Moe is still under the weather with a cold so cycling for the two of us was off the menu for today. We decided to head inland from Vejez – Malaga. It was a warm sunny day but a heavy haze was present in the mountains.

Our first stop was lake Viñuela.

Lake Viñuela is set in the stunning landscape of the Axarquia in Malaga province and we arrived from Torrox in less than an hour. It isn’t actually a lake but a man-made reservoir which was formed by a dam being built across the Guaro river, one of the two tributories of the Vélez River that run through the area.

The other tributary is aptly named RíoSeco (Dry River), because there are so many months here without rainfall. At full capacity the reservoir can hold up to 170 million cubic metres of water and the surrounding lush pastures allow for thriving agriculture based on its olive groves, its vineyards and its cereal crops.

Prior to the creation of the reservoir, extensive archaeological excavations were carried out, producing evidence of Neolithic and Roman settlements, demonstrating the longevity of this area’s historic legacy.

Whilst the reservoir can hold up to 170 million cubic metres of water, it is looking remarkably empty. It is our first visit here so have no prior years with which we can compare. There was an area close to the lake where a number of campervans were wild-camping; a truly stunning location.

We then drove further up the mountains to the town of Zafarraya. Or at least a rocky outpost some 3km from Zafarraya.

Here is situated the cave of Bouquete de Zafarraya.

The cave is located at an altitude of some 1,100 metres in the foothills of the Sierra Tejeda. The cave opening is in the centre of the above image, about a third down from the top. We felt the track up to the cave was a little beyond our capabilities!

In the summer of 1988, during a series of archaeological excavations carried out in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, a Neanderthal jawbone was unearthed in Boquete de Zafarraya cave (Alcaucîn, Málaga) which, due to its exceptional state of preservation, is considered one of the finest pieces ever discovered in Western Europe.

The jawbone, along with a femur and other remains, belonged to a male approximately 40 years old and 1.61 m. tall whom archaeologists christened Zafarraya man.

We also discovered that the track running below the cave is a disused railway line – or via verde – running from Zafarraya to Periana. If only we’d had the bikes with us…

The Mirador provided the perfect place to eat our packed lunch.

Having missed out on the opportunity to cycle the via verde, we set off for the village of Alcaucin. The route was single track with a very steep descent and subsequent ascent into Alcaucin.

Alcaucin borders with the province of Granada. The municipality is situated approximately 54 kilometers north of the city of Málaga. The name was derived from al-kautín, the Arabic of “the arches.”

The village of Alcaucín extends its lands to the north of the Axarquía, between the mountains of the Sierra de Alhama and Sierra de Tejeda within the corridor of Periana. It includes the “Boquete de Zafarraya” an important mountain pass in the mountainous region of Axarquía. It adjoins the Sierras of Tejeda, Almijara and Alhama Natural Park to the east.

Some photos from our walk around this rather pretty village.

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On Tuesday, we had a fairly lazy start to the day and visited the local Mercadona to restock our fridge.

Later on in the afternoon Joe took off on his bike to the old town of Torrox. The journey there was all fairly “off-road” although the first section was very much “on-road” – just that it was a road to nowhere!

It looks as though the town of “Puerto Narixa” was planned for this sub-division of Torrox but little exists other than the access road which meanders up to and then under the A7 and finally onwards (via gravel track) to Torrox pueblo. In fact it looks as though it’s been as good as abandoned.

It was quite a treat to wake up to a still morning. The sun is shining, it’s warm and the wind which has tormented us at Conil for the past few weeks has receded. Our view from the van as we ate breakfast was a large concrete wall. Like all the other concrete walls at Camping El Pino this one is painted green. It is not any easier on the eye for this and we are still squashed onto a plot barely big enough for a tent.

Then, after breakfast, a stroke of good fortune as Joe spotted a different pitch just 50m away which had been vacated by a large motorhome. We had a good look at this plot and decided to swap pitches, the caravan being just a 10 minute journey away via the motor-mover.

Our new pitch is much better. We can erect our sun canopy and there is room for the car.

This afternoon there was even room for a pop-up bike repair shop as we finally replaced our bike tyres – the Continental tyres we had purchased some 10 years ago and which have suffered on a single puncture between us.

Needless to say another 4 Continentals were popped onto the bikes.

The move and bike repairs took all day and it was finally time for an ice cold beer and a BBQ.

Our new pitch is is a far cry from 145 and we will most likely stay the planned two weeks.

We’ve now spent two thirds of our allowable time in the EU at Camping La Rosaleda in Conil de La Frontera and today it is time to head east to Torrox and Camping El Pina. Torrox is located on the Mediterranean coast around 30 miles west of Malaga and our total journey time was estimated at around 3.5 hours with a distance to cover of some 160 miles.

Google selected a route via the A381 which was inland from Vejer. Whilst it looked a little more direct I think following the N340 along the coast would have been the better option. We also took a wrong turn and added another 20 or so miles to our journey.

We finally arrived at Camping El Pino around 13:30 and made the mistake of trying to drive into the campsite. Fairly quickly we were ordered to reverse back out onto the street and to park at the bus-stop. It turns out there is no arrivals area within the site and given it’s a large site of some 400 odd places, the car and caravan were abandoned for a good half an hour.

The site doesn’t take reservations and I have been in frequent contact with them about availability so we were surprised for reception to tell us there was very limited space and that we should walk around the site and look for a suitable pitch. They said that this year has been extremely busy and space is limited – if only they had said so in the emails!

Finally we chose a pitch on which there was just room for the car and caravan. If you can’t fit the car on your pitch then it has to be left outside.

Our first impressions of the site aren’t fantastic. The toilet blocks and washrooms are well equipped, modern and very clean. Everything else is just really crammed in, disorganised and the site has a real shanty-town feel to it. The receptionist was efficient and we were able to pay initially for just a few days whilst we decide if we want to stay longer. If we do stay longer then we can utilise the special winter offers which are great value.

In the evening we headed to the local pizzeria (Roima) and they managed to find us a table. In contrast to Conil, there isn’t a great requirement to speak Spanish in this part of Spain! Food was great and the Pizerria Roima was packed all evening.

Looks like I got a bit behind with the blog and there are a few days missing prior to our departure from Conil de la frontera. Two thirds of our “winter allowance” have been spent at Camping Rosaleda and tomorrow we set off to Torrox and Camping El Pino.

By late afternoon we had finished the final preparations for our departure. The bikes were on top of the car, the awning was all packed away and the caravan orientated for a quick departure. We completed our preparations in time to spend the late afternoon “en la casa de Richard” to celebrate his birthday.

Apart from some fine Chicharrones, salami and alcoholic beverages, the pie and cakes were all from the award-winning bakery in Chiclana – La Cremita. There was a tuna / tomato and a goats cheese / caramelised onion empanada. Both were delicious but in particular, the goats cheese and onion “pie” was truly outstanding.

Moe would disagree entirely and proceeded to sample just about every cake on offer. In most instances not for the first time this trip!

Yet again Moe is being entertained by a “northern” contingent. Four of us originally from Yorkshire, one just across the border at Clitheroe and Moe from darn sarth, Somerset…

Earlier in the week, it seems we enjoyed rather a lot of eating. Carnival community meal on Friday.

Lunch in Conil at Verde y Blanco.

Wednesday we caught the bus to Vejer and ate at El Califa, one of the best restaurants in the area and having missed the planned bus back to Conil had a couple of additional hours to explore this pretty white village. Some of the streets and views into the house patios are simple stunning.

Today is February 14th, St Valentines day. Fortunately for Joe, Amazon next-day delivered the card for Moe.

Moe wasn’t quite so lucky, apparently having to spend many a morning lovingly, hand crafting a symbol of affection, whilst I was busy at Spanish lessons. To be honest, it looks great and so much thought…

Today the walking group had two new additions in Paul and Andrea, and one no-show, with Lorna confined to bed with a cough / cold / Covid – I guess we will soon find out which!

We drove to Playa de Camposoto and parked at the end of the boardwalk.

The weather was fine, not too cold, but still a wicked Easterly wind drove sand across the dunes and over the beach. We ate a picnic lunch at Bateria de San Genis and found shelter from the strong wind around the former battlements.

Batería de San Genís is part of the whole defensive system of bastions and batteries that protected the southern entrance of Islote de Sancti Petri in the early nineteenth century along with the Castillo de Sancti Petri and two other batteries, Batería de Aspiroz and Batería de Urrutia. It was named after Sangenís Antonio Torre, and was capable of holding 35 pieces of artillery.

We walked around the headland and followed the coastline back to the car. About 5 miles in total but we feel pretty beaten up by the wind and sand.

There are no cafes open on the beach during the winter months but Joe’s cunning plan lead us to the La Cremita Cafe in downtown San Fernando. This is a coffee shop, cake and bread retail outlet which serves products baked at the award-winning “La Cremita” bakery – situated in an industrial unit on the western edge of Chiclana.

We enjoyed a coffee and then proceeded to purchase all the cakes and bread we needed. Plus lots we didn’t need! They did have some delicious-looking Valentines cakes but we managed to control our temptation.

Monday and we cycled to El Nautico with Richard and Jennifer. This was our second visit there in just over a week and the food, location and ambience is a good as ever. We headed over the cliffs on another blustery day. The only mishap being Moe fell into a gorse bush and is suffering from a wound to her pride.

Sunday we packed a picnic and set off for Trafalgar. The ride was again plagued by very strong winds and by the time we had reached El Palmar we decided to abort the trip and rode into El Palmar for our packed lunch. On the route back we cycled past the medieval tower along the dirt track which runs parallel to the beach. It’s not an easy route but it’s a lot prettier than the cycle track alongside the main road. We got back in time to watch the England v Italy rugby international, which England won by 34-14.

Saturday and we are still under orange wind warnings so a walk into town was as much as we wanted to do. The awning is still just about in one piece after a second very wild night.

Friday and the campsite maintenance crews are busy collecting the overnight twigs and branches which have parted their way from the abundance of trees at Camping La Rosaleda. Nick has had a large branch land on his motorhome but can’t see any damage. Joe was woken up at 3:00am by the storm and given our pitch is overlooked by numerous trees, was expecting disaster at any moment. Nothing happened.

Throughout Friday, the storm continued un-abated and despite the orange weather warnings for wind, two intrepid cyclists set off on a near death mission on their bikes. Moe remined me later that there is a fine line between bravery and stupidity…

The prize nonetheless, a bag of Chicharrones and a wheel barrow wheel. In fact, a wheel each! As if cycling without the encumbrance of a wheel wasn’t challenging enough! Meanwhile, the wheel is making a very good weight to hold down the awning sides…

The “wheel-barrow-wheel shop” was interesting. A co-operative which stocked everything from farming tools to wheel-barrow-wheels to kitchen appliances to local sherry. A bottle of the finest local sherry from Chiclana just happened to fall into the shopping cart.

The Chicharrones were very tasty though and almost worth the effort! You may ask what these are. Well they aren’t entirely dissimilar to pork scratchings but a) they are not tooth extraction devices and b) there is more meat to them. They are cooked in this particular shop every Friday.

Thursday was another Spanish lesson followed by multiple trips to Conil Bike – to buy a new saddle for Joe’s bike and replacement brake blocks for both of our bikes.

Wednesday was our first visit to El Nautico of 2023.

Finally, Wednesday evening was Quiz night and a stunning performance, particularly from Jennifer and Richard! Third prize and to be honest, we made quite a few errors – on another occasion we could have easily claimed top spot and the massive 28 Euros in prize money

Wednesday, Day 53 and a damp start to the day. But… Today marks the opening of one of our favourite restaurants following the closure for their winter vacations. We will be heading there for lunch.

Tuesday and we drove to Chiclana with Katerina, Lorna and John (from the walking group). We parked near “Rock and Wheels” and then walked across the wetlands to San Fernando. The map is a bit mis-leading because it includes the route back via the Chiclana – Cadiz tram. It was very busy again – nice to see it being utilised – but was full of school kids; Hope there isn’t much Covid around here!

There was a nice sheltered spot for lunch about half way into the walk.

We stopped for coffee at the Plaza del Rey, a large square (currently undergoing a restoration) dominated by the Casa consistorial de San Fernando. This building houses the administrative offices of the city government of San Fernando and is of neoclassic style and considered the largest town hall in Andalusia and the third largest in Spain.

A selection of photos from Tuesday’s walk.

Spanish lessons continue on Monday and Thursday mornings…

Sunday we cycled to Vejer and met Paul and Andrea for lunch. The electric bikes coped well with the very steep climb and hair-pin bends upwards to the mountain-top village of Vejer de la frontera.

Mixed in with our cycling and walking days we enjoyed some lazy days around the campsite; the English quiz is up and running on a Wednesday evening and the Friday night communal meals are on-going. The weather has been gradually warming up in that overnight lows are now back into double figures and daytime highs in the mid-teens. Warm enough to sit outside the caravan and read a book. My latest venture is another Ken Follett book – “World without end”.

Last Wednesday we walked to the port and back with the walking group. Coffee at the El Pastor restaurant and a total distance of about 10 miles.

Only in Spain – but our route to the port takes us along some rural roads. In front of us was a “farmer” taking his two cows for a walk. One was a huge beast and he had no control over them – they were lashed together with a rope and he was holding the rope. Didn’t take them long to escape his clutches and for them to come stampeding past us as we scrambled off the path and took refuge in the hedgerow.

He can be seen in this picture (in the distance) attempting to re-capture them.

A collage of photos from the port walk.

The Bahia de Cadiz Natural park is located over a large estuary and the action of the sea, wind and river sediments deposited over the centuries have drawn a mosaic of landscapes from beaches, mud flats and marshes that make up the Bay of Cádiz.

It was declared a natural park in 1989 and is approximately 10,522 hectares of land bounded by the municipalities of San Fernando, Chiclana de la Frontera, Puerto Real, Puerto de Santa María and Cádiz.

The influence of the sea and the Mediterranean mild climate are the keys which established the special ecological characteristics of this wetland. It is home to a wide variety of species such as molluscs, crustaceans, fish and waterfowl and there are still working salt marshes in the park.

The wetlands and the river estuary also form a large barrier between Chiclana de Frontera and San Fernando. By car, the most southerly route is via the A48 motorway but by bike or foot, passage across the wetlands wasn’t possible.

Not until the summer of 2022 that is. A cycle / footpath trail crosses the wetlands and was integrated into the Euro cycle route number 8 (Eurovelo 8). EuroVelo 8, named the Mediterranean Route, is a 7,560 km long EuroVelo long-distance cycling route running from Cadiz, Spain to Athens, Greece, and then continuing to İzmir, Turkey and to the island of Cyprus.

Today we would cycle across the newly-opened section across the wetlands. Bridges criss-cross the estuary tributaries and there is an abundance of birds to be seen. There’s an impressive air of tranquility in the park which is surrounded by the urbanisations of San Fernando and Chiclana de La Frontera.

The start of the track in Chiclana is at the location of “explorer.humans.landmark” (What3words).

We cycled our usual route to La Barosso and then headed north along the western edge of Chiclana. This was the worst part of the journey with no dedicated cycle track although most of the route is 2 lanes in each direction with a speed limit of 30km/h and priority for cyclists in the right hand lane.

We keep stumbling across various pieces of art / sculpture – Melkart. This is Melkart number 6 and here is what we found on Google.

Mellkart was a Phoenician divinity from the city of Tyre, to whom the temple of Heracles in the ancient city of Cádiz was originally consecrated. His cult, centered on the sacred fire of the cities, spread throughout the colonies of Tire. It was the Phoenician form of the god Baal.

“Chiclana, of Phoenician origin” recreates in the municipal term the journey that the first Phoenicians followed when they arrived on our shores, disembarked and settled on Cerro del Castillo. In other words, it allows you to visit the beaches of La Barrosa and Sancti Petri, cross the marsh (Bahía de Cádiz Natural Park) and follow the course of the Iro river –a natural link with our history– until you reach the site of Cerro del Castillo, the origin of the network urban area of ​​the city of Chiclana, and its future interpretation center, called Nueva Gadeira | Archaeological Space.

The route includes an itinerary between two viewpoints located on La Barrosa beach, near the Torre del Puerco, and on Avenida Reyes Católicos, in front of Cerro del Castillo. Between them run ten milestones marked by the identifying figure of Melkart, the main god of Tire and also of the Gadeira Islands.

In the waypoints there is information of each god Melkart.

Finally we reached the San Fernando trail head.

Our journey today was just a fraction under 64km (40 miles) so we are rather pleased with our efforts.

We even had the chance to stop for a beer on the journey back.

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The weather was a little warmer today (high around 16C) but for around 2 weeks we have experienced some very cold temperatures. Overnight lows close to zero and daytime highs around 10 -12 C. But it has been very dry so you just need to wrap up well.

On Sunday, we walked into Conil and had a Tapas lunch at “La Cantina de mono”. This is rather a trendy bar, managed by Antonio who previously worked at the Campsite bar / restaurant.

Saturday and Joe took off on his bike for a 22 mile circular ride from the Campsite to La Muella, Vejer de la Frontera, El Palmar and then back along the cycle path to Conil.

On Friday we drove to the outskirts of Chiclana and caught the new tram system which operates between Chiclana and Cadiz. It was everything we expected – cheap, clean, efficient and a great way to travel into Cadiz.

There are a selection of photos from our trip below – and of course much more information is available in diary entries we have made from prior years.

Friday evening was another communal meal at the restaurant, along with musical entertainment (and no, it wasn’t “Spanish Elvis” tonight)!

Monday and Thursday mornings, Joe is persevering with his Spanish lessons and spending half an hour or so on the Duolingo app every day.

On Wednesday we took the bus to EL Palmar and walked back to Conil – it’s a decent 8 mile hike. Masks are still compulsory on public transport in Spain.

Today (Sunday) is the 22 January 2023 and the town of Conil celebrates its traditional and elaborate Romeria de San Sabastian in which over twenty thousand people travel on foot, horseback or in carts to El Colorado in honour of the festival of its patron.

The Spanish love a good party and this is on a monumental scale and is a tradition which is more than five centuries old, when back in the 16th century, parishioners accompanied their Patron on a pilgrimage on his saint’s day.

Earlier in the 19^th century the tradition was abandoned until around 30 years ago, when it commenced again and the day starts with the Mass of Los Romeros in the Santa Catalina church at 9 in the morning.

The Patron is carried on a cart, preceded by a music band, which enlivens the journey of the rest of the pilgrims and dozens of carts decorated with lace, garlands, flowers and coloured lanterns. A procession that goes through the main streets and lanes of Conil until it reaches the Parish of the Virgin of Fatima, where a welcome prayer is offered to the Patron and the image of San Sebastián is deposited, a valuable carving by the sculptor Pedro Daín dated in 1588.

The car park at the campsite has acquired a few temporary facilities and around lunchtime is a mass of people eating and drinking copiously as the processions winds its way along the main road.

Once in the pine forest, the party begins in earnest, the talk, the music, the revelry and the good times of family and friends willing to enjoy a day in the countryside, where, obviously, there is no shortage of food and drink… until six o’clock in the afternoon when everyone returns to close the day two or three hours later in the church of Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno.

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Earlier in the week we enjoyed a couple of walks from the campsite. One day we walked to Torre Vigía de Castilnovo which is a medieval tower amidst a hiking area around the wetlands of the estuary in Conil. The tower itself is home to several breeding pairs of the Northern Bald Ibis – we didn’t see any today but here is a post from a previous visit, showing clearly the northern Bald Ibis.

Eurotrip 8, 2020 – Day 38 to 40, Walking El Palmar… – Caravan Ramblings

On Wednesday we walked to the port of Conil and ate at El Pastor restaurante.

The food was good, and some of it a bit different. One dish we ordered was shrimp and egg. A huge bowl of small shrimp turned up with a couple of fried eggs on top, which our waitress proceeded to chop-up and mix in with the shrimp.

The shrimp though, were not as expected. They were whole; complete with head, eyes and hairs. Not my cup of tea.

On our way back we stumbled across several caterpillar processions.

The pine processionary is a moth known for the irritating hairs of its caterpillars, their processions, and the economic damage they cause in coniferous forests. The species was first described scientifically by Michael Denis and Ignaz Schiffermüller in 1775, though it was known to the ancients, with remedies described by Theophrastus, Dioscorides and Pliny the Elder. Its processionary behaviour was described in 1916 by the French entomologist Jean-Henri Fabre. It is one of the most destructive species to pines and cedars in Central Asia, North Africa and southern Europe.

The species is notable for the behaviour of its caterpillars, which overwinter in tent-like nests high in pine trees, and which proceed through the woods in nose-to-tail columns, protected from predators by their severely irritating hairs. These hairs can be very detrimental to the health to dogs in particular.

Our route took us past the Hotel Diufain. We’ve never seen it open in the winter months but it’s a lovely looking traditional Spanish building.

And finally we got to say “Hi” to this lovely dog. We’ve known her since she ws a puppy maybe 5 or 6 years ago and she’s as friendly as ever.

Tuesday morning (17th January) and we had quite a bit of rain hammering down on the caravan overnight. Sunday and Monday we had a lot of sunshine but the weather has turned a bit colder. Monday morning and it was 7C at breakfast time.

Joe had another Spanish lesson yesterday morning and by chance, we discovered a communal buffet in the evening at the Rosaleda campsite.

On Saturday, lunch was at a small, in fact a very small Italian restaurant in Conil. Il Localetto.

We meandered our way through the pretty streets of Conil and managed to grab one of just 7 tables located on the narrow street in front of the restaurant. On our walk there, we discovered a new artifact in one of the squares, an old windmill tucked alongside the pretty white houses of Conil.

One of the owner’s, Vanessa took good care of our visit and despite a never ending queue of enquiries for a table, we weren’t rushed in any way. Good pizza, Tiramisu and Montepulciano.

This was our longest cycle ride to date on this particular trip. In fact we cycled all the way to the port of Novo Sancti Petri which lies on the opposite side of the estuary from our walk along the sand dunes at Playa de Camposoto on Tuesday.

This is one of our favourite routes along the coast from Conil towards Cadiz and is a mixture of quiet local roads, gravel tracks through the forests and then finally the long dedicated cycle track which meanders through the Novo Sancti Petri urbanisation. The return route takes us through Roche, the Port of Conil and then along the clifftop tracks until we drop into the western edge of Conil and return to the campsite.

It was strange to look across the estuary and to see where we had stood just a couple of days earlier during our walk along the Bahia de Cadiz wetlands.

Another beautiful day but a slight chill in the air meant we needed to wear a sweatshirt – but still warm enough for a pair of shorts!

We grabbed a beer at one of the port bars and noted a large stream of cars heading to a restaurant just around the corner – one for next time!

A small hold-up in the return journey due to the stampeding sheep!

Friday evening was the first communal meal and it was very well attended with the restaurant being close to capacity. More familiar faces have returned to Rosaleda and the food was great and fantastic value.