After the windy night that kept waking me up thanks to Octi
shaking about, it was a bit calmer in the morning and the sun was out.My plan today was to drive down to the coast
to check out a lighthouse at Cabo de Gata (cabo =
cape), and then I was going to turn north and head to the Sierra de Cazorla National
Park.It was going to be a big driving
day, at least 6 hours.
My morning view.
I had to zoom in from the above picture as there's are a few snow capped mountains hiding in the distance.
Arriving at the coast.
Cabo de Gata is one of the biggest capes in Spain and it is
also the driest place in the Iberian Peninsula.I do like checking out lighthouses, but sadly
you couldn’t get very close to this one.
Looking down at the lighthouse from the road.
Looking to the east.
You'll hear in the video...it was pretty windy.
Starting my way back the way I came, before heading inland and north to the Sierra de Cazorla National Park.
A slightly angry sea.
A lonely church by the seaside.
A bunch of greenhouses near the city of Almeria.
Enjoying the scenery...
Some more snow capped mountains.
Interesting rock formations...tall karsts.
What a view!
Hmm...I'm starting to get closer to the snowline... If you zoom in on this pic (double click it), you'll see that it's rows and rows of olive trees on the mountainside.
Look at all of the olive trees!
That's the town of Cazorla which is the entry point into the park.
I was trying to capture that tower on the left side by the snow...it looked magical (more than my camera captured).
I entered the town, but then missed one turn so Google Maps took me out of town and I was going to loop back into another section...but I was in an olive tree grove and Google wanted me to head up a steep, gravel road back into town and Octi wanted nothing to do with it...a 4x4 would have been required. I still couldn't get over how many olive trees there were.
Back in town.
I really am getting close to the snowline...
I didn't expect this when I woke up this morning!
It was pretty though.
Looking back towards Cazorla.
It's a Winter Wonderland!
This was near the top of the pass.
Perhaps my one day of winter this year!
After my 45-minute winter wonderland drive, the road dropped
down in elevation, below the snowline and I finally arrived at the campground I’d
picked on the app. The place looked
deserted…and it pretty much was. It was
a massive place, probably over 100 campsites, plus there were huts and old campervans
for rent.
Starting to come down below the snowline.
The reception was closed with a sign stating to head to the
cafeteria to check-in. It seemed like
more of a bar/lounge with a big stone fireplace where some large stumps of wood
were glowing with embers. There I found
a middle-aged, slightly cold (not temperature wise) woman who checked me in. She seemed more German than Spanish in her
attitude, just a no-nonsense kind of approach.
I parked Octi in a spot close to the bathroom/shower facilities
and I could only see one other campervan in the whole place…it was going to be
a quiet night.
Look at all of the empty spots!
See the old camper sticking out the right side of the gazebo...not exactly 5 star accommodation!
As night fell, so did the rain. Let’s see what it’s like in the morning. The forecast is for my precipitation with it possibly being snow. Perhaps I’ll have to hightail it out of the park and get to Toledo sooner than later.
I decided that I needed a change from checking out castles,
churches and towns and it was time to experience some good ol’ Mother Nature. Googling about hikes in southern Spain, a
highly recommended one was the Los Cahorros de Monachil Trail. On one website I read that there was a 4 or
7.9 kilometre loop that you could choose from, on another one it stated a 6 km
loop. Okay, I’ll see when I get there I
guess.
I drove about an hour and a half from Alcala la Real where I
had slept, through the city of Granada
on its expressways (which thankfully was painless, the traffic was fine) and
found the gravel parking area by the small town of Monachil. I parked Octi, packed a baguette sandwich,
some snacks and water into my backpack and set off.
The view at the start of the trail.
Almost immediately there were a few little suspension bridges.
Looking back from where I came.
Not sure if this used to be someone's home...
If it was, it would have been peaceful and quiet.
A much bigger suspension bridge.
There weren’t many other hikers on the trail.I passed a group that looked like a family
with teenage kids early on but then didn’t see anyone for the next hour or so.
That is a decent sized suspension bridge.
Not the most impressive waterfall, going over a concrete slab.
For the next kilometre or so I walked on the concrete embankment that ran beside the Rio Monachil.
This doesn't look like much, but that overhanging rock did make me have to squat down as I passed under it.
No, I wasn't worried about falling in the river!
Looking back from where I came.
Approaching a little tunnel created by massive boulders that fell into the gorge. It was nice of trailmakers to add the odd hand hold here and there.
Thanks to recent rain, the little river was higher than normal, with lovely brown water.
A broken section...the river is trying to reclaim its path. Luckily it was still solid enough to walk on.
This looks easy, but I actually had to take my backpack off and crawl on all fours to get through this section.
Looking back...there's a river somewhere in there.
One last bridge to cross over the river before starting to head back, so this was the furthest point on the loop away from the parking lot.
The trail is going to head back up the hill on the right.
That's the river canyon.
I came from down there.
A better view of the river canyon.
The weather forecast was thankfully incorrect...it was much nicer than predicted.
I was a bit surprised when I go to this road back down towards the parking lot (still probably 1.5 km away). It had only taken me about one hour and fifteen minutes to get to this point. It certainly couldn't have been the 7.9 km loop, but it was longer than 4 km...must have been the 6 km. It seemed to be the most hiked trail as I always took the "main" trail when I reached any forks. I had read that it was best to hike the loop counterclockwise, which I did, as this was just a boring 1.5 km decline...or incline if you went clockwise which would have been a lame way to start your hike.
This was some little horse ranch with a funny sign...
At the bottom is says "Feed the bodies to the dogs".
Looking back. The trail went from the right side of the photo, part way up those mountains, over to the left and back to here.
I had read that the trail the 7.9 km loop should take 3-4
hours, which is what I had budgeted with my timetable of the day, but here I
was, back at Octi in an hour and forty minutes.
I didn’t even eat my baguette sandwich; I had just taken it on a walk!
Okay great. It was
only 1:30 pm and that gave me lots of time to drive to my next campsite, which
I was a little excited about. I randomly
found it on my camping app, and it was called “Fort Bravo”. It was a fake old Western town where they
occasionally shot “Spaghetti Western” movies but when they weren’t, there was a
daily show that they put on with cowboys on horses shooting their pistols. Now that’s something different for a campground! The show was on at 4 pm and Google Maps told
me I’d arrive at 3:39…I had to get moving.
Hard to see in this photo, but those are the snow covered mountains of the Sierra Nevada Park on the horizon.
See them?
The range is over 7000' high above sea level.
Now this is looking more "Western-like" terrain.
Fort Bravo!
I pulled up to the gate at Fort Bravo behind a couple of
other campervans. One man was at the kiosk,
I assumed paying his camping fees. He got
in his motorhome and entered the park. I
hopped out of the van and in my Spanglish asked the guy behind the counter
about camping. He responded that there
was no camping allowed as they were actually shooting a movie today! Cool.
However, that also meant there was no Western show at 4 pm. He told me that I could still go in and check
out the place, but it was still 23 Euros - the normal price which normally also
included seeing the show and camping.
That’s seemed like a bit of a ripoff.
I jumped back in the van and drove a few kilometres away, pulled
over and checked my app for another place to stay. I found a campground another 45 minutes
away. I was tired but figured I could
handle that. However, just as I circled
a roundabout before getting back on the highway, I noticed a bunch of
campervans in a big, unpaved area by a gas station. All of the vehicles were facing out towards a
nice view of the hills in the distance.
I did a quick check on my camping app and sure enough, this was a spot
you could stay overnight for free…problem solved!
Pretty sweet spot!
Octi is jutting out behind the second camper from the left.
Around 3:30 am, the wind really picked up, and I woke up
from Octi rocking back and forth.For
the next 2-3 hours I must have woken up 4-5 times thanks to Mother Nature.There was a large, old truck that had been
converted into a mini-home and I heard them drive off around 4 am.Their truck must have really been rocking in
the wind.
