Author: CaravanRamblings

Day 18 and the bikes were dusted off for a ride into San Jose, which is probably the largest of the little coastal villages within the Cabo de Gato National Park.

We started along the track behind the campsite but it wasn’t really suitable for hybrid bikes. Maybe a proper mountain bike would have been fine but the dirt track was littered with stones and small boulders making cycling difficult to say the least.

At around 2 miles, abandoning the dirt track, we re-joined the road for the remainder of the trip to San Jose. The roads are fairly quiet and the drivers very cyclist aware, considerate and patient – just like blighty (not).

We ate at a restaurant in the port with stunning views across the bay and town. Menu of the day was priced at 10 Euros each – Mo had Sardines and Sole, I had the Calamari and Grouper – all very good and a long leisurely lunch.

 

It’s now Day 17 and the stormy weather has passed. It took much of the morning to re-assemble the contents of our awning and begin to plan what to do during our stay here in Los Escullos.

In the afternoon we drove to Rodalquilar, which has a number of abandoned Gold mines and it was here that at least one of the Indiana Jones films was shot.

There are lots of old abandoned mine workings but despite heading up the mountain dirt track (by car!) we weren’t able to locate the mines but perhaps we will return a little later with some additional information.

We then drove to El Playazo, which is also the location of Castillo de San Ramos. From there we walked along a coastal path to Las Negras but we weren’t able to complete the entire walk as we’d set off without any supplies and in particular without water.

Dinner was at the site restaurant.

 

Sleep was difficult due to the banging and clattering from the sun shades above us and the pitch just behind us. The caravan was being shaken around, not dissimilar to airline turbulence. The “Sunshine” awning providing a giant sail to add to the discomfort.

At 04:00, we decided to take a look outside. Well, nearly every awning peg had been dislodged; the sides of the awning were being violently flapped  around, totally unsecured; anything not anchored down was blowing around – complete chaos. We dismantled what we could in the dark and re-pegged everything, just hoping it would last until the morning when we would have to take apart and stow all our outdoor items… Finally back to bed at 05:00.

Woke again at 08:00 and checked the weather – accuweather was forecasting winds of 55km/h and gusts of nearly 80 km/h. There was no way we would be able to take the awning down – it would behave like a giant sail.

In addition to this, a 4m length of rebar was hanging from the next pitch and being tossed around like a giant swing in the wind – nicely poised to impale itself into ours or one of the other vans nearby.

An urgent call to service and eventually Manuel arrived in his pickup truck and started to tear down the sun shade and it’s metal supports. We saw no evidence whatsoever that so-called EU bureaucracy has had any influence on Health and Safety, as Manuel climbed his ladder in the gusting winds and stripped down the shading!

Given we couldn’t dismantle the awning, we re-pegged everything again (in fact double-pegged most things) and have spent the entire day waiting for the winds to subside. It’s now nearly 18:00 when the weather warning expires, the wind is still strong in bursts but not quite so frequent. The awning is still just about surviving…

Perfect opportunity to get back on track with the blog…

A lazy start to the day and further sorting out of our campsite pitch. The pitches are all covered with a high mesh screen to keep the sun at bay. Probably useful in July and August but in April?

It’s all held in place by lots of wire and chunky steel rebar (re-inforcement bar). Some of this looks a little precarious, particularly if it becomes somewhat windy. The pitch behind us already had several multi-metre lengths abandoned on the ground and another loose piece poised to join them.

 

 

 

Later in the afternoon, we walked into Los Escullos via a far from picturesque service road.

 

 

We are in the Cabo de Gato / Nijar national park and it’s bleak, remote and quiet. Los Escullos was like some kind of abandoned wild west town (it is of course near here that the Spaghetti Westerns were all filmed back in the 60s / 70s). By the time we reached Los Escullos the wind had picked up and the walk had become rather unpleasant.

Evening was a BBQ under our new awning in chilly and rather windy conditions. That’s when the phone beeped to tell us of a severe weather warning for the Almeria region – extreme winds from 03:00 to 18:00. Time to check everything is secure…

So we are finally leaving Camping La Rosaleda and heading for Camping Los Escullos, near to Los Escullos, and about 25 miles east of Almeria.

As usual, we left later than anticipated, although upon our arrival at the campsite reception (to check out), we hadn’t factored in Sunday and its late opening. We had to wait until reception opened to settle our account, finally hitting the road circa 09:15. It took around 6 hours to cover the 300 miles to Los Escullos. Our journey times were considerably improved due to the recent opening of the A7 all the way from Malaga to Almeria. It’s just as well, since the old N340 road would have been a very slow journey.

There was some spectacular scenery along the way but nothing had quite prepared us for the endless polytunnels. Mile upon mile upon mile of plastic greenhouses and “structures”. Apparently this is where the UK gets most of its tomatoes from – an all year round operation. Maybe they supply all of Northern Europe too…

We arrived about 15:30 and were fully set up within around 4 hours – including our latest edition, an Isabella “Sunshine” awning.

Doesn’t she look splendid and so much space for all our toys and comforts. Of course there aren’t any front panels but then, this is Spain and the weather will be hot and dry…

Dinner was at the campsite restaurant, which was pleasant enough but the food not in the same class as the Camping La Rosaleda fare.

Mo returned yesterday from blightly and brought back with her an additional 2 days of rain, giving us the perfect opportunity to catch up with some chores.

Later in the week we hiked to our favourite restaurant at the Port of Conil.

 

 

Most of Friday and part of Saturday was spent packing and preparing for our move to Almeria. Friday evening we headed into town via the beach bar and ate Pizza!

Monday, Day 8 and a much earlier start in order to drop Rich off at Malaga airport and to pick up Mo, who is returning on an easyjet flight from Bristol.

The journey by car from Conil to Malaga was much better timed, arriving at Malaga airport around 09:45, just in time to swap my Rich guest for the wife, Mo.

Except that Mo’s flight was an hour late. I’d heard from Mo whilst the plane was taxiing to the runway, on-time at 06:05 BST just as we were leaving Conil and had been informed that everything looked good for a timely departure.

So why the 1 hour delay.

Well, you may find this a little far fetched, but the delay wasn’t due to air traffic control nor as a result of the French being on strike again – easyjet had left a passenger behind at the departure gate. A disabled octagenarian lady had been abandoned at the gate and presumably some kind of last minute head count had revealed a missing passenger. So, the flight returned to the stand retrieved the said little old lady and helped her board the flight.

I think someone probably got their backsides kicked that morning…

 

Rich’s final day in Spain and a trip to Cadiz. We toured mostly the same route as Mo and I had done one year earlier. The details of that trip are here – Cadiz.

Rich, however, is living up to his name – he is currently waiting for a tooth implant following a botched NHS root canal filling. His entire procedure is costing just shy of £2,500 and that’s from one of his dentist friends at the Tennis club. With friends like that…

On a more serious note, dental implants were being offered in Cadiz for a total price of Euros 660 and from what we have seen and experienced of health care in Spain, I’m sure the work would be fine.

 

Rich and I had arrived back at the campsite the night before in time to reserve 2 seats for the trip to Gibraltar and this weekend, the coach would be departing.

 

We arrived around 11:00am at Gibraltar and had no delays crossing into the UK. It hadn’t occurred to us of course that some UK sterling might have been convenient but fortunately, everywhere seemed to accept Euros as well as pounds.

 

 

 

We were booked on an Island coach tour – the campsite had charged 35 Euros per head for the day and this included the coach from Conil to Gibraltar and the excursion around the island. This seemed pretty good value for money and I think had we done the trip independently it would have been somewhat more expensive.

The excursion took in all the sites and wound its leisurely way to the top of the rock. Stopping at all the key historical sites and entry to St Michael’s cave at the top of the rock was also included.

Lunch was at an Irish bar and the afternoon was spent walking around Gibraltar. Lots of cheap Whisky on offer but we didn’t take advantage of the low prices.

There is also the possibility to take the cable car to the top of the rock. Here’s a picture of the cable car and in the distance one can see the Gibraltar airport runway which crosses the main road to the island. Cars and pedestrians need to queue when a plane is taking off or landing.

Day 5 began with breakfast at the Hotel – the Hotel Puerto de la Sierra – which as it’s name implies, is situated at the head of the via verde we had cycled 1 day earlier.

After breakfast was a medium drive to the village of Ronda and a whistle-stop tour of this fascinating ancient village with its spectacular bridge(s).

Ronda is a mountaintop city in Spain’s Malaga province that’s set dramatically above a deep gorge. This gorge (El Tajo) separates the city’s circa-15th-century new town from its old town, dating to Moorish rule.

Puente Nuevo, a stone bridge spanning the gorge, offers sweeping views. New town’s Plaza de Toros, a legendary 18th-century bullring, is one of the city’s most recognisable landmarks.

The tour was brief as we needed to be back at the campsite early evening as there was a possibility of places on a coach tour the next day to Gibraltor.