October in Spain , 2024

 This is the first time we've been in Guardamar  or Spain at large, in October. The temperatures are now dropping in England as autumn begins. We have just finished the "Castles and Coast, North" cycle ride and got it pretty rain free but the temperatures did drop before the end.

Unfortunately the weather did change abruptly with a major storm from the Atlantic hitting the UK on the day our ferry was to leave Plymouth  on 30 th September. They couldn't dock in Plymouth because of the waves and wind so they told us to go the Portsmouth. The trains to Portsmouth had also been cancelled but after some indecision, Brittany Ferries decided to be done with us all ( we had formed a little group in the same situation) and taxi us to Portsmouth, a four hour drive in atrocious weather. The crossing was very rough and took 31 hours and two nights on board. I am not very good in rough seas so spent most of the time in our cabin lying flat listening to Podcasts.

We landed in Santander at 8 am in time for a quick breakfast and then a short walk to the bus station to connect to Bilboa. The Alsa service was on time and we found our hotel, "Sercotel" with a short taxi ride (7 euros). After a break, we walked on passing the railway station and further to the river to get lunch at " Larruzz" (excellent and tasty food). The "Guggenheim Museo" is a short walk along the river with a cycle lane and tram passing alongside but not crowded. I've walked passed the museum before in 2004 when I started walking the Pyrenees on the GR11. Also we had planned to visit it in 2020 when Covid started and had to cancel everything. 

The museum is a collection of modern art and music but the 2nd floor was closed. The approach to the building is amazing, the sheer scale of the architecture. 

Puppy Floral in front of the museum.

Inside I was less impressed with some of the modern art and use of the large spaces. Also we were both jaded from the ferry crossing so that may have had something to do with it.

A room full of steel.

Part of the exhibition of Yoshitomo Nara.

It was interesting to sit by the river and watch Bilbao life, the tour groups, cyclists and the occasional passing of trams along a wide grass verge.

Tram leaving and behind our lunch spot in the square with fountains.

Sculptures by Dora Salazal, "Las Sirgueras" depicting the women who towed boats along the estuary as they were cheaper than oxen.

From  Bilboa we had an early start to catch the 7 am train to Madrid (4 1/2  hours) and  then changing to Alicante on the high speed train ( 2 1/2 hours reaching over 300 kmph). The station in Madrid, Chamartin, was very busy and overcrowded but we did get a bocadilla de jamon before departing in a rush of people keen to get luggage space. Unlike some trains we've encountered elsewhere and in the UK, the overhead racks are deep enough for even quite big suitcase. 

Finally we were in Alicante, feeling at home as we knew our way around but not expecting a temperature of 30 C. The bus station is 15 minutes walk away so after a meal break, we caught the 6 pm bus directly to Guardamar. 

Guardamar was much as we left it in late May except the shop cabins on the forest road and fair had finished.

Guardamar's main beach ( October 4th) in the autumn sunshine that felt to us  like summer.

Did a short walk on the top of the dunes next to the apartment in the afternoon and noticed how many the pines were dying on the top ridge. Some of the larger ones seem to be green and largely OK but there was a definite ridge line on either side that are being affected as shown in the photo below. The trees get their water from groundwater sources and so I suspect the younger trees, little more than 6 foot high, don't have deep enough roots to sustain them.

Along the dune ridge with some trees in a stressed state. See the white tower I'm the distance. 

This region of the coast has an interesting history and a series of man-made blunders that have severely affected the ecology and geography of the dunes and coastal erosion. I have touched on this previously in posts from here but just to recap, the trees were originally planted in the dunes because the natural forests had been felled by locals, including fishermen. The dunes then moved inland to envelope the town and then the solution was to plant a new forest. This took time and alot of hard work as the trees had to be watered at the start.

Today we have coastal erosion as a major threat especially to the beaches and houses on the sea front. A scientific paper by Oliva, Olcina and Ollero from the Universities of Alicante and Zaragoza, recently examined historical data from 1930's to date, and concluded that the erosion is being caused by several factors. These include the reducing flows from the Segura river catchment, reductions in suspended sediment loads delivered to Guardamar estuary because of numerous dams in the catchment, the influence of climate change on sea levels and also frequency of major storms in the Mediterranean, the incorrect building of an inverted sea defence that restricts sediment movement in the coastal area where there is naturally a North to South flow. The barrage has restricted sediments moving south to compensate for wave erosion. Other developments have also influenced the redistribution of sediments and the authors cite the building of houses on the sea front that interfere with the natural movements of the shoreline. Since the 1930's, the beach to the north of the town has been reduced by almost 100 m and is set to continue. There is no doubt that the situation will worsen unless some remedial action is taken although halting long-term climate change seems to be beyond all of us.

Having now settled into life here, we've restarted our local cycling going to local towns and beaches including Rojales, La Mata, La Marina and inland to Doleres amounting to about 90 miles in the last 10 days. The cycling conditions have been ideal with temperatures over 25 C and with only a little wind. Today it was an afternoon ride to Rojales and back by different routes. Our favourite return way is besides the river on a wide gravel track. We spotted some late flowering Jacaranda trees on the opposite bank and unusually, passed a goat herd with the goat-herder and his dog. The herder was sat under a bridge in the shade and was shouting instructions to his dog to turn the flock around as they were moving away from him down the river. There has been a little rain overnight but not enough to impact the river although we've heard on the news they've had a lot of rain to the south and other parts of Spain. I also noticed the white egrets among the goats having a mobile feast.

Goat herd grazing on the Rio Segura river bed. Can you spot the Egrets?

At the La Marina reserve, there was some activity on the salt-flats that we haven't seen in the winter months. One man was checking the salt using a really old vehicle to get between the pans and another was levelling the salt with a tractor and large bucket.

Las Salinas from the bird watching tower in the La Marina reserve. Two of the pans were dry. The salt is generally harvested in September and October.

We later visited the "Museo de la Sal y Centro de Interpretación  del Parque Salinas de Santa Pola" in Santa Pola. This is situated about 15 minutes walk from the bus station and makes an interesting visit describing the history of salt production in this area and more generally in Spain and elsewhere in the world. I found it useful as it also described the methods that are used from taking in seawater in the lagoons, to it's concentration by 8 times to produce salt crystals that are then harvested by a cutter controlled by a laser to get the right depth without removing bottom sediments. The cut salt is than conveyed by trucks and conveyor belts to be washed in brine and than piled in large conical heaps that you can see from the road. The final stage is to bag the salt for transporting. The salt is mainly exported to Northern Europe for use on roads in the winter. Some is used for cooking but is generally made manually to keep better control of the salt's composition.

On another cycle ride to Rojales, we had a Scottish breakfast at the "Stagger Inn" and found another mural to add to the previous visits collection.

Another mural in Rojales.

The river at the bridge was very low reflecting the poor rainfall this autumn.

Segura water levels at the bridge in Rojales ( October 19th, 2024).

Well this is likely to change with a large storm this morning, 23 rd October, but sunny again after 1 pm. We'd had a weather warning so yesterday we did a longer cycle ride to the urbanisation (steep hill up!) and then to the most southern beach at La Marina for a laze, Helen had a swim and I did a loop from the beach and then a lunch of paella.  Just as well as a weather system they call Dana hit on Monday and gave us thunder and lightening overnight but only wind on Tuesday. Since then we have had further rain and thunder but nothing on the scale of the storms further north around and in Valencia where over 200 people have died in the sudden floods that swept through the region.

Segura river crossing at Guardamar after the Dana event of the last few days especially the night of 28 th October.

We are now in our last week after a visit from Bex, Sam (10 years) and Esmee (7 years). They had more variable weather but good enough for several days at the beach and enjoying the warmish sea without wetsuits. They also had the Halloween night collecting sweets from some of the shops and having a late meal in the centre. The cycles rented from "Forest Bikes" in La  Mata, helped them to get around the forest and town as both Sam and Esmee are confident cyclists now.

With the recent storms, the Segura did rise by about a metre but not causing any flooding. Today we cycled along the side of the river from Rojales and saw lots of white egrets and water where I'd previously took a photo of the goat herd (see above photo).

Lovely shaded spot opposite "The Stagger Inn" in Rojales. All the Pink Trumpet Vine flowers (top of photo) are in bloom here and on the side of the river (4th November).

We had a further week of good weather with temperatures reaching 25 C later in the day although mornings are noticeably cooler.