Part of the Alcazaba a Moorish military fort overlooking the city of Almeria.

We've been getting great weather since we arrived here in Camping Cabo de Gata spending time checking out the local lakes and Salinas, villages along the coast and a day visit to the city of Almeria. Our bird count is 33 so far!! (no, I'm not a "twitcher" really). There are lots of flamingos in the nearby lake (about 60 today) and others in the Salinas which is further north along the coast near the village of Cabo de Gata. The main attractions in Almeria were the cathedral and Acazaba along with the wide ramblas and promenades. We have visited San Jose and the some of the park beaches such as Los Genoveses along a gravel track and south of San Jose, very picturesque and a wild looking spot but so close to civilisation. We have also been doing a few bike rides in the area to Retamar and El Barranquete where we got a good view over the Michelin test track (which is near Cabo) and also wild boar crossing the road infront of us.
We also did a "cycle route" from San Jose to  Los Escullos (returning by road to San Jose) with a friend we've met here and that proved quite demanding and led my bike to object by breaking a spoke (I've adjusted the wobbly wheel and await the next break!). It was fantastic scenery overlooking the cliffs and small bays. We also passed a disused bentonite  (white clay) quarry together with a building that had fallen into ruin and obviously connected with the open cast mining. Apparently, bentonite is still mined in the park, the only mining activity continuing to this day.

Part of the steep "cycle track" from San Jose, the photo taken after we'd lifted the bikes up! The Sierras del Cabo de Gata is in the background.

The park area to the north is more pleasant compared to here as there are less greenhouses or "plastico" where they grow acres of tomatoes under cover. We had a pleasant day at a Botanical Garden: "El Albardinal" in Rodalquillar (again to the north). Also in this village there is a Geological Information Centre that was very good, explaining the history of the local geology, volcanoes and about the gold mine at the northern end of the village. This closed in 1966 and just the shell remains but there is a good exhibition of the local mining history in the Geological Centre. San Jose and La Isleta del Morro are scenic fishing villages with apartments and white washed houses set on the hillsides, both not far away from here. We're planning another walk from Rodalquillar northwards along the coast and also a bike ride from here to San Jose, so more of that later I hope. Perhaps we'll go in search of gold too, who knows, maybe a better chance of finding some than doing the lottery!

Zegway brothers about to collide at 20 mph...look where you are going!!! Our last day at Marjal; we all had a go on the Zegways. We had a day in Murcia which was relaxing with pleasant parks, cathedral, historical casino and walks near the Rio Segura.

Helen and I are now in the sunshine at Cabo de Gata; the weather seems warmer and we've already cycled around the Salinas del Gata seeing Flamingoes and lots of Avocets in the lake. We have a nice camping spot here and everyone seems friendly.

I guess you can't escape a blast of Siberia weather even in the south of Spain. We've had bad weather for a couple of weeks with freezing temperatures at night and daytime temperatures below 10 C and winds of up to 35 mph, so it feels cold, a little like December in Dorset I guess. Brian and Sue joined us at Marjal Camping last Thursday so we've had company and a couple of afternoons playing Canaster, a cycle ride and Brian and I played boules this afternoon. We all took the train from Sant Isidro to Alicante for a day out. This is a commuter line taking about 50 minutes and running about every hour so it was very convenient. We had a great day seeing the main beach area, Castle and the Santisma Trinidad replica Spanish Galleon (the original dating from 1769 to 1805) and the old town. The  photo above was taken on the beach front and reminded us of the statues we'd seen in Valencia last year. The views from the castle, set at about 350 m above the plain, gave an impression of the surrounding urbanisation and distant sierras. Luckily there is a lift from the beach to near the top, you only have to climb the last 40 metres. At the weekend we leave here to go further south to Cabo de Gata and hopefully warmer days, we will miss the sauna though!!