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.

*****

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.

*****

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.

Having managed to miss the first Spanish lesson of the New Year, we did finally remember the day of the week and headed to the restaurant for a communal meal of eggs and chips. Nothing fancy about this meal but it was a mere 3 Euros…

Tuesday we drove over to the natural wetlands at Bahia de Cadiz which is located near to San Fernando and is inland from Playa de Camposoto.

There is a large visitor centre here but despite Google indicating it was open, this was far from the situation on the ground!

We headed on to the sea front, parked the car and were then able to walk right along the spit of land almost to the port Novo Sancti Petri.

We parked somewhere close to the arrow on the Map below.

The walk was around 6 miles in total and the route out was along a trail and boardwalk whilst our return journey routed us along the beach.

We managed to record the return leg of the walk here.

On Wednesday we managed an afternoon cycle ride to Trafalgar. An extremely pleasant ride out South from Conil on what we thought was a very calm and still day. It turned out this was because we had the wind behind us. The return journey against the wind in the late afternoon was absolutely freezing cold!

Thursday I actually managed to attend the Spanish lesson; it really does appear I’ve forgotten way too much since our visit last year. Shopping and chores in the afternoon!

The weather stayed fine and sunny from Tuesday (3rd Jan 2023) until and including Saturday. Yesterday it rained all day and we took the opportunity to stock up on supplies at the Carrefour in San Fernando and then we headed off to Decathlon at Peurto Santa Maria. At Decathlon we managed to find all the things we needed on our shopping list.

Then we managed to buy loads of stuff which we definitely didn’t need!

Today the weather forecast was for more rain but so far it has remained dry and fairly sunny. It’s around noon presently and the outside temperature is 19C.

The Three Kings celebration has historically been the Christmastime festival in Spain. As far as we can tell, most of the celebrations seem to take place on the eve of Epithany (Epithany is also known as Three Kings day and is the 6th January) but as it’s Spain, parties and celebrations seemed to take place across both days.

At lunchtime on the Three Kings eve, a parade started on the beach with three kings depicted on horseback. These meandered through the streets of Conil before a larger carnival took place in the evening.

I wasn’t really sure why this modest parade needed two brand-new quadbikes, mounted by fully armed Gardia leading at least two more security vehicles. The Spanish Gardia don’t appear to be starved of funding – the local patrol cars are brand new BMW EVs.

Saturday we enjoyed a walk around Conil.

Later we enjoyed a beer or two at “The Shack” on Conil beach.

Sunday evening we headed to the restaurant and were persuaded to try the fish special. After much discussion we finally realised that the local speciality fish in Conil is Bocinegro – which translates to Sea Bream.

It was delicious.

Today we headed east along the coast to the village of Bolonia, which lies on the shore of the Strait of Gibraltar some 20km west of Tarifa and just a 45 mins drive east from Conil de la Frontera.

Playa de Bolonia is some 3.8km long and the beach and bay is very unspoilt by its population of 117 (Wikipedia). However, we weren’t visiting Bolonia beach for a spot of sun-bathing nor a swim in the sea.

Today, we were visiting Baelo Claudia, originally a fishing village and trade link when settlers arrived some 2,000 years ago – Roman settlers.

Although prosperous at the time of Emperor Claudius, it went into a decline which was hastened by earthquakes – finally being abandoned in the 6th century. The ruins of this ancient Roman town, close to the beach at Bolonia, are considered to be the most complete Roman ruins yet uncovered in Spain.

It is possible that Baelo Claudia had some government administration purpose but Tuna fishing, salting and the production of garum were its primary source of wealth.

It is hard to comprehend the construction and the facilities the inhabitants enjoyed, all un-covered at this site, much of it constructed in the century before Jesus Christ.

The layout of the city has the main street (decumanus maximus) running from gate houses East – West alongside the main wall and parallel to the ocean. This is intersected by the cardo maximus which ran North – South. At the intersection of these streets was the Forum, or Main square and around the main square were located many public buildings.

The main building near the square is the Basilica, an administrative centre and the seats of the courts of justice.

The amphitheatre is partially restored and is used for plays and concerts.

We enjoyed lunch at a beachside Tapas bar and cooked a BBQ back at the campsite later in the evening. Really nice sunset today.

We were woken this morning to the sound of torrential rain bouncing off the caravan. Within a few minutes the road had turned into a stream and our awning floor is looking a little bit soggy.

Fortunately this inclement weather appears only to be with us for the day and then we return to sunny days, but not quite as hot as we have a northerly wind in place.

Since our last diary entry, we have taken in some nice walks around Conil de la Frontera and two of our favourite bike rides.

One day we cycled to the surfers beach at El Palmar and stopped off at one of the beachside bars for refreshments.

And then on New Years Eve, we cycled over to playa La Barossa. A pleasant 22 mile ride when you take into account we didn’t start the tracker right away.

Tea for New Years eve was a very tasty Tuna pasty from the local supermarket, washed down with some local red wine.

*** Wishing everyone a Happy and prosperous 2023 ***