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…

Today we reversed the “manana” lifestyle we have adopted so easily. We had an early start (alarm at 7:30) as we had booked a train ticket to Seville from San Fernando Bahia Sur.

The tickets were booked online at www.loco2.com using information from www.seat61.com. loco2.com is basically an English website with links to all trains and tickets on the Spanish train operators website, renfe.com. Plus you don’t have any issues paying on-line with a UK Credit Card.

The tickets were immediately available for pdf download and were able to print them off on our HP Mobile Printer. A word of caution though. The web printed tickets don’t allow access through the station barriers and at one point, we thought we would miss the train as we simply couldn’t get through – until one of the station staff presented us each with a kind of “platform ticket” to gain access through the barriers.

The Spanish rail net work is first rate. We were on a Medio Express service – the train, infrastructure and stations were predominantly new and the little train sped along at 160km/h. Spain might have borrowed a lot more money than they should have but none of it was squandered. There have some fantastic infrastructure to show for their excesses – unlike the crumbling roads and railways in blighty.

And one more point. The station had plenty of parking and it was all free. Compare that to the 30 or 40 quid you have to pay to park at Reading station for the day.

On to Sevilla. A long day logging some 16km of walking as recorded on the phone pedometers. We had lunch courtesy of a recommendation on the website www.seville-traveller.com where the writer lists six recommended Tapas bars. We chose La Flor de Toranzo and it was excellent for a light lunch of toasted sandwiches.

After lunch we visited the Cathedral (the largest Gothic temple in the world and the third largest of the Christian world) and climbed La Giralda tower to see panoramic views across the city. It’s very difficult to photograph because its just so large.

 

Here is a picture of La Giralda Tower, all that is remaining of the former mosque at this site.

 

 

 

 

 

Christopher Columbus’ mausoleum is located in the cathedral, held aloft by the four heralds representing the kingdoms of Castile, Leon, Aragon and Navarre.

Sounds like a plot from Game of Thrones…

 

The walk back to the station (around 25 minutes from the Old Town) was via the beautiful Plaza D’Espana.

 

A long day yesterday in Cadiz resulted in an even later start today. Our days have truly shifted. Breakfast at 10; Lunch around 3 and dinner before 9 – if we are lucky.

Anyhow, today we took the bikes to Puerto de Conil and then onwards to Roche.

 

The flora on the cliffs amongst which the numerous cycle and walking paths meander is very pleasant.

 

 

View to Conil port

 

 

The port itself is certainly not Cannes.

 

 

 

A number fishing boats and pleasure craft can be seen bobbing in this secluded bay and harbour. There is also a popular bar / restaurant but alas we had taken a picnic…

 

Conil port lighthouse

 

Atop of the hill is a functioning lighthouse and then the country lanes wander off along the coast to Roche and beyond.

 

 

 

 

The cycling is just about right here. Not too hilly and plenty of off-road sections – we covered some 20km today, mainly on cliff path and track.

Tourism is a numbers game. And there was plenty of evidence of that during our return visit to Cadiz (or pronounced Cardiff without the ‘r’).

Firstly, there were a lot of people in town – this being primarily due to the arrival of two cruise liners at the port of Cadiz. Still, fortunately we visited today because tomorrow there will be 5.

Secondly, the map we had from tourist information had a number of colour coded walks on it, suggesting different ways to see all of the sites.

Mo thought she had seen coloured markings on the pavement but was nevertheless surprised when Tourist information did indeed confirm that the coloured lines were replicated on the ground. No requirement in Cadiz to be able to read a tourist booklet – “dumbed down tourism”…

 

There’s lot’s to see in Cadiz. In fact, staying in the old town would be a great place to spend a long weekend – there are flights from the UK directly to Jerez which is close by Cadiz. Everything is in walking distance – the monuments, the numerous bars and restaurants, beach etc. There’s also a railway station with good links to Seville and beyond.

Not wishing to disappoint the organisation of our hosts, we chose the purple line, abandoning just before its end and then picking up the yellow line all the way around the headland.

 

The standout experience of the day was the Tavira Tower.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A splendid 360 degree panoramic view of the city beholds those prepared to climb the 172 steps.

There is also a darkened room containing a Camera Obscura – working on the principles of the pinhole camera – projecting an image of town onto a white “bowl shaped” screen.

One of the nicest squares is Plaza de Mina and we found a bar to eat a traditional Spanish menu of the day. Not bad for 9.5 Euros each.

A selection of pictures from around Cadiz appear below.

 

 

Beach at Cadiz

 

 

 

 

Typical weather for the holiday weekend…