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.

Spain - Sun, Sea, Santander and alliteration.

January and the first wee blog of the year. Decided to return to Spain for Christmas and New Year and spend a bit more time looking around, cycling and 'taking the air'. Extended the time in the sun by taking the ferry from Portsmouth to Santander - removing three days of 'drive time' through France. Touristically France is kind of shut at this time of year, so not a lot lost, apart from a bit of the bank balance. Gained? A less stressful journey and time to take a few more snaps.

Among the first ones onboard, the corridor sucked us in towards our cabin.

Most ferry crossing we make across the channel are early morning so a relaxed mid-morning departure gave us time to see Portsmouth, The Spinnaker Tower and the boat itself. Portsmouth harbour is scheduled to lose most of it's boat building capability over the next couple of years so these cranes may disappear soon.

Checked out the lifeboats, but the forecast was good.

HMS Warrior was the first of her class of two armoured frigates built for the Royal Navy in 1859-61. She and her sister ship, HMS Black Prince were the first armour-plated, iron hulled warships.

The Spinnaker Tower seemed to be about to get it's windows washed as we sailed past. Not the right lens to get a good shot of the window cleaner.

Eventually a bit of sunshine made it stand out against the clouds.

Santander - warmer already.

Doors and Alleys

Vejer del la Frontera - Pueblo Blanco

Spent a cloudy, windy lunchtime wandering round this hill town. Low winter sun making the streets well shaded. Probably very welcome in the summer. The timing resulted in a very quiet walk. All the locals were having lunch or beer and tapas in the bars. Empty streets; doors into courtyards gave hints of the hidden Moorish courtyards.

A touristy square and fountain would be popular in the summe,r but these frogs had a very few admirers when we wandered past - well just us really.

And if you're famished, join the locals, pop into a bar - una cana, chickpea tapas and a chorizo roll.

Should have biked here - we didn't know that there was a quiet road alongside the speedy dual carriageway.

A day trip to Cadiz (3)

Beaches in the south of Spain are strikingly different from those Scotland. Three things to mention.

Don't know whether the palms on this one at El Puerto de Santa Maria were planted in the vast expanse of sand or just isolated by erosion. The sand appeared to be groomed every morning. New Year beach walks involve far fewer clothes than at home.

                       

The beach picture wasn't taken the same day as our trip to Cadiz, but why should facts get in the way of a title. And this wasn't what we expected to see inside the large tented area in one of the squares, but if Edinburgh can do it . . .

This is a statue of Simon Bolivar that we stumbled upon. Apart from being famous, especially in Venezuela,  I don't know if he has a specific link to Cadiz but the horse looked quite pleased with itself.

A lunch in the sun was livened up by this friendly parakeet. It could be an escapee as it had a ring, but it didn't confess.

A postprandial stroll out to old harbour defences gave this view. I was going to ask Irene to run ahead to scare off the seagull that was spoiling the composition, but I knew what the answer would be.

As we headed back to Santa Maria on the ferry I was surprised by the three brontosaurus statues guarding the harbour. (Well that's what came to mind.)

The remaining photos weren't actually taken on day trip day either but they could have been and it's the thought that counts.

No bull fights while we were there but Irene took these three (as my battery had died) while exploring the  the town. (It definitely looks like a statue of a bull don't you think.)

Our New year meal was decorated by wild flowers Irene brought back from her run. Luckily I took the picture while the sun was out as, as soon as the sun went down, the flowers closed up.

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.

Campervanning for beginners (1)

Getting organised for a campervan trip didn't come easily. Too many problems and too used to cycle holidays where space is so limited it's easy to decide what's essential. However van was packed and off we went.

Basically: Lamancha (Scottish Borders), the Channel, Bordeaux and not quite, Cadiz. Easy if you say it quickly.

Road photo opportunities are rare it seems when it's motorways or dark damp campsites and these two were the best until Bordeaux.

Bordeaux was the only major city we drove near and even then it was really a suburb village going by the name Gradignan. A bit Gulliver's sounding but it was warm and dry enough for us to walk to  centre ville to buy food and soak up the french town ambience (said with french accent of course).

These two were pudding of course. And they were good.

Next photo stop El Puerto de Sanata Maria.

The bikes were strapped to the back of course.