16th January 2016
Snow, cold, cranes, castles, and sunshine. All in one day !
Sometimes I wonder how we can fit so much in to one day ! We knew it was cold during the night, but we
were snug with plenty of extra clothes on, and some chemical handwarmers in our
socks. So when we eventually opened the
curtains and peered out, we were surprised to see it all white outside !! Snow and minus 4 deg C during the night
! Even the loo was covered in snow,
which made for a chilly start to the morning !
We ate our breakfast inside the van, and I started the engine early so
the heater warmed up, and it was actually nice and warm in there. The tap to the water tank was frozen solid,
but luckily we still had enough water in our bottles inside to enable us to
make a hot cup of tea before we set off down the road !
We drove the 10 kms or so back to Daroca and took some photos of the red
tile roofs of the town all covered in snow, and then headed SW on a little
country road towards Laguna de Gallocanta where we heard there were a few
birds. First we had to get over a small
pass of about 1200 metres which was covered in snow, and past almond trees in
blossom in the snow ! This road is the
Camino Del Cid, commemorating El Cid and his escapades in the 12th
Century, and eventually brought us to the little town of Gallocanta, but the
tourist office was closed and we saw no birds.
Apparently up to 70,000 grey cranes winter around this Laguna every
year, but we could see nothing, and the water in the Laguna looked to be very
low, so everything was a long distance from the road. Hmmmm.
So we continued on the narrow road round the Laguna, through Tornos, and
then, just before Bello we found a little
building saying “Tourist Information”, and the door was open – It seemed the
other (closed) office is just a smaller one that is only open in the summer.
This office told us that as we had a 4 WD
we were allowed to drive on the dirt trails all around the laguna, which
would get us a lot closer to the water and the wildlife. Armed with that information we went off the
tarmac road and drove all over the place on these
From Gallocanta we then headed back towards the main road to Valencia,
passing through Calamoche before we final got on the main A23 that goes all the
way to the coast. This is a big dual
carriageway, but with very few people using it, but we had decided we needed to
get a move on if we were ever going to get to Morocco. With Janet due to fly back to Australia on
Feb 26th from Lisbon, we only have just over a month. The plan is to stay with a friend from Dubai
days, Jill, in La Nucia, just north of Benidorm, for a couple of days before
heading down to S Spain to catch a ferry by Friday. So we got off our more normal small roads
and, since there are no tolls on this road, we used it all the way into Sagunt,
just north of Valencia.
The road is still up on the high plateau, so even until we were not far
from the coast, we were still over 1200 m ASL.
Beside the road are lots of enormous steel sculptures – Shooting stars,
rampant bulls, St George killing that dragon, and so on. Interesting.
Eventually we reached the coast, and drove though almost the centre of
Valencia – Seeing it was a Saturday the traffic was fine. Interesting (but logical) that the trees on
the streets of Valencia are all orange trees, with the trees covered in oranges
! And why does nobody pinch them ?
Because at this time of year they are REALLY sour – worse than lemons
! They only sweeten as summer approaches
!
Then we came to the stunning architecture of the Ciudad de las Artes y
las Ciencias – The City of Art and Sciences.
This has been built in the old Turia Riverbed, and is mostly the work of
local architect Santiago Calatrava. From there it was on down the road past
extensive rice paddies (Valencia is where paella first simmered over a wood
fire), and on to Cullera, where we (eventually) found our way to the top of a
hill and the Cullera Castle.
This castle was built between the 12th and 13th
centuries, although originally was a Caliphate building in the 10th
century. It was captured by the Christians
in the 13th C and in the 16th C was designed further to
avoid the attacks and plundering of the Mediterranean piracy, and adapted in
the 19th C for the local wars of that period. The view from the castle over the local
coastline is superb, especially in the sunny afternoon sun that we enjoyed.
In the chapel linked to the castle was an enormous model display of
history of the region, from Roman times through to recent. I put a few centimes into a box out of
courtesy, and was surprised when the whole display lit up and came to life,
with pumps pumping, saws swing, and doors opening and closing !
But evening was drawing in, and we needed to get on down the road. Jill
was out this evening, so we decided to stop in one of the many camp sites on
this coast line – The chosen one in Oliva.
Like many of the local campsites they are packed in like sardines, but
for one night we survived. And a hot
shower after the last couple of freezing nights more than made up for the lack
of space ! We slept soundly in the dry
and, for a change, relatively warm van !
Rest of the photos are here :- https://picasaweb.google.com/110185357936043625130/0398DarocaToOliva?authkey=Gv1sRgCJTW75zaqbus_QE
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