We have
been in Andalucia for nine weeks now so I thought it was high time to post another instalment.
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| Mar Menor and La Manga in the distance |
On Monday
24th of September Harvey was packed up and we were back on the open
road and heading for Caravanning La Manga near Cartagena. The journey
was fairly uneventful and we arrived at the site on the banks of the
Mar Menor in the middle of the afternoon. Our pitch was PQ11 which
was about 2 minutes walk from the beach but about a kilometre from
the front gate. There are around 1200 pitches on the site and they
are mainly permanent. Walking amongst them we found everything from
static caravans to log cabins and American 5th Wheelers. There were
also a couple of American motor-homes similar to Harvey. After
wandering around for a little while we headed for the beach bar and
had a few drinks.
We were
booked in for a couple of nights so on Tuesday we had a run out
across the causeway that separates the Mar Menor and the sea. It is a
very narrow isthmus but it is crammed with high-rise hotels and
blocks of holiday apartments. The Mar Menor is a big water sports
location and there were lots of sailors and windsurfers out on the
lake.
On
Wednesday the car was hitched up again and it was off down the road
once more. First heading for Murcia and the A-7 then turning right at
Lorca onto the A-91. At this point it started to rain and the weather
got worse as we travelled along until the roads were running like
rivers and you could barely see for the rain and the spray. Also the LPG ran out about here so we had to switch over to petrol and
hope that we could fill up in Granada. At the next service area we
put a hundred litres of unleaded in which barely took the gauge up to
half way.
The A-91
becomes the A-92N on crossing the border from Murcia into Andalucia
and our next stop was the truck park at Dolar. Turning left at
Guadix, where we saw our first cave houses, onto the A-92 we soon
arrived at our destination. The truck stop was a bit basic but it was
free and it had a café
bar and a restaurant.
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| Malaga Monte Parc the view from our decking |
We woke to
the rain still lashing down after passing an uneventful night and
went across to the café
to get some breakfast. Tortillas (omelettes) and coffee set us up for
the next leg of the journey which should see us on a site somewhere
between Fuengirola and Marbella. Before that though there was the
matter of obtaining LPG. We knew there was a Repsol depot in Granada
that sold it so we stopped in a service area on the A-92 and off
loaded the car. After driving around in the car for a while we found
the depot but it had closed about a hour earlier, it had only been
open in the morning. Back at the service area and after loading the
car back onto the trailer we put another hundred litres of unleaded
in the tank and once again the gauge only barely read half full.
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| Malaga Monte Parc looking South towards the mountain |
There were
three sites that we had short-listed where we were headed but we weren't sure if they would be able to accommodate us. Sure enough,
on arriving at the first, Camping Cabopino, we discovered that the entrance was
too narrow and it had low tree branches across the road so it was on
to the next one which turned out to be at the end of a two kilometre
single track road. I rejected this one because I didn't fancy
reversing for two kilometres if we couldn't turn round at the end of
the lane. The third one was no better than the first so we pulled
into a big car park at La Cala and phoned Tricia's brother-in-law,
Sam. He suggested we drive over to Coin and meet him in the car park
of the shopping centre, La Trocha, which we did. No sooner had we
parked there than the Guardia Civil were round to have a look. Sam
explained that we were looking for a site and would be spending one
night in the car park. They didn't seem that bothered and were more
interested in having a good look at Harvey. We left the van there and
went off with Sam to have some dinner with him and Tricia's sister,
Jane, and have a council of war. Sam had found out about a site near
Alhourin de la Torre and we knew of one near Malaga airport so it was
decided that we would check those out the following day.
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| The lane beside Malaga Monte Parc and the Arroyo Hondo |
We
returned to La Trocha car park for the night and in the morning drove
Harvey over to Villafranco del Guadalhorce, the nearest village to
where Sam and Jane live, and parked it there for the day. It was then
off to Alhourin de la Torre and Camping Malaga Monte Parc. This was a
fairly new site and it had three RV specific pitches with water,
electric and waste disposal on the pitch. It also has a bit of decking that you can put tables and chairs on for al fresco dining and lounging about. There were a couple of
dozen static caravans and about forty touring pitches on the site. It seemed
ideal but we wanted to have a look at the Motorhome Aire near Malaga so we drove over there and found that it was closed. The decision having been made for us it was back to
Malaga Monte Parc to sort out a pitch and then we had to drive over to
Villafranco and pick up Harvey.
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| The mountain behind Malaga Monte Parc |
The drive
back from Villafranco to Monte Parc was easier than it had been going
the other way and we were soon set up on our pitch. It was now Friday
and it just so happened that Friday night was food night at the
“Hub”, as the locals call the little bar on site, so we decided
to go along and meet some of the other residents. It was still quite
wet, in fact the Malaga area had suffered flash flooding and some
people had been killed, so everyone was huddled inside but that meant
we soon got talking to the other residents. Most of the owners of the
static caravans are English with just a few Spanish. Some, who are
retired, live in their vans for the majority of the year and the
others come out from England as often as they can.
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| The track up the mountain |
We have done a bit of walking and cycling since we have been here and one day we walked part way up the mountain behind the site past the gun club (marked on the map). We walked up hill for an hour before deciding to turn round. Needless to say it only took forty minutes to walk back down again. We are going to attempt it again but taking a picnic lunch with us next time. We have also walked and cycled down the
lane that runs alongside the Arroyo Hondo and down into the Arroyo Hondo too.
Last week
we decided we should have trip to Granada because we had been told
that it has some magnificent buildings and is well worth a visit. We
went into a local travel agent in Alhourin el Grande and booked a
couple of nights in a hotel near the city centre and tickets to see
the Alhambra palaces. The next instalment will cover our holiday in
Granada.
We have decided to knock the Portugal part of the tour on the head and stay here until February then return home by ferry from northern Spain.
