Showing posts with label Cabo de Gata Sp. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cabo de Gata Sp. Show all posts

Saturday, November 28, 2015

Mini Road Trip

We have had a busy few days!  

We left on Thursday to go on a mini road trip to Cabo De Gata, which is about an hour down the road.

Before we go there though I must put this pic on from a few days ago....
They reckon that there aren't a lot of sparrows in the UK anymore.....they are all here!

Our main reason for visiting Cabo De Gata was to catch up with Peter and Margaret, (NB Kelly Louise).  They are staying at a campsite in the Cabo De Gata national park.

Cabo De Gata  is very different to Mojacar.  There are very few poms around and therefore no English spoken in the bars and restaurants, but with our  limited vocabulary we get by!

After lunch we went for a walk and ended up in this great beach bar ...

It's a pretty good view from the bar ...

There were a lot of motorhomes wild-camping, they even leave a water tap turned on just for the motorhomers ...

Cabo De Gata also has a small fleet of fishing boats, which they drag them out of the water with a winch and cable but we didn't see how they launched them ...

The water front is very, very quiet ... it makes Mojacar look busy! 

The sunset was just superb ...


On the way back to Mojacar we went to a Bodega that Peter had mentioned, where apparently they sold good cheap wine and you could taste before you buy.

We went in and found that the place was packed with with wine in vats and barrels, so we asked if we could try some reds.  There was one surly Spanish lady 'serving' (who spent most of her time on the phone and serving anyone else apart from us guiri's).  Finally, she came to us and gave us a taster of a red, which we politely told her we didn't like and asked if we could try something else ... her answer was a categoric 'no' - so we left!  

Our general impression of Spanish customer service is that it is absolutely woeful.  They have no idea what customer service means, whatsoever!  The friendliest service we have received in shops here is from Indians (and then, of course, the English!).

It's not a problem though as we are here for the nice weather and there is plenty of that.

Today we had breakfast out then went and checked out a Christmas car boot sale.  Elaine bought up big and spent a mighty 6 euros!

We also bumped into and had a chat with seven people we now know in the area.  It really is a very easy going place and so easy to meet very friendly people ...

We then stopped by a bar where we booked and paid a deposit for our Christmas lunch at Samber restaurant on the beach front.  None of this slaving in the kitchen malarkey for us!  We will be joined over Christmas by Elaine's old bestie from Macclesfield, so we are looking forward to showing her around the place.

It is a very nice bar that sits right on the beach - this is the mirrored reflection of the beach from the bar - quite lovely!

In the afternoon we took a drive up to the watchtower at Macenas.  The road is a dirt track but it is well graded, the only problem with it is that part of it is single track with no crash barriers, all good fun! 

Once we got there we left the dogs in the van whilst we walked up to the watchtower.
We have a yoga mat on the dashboard so the doggies can sit there in comfort and don't scratch the dash ... 

It's a brilliant view from the tower, you can see the road running along the cliff ...

There was one other person there, a German tourist, but he was afraid of heights and wouldn't come up the tower ...


Elaine slowly going back down, holding on tightly and trying not to look around!


Elaine's artistic shot ...

The weather is still absolutely superb, but is getting chilly at night - we have had the heater on a couple of nights.  Here is our selfie of the day ...

Lovely blue back drop ...

Elaine walked ahead on the way down to get some shots of the van ...


There is plenty of room as long as you don't meet another vehicle but we are bigger than most, so they can back up!




Back on the flat with Mojacar in view ...

All in all another lovely day in paradise!


Saturday, October 31, 2015

Meeting Bloggers In The Desert

This was our parking spot in San Jose.  As you can see there was plenty of space, however there are no facilities for water or waste so we couldn't stay too long!

We left San Jose on Thursday after taking one last walk down to the beach ...


Our destination was Cabo De Gata camping which was only a few ks away.

Our main reason for going there was to meet up with Peter and Margaret ex NB Kelly Louise who now have a motorhome and who are wintering in Cabo De Gata.  You can check out their blog here

We parked up close to their motorhome, which also happens to be a Rapido ...


The site is very popular with poms escaping the UK winter as in their caravans and motorhomes.  There are also chalets that seem to be owned by poms.  I noticed that one is for sale at £15,000 ...


As you can see the site isn't crowded like some of the other sites we stopped at up the coast ...


The pool was lovely, albeit bloody freezing ...


I was warming Elaine up ...
(El here ... he is a ratbag when I am trying to get in cold water ... it brings out the child in him!  I had only managed to get into waist height when he decided to give me a freezing cold, wet hug and then tried to 'help' me in the rest of the way!!)


The site itself is right on the edge of the desert and is quite isolated, which obviously the residents here love as they come here every year and have been doing so for a number of years. 


This is the view outside the camp site gates ...


We did find a project home!!! It even had some furniture ...
(We had a walk around and found signs that someone was actually living in it ... sad.)


Me and Sammie.. He desperately wanted to get back to the van at this point, he doesn't do heat well...


The desert selfie ...


Back at base we found Peter and Margaret, who had a quick pose for us ...


We had a lovely dinner out last night in the site restaurant and finished up in the van for a few drinks.  We didn't get to bed til midnight (again!).   It's been so brilliant catching up with Peter and Margaret again, hopefully we will catch up again with them soon.

We waved them off this morning, they were off to the local market on their u beaut  scooter.

We will be leaving shortly for Mojacar via the coast road and thence, on our arrival to Mojacar, to the Emerald Isle ... for the big game!!

C'MON YOU WALLABIES







Tuesday, June 3, 2014

A Day of Passes

Sammie  was in control of Autoroute today … he said enough of this motorway nonsense lets have some fun!
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Off we went along the deserted coast road and miles of deserted beaches.
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Up a narrow pass we went, only room for one on this baby.
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Lots of little bays along the coast road.
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Up another pass, will we be lucky and not meet another vehicle?
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We met one but I just had enough room to pull over.  It’s a bit like meeting another boat when you are on the canals, except you really don't want to scratch the paintwork let alone plummet over the edge to a hideous death!
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It’s a great view though.
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  The Med looks superb.
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First place we stopped was at was San Jose.
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Nice little place with quite a few people about.  We had a quick look then headed off up the coast
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Next stop was Las Negras, a very laid back alternative style village.
Bombo had his usual walk along the prom wall.
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We had lunch in a little cafe … we went for the Menu Del Dia (Menu of the Day).  It consisted of a strange cold soup, loads of different types of  fish, chips, bread and drinks all for 11.50 Euros.
This chap walked by with a mullet that any South Australian would be well proud of!
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Back into the desert.
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And quickly out of it into a nice little place called Carboneras.
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That’s the road we were heading for at the top of the pic.  It’s at times like this I’m glad the van has the more powerful engine option!  It is fitted with the optional 3.0 litre rather than the standard 2.3 litre - still not incredibly powerful but with 160hp  it pulls the 4250 kilos up these passes easily.mojacar 036 
Nice view from the top.
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There is the road we came up.
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After six beers at lunch time the concentration was fading…….only joking I only had four!
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Just before Mojacar we spotted a decent looking beach so went to check it out.  As we were driving along the beach a 4WD flagged us down, and said the old bill would move us on if we stayed on this beach overnight, however at the other end of the beach was a little bar where the owner didn't mind if you parked in his car park overnight.  We chucked a u-ey narrowly avoiding getting bogged in the sand.
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We found the bar and parked up right on the beach.
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We went in the bar, and who was behind it…..the chap with the 4WD….cheeky little bugger!  No worries though as it would be a free night park and we had access to water and the toilet if need be … and the bar of course.
Elaine went picking up more old crap stones off the beach …
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So that was that, the sun sets over another lovely day …
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They we are with the bar on the left …
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Well done Sammie, you chose a good route!

Where we stayed!
Bar – really close to Mojacar
Coordinates:  N37o 04’36”        W1o 51’00”
P1070704

Friendly bar owner who doesn’t mind you parking on his land.  Offers water and toilets – I think so long as you at least have a drink at the bar!