Round 6: 2013 Ramble 1

Nice one Rob.:thumb Was wondering where you'd got to.:rob:D
 
Y'see I wouldn't have enjoyed that at all. Glad I was wearing my waterproofs all day in the pouring rain and climbing ladders in Northumberland's Wolf Fleece capital.

:pullface
 
Nice one Rob.:thumb Was wondering where you'd got to.:rob:D

Technical difficulties, ahem, now rectified :D :thumb

Y'see I wouldn't have enjoyed that at all. Glad I was wearing my waterproofs all day in the pouring rain and climbing ladders in Northumberland's Wolf Fleece capital.

I'm just going to have to take your word for that buddy ;) :comfort

rob did the clip round the ear hurt for all the stairs involved :D

Fortunately only verbal abuse, no physical injuries sustained, but it was close. My mocking for being a 'slow coach' was not well received..
 
Day 21 - Granada to Mojacar

This morning there’s a chance to visit Granada’s Alhambra. I don’t particularly like tourist attractions, I never really have. I don’t like crowds (Come to think of it I don’t like people either, unless they’re bringing beer, in which case they’re OK) :D
Anyhow, in the case of the Alhambra, well…It is quite superb. The gardens, the palace, the views.. something very special.

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The slight hiccup is there’s a wait to get into the palace and that’s not explained to us until we look at the ticket - there’s an hour to kill with a 10.30 admission. With a midday checkout at the hotel we expect things to be a little tight but there you have it, with the conkers now invested we might has well get on with it.

It’s a fair old size. Sheesh. Us tubby tossers aren’t used to all this shuffling about, you know..

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We get a chance to explore the Alcazaba citadel whilst waiting for our palace slot.

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Great views back down to the city..

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We roll up at just gone 10.30; it takes a little while to get in to the palace but we have a really good wander around and the beauty of the timeslot meant it wasn’t very crowded.

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Spot the tourist..

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Poncing around in the catacombs..

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Splendid.

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The gardens are quite beautiful.

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What an amazing place. Definitely up there with Istanbul’s Hagia Sofia and Blue Mosque as the very best places to visit in my books.

The hotel being close by turned out to be a really good decision. An 11.40 return for a midday checkout and we’re packed miraculously and down into reception in fifteen minutes flat which is an excellent effort. A bocadillo and a café con leche from the bar and we’re up up and away.

We’re circling the Sierra Nevada, heading south down the A44 Autovia for half an hour and then its very east at the first opportunity on to the A348. It is winding and a fun, slow-ish ride. A few bikes around today..

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Later and after a drink break we continue east along the foot of the Sierra Nevada park. The road opens up and we get fast flowing riding.

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We just skirt around the dodgy weather too, which is nice and in not so long we’ve blue skies again..

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Later we stop for a comfort break and another coffee at a place called Fondon. I park up and we’re around a corner to the bar. I return to get something forgotten from the tank bag and there’s a fella there, hands in pockets, grinning at the bike. He’s a local RT owner and speaks very good English so we get a good chat in. He’s never been outside of Spain on his RT, and we mutually agree there isn’t really any need. He asks where we’re going, and we talk of the cost. He recommends the town of San Jose de Nijar, in the Cabo de Gata National park. A nice beach, good views and good food so he says. I’d posted a thread on the site here about recommendations, and that fits in with what the thinking there was, so I think I’ll bank that one for later :thumb

Some more great riding is done before we drop down to the A7 and out to the coast. We head through Garrucha, and then to the Playa of Mojacar, but the town up in the hill has caught my eye and is really grabbing me, so first gear and up we go.

In the lower part of the town we find the Hotel Simon with its incredibly friendly George Clooney-a-like owner. He speaks virtually no English, but whilst checking in I’m given a beer and a piece of fruit. Promising. He sorts parking for the bike, hidden away under a lemon tree, and we're given a room with a balcony where we have a view of the deep blue sea in the distance.

The immediate area of the Hotel Simon is pleasant but nothing special. A few shops and a couple of bars on a hillside road. I decide that we need to find out if this is the long and the short of it, so we need to climb to the centre. There are plenty of complaints as we work our way up the winding periphery. "I don’t like this/ there's nothing here / I'm bored / Are we there yet" sort of drivel, not for the first time :p

At the top we’re treated to some great views. It was well worth the huff and puff.

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..with views back towards the Sierra Nevada and Sierra de Baza off in the distance.

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We wander through at the top down the narrow streets. It’s a great little hilltop place. For some reason I didn't take many photos and lost some of them somehow or other, so you’ll jolly well have to take my word for it.

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A spot is found for dinner along a steep street for heavy duty tapas

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..the crowning glory of which being a metre long sausage (!), but I can’t find the photo of that little gem. Bother :(

Thankfully its all downhill back to Hotel Simon, George Clooney and Estrella Levante.

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:beerjug:
 
The King’s Path around the cliff looks like it has seen far better days, mind.

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Mmm... Once went on a climbing holiday in El Chorro. All my mates decided to do the full length of the 'Camino del Rey'. I stood on the other side of the gorge and watched them do it. Concrete path crumbling and full of holes above massive drops. Must be a testosterone thing... Think they've now blown up the start of it to stop people getting on to it.
 
Nice work.

Takes dedication to record it when you're enjoying yourself.

:beerjug:

Ta, matey :beerjug:

The truth is old bean I find it very relaxing.. over an ale or three.. at the end of the day to do my ramblings.. somewhat of a ritual :thumb

Mmm... Once went on a climbing holiday in El Chorro. All my mates decided to do the full length of the 'Camino del Rey'. I stood on the other side of the gorge and watched them do it. Concrete path crumbling and full of holes above massive drops. Must be a testosterone thing... Think they've now blown up the start of it to stop people getting on to it.

:eek: :eek: :eek:

I think I'm happy sticking with the comparative safety of international motorcycle travel :D :thumb
 
The King’s Path around the cliff looks like it has seen far better days, mind.

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Mmm... Once went on a climbing holiday in El Chorro. All my mates decided to do the full length of the 'Camino del Rey'. I stood on the other side of the gorge and watched them do it. Concrete path crumbling and full of holes above massive drops. Must be a testosterone thing... Think they've now blown up the start of it to stop people getting on to it.

Looks amazing, theres a suggestion on the web that says its going to be repaired and reinstated as a tourist attraction.
 

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Looks amazing, theres a suggestion on the web that says its going to be repaired and reinstated as a tourist attraction.

Great picture that. But not for me. I get vertigo on high kerbs.. :p
 
Day 22 - Mojacar to San Jose

Oh good grief.

After a few beers, on top of generous spirit (the Spanish believe in large spirit measures, this is for sure), on top of a cheeky red, which was on top of more beer I was a bit wobbly last night. Nothing crazy, just lightly spangled. :ChrisKelly

Whilst contemplating a very pleasant day, and wandering in from taking the night air from the balcony I have a stretch, plonk down on the bed and.. crunch, crack. I’d left my laptop there, and I’d hit it with a hefty splat.

Oh dear. :mad:

Now one mustn't complain- my little netbook has been as faithful as a very faithful thing. It has been on tour with me for the last year and was getting a bit long in the tooth even before I set off last June. Used everywhere, dropped a huge number times, battered, cooked in the tank bag, inadvertently left switched on and then cooked in the tankbag, It has been served in a beer jous, had copious amounts of wine spilt on it, etc etc.. you get the picture. But it finally I think meets the end in an act of oafishness courtesy of my good self.

I try and see if it can be salvaged. Even now the little thing refuses to die. The screen is broken but still works to a fashion; I get a curious kind of very dark sepia effect to the screen. Pictures don’t display, just shadows, but by setting it up with the otherwise useless windows high contrast colour scheme I can at least see text in black and white so I can get a few essential details from it, but otherwise it is committed back to the luggage.

I do have a Blackberry Playbook as a sort of second reserve piece of tech, but typing text on it is frankly a nuisance.

Anyway back to travels :thumb2

Another lovely morning as viewed from the Hotel Simon.

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Mojacar is declared a success but we fancy a move, so let’s see what else we have here. Taking our recent little tip we set off for San Jose, heading down the coast.
There’s time to nip back up to the top of Mojacar for a snap and a sticker.

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“The Sticker Hunter”

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Nice riding along the coast.

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We nip back inland as we need some fuel for the beastie.

Away from the coast this part of Spain is covered in poly tunnels as you’ll see in the distance. We’d been warned of that. In certain spots they reach as far as the eye can see..

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There’s some complaining from the passenger section, so I organise a crude bribe of a cornetto. It works.

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And back to the action. The sun is out, lovely and warm, good riding. We follow this cyclist making a rapid descent. He was reaching some serious speeds :eek

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We hit San Jose and it is what we’re looking for; we’re wanting a few days off and it looks to be a terrific place, very quiet and not what you’d call ‘touristy’ :thumb

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We settle for a coffee. I spied the Hotel Dona Pakyta just around the corner and it looks very nice indeed. After a quick chat there and yabba dabba do, we're in.

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A very classy little place that scores highly on the rambleometer :thumb

Afternoon stroll on the beach. Pretty much my beach as it happens; very rare to see a soul.

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We wander down to the little restaurant where we had coffee earlier for dinner. There's no English spoken and I forget my book with the food dictionary. Fortunately for us it is very easy to work out what is steak, we just couldn't work out the definition of the cuts, so we got across 'just bring us the biggest'..!

The steak is out of this world.. served on a stone with veggies, cook yourself to your liking.

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Oh yes.. :JB
 
Day 23-27 – San Jose

Pretty much chilling out type stuff for a few days. I try Paella for the first time and declare it as a hit.

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Quite a bit of walking up and down the beach..

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During our stay we have a short rideout. Google Maps reckons that there’s a road directly to the town of Cabo de Gata, Garmin not. We decide to check it out and take the long way around to see if the short cut brings us back.

The landscape is positively western movie. One of the things I discover about the Screen Spoiler is that with the flip up I can whistle to myself at above 50mph. So I can whistle the theme tune to ‘For a Few Dollars More’ to self :)

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Had a little stop and got overtaken by this friendly chap..

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A good time to link in to where we’ve been riding of late, the whistling tune that stays in my head and a great little then/now video..

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The contrast between the ending of the mountains of the Cabo de Gata park and the huge, long flatland..

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.. with a seemingly never ending beach

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.. is remarkable.

Passing through the tiny town there’s filming going on. That kind of makes sense because round here is one epic set.

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Ooh now I just hate getting held up on a ride :mad: :D

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Another empty and gorgeous beach..

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Making our way up to the lighthouse and to look out over the rocks and the deep blue sea. I didn’t take a photo of the lighthouse for some strange reason. Duh.

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We start thinking if we can get back over the top along the coast, when an Italian guy appears on a battered 640 KTM. He looks puzzlingly at the end of the road where the lighthouse is and swiftly turns around. I catch him taking the road across the top, so watch to see if he comes back. We watch him zig zag up the steep hillside and disappear over the top.
We wait for five minutes to see if there’s any sign of him coming back and there’s none so assume all good, but we meet him coming down the road as we turn in to the track up the hills. I gesture to him, not ok and he stops and says Hello, and that no, the road ends, and he was duped by Google Maps also. So it’s working back down to the flatlands again with the longer ride back around the mountain, but with a warm evening it isn’t any hardship.

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“I think we’ll go for a nice walk up in those hills after dinner, shall we?”

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Ah, erm, maybe not, then :D
 
Day 28 – San Jose to Calp(e)

I’m up early to see a pretty sunrise..

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I didn’t sleep well at all and had a very unusual dream last night. I dreamt that I met god and he had his own barber shop where I went for a haircut. I drove there in my green Mark2 Ford Capri 2000GT. Interpreting dreams is always a tricky one, but think I was more vexed about my knowledge of the Capri seeing as though I’ve never owned one (I’m way too young, don’t you know) and never thought particularly much of them other than they were comedy motors. A mate of my eldest brother used to own a 3.0s and had to have paving slabs in the boot and he crashed it a lot, but that was about it.
I wasn’t too bothered about meeting God, which was a bit weird. He was just a balding fat bloke faintly reminiscent of George Costanza from Seinfeld.

All most peculiar. I think this is possibly a gentle sign to perhaps ease back on the booze for a little bit.

We feel like seeing somewhere a little different so plan a move along a bit so we decide to move up the coast a little and see where calls. There’s some main road to be done as we head inland rather than negotiate the coast, but soon enough we’re off. A brief stop for Empanadas, local meat pasty things in Lorca accompanied by lashings of Orange Fanta and then we’re back to it. A strange old ride after that, along the importantly sounding C9 road where we had wobbly terrible surfaces with odd cambers, weird tightening bends and such like, and then where the road suddenly turned into a belter, the finest snooker table tarmac for no apparent reason at all.. strange indeed.

Onwards. We’re soon plodding amongst the olive groves and it’s a very pleasant afternoon bimble.

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It’s getting kind of hot. The temperature moves up to 30, temperatures not yet seen on this trip.

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A few hours done with the odd stop for an ice cream and a coffee.

More typical rugged landscape..

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With us cooking nicely, we decide on heading to Calp (or Calpe, I’m not sure of the difference, although I did notice the ‘E’ had been removed from a few road signs). We skirt along the N road where you can see Benidorm. I don’t mean to sound like a snob but bloody hell, what a blight on the landscape that place is, horrific concrete high rises in amongst the rugged scenery, it almost made me want to throw up. Couldn’t wait to get that sight into the distance but we’re caught in traffic and the heat. Quite impossible to filter so we’re locked in, wobbling along, start stop, start stop, and the clutch starts to lose a bit of bite as things warm up.

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Oh joy, should have put my hand in my pocket for ten miles of toll road.

We get a decent hotel by the port, but without parking. The lady behind the counter says to park on the kerb opposite and they’ll keep an eye out, plus we have a balcony on the first floor across the road. She doesn’t think there’ll be any problem anyway.

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A pleasant evening stroll around the port and the seaside.

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A local fishing on the rocks. Benidorm appears to have crept into this photo, over in the far distance on the left, fortunately you can’t see much..

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We find a Belgian Restaurant for a most excellent set menu. The mussels were very good indeed..

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Here's to a more traditional dream scenario tonight.. zzzz
 


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