6th-9th
March 2016
A lighthouse
walk, work on car, then N. to Teruel
Sunday 6th March
was sunny, but very windy, but since we had chores to do tomorrow, Jill decided
we needed some exercise so took me down into Albir where we went for a 2.5 km
walk out around the headland to the Albir lighthouse. The views back into the bay are superb, and
apart from nearly getting blown off the path, it was a really good walk. Many locals do it, especially on the weekend,
so there were plenty of people on the trail.
It may have been
cool, but the sunshine and sky made the sea blue and it was a pretty sight all
the way round the bay to Calpe Rock to the north. As is often the case here in Spain, there is
lots of history along the way, with a red ochre mine which operated from the
1850’s to the 1920’s, mostly operated by a single family. The remains of their
house and diggings are clearly visible from the path, although if one wanted to
climb down a steep path to inspect it closer, one could……I didn’t !
This part of the
coast was a regular hideout for pirates and privateers between the 16th
and 18th C’s, and there are the remains of a tower (Bombarda Tower)
that was built on the headland next to where the lighthouse now stands that was
once used to spot enemy ships and guard the coast.
Unfortunately it was destroyed during the War of Independence
(1808-1814), and all that remains today are the foundations. The lighthouse was first used in 1863, and
although today it is fully automated, inside is now an excellent photographic
display of its history. It is located
almost exactly on 0 degrees of Longitude.
Walking back
around the cliffs, a sign drew our attention to a small “slice” out of the LH
side of the mountains behind La Nucia – Called “Roldan’s Slice”. The photo of the text tells of a charming but sad legend
of love lost, and when Roldan smashed his sword into the mountain in anger at
the death of his love, he threw the piece of rock that he removed into the sea,
so forming Benidorm Island. And the
slice into the mountain is clearly visible - So it must be true.
From there it was
back to the car, and back to Jill’s house for a well earned beer and
dinner. Monday, the next day, was wet
and horrible, but I managed to get a few things done on the car before I took it
in to a local garage to have an oil change in the afternoon. Main item for me to do was to remove the water tap (from
my 50 litre water tank) and look for the source of a slow leak that has been
annoying me for some time. It is the kind of job that, while seemingly minor, I
did not want to tackle on the road because jobs like this always seem to have
hiccups – And that was the case this time.
I needed a drill to take out 2 pop rivets (NEVER use pop rivets to
secure something that might need to be replaced while on the road !), and they
proved difficult. Then the tap had been
in place for so long that there was lots of dirt and crud around it, so I had
to cut the hose (which was already very short !) to get it off. The good news was that the tap seems to be a
standard Spanish (Euro ?) garden tap – Where the guy who built my van
conversion got it from in Australia, I don’t know, but it was a pleasant
surprise to find an identical part was available locally. It was the tap itself that was leaking – The
spindle was loose. Obviously a warn
rubber O ring inside or something, and of course they don’t come apart !
The car was
serviced with no problems, so that was another chore done. On Tuesday I got a
new tap from the local ferreteria (hardware store) and after a lot of fiddling
and twisting etc, I finally got it securely in place and working. Job done, leak gone. Then I repacked the car, went shopping for
supplies, and loaded them all in the car ready to leave first thing Wednesday
morning.
7 days at Jill’s,
got plenty of walks to stretch my legs, and got some chores on the car
done. Plus I got some rest, enjoyed a
few beers and some local red wine in the evenings, and was ready to hit the
road again. Thank you so much for putting up with me Jill. Muchas gracias.
I was out by 8.30
am, and although I was heading N to France to catch a ferry, I first went
slightly SW, a couple of hours inland to near a little place called Pinoso.
Some friends I knew many years ago in the W Country in England now live there,
and having been down to Pete and Astrid’s down near Malaga the previous week, I
wanted to make sure I got a chance, however brief, to drop in and see Graham
and Blanche. It is so much better when
one has seen where
people live to imagine them when one is corresponding on
email or whatever. So I headed down past
Alicante and then headed inland on increasingly small roads – And a lot of this
country, while bleak looking, is heavily involved in marble mining – I passed
several big mines where they had hundreds of enormous marble blocks stacked
like houses, but it was nothing compared to the mine near Pinoso which Graham
tells me is the biggest marble mine in the world. It certainly was big – We drove up into the
hills around it.
Graham and
Blanche met me near their local village, and after a coffee and a chat they
took me exploring the local area – Not only marble mines but grape vines,
almonds, and olives everywhere. I
understand there is also a big leather business in this region too. Then it was back to their home for a very
pleasant lunch and catch up before I had to leave them and head north. Great to catch up with them though.
When I was at
school and college, I spent a lot of time around Bath and Winsley with John
Skidmore and his friends – Of which Pete and Graham were two. Unfortunately last week another of the group,
Alan Holly, succumbed to cancer very suddenly, and it is his funeral on the 17th
March in the W Country that I am heading back to the UK for. When I went to book a ferry from Santander in
N Spain back to UK, they were all booked solid, so I have no choice but to drive
all the way up through Spain and all of France in order to get back to the UK
in time. So I booked a ferry from
Cherbourg to Poole for the 12th March, hoping that I could get to
Cherbourg by then. I had been planning to see
some of the N Spain coast which is meant to be beautiful, but ferry schedules
mean that I just can’t fit it in without having to really sprint some 1800 kms, which
I don’t feel like doing. So I have left
3 full days after leaving Graham and Blanche’s to get there.
So once I left
Pinoso after lunch, I just went as far as I could – past more marble mines,
past “white” villages on hillside that stand out so clearly in the sunshine,
past castles perched on sheer cliffs above little towns, and through valleys
where there were enormous cooling towers blighting the landscape. It was an interesting afternoon, but not
outstanding scenery wise, and by 7 pm I could go no further.
I was driving
though a little gorge near Ademuz, and just at the right time there was a
parking area right in the middle of the gorge, with a good grassy area set well
back from the road. So I steamed my
already precooked chook along with some vegetables, and had a quick and tasty
supper before turning in for the night, pretty well exhausted, but making
progress in the right direction. Most of
the day was spent going cross country in order to head north, and as usual I
was trying to avoid the toll roads. So
far so good.
Rest of the pics are here :- https://picasaweb.google.com/110185357936043625130/0439AWalkToTheLighthouse?authkey=Gv1sRgCNWs3Inxw9KrJA
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