Flying awnings....

Still in the sun although we did have a week of strong winds and I’m pleased to say our awning survived with a few alterations involving jublee clips and a hammer…I’ll leave it to your imagination.  A caravan awning over the way lifted off and landed on top of the caravan and they had to strap the site flag pole but none of the tall palm trees on the campsite came down. Just as we were getting accustomed to the high winds, they’ve departed and so we’re back to summer beach weather.

 During the “windy” week we hired a car to look around the area outside of our cycling range. This included the mountains to the north and Aspe, the coastline to the south and San Pedro and the city of Orihuela. We didn’t like the coast to the south as it is very developed, much more so than around Guardamar de Segura. Orihuela is quite different in character with lots to see within easy walking distances. I won’t go through all the things but the house of the poet Miguel Hernandez (1910-1942) was very interesting. He supported the Republicans during the civil war and afterwards found himself in jail; sadly he in died in Alicante prison. Also the “Walled Museum” below the University was fascinating with our own personal guide around the old city wall and bath house.

El Palmeral in Orihuela, the second largest palm forest in Spain with the Polideportivo  and Saturday football next door. In the background is the steep face of the Serre Orihuela

Otherwise we’ve done little cycling but have joined the gym/sauna etc for a month so usually find time to go over there and make up for all the eating and wine. It is a large facility with modern equipment, some of which I’ve still to figure out as they seem to have a machine to duress every muscle in the body.  We’ve also taken the camper down to the beach and with the calmer weather next week, we have plans to go out and park at the beach in the dunes near La Marina and Guardamar. Also we have some new cycling routes on GPS so we will be meandering along the local roads and tracks, no doubt ending up trying to cross the new high speed rail line.

View of Rio Segura in Orihuela, the old town on the right side.

We get the BBC TV (Midlands for some reason) so have been seeing all the snow and rain in UK.but this now seems to have abated. Also from the Spanish TV we see loads of snow and rain in the middle and north of the country including Madrid and Granada and nowhere has escaped the winds. The site is also getting busier especially at the weekends when many Spanish families come here but having said that, the site is so large, it is difficult to imagine it full. Our two lessons in Spanish a week have been going well as Anita is a great teacher and makes it simple to follow although I suspect some of the words are “latino” as she calls the south American dialect. Anyway, we seem to be understood better and have been getting replies in Spanish not that we can understand them anyway, but it’s encouraging I think. It’s a pity we won’t be able to use Spanish on our planned French cycle ride on velo 1; I think I’ll leave French to Helen and concentrate on hand gestures......hasta luego

Summit Post !

For the disbeliever, here is the summit taken especially for you!!..I expect a photo of the flat 500 m section of the  City Plymouth SW Way will follow one day when I can find it!

Camping Marjal, Costa Blanca

Cheers, lunch at Isla Tabarca in Guardamar. our favorite lunch stop with the two brothers serving. (Can you spot Farther Christmas in the background?, also his lunch stop)

We’ve been at Camping Marjal for over a month now and have decided to stay a little longer depending on the weather. We’ve had great weather here without rain the whole time and have already stayed longer than we had originally planned. Christmas day was cloudy and we had dinner inside the bungalow, but otherwise it was mainly sunny during the day. Bex, Tony, Emily and dad stayed in Bungalow three just over the road from our camper and we stayed with dad when the others left to return home. We spent the days visiting local towns, beaches, playing tennis, boules and crazy golf. We all made use of the sauna/steam room and pool that comes free and is a great advantage here. It seemed strange for us when everyone had gone and we moved back to our little camper

The view from the top of  Serra de Callosa with Serra de Orihuela in the distance, puff-puff!.

Since then we’ve cycled to Catral and Callosa and I’ve climbed the local mountain, Serra de Callosa which has the name implies, overlooks the town (which I’ve since learned is or was known for hemp production). On our visit today to Callosa, Peter and Jan, our next door neighbours, came with us to see the route on the local caminos. I convinced Helen to see the park where the trail to the summit starts but she was a little apprehensive that I had plans to get her climbing ; nothing was further from my mind!  Anyway, cycling to the park was challenging even in “high” power, so we had to leave our bikes 50 yards from the entrance on a 1:4 gradient, great fun going down though, yes the brakes did work.

The hike went well, starting at 11 at Callosa in the sunshine, climbing to the refuge (with its own rainwater collection system) and then the main peak by lunch time. The last section to the refuge was a scramble but I had loads of time to enjoy the views to the coast and inland to the south west to Serra de Orihuela. I met a couple of English folk on route trying to overcome a fear of heights and no one else at all. The route down was a combination of following a ridge for a kilometre or so and  then a descent down a steep gulley (Angela, you would have loved this bit, I thought of you!) to find a path through the woods skirting above Redavan and then a final descent into Callosa reminding me of walking in eastern Catalonia.  The route was well marked with yellow/white blazers but since I didn’t have a detailed walking map, I used a GPX file from the internet. In Callosa I had a welcome beer before walking back to the campsite to meet Helen from the sauna at about six o’clock; of course it’s a tough life out here.

A view of the descent route along the summit ridge. Amazingly there is a refuge up there with a rain water collection system and a nativity scene set aside the refuge.

Just in case you didn't believe me here is the proof. It's not at the summit, but not far below.

Hasta luego