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.

Sunshine and Cadiz (2)

Made it to almost Cadiz. 'Almost Cadiz' = El Puerto de Santa Maria where there is a nice municipal campsite right next to the beach, Ten minute walk from a supermarket and twenty five minutes from the centre of town. Staying at Sta. Maria cos we had read that Cadiz is a nightmare to drive in and, visiting it later, yes, we can confirm that it is. 

As this has turned, superficially, into a travel blog the first photo has to be the posed holiday snap - spot the white Scottish legs. 

As I don't really want to do a travel blog, that's about it for snaps of us. Walking down to the local marina there was a huge open space next to it. No idea what it was for but all round it were these huge concrete screens that, only on the marina side, were painted in a Spanish / Moorish style. The key-hole was a nice mosque-shape touch.

Walking back, towards the beach there was a long raised planted strip screening the beach road from the wealthy yacht owners. Sitting nonchalantly on the pavement I managed a good angle to hide the concrete walls and road.

Next stop the beach cafe-bar. Una cervesa pequena was required to allow us to watch the beach strollers for twenty minutes. Half of that time was spent trying to get the right exposure for full sun and beads of condensation. Meanwhile Irene was sipping cola as she was popping some strange antibiotic which reacted badly with alcohol.

Resuming the walk back to chez nous, next for star treatment was a scabby, emaciated feral cat that was conserving its strength in the unique way that cats do - apparently fast asleep with its head still raised off the ground. How do they do that?

Next morning, back to the travel blog. I had to take the view from the door of the van. First time we've ever opened up and looked out at a palm tree. And, as a sop to Christmas, our main, well only, decoration was hung up.

The bikes were still hanging on the back of the van.