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squiz Member Member#: 6644 Location: Registered: 27-05-2007 Diary Entries: 2898 |
22nd February 2017 Hiking - Walking: Par. Regional De Calblanque Wind Direction: Wind Stength: Surf / Sea State: Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: cloudy and windy Max Speed: Distance Covered: Wednesday 22nd February – hike **** Par. Regional De Calblanque - cloudy and windy Quiet night tucked out of the wind at Los Urrutias but woke to a cloudy day with a building breeze, Mag did her exercises with views over the reserve and a Marsh Harrier. We moved closer to the water to join our Belgian lady windsurfer who had just turned up. After breakfast, I toyed with the idea of windsurfing here which I would love to do as the wind is dead onshore meaning you could sail miles up and down the coast but I counted nine flags marking nets and without a weed fin it wouldn’t be much fun so we decided to head off. The Belgian kitesurfer we met earlier recommended the Par. Regional De Calblanque so we headed there past loads and loads of men working in the fields especially bussed in to tend the salad crops. We noticed a group of windsurfers sailing from a large campsite in La Manga and made a small detour to watch them but they were only sailing in a small corner of the lagoon so didn’t fancy that and carried on. We found the concrete road to Calblanque past a field covered in a sea of plastic cloches rippling in the breeze. The road soon turned into a dusty track winding through the hills past some disused salt workings with bird hides to a beautiful deserted beach with no high rise in sight, so it is possible to find some coast in Spain that hasn’t been over developed!!! Despite the strong wind and cloud we packed a picnic and set off to explore, first down to the surf beach and up onto a rock for a better view. We then found an intriguing path along the cliffs which started on the beach leading to a wooden walkway and up the rugged rocks to some walled viewing point. The path got more extreme the farther we went as it made its way around rocky inlets with waves breaking below. We came to at least six breeze block circles and wondered what they were??? On reaching the first we looked over the top to discover really really deep mine shafts, an English couple we bumped into later said they were used for mining silver, lead and iron and possibly later used by smugglers! We scrambled up following the red and white markers and found a spot out of the wind for lunch, then the path got more interesting with one section having ropes attached to the rocks to help, just our kind of walk with the ‘Danger of Death’ sign at the end! We got near the end of the walk at Cabo de Palos but stopped short and looked down on the nice-looking town built on a rocky outcrop with an impressive lighthouse. We returned to the van and decided to check out the next beach along at Cabo Negrete, the road steeply fell to the beach and we found the wave capital of the area! The covered car park was full of wave sailors who had to carry their kit quite a way along a wooden walkway to a narrow sandy beach in a lovely remote spot with high hills as a backdrop. The wind was cross off holding up the waves nicely, there must have been over a dozen out. I must admit that wave sailing is not for me, underpowered with a small sail and board equals lots of floundering but good fun to watch non-the less. I sat for ages taking pictures while Mag returned to the van and was treated to the sight of a shepherd and his dog herding hundreds of sheep and goats over the hills and down the road :) We drove even further along the track to an even more remote beach and tried to find a spot for the night with a view but sheltered from the wind. We got the view but not the shelter so just parked for an hour to read and snack before doing a walk to the last, hidden, beach along a rocky path. We were walking single file and as Mag always walks looking at her feet (thinking she is going to trip up!) she spotted that I had nearly stood on a small green snake! We watched him slither into the plants at the side of the path and were pleased he had had a lucky escape as would have felt awful if I had trodden on him!! We looked out over the beach then returned to the van along the beach. We then drove to a lower carpark and found a spot tucked out of the wind with a couple of cars already parked. The occupants returned as it got dark and were a bride and Groom dressed in their wedding gear with a photographer in tow. Her dress was dirty with sand and it may seem a strange place to have a wedding phone but we have to say we have seen bride and grooms in more obscure situations than this in our travels! It seems to be quite a thing. We are stopping here the night so fingers crossed they don’t have a Parc ranger to tell us to move on! Photo Gallery Here Thursday 23rd February – sightsee and small walk – sunny Periods Very quiet night in the out of the way Par. Regional De Calblanque with the only noise a little rain, the sort of rain that leaves your van covered in red dust probably from Africa! OK morning with the sun doing its best to come out, lazy start reading then Mag got up and had a walk on the beach. Then I heard the goat bells so quickly got up and the Shepherd was taking his big flock of sheep and goats up to graze in the scrubby hills with his shaggy dog and took some pics:) We both did our exercises in the warm sunshine, I had a good outdoor wash, even doing my hair and treated myself to a new t-shirt! Breakfast outside while the Spanish air force put on another low flying display for us! We didn’t leave till midday and our plan was to drive further down the coast to the next Parc National but bumped our way to the main road and thought we would look at Cabo de Palos, the little town we walked to yesterday afternoon with the impressive lighthouse. It was a traditional little place with nice little houses around a small fishing harbour with not a high-rise in sight! We parked by the harbour to walk to the lighthouse, past the fishing boats with their smelly nets with little quayside restaurant’s which were very quiet. We followed a rocky path along the cliffs with crazy steps down to tiny beaches. The tall lighthouse looked good perched on top of a multi-coloured rock with the fantastic coloured sea splashing all about. You could walk up to the lighthouse for good all round views, the only blot was the appalling La Manga a ten-mile narrow strip of tall apartment’s and hotels that just went on and on, it’s only saving grace was the surfy beach. We followed the coast path/prom to Cabo’s main beach which was in a real state:( washed up boats and litter with the usual graffiti and thick with smelly seaweed, a big problem on this coast. We came out right by the van and decided to drive to a spot just past the harbour to join a few campers with a sea view for lunch, sitting out in the warm sunshine:) Then for a laugh we thought we would investigate La Manga which was just as bad as we thought it would be, for the most part a dual carriageway with high-rise on both sides with next to no access to the open sea one side and the Mar Menor the other. It was a heartless, soulless place - the worst that man can do to wreck the plane. It was like a ghost town with absolutely no one in any of the apartment’s and what a motley set of designs they were including a grotesque development in the design on an old castle, just truly dreadful:( With every inch built on we decided we had to drive to the end as we had nearly walked there a few days ago,. What a difference, the other side is a beautiful natural park with etangs and wading birds! Iit did improve a little when we crossed a big lifting bridge over the channel linking the lagoon with the Med. The road ran alongside the Mar Menor with buildings on only one side, then at the end the big buildings disappeared with a big circle of villas accessed by the steepest bridge we have ever been over! We had a bit of fun on the way back taking a panoramic shot with my camera, trying to get Mag in the same pic twice and after a few attempts we managed it:) We couldn’t wait to get out of this nightmare and with time getting on we headed back to last night’s spot for some peace and quiet. Cuppa and cake, relax and read, nice rice tea. The 5 days of Levante wind should be over tomorrow, thank goodness. We are really getting into this Spanish campervan winter sunshine life, we would be sitting out in the chairs if we had had room to fit them in!! |
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