Alicante region - lots of oranges!

Sun 2^nd Nov

What a difference a day makes!   We moved inland to El Berro high up in the Sierra D’Espuna. The road up was very narrow and bumpy but worth the effort when we arrived at the campsite. What a gem. Very green surroundings  with lovely views of the mountains. As we moved onto our chosen pitch we passed a Brit Carthago – wait a minute, it’s reg number was the same as ours!  It was in fact only one letter different. How spooky is that! Ours is FJ08BVG – it was FJ08BMG. Even the Spanish caravanners opposite had a double take. We chatted to the owners who turned out to have ben coming here for the last 9 years.

view down over El Berro

We walked about the village and up to the cemetery. The view from here was great. Later that evening we had a very tasty meal in the local bar. Definitely a place to revisit.

Mon 3rd

After a cool but sunny start to the day I cycled back down the mountain then back up the route not recommended fro caravans & motorhomes. It was pretty steep with lots of very tight hairpins but worth it for the views. 

great views - but hard work!

Quick lunch then we headed back down the mountain and on to La Romana 30km inland from Alicante. We were visiting an old colleague of Tina’s – Trish & Alun. They moved here 10 years ago and had enough space for us to park in their garden. We met Trish at the local wine bodega  and followed her down a bumpy track to their house.  We had a warm welcome from all of the three dogs and Alun! After a very hospitable evening we retired to bed (in a house!!!) rather late.

Tues 4^th

RAIN!  First in the area for 11 months so most welcome by the locals but not by us. After a lazy morning we met Trish at her work in Novelda then went for a quick walk about the Santurio de Sanata Maria Magdelena. What an amazing building, it is a small scale version of Gaudi’s famous Sagrada Familaia in Barcelona. It has been completely restored and is very different from all the other churches we have seen in Spain so far. They are installing a new organ inside which will be beautiful when finished. The marble being used is fantastic and all from local sources.

Santurio

Trish, Tina & Alun

new organ under construction

Very chilly evening so Alun lit the log burner – very toasty indeed!

Weds 5^th

Sunny but windy so we went for a walk in the “campo” with Winston the springer spaniel. What a daft dog – he will chase anything! Lunch then haircuts for us both an an expats in a nearby village. Both much smarter now. Lazy afternoon sorting out laundry before another nice meal with Trish and Alun.

Thurs 6^th

We packed the van and said our farewells to Trish and Alun after thanking them for their great hospitality. Supermarket shop then on to Hort de Soriano an aire right in the middle of an orange grove. The sat nav Susie got her knickers in a real twist trying to direct us. We drove up roads – actually tracks that were getting narrower and tighter to eventually arrive in front of a very impressive park. The warden arrived and helped us onto our chosen spot. What a gem of a site. It looked like an old Finca / estate complete with huge house and a now defunct swimming pool above it . The parking and picnic areas were huge with well organized bbq areas and walks starting from the park. We parked by some palm trees and went for a walk before settling in for a very quiet night.

huge terraces

lovely site amongst the palms

From castle to polytunnels

Thurs 30^th

Another lovely sunny morning so we went for a walk around Velez Rubio. The town was uninspiring until we found the main square and the very impressive church. It had a relatively small frontage but went back a long way. The interior was different  to anything we had seen so far in Spain as it was painted white with blue and pale green details. It looked very elegant and not at all OTT like the many gold encrusted ones we had seen so far. The main altar was unique as it was carved from wood.

beautiful wooden organ

very elegant interior

In the afternoon we drove up the mountain to the nature park in Sierra Maria de Velez. After a quick walk around the botanical garden (better to visit in Spring) we headed back down to Velez Blanco which has a very prominent castle dominating the skyline above it. It is free to visit so in we went. 

Velez Blanco

What a construction – massive thick walls with huge arches connecting the entrance bridge to the main part. It has a very chequered history, the very ornate interior is missing as it was sold in 1904 to the Metropolitan museum in New York where it has been reconstructed. The castle was left to crumble until it was renovated from 2000 onwards. They are now working with the museum to digitally copy the original to reproduce it using modern CAD / CAM techniques at huge cost!
The treason door was interesting in that the newly added steps up had no guardrail - no steps for the unfortunates who would have simply been thrown out of it!

lovely arches

arrow holes

newly retsored

village below

steps up to original treason door!

Friday 31^st

After a second quiet night on the aire in Velez Rubio we awoke to another hot and sunny day. I cycled up past Velez Blanco and nearly up to Maria at 1400m before turning round and enjoying the fast downhill. Bit disappointed with my max speed of only 44.3 mph………….  must try harder.

After a lazy lunch sitting in the sun we decided to move south to the coast. Calnegre had 3 aires in the guide and looked a good choice. Boy, were we wrong about that. When we approached the area off the mountain road we could see a sea of plastic – polytunnels. Ok , so we are in an area that is intensively used for for growing much of the tomatoes, lettuce and greens we now expect to be available at anytime of the year. What we were not prepared for was what an ugly industry it is when you get closer. We had seen lots of litter previously but what we encountered here took it to a new level. Piles of black plastic sheeting mixed in with piles of discarded soil, wind blown scraps of plastic everywhere and of course loads of bottle and cans etc by the roadsides!

sea of plastic

refreshing

where's all the tomatoes?

The first aire looked like a new age traveller / pikey camp, so we kept going, second one appeared closed so onto the third one. Very large area by the beach with clearly marked out slots. The owner was most welcoming and friendly so we settled in for the night. We chatted to several of the others on the aire who had been there for several days already, they liked it and of course it was warm and sunny. Before we had tea we went for a walk along the beach. First impressions were of even more rubbish on the beach, but it was a bit cleaner in front of the few scruffy bars in the nearby small village. The sea looked clean and of course the familiar sound of waves rolling in was present, so socks off and in for a paddle.  

looks good from the aire

We couldn’t help but wonder why people came here to stay for long periods as it was so dirty and there was nothing to do but sit around? Mmmmmm we decided to give it a second chance tomorrow.

Sat 1^st Nov

It was warm overnight and we were greeted by a beautiful sunrise  as we woke up. Breakfast outside in the morning sun was a great way to bring in the month of November. Bikes out we set off to cycle along the coast. The first bit of road was good then we started weaving our way through a maze of polytunnels. The bigger more professional growers kept their areas very tidy and organized, the others were very messy with lots of junk and rubbish scattered haphazardly around their areas. There was yet more black plastic scraps by the road. Not good.  We saw a gaggle of vans in an area by the wreck of a house right on the beach so of course we went to have a look. There were about 16 vans wild camping in a very rough untidy area. Most were German with a few Dutch. We spoke to a Dutch couple that planned to stay for 4 weeks before moving further south. They said that in December this place would be full with up to 50 vans!  Why?  Absolutely just not for us, it had no appeal whatsoever. 

wild camping spot

beach very dirty

Tina was becoming very disillusioned with the area so we decided to move first thing the next day. We only decided not to move immediately as we wanted to stay and take part in the picnic lunch the aire owner was organizing for all the people staying.

Later we enjoyed empanada, tortilla and local wine with our fellow motorhomers. For desert we had what looked like lardy cake but topped with pork scratching!  Tasted rather nice. Then to finish a drink of muscadet. Very sociable. Due to drinking at lunchtime the rest of the late afternoon was spent relaxing. … zzzzzzzzzzzz

lunch!

As you can gather we did not warm to the area at all and for us it had no lasting appeal. We are in Spain to explore and this particular small area is not one we would choose to revisit.

Middle Spain - definitely not all flat!

Sat 25th

As we drove south through Castilla La Mancha the landscape became very arid with huge plantations of olives and almond trees. We passed one hill which had a castle had 12 windmills on it. We stopped for lunch in a closed petrol station which provided welcome shade as it was 29 C. 

handy shade

Lagunas de Ruidera was our destination, this is a chain of 14 lagoons  and of similar kaste rock formation as Plitvice in Croatia. It really is a blue water oasis in an arid area. The lagoons are connected by a series of waterfalls which are much smaller than Plitvice but still impressive. Los Batanes campsite was open so we parked up. We were now starting to encounter a common problem – we are happy to have an open, sunny pitch but most sites only have very shady, heavily tree covered areas. The second area was almost devoid of daylight, far too gloomy for us but probably desirable in the oppressive summer heat they have here. We opted for a pitch under very tall pines.

amazing banks

Sun 26th

Cold first thing but it soon warmed up. We cycled along the lagoons to Ruidera, stopping off to walk about the waterfalls. The road was good and the cars very polite. The info centre was in the old gunpowder store and positively cold inside. The lady had winter clothes on and an electric fire glowing whilst we were in shorts and short sleeves outside.

mini Plitvice (Croatia)

Next challenge was the steep cycle up to a viewpoint – Tina puffed a bit but made it no problem. It was worth it for the views.

worth it for the views

Late afternoon I got my road bike out and cycled up to the top of the valley. Lots of people fishing in the lagoons. I also spotted lots of tv aerials on the top of the valley sides with very long cables coming back down to the house below!

Mon 27^th

Sunny, yet again so bikes out and we cycled up to the end of the road and continued on the cycle / walking trail. It was lovely with the trees looking very autumnal and the bulrush fringed upper lagoons very peaceful and still. An old pumping station now in ruins was visible across the valley – wonder what they use now?

autumn in Spain - very hot

After lunch we headed south into Andalucía our destination was Siles in the Sierra de Alacaraz. The rock colour changed to a very warm terracotta and the amount of olive trees increased seeming to take over the landscape. They reached all the way up the sierra slopes only stopping when the rock was vertical, or so it appeared! 

lots and lots of olive trees

We found the campsite just off the main road and as we have come to expect we were the only people on it. The entrance was very tight and the branches very low. So low the owner had to hold one up with a rake to allow us to squeeze under. When we stop for branches they always seem surprised that we don’t just scrape under them. I hate scratching the roof and across the roof lights – especially when it is me that has to polish them out! I like to look after our investment and “house”. Yet again the tree cover was almost complete cutting out the remaining sunshine and any view of the mountains. We found a space lower down with some light and a view of sorts. I could not believe what I was seeing when I walked up to the toilets – season long caravans with awnings cowering under the most hideous awnings/ canopys / tents ! What a horrible looking shanty town. Yuk.

sunlight optional? 

Tues 28^th

After a very quiet (and dark as the lights all went out at 9pm!) night we drove to near Segura de la Sierra and parked outside the Bomberos (fire) station. Scoot out, we rode up the steep and beautifully twisty road to the most spectacular village at the top of a 1100m tall hill crowned by a castle. It looks very Disney as you drive up the valley towards it.

The castle has Islamic origins and dominates the skyline. Unfortunately it was closed – open weds & weekends only!

beautiful castle above Segura

The village was deserted so we rode up to the rectangular bullring and parked up. Nice place to wander about but I would not want to live there, as it is just too remote and the houses were very small with very low doors.

The campsite we planned to stop at proved unsuitable when we got there, the entrance was very narrow, incredibly steep and worst of all was made of cobbles, which were very smooth and polished. The sign also said caravans only allowed if towed by a 4X4! Said it all.

Yet again plan B. We elected to continue south, the route took us through a huge area of olive tree plantations. All you could see as far as you looked were olive trees. It just did not look natural due to the regular spacing to allow mechanical harvesting.

Thankfully the scenery from Quesada to Pozo Alcon made up for it. What a fantastic drive along this valley. The mountains and rock colours / formations changed dramatically in the space of just 20km.  From red to grey to dirty white back to red. Brilliant.

yet more Olive trees!

We crossed the bridge over the dam at Embalse del Negratin – a huge reservoir and I spotted a small camping sign. The reservoir looked very dramatic with sheer red rock sides and blue water as we bumped our way down to its shores and camping Freila. We passed by the unfinished shells of at least 12 houses – why?

unfinished houses

€12 incl elec and very good wifi – bargain. Again we were the only people on the site. It had a very neglected, past its best look to it, but it suited us fine.

Weds 29^th

Hot and sunny again!  We walked down to the reservoir shore and the beach.  What a disappointment – it was grubby and had incredible amounts of litter strewn on the pebbly beach, under the trees around the carpark, piled up by the very few overflowing litterbins. Glass bottles, plastic bottles, tins, cans, wrappers and huge amounts of paper tissues. Some of it looked as if it had been there for years! Are we being unkind / oversensitive? We are just gobsmacked at the quantity of litter we are seeing in the southern half of Spain. Parts of the UK are hardly litter free but are by comparison squeaky clean. There are lots of wheelie bins at these places but the public seems to be too lazy to use them. Sorry, rant over – for a moment.

Unfinished houses - guy on campsite told me that there are 125 of them in the area. The locals went mad and built them hoping to sell to the Brits who were flocking to the area. Problem was that none of them had the legal papers so were told to stop. An all too common problem in Spain due to greed and corruption in the early 2000's. The government estimates that there are 1.25 million empty / unfinished houses in Spain!

pedalos

you can't see the litter from here!

looks idylic 

Onto Velez Rubio at the foot of the Sierra Maria Los Velez national park. The aire was tricky to find but eventually we parked up on one of the well laid out slots. Yet more litter around the water tap area, so I picked it all up and put it in a bin. Made me feel a bit better! The aire was at the back of a huge parking area with floodlights and seats around a dusty central area. Another unfinished community project?

autocaravanas spot - behind huge parking space

We walked into town which was at first glance very uninspiring. The lovely lady in the Tourist Office was however very inspiring. She gave us lots of local things to see and maps of walks in the park. She was very passionate about the area and we talked to her about all sorts of things regards Spain and the culture. Great to talk to a local and get their opinions.

At dusk we heard the sound of bells – a mixed flock of sheep and goats tinkled past us on their way to their nearby pasture for the night. It turned out they were being kept on a fenced building plot that was for sale – right in amongst the town houses! 

sheep & goats homeward bound at dusk