Sunny southern Spanish soujourn

Christmas campsite

Boxing Day and we headed a whole 10 km up the road from our Christmas campsite to Almerima. I had researched a marina that looked a good place to stay in what I thought was Almeria. Almerima/Almeria – what’s in a name – about 50km. Luckily we decided to have a quick look-see otherwise we wouldn’t have found the abovementioned marina, we would have ended up stranded among high rise apartment blocks in Almeria.

La Isleta, Cabo de Gata

Almerima suited us well, views in front of the moored boats and views behind of the beach with mountains rising in the background, the snow still present on the highest peaks. Our new neighbours were either English or in the case of Tanja, had spent time in New Zealand. We were even paid a visit by Tony and Ruth who used their electric bikes to whizz the 10km from our previous camp.


It was tempting to stay where we felt comfortable but tempus fugit and our days in Spain are numbered so we packed away the items that might fly around, clicked the door locks shut, wound down the hatches and away. Away past a huge area dedicated to the services associated with large scale horticulture, we had been oblivious in our little marina-world of the massive truck depots, processing plants, more plastic houses and factories that make the plastic. We left that behind fairly quickly as we ate up the excellent Spanish roads leading along the Mediterranean coast.

Coast road

The coast road is stunning and an engineering masterpiece in places, we drove past some huge hotel developments that stood half completed and abandoned, a result of the financial downturn in Spain. There was very little traffic and the sea twinkled turquoise and gently lapped the shoreline. We have not seen proper waves since we arrived, not exactly a surfers paradise.

The coast offers some excellent wild camping in picturesque spots as did the Cabo de Gata national park. The scenery in Cabo de Gata is straight out of an old fashioned western movie, and the area was used to film spaghetti westerns, but now it is a popular place for filming shows such as Game of Thrones. It is a stark landscape with crumbling pueblos/casas, tough grey-green sage brush and cloudless blue sky. Flocks of goats wearing bells were grazing on whatever nourishment they could find while their shepherds sat lonely and disconsolate. And you thought you had a boring job!

Hamlet close to wild campsite - Calabardina

December 29, 2016 – our 40th wedding anniversary, was celebrated with a selection of tapas and beer overlooking the aforementioned turquoise ocean. We parked right outside the bar and the owner told us during peak summer season when temps rose to 40 - 45 C the traffic would be bumper to bumper and no parking to be found. We hadn’t found a place for the night so too much drrrrrink was out of the question so we stopped to pick up some giant prawns and that night cooked them on the barbecue, washing them down with champagne. We (nearly) had the clifftop spot to ourselves. How those 40 years have flown.

Spot near Calabardina

December 31, 2016. New Years Eve – again we faced the sea, this time in a spot recommended by Tanja. We were the only vehicle with GB plates among the French and Germans. How I wish I could speak other languages! The site is large and there must be 30 vehicles dotted around the sage brush. The beach is called Playa del Arroz (rice beach?). Wild camping surrounded by some wild campers, it offers security in numbers which is a nice feeling. There seemed to be an unspoken division of vehicles with intrepid trucks and surf dude vans on the high ground and the sedate vehicles taking the low ground. We walked into the hamlet along the coastline and had a coffee at the only beachside bar.

Spot near Calabardina

We liked the Cabo de Gata so much that we have returned to its rugged coastline and red hills dotted with small cushions of grey-green vegetation. The sea has an indigo colour and small fishing villages have not been entirely overtaken by apartment developments.
We are in countdown mode before we make the big trek across Spain’s vast interior, very cold at this time of year and baking in summer. We are booked onto a ferry that leaves from Santander on the northwest coast, it is a 28 hr trip and we have a cabin (it remains to be seen what that is like!)

Catching some morning rays

In the meantime



HASTA LA VISTA










 

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