This is about another visit to Guardamar del Segura in February and March 2025 to escape the worst of the winter weather in Devon and to experience the warmer spring weather in May and later in October. For the winter visit we came by plane having looked into the alternative routes by train (the Plymouth ferry does not run in the winter) and found it a long and expensive trip. In the spring we did come by ferry and train and visited Granada at the end of our stay. We are well situated in Devon close to Exeter airport and also the Plymouth ferry to Santander.
The February weather was warmer than normal with temperatures in the low 20's and this worked out well for our family to visit during this warm spell. We hired cycles from "Forest Bikes" in the nearby village at La Mata so we could explore the area a little. They always give us good service and excellent cycles that appear brand new each year. They enjoyed swimming and playing in the sea at the nearby beaches and the food at various cafes in the town. We did one longer walk from Guardamar to the Raboses hill and then alongside the river to the GR92 forest track to the beach at La Marina and cafe "Candelo" on the beach. The GR92 is a long distance footpath from Portbou to Tarifa along the Mediterranean coast but is incomplete in Valencia region although it is well marked around Guardamar.. Sam found some trenches in the hill that I believe date back to the civil war but we only had time to take a brief look in them but enough to find a large animal burrow with some scat outside, may be a fox or probably more likely, a genet that are known to be in the area. The GR92 track goes through pine woodland (Stone and Aleppo Pines) on a wide track and deep sand in places as it runs between two dune hills.
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| GR92 through the dune field. |
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| In the trenches, Sam disappearing. |
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| Well established trees in the trenches that had many twists and turns. I think these were made by the Republicans in preparation to defend the town but I can't find a great deal about them. The area around Alicante was a stronghold of the Republicans until their defeat. |
The total walk was about 11 miles one way, returning to Guardamar by the hourly Alsa bus service that passes through La Marina village. Another interesting find (again by Sam) was a rock on the top of Raboses (about 100 m) that clearly demonstrates that geological changes in the area.
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| Some fossilised shells from the top of Raboses Hill near Guardamar. |
An interesting find of fossilised Great White Shark teeth, dating from the early Pliocene, has been reported in the scientific literature from a sandstone site very close to where this rock was found (N.Jb. Geol. Palaont. Abh, 256/1, 7-15 (2009)) so perhaps other hidden secrets in the area.
This year brings many changes to the centre of Guardamar along the Calle Major and seems to be work in progress that started on our last visit in October 2024. Hopefully by May, this will be completed.
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| Remaking the square outside our market day cafe. |
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| Almost finished with extra paving. |
This week (first week in March) we have had a lot of rain and wind with storms passing through. The river is high and our usual river crossing in Guardamar is flooded. After the main storm we rode to Rojales alongside the river where they have been planting trees at the top of the river bank. We saw more birds than usual including cormorants, egrets and glossy ibis with some pied wagtails as well.
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| River at a high after storms this week. |
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| One of the many trees that have been planted this year alongside the river track to Rojales. |
Following this and with a change in weather, we did some longer cycle rides to Quesada and alongside the salinas at la Mata and another ride to Dolores going by Daya Vieja and Daya Nueva and returning by la Marina urbanisation, both about 25 miles. The roads around Quesada are difficult dual carriage ways but we did find a nice cycleway going south. Quesada is a very urban area that I think is dominated by northern Europeans homes.
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| Blue scarlet Pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis) seen on route through the salinas reserve near la Mata. |
On another outing we found some of the rare Field Eryngo (Eryngium campestre) in the dune field south of Guardamar near the remains of a Roman settlement but inland a couple of hundred metres. They appear localised to this spot as we couldn't see them elsewhere on walking through the area, and they looked quite different to the Sea Holly nearer the shore.
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| The area where the Field Eryngo were found looking towards the beach. |
We've also found some Eryngo at El Recorral on the hills above Rojales. We have tried some new routes to this park, one involving rough tracks past the hydro station and another through the Quesada urbanisation. The latter seems the easiest route as the incline up to Quesada is less steep and more gradual for most of the route.
Our visit in May was straightforward and just after the countrywide blackout that happened in Spain. We had a pleasant ferry crossing and two nights in Santander with temperatures below normal and lower than Devon. We took the early morning train across Spain without changing in Madrid and arrived in Guardamar before 7 pm in time to do some shopping as 1st May is a holiday here. We have been cycling most days with the exception of a couple of afternoons of rain. We returned to the Recorral reserve for a picnic and noticed how the Field Ergno had developed since we saw them last in March.
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| Field Erygno found at Recorral reserve near Rojales. |
We have repeated the cycle ride to Algorfa that goes by Rojales and further along the river track "Corredor Verde del Rio Segura" passing a water wheel near Formentera. This lifts the water from the river into two irrigation channels that feed 950 plots.
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| Water wheel lifting water from a river channel to two channels, one on each side of the wheel |
We found the best cycle route is to go on the track from Rojales to Formentera on the north bank of the river and then cross the river on the footbridge at Formentera thus avoiding traffic and roads on the south side.
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Track on the south side of the river going to Argofa. This is on 16th May with temperatures of 25 C
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| A Mulberry tree besides the track near the water wheel. This tree had black berries. Also noticed some had been recently planted at Reccoral Reserve in a picnic area. |
At the end of our visit, we left by Alsa bus to Granada starting in Alicante and taking over 6 hours so we were pleased to find our hotel (Turria) situated not far from the railway station and a 25 minute walk to the Alhambre. The first day we had booked a guided walk around the Alhambre starting at 10 am as the temperatures were up in the 30s. As it was Sunday, the area was very busy but we did see many gardens and palaces over the 3 hours walk and returned to the Plaza de Santa Ana for a late lunch. By now it was 37 C so we retired to the hotel and went out in the evening to Aylin Art Cuisine (excellent food). The following day we had breakfast at Casa Ysla just a short distance into the city and then got the hop-on/ hop-off bus in Plaza Nueva to see the views of the Alhambre from the north side. We had lunch by the river at Ras cafe bar and had intended to get the bus back around the city but noticed dense smoke from the area of Plaza Nueva and later found the road had been blocked. We then walked the short distance back to the centre and looked around some of the narrow market streets. We had visited Granada over 25years ago at Easter time when it was still cold but far less busy with tourists. I can't recall all the parks and open areas last time or the trams linking the different areas. The railway station was new but we recognised the front of the old station adjoining.
The next day we had a long journey to Santander with a change of stations in Madrid and a long lunch break outside the Chamartin station. We arrived in Santander at Abba Hotel just after midnight and a welcome sleep. The following day was wet with temperatures below 20 C, so quite a shock to our systems but the afternoon was clear, We took the opportunity to do a bus tour around the city and stopped at the Magdalena Peninsula to see the palace building, expedition boats/raft and view across the harbour. We knew some of the area through cycling from a camp site north of the city when we came to Santander with a camper many years ago. The cycleways around the city were impressive and well used including by new electric scooters.
After this, the following day we caught the ferry home to Plymouth with calm seas and a family welcome in the sunshine.
Our next visit was in October for 5 weeks with temperatures mostly in the mid twenties but with a few storms (Alice being the last one) that did lead to a Red Alert for two days but didn't impact us very much as most of the rain fell at night and the storms seemed to go further north or to the south.
We arrived at Santander by ferry but it was very similar weather to Plymouth with cool temperatures and rain. We got the early train next day, a direct train to Alicante and then bus to Guardamar. We were both tired and not feeling so great so that we took it easy for a few days before cycling far. It has been great visiting our usual places here and to the local villages. We have found some new cycle routes and have now done a few longer ones of about 50 km. The causeway over the river has been flooded but we have figured a way over the road bridge using the slip-ways. We've also had our first cycle tyre puncture for some years and we found that our repair patches were of no use as the glue failed because if age. The traffic on the Santa Pola road wasn't as much as we noticed in May so we did cycle over there and to the north of Santa Pola, a bit further than we usually go.
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| View from the road going along the shoreline north of Santa Pola towards Alicante with the lighthouse at the top of the cliff and walking route. |
I have logged some of the rides on the RideGps App. amounting to approximately 300 km.
We have noticed they have laid more black plastic on the banks to impede the growth of vegetation in the river. Most of the trees they set in May have survived so far.
Today at the beach near the harbour, I saw a large group of Kentish Plovers that looked like juveniles or non-breeding. We've noticed that the authorities are fencing off some of the dune areas, e.g. at la Marina beach front, from the first restaurant "la Candela" northwards they were installing posts for ropes to try and restrict access to the dunes where I think the plovers nest on the sand dunes.
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| Foraging on the beach near Guardamar. |
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| Kentish Plover, known here as Chorlitejo Patinnegro, are endangered in Spain but occur right along this coast line. This is a photo of a sign on the beach informing visitors of their conservation in the area. |
The beach at la Mata has been protected for some years. We have noticed groups of them running along the shoreline right from our first visit but didn't know they are an endangered species with their numbers declining in Spain. They breed in the warmer months from April until late in the summer with some having two clutches each year.
The cottages on the sea-front in Guardamar are still there but several are struggling to survive because of coastal erosion and threats of demolition by the local council.
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| I think this is 2025. |
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| An example of the wall displays on the sea-front cottages, Babilonia |
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| "Save the houses" in Catalan/Valencian |
Our family Bex, Tony, Sam and Esmee visited us for a week at their school half-term to enjoy the beach, water and sunshine. The end of their trip also coincided with Halloween and visits to certain shops for trick-treat.
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| Stamps from all the 15 shops where they got a treat before a dinner later in the evening. The town was buzzing with life and groups enjoying the "summer" evening. |
We did another cycle ride on 1 st November with a maximum temperature of 27 C and then back home to mild weather 15 C but with rain!.
