supermarket and fill up the fridge and the fuel tank just before we reached the city. The aire here is very new, on the outskirts of town next to the fire station, but only a short walk away from the centre (with a glass lift to save the climb). Google wasn’t happy with the address but got us near enough to follow the signs. It’s the first time that we’ve seen lots of English vans, mostly returning from winters on the ‘costas’. It’s nice to chat about their recommendations and experiences. The aire seems to be somewhere that young people hang around and smoke weed w...
Read more