As I said in an earlier post, it isn’t possible to just take off and explore this National Forest on your own.

Hence we signed up to an “expedition” through the area on a jeep. Highlight of the trip was seeing a Lynx but sadly just wasn’t quick enough to be able to take a picture.

The area is a haven for birdlife and we saw numerous birds –  too many to recall. Lots of Red Kites, Black Kites, various eagles and a host of water birds.

Here’s a picture of Joe next to the tour “jeep”.

 

The El Rocio pilgrimage takes place next week over around 5 – 6 days, ending on the Monday. El Rocio will play host to 1 million pilgrims who will have made the journey mainly from Sevilla, along with 30,000 horses. That’s in a town of 900 inhabitants. Here is a leaflet we picked up from the campsite reception.

 

The main reason for visiting El Rocio was to explore the Donana National park. We expected it to be somewhat like the New Forest which it is and it isn’t.

Firstly, much of the National Park is not open to the unaccompanied public – so the idea of exploring the area on the bikes isn’t an option.

Secondly, it’s just so hot that the only time of day when it’s cool enough to walk or cycle is between about 08:00 and 10:30. Now I know why the Spanish enjoy their Siestas.

Today we visited the church in El Rocio which is home to the Virgin El Rocio. The Virgin is the reason 1 million people and 30,000 horses will descend on this village of 900 residents – next week!

Dinner was the 10 Euro three course menu of the day at the campsite restaurant.

As is not said on Game of Thrones “Winter isn’t coming”. We are caught up in the mother of all heat waves here amidst the arid semi desert of the south western Spanish province of Andalusia. And it’s hot. Very hot.

 

New Weather symbol

So hot that today we spotted a new symbol on the weather website. One which isn’t seen to often in blighty.

 

Tomorrow we had planned a full 10 hours tramping around Sevilla but the forecast is 41 degrees (for all you folks stuck in blighty at the moment, that’s centigrade not fahrenheit – it’s just shy of 106 F). So, trip cancelled due to inclement weather and the priority will be to keep cool.

Today we managed to walk to the supermarket and back in the centre of El Rocio.

What an interesting place. A few dirt (well sand actually) roads and next week, there will be a million pilgrims here.

 

 

The heat was oppressive, the streets are just sand (it’s better for the horses) and if one took away the cars, it’s just like the wild west.

Mo is struggling in the heat – so much so she even went in the cold swimming pool later this afternoon. More of that to come I’m certain, but sadly no photographic evidence.

El Rocio is famous for its annual pilgrimage which takes place next week. Campsite places top 150 Euros per night (we are paying 16 Euros per night via the ACSI scheme presently).

We were planning to be well clear by next weekend but, have to say, we are mildly curious about the festival. Mo has gone to find out if there are any pitches available – will report back on that tomorrow…

I think I might create a “special post” to cover El Rocio festival.

Time to move on from La Rosaleda. We’ve had a great time here and will return. It would be more than pleasant to spend several weeks stretching possibly into months at this site, area and time of year.

Still onwards to El Rocio, a pleasant 3 hour drive away, arriving at La Aldea around 14:00pm.

Initial impressions of the site are good but the weather is blisteringly hot.

Late evening high of 33 degrees outdoor.

Having pitched the van in the perfect south westerly position, we had second thoughts about full sun in the afternoon and evening so before we’d had chance to put up the awning, we upped the corner steadies and relocated – to face North East.

 

The site is quiet – here’s the view from our home…

 

 

 

Evening meal was Menu of the day at the Campsite restaurant. 10 Euros each and another 7 for 3 beers, 2 glasses of wine and a few cola lights.

Nice food and excellent value.

Very windy in Conil today. Everything is covered in a fine silt.

Little to report on Day 19. Recovering from our exertions the previous day with the mid-afternoon cycle ride to El Palmar.

Lazy day around the campsite and getting ready to move on…

Very hot day today. Temperatures reached around 30 degrees in the shade. Not that we found very much shade on our trip. We took the ourselves to El Palmar on the bikes – following the coastal path from Conil. Hard going because some parts of the paths are deep sand. When we arrived there was a small estuary and I guess at high tide it could be difficult to actually reach El Palmar by bike.

The route along the coast was a haven for butterflies.

In the evening we ate in Conil Old Town. A very pleasant evening and the first where the wind hasn’t had a chilly edge to it. Fantastic giant Entrecote steaks…

It subsequently became apparent that this wasn’t actually a beer festival – though undoubtedly copious amounts were available – but a celebration of Tuna. The Almadraba Tuna Tour – I can’t explain – just “google it”.

Day 17 and it was quite a remarkably chilly start so the perfect opportunity to sort out a few things with the van.

By lunchtime things were warming up a little but nevertheless we decided to ride the bikes to Conil and visit the market.

For lunch we found a very nice Tapas bar in the Old Town. Our Spanish hasn’t improved vastly so each dish was a surprise.

The plan after lunch was to walk along the beach to El Palamar but en-route to the beach, we stumbled across a beer festival in the Old Town.

The cerveza was a mere 1 Euro per glass so the trip to El Palamar effectively ended at the festival. (I wonder if today was a special occasion or is this a weekly Friday afternoon event…)

Later on in the afternoon we made it to the beach, collected some shells and managed to dip our legs in the water.

 

Some nice views of Conil were captured on camera…

 

 

BBQ Salmon for tea.

A very hot day today with the mercury reaching over 30 degrees. Relaxing day at the campsite, some shopping and then dinner in Conil.

We ate at Bar Ligero which lived up to the good reviews it has on Tripadvisor.

 

 

The shared starter was scrambled egg and cod formed into a kind of tart. Absolutely delicious

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mo had the Salmon for main course whilst I enjoyed a fabulous slab of Tuna.

Washed down with some very reasonable house red.

Firstly, I couldn’t help posting the weather forecast. We aren’t normally this lucky…

 

Now time to catch up on some jobs. First will be the car wash. I hope we have better success than last year when we spent the first 4 Euros (4 cycles) waxing the car which then became impossible to wash when we realised our error…

And I think perhaps an afternoon enjoying the weather and a nice BBQ tonight…