Lettuce fields to the Strip ( La manga)

Thurs 13^th

Our destination today was Aljorra to meet friends of Chris’ parents – Val & Robin. We drove past Murcia and south towards Cartagena. Loads of unfinished housing complexes and acres of lettuce fields. We eventually located them after Chris called his Mum for their phone number. What a cheerfully eccentric pair! We parked up outside their gates in the middle of lettuce fields. Once we had toured their two massive greenhouses (his n hers, Robin is seriously into catcus) we drove cross country through the fields to a local restaurant where we enjoyed seriously big steaks. Delicious. A great meal with great company. Once back we helped pick olives until it was too dark. Good post meal exercise.

spot of olive picking after dinner

Robin!

our stop in the fields

Fri 14^th

After our goodbyes we drove into Cartagena and a quick shop in decathlon for some spare cycle tubes.

Next stop was Cabo de Palos right on the southern end of the Mar Menor and La Manga which is on a narrow strip of land 19km long. It looked like the high rise buildings in Benidorm had been stretched out into a line as far as the eye could see. We were stopping on a carpark right below a lighthouse with good views out to the “strip”. A cycle ride along part of it confirmed that it was virtually empty with most apartment blocks closed. Not a particularly attractive place.