Sun, Sea, Spain - Part Deux

Always fun to mix countries and languages. In Spain when pressurised replying to a restaurant waiter, I often reply in French - amusing or bemusing everyone.

First day in Spain after the drive down and it's warm. Bit different from the stop-over north of Madrid when we woke up to -3°C. Mind you, warm to us is over 15°C. So off to check out the beach - crowded, it's not.

Further along the beach, in San Miguel de Cabo de Gata, it's very quiet. At the end of the village the fishing boats were high and dry on the sand in front of the Tower of San Miguel - an old defensive tower dating from the 17th century.

The coastal plain around the campsite and this area of Spain is mainly covered in plastic. Tomatoes seem to be the main crop. However, no photos of acres of huge cloches. Instead, just a little further along the coast is an volcanic area where the hills spill into the sea. Apart from the lava there were huge, blindingly white, tongues of some sort of limestone/chalk (I think). Plus a sea stack of harder rock.

A tattered Clouded Yellow (ID'd by my pal Mandy) soaks up the available sun - bit like we did.

After cycling back to civilisation I was forced to stop for a beer and to take it's eponymous 'Beer Photo'.

Then a quick run along the beach to get the windsurfer zipping past. Had to run in order to keep the surfer in the sun reflection while I turned the camera on and tweaked the settings.

 Next day another cycle to see the local lagoons which are normally hotching with hundreds of birds surrounded by twitchers with binoculars. Unfortunately I'd forgotten to pack the binoculars and the sides of the ponds were generally lined with 3-4 metre high reeds and grasses. The grass seed heads were nice though.

A bus to Almería to save us the stress of navigating and parking the camper in town. Not a lot of touristy things there, but we aren't very good tourists, so it didn't matter. A cheap tasty tapas lunch and a climb up to the Moorish castle was enough.

  

And inside the fort along one of the paths . . .

Another day and a little hillock of Agave cacti just inland from the beach. Once they flower, with huge woody flower stems, the plant dies. Baby agaves grow around the dying plant.

Finishing the day with a sunset.

Finally, playing with a long exposure at the beach (the camera, not me). This should flatten and smooth the waves - and it almost works.