We're now back in Spain for a couple of months having arrived in Alicante on 3rd February leaving the frost of a Sunday morning in Devon and arriving to the sunshine and temperatures approaching 18 C in Guardamar. It is great to be back. During our two months stay we will have visits from Bex, Sam and Esmee and also my sisters Jeanette and Sharon and brother in-law, Daryl. Sharon and Daryl were also on the Canal du Midi trip I wrote about last year. When Bex was here we hired cycles from ForestBike in La Mata (Torrelamata, situated near the Post Office) and they were very helpful with fittings and delivery to Guardamar was free of charge.
The Blog this time will be more about our cycle rides in the area around Guardamar. Our plan was to get cycles and leave them in Spain. It didn't take us long to get a couple from PM Elktro Mobile, San Fulgencio, this time buying used ones rather than renting as we'd done on previous visits. We planned to store them locally so that we could use them on future visits.
Little has changed since last year and we're enjoying returning to our favorite spots along the coast.
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| The beach north of Guardamar del Segura on our arrival at the beginning of February |
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| One of our favourite spots "the park café" or Terraza Sotavento near the Calle de Ingeniero Mira. |
This is our closest beach along the side of the forest and going north to the harbour. It is a pleasant walk or cycle through the forest and dunes on tarmac roads free of cars. Another pleasant ride is north along the coast to La Marina passing by Marjal Camping and more or less following the GR330 (Sendero Costa Blanca Interior) towards Crevillente that is now better marked.
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| Some GR330 signs for the "Sendero Costa Blanca Interior" on route from Guaramar to La Marina. |
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| Cycle route from Guardamar inland through Vega Baja to Dolores through market gardens. |
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| Central plaza in Dolores, our cycles in the foreground. |
Another easy cycle ride of about 40 km (including the return) is to Dolores (and Catral, is just a little further) on a cycle path and minor road passing through San Fulgencio. There are plenty of restaurants and cafes in the centre.
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| Forest Reserve in the dunes next to Guardamar |
We also did a longer trip of about 50 km passing through Catral and Dolores after cycling through the El Hondo Reserve west of Las Marinas. It was a beautiful day for cycling with little wind and plenty of sunshine to enjoy the views in El Hondo and see some birds on the lake. We didn't spot a Hoopoe but they are around here. On another trip we cycled on a similar route to Crevillente for a walk and lunch (D'Elias near the centre had an excellent menu and food). However we returned to a puncture on Helen's cycle and although we had a spare tube we didn't have the correct pump to inflate it. We found a cycle shop (Bicicletas Quesada) near the centre and they had the correct pump so we returned well before dark, in all about 60 km.
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| Part of the cycle track along the canal between Las Marinas and El Hondo Reserve. It had more track vegetation than we recall from previous visits and is now part of the GR330 route to Crevillente. Don't try this on a wet day as the mud sticks to everything including the cycle tyres. Note Helen disappearing on her electric bike. |
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| View from a bird hide over the reserve looking towards the north and the Sierra Crevillente. |
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| Central area of Crevillente |
We also tried another route to La Mata, a beach and town just to the south of Guardamar with the intention of going along the north shore of the Salinas de Mata and around in an anti-clockwise direction to the reserve information centre. Unfortunately this involves pistas that were too sandy for our cycles so we turned south on minor roads to the centre and along to the south shore of the Salinas. Mountain bikes with wider tyres would be more suitable for the off-road sections. After this we went in for lunch at La Mata and returned by our usual dedicated cycleway along the coast near the main road, in all about 30 km. We've also gone from La Mata to Torrevieja but this involves the main road, a long incline and is of course longer.
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| The Salinas de Mata looking northerly from the bird hide. It was a little too windy to see many birds on this occasion. |
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| Parque del Molina del Aqua (La Mata) where the shore flora is being protected and re-established. |
Another longer ride on a circular route to Santa Pola (north of us along the coast) is about 40 km and takes in some interesting scenery of the Salinas and local horticulture. Leaving Guardamar we went to La Marina and then picked up the CV 853 at the north end of town and followed this through Santa Fe. This is also a possible cycle route to Elche (about 50 km round trip). However we turned east on the CV 851 towards Santa Pola eventually picking-up a cycle way that led into the centre of Santa Pola. Our route more or less delivered us to what proved to be an excellent lunch stop at the bar/restaurant El Coto, just a short jump inland from the harbour. The meal involved what they called "al centro" which meant they served four primeros in the centre to be shared, plus a segunda which for us was Dorada fish (bream). This took a couple of hours before we continued to the Playa de la Gola and then cycled through the reserve next to the beach as far as we could go before joining the mainroad, N 332, through the Salinas to La Marina and back by our usual route along the river bank.
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| A welcome drink stop along the harbour in Santa Pola. |
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| A wreckage inland near the Muelle de la Salinas (the dock of the salt works) on our route back from Santa Pola. It was interesting to see the range of flora, some flowering, and shrubs in the inshore sands. |
We also did a day trip to meet friends who were staying near Cabo Roig about 10 km south of Torrevieja. We had a walk along quite different shoreline from the long beaches of Guardamar with rocky outcrops and small beaches, one with fossil oyster beds said to be 125,000 years old.
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| A view of Cabo Roig from the south near the fossil beach. |
Lastly, apart from touring, eating Spanish food, enjoying the sunshine and beaches ourselves or with family, we have lots of hobbies, one of mine being wood carving. I roughly prepare the blanks with an axe before coming here and do the rest with a Mora knife and curved knife and finishing with sandpaper. It is very relaxing carving away, usually outdoors in the sunshine. Amazingly I still have all my fingers! I have yet to decide on the best design of spoon for me but that will wait until I treat them with Walnut oil.
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| Various travellers spoons based on a Sami design I saw in Sweden (and one knife/spreader) that I have carved from birch, dogwood (fresh and spalted) and sycamore during our stay this year. I have been experimenting with different spoon shapes to see which are most practical for using whilst camping on treks. Their big advantage is that they are very light (more so than titanium equivalents) and have been carved from windfall branches around Dartington. |
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| A scene from a by-gone age of our child-hoods. The 3D effect of the painting is really amazing especially with the shadows painted on the wall. This is close to one of our Wednesday market day stops in Guardamar, Cafe Movellan, Plaza Pescadores. |
No doubt we'll be back sometime!!
