Wild (or maybe not so wild) Camping in Spain (in Covid times)

[jumartoo]

I'm tentatively posting this.

Like everyone else in the modern world, we've been locked down for more than a year due to Covid restrictions. Our local region has been one of the toughest restricted (if not THE toughest) in Spain. However, we made the most of what we could do.

We couldn't do much with the motorhome whilst locked down within our town borders, but as soon as we could move within the Murcia region, we were off.

We've been forced to explore near to home, and we've found some lovely places.

I'll post some photos and text about these, but we're now going to travel for a few weeks into the Andalucian region, where I'm hoping I can find some places that might tickle the tastebuds of fellow travellers .

 

[jumartoo]

Our first trips, last Octoberish were out of our region.

Now we DO concentrate our travels on where we can hike or mountain bike, but we do have to have some down time where we explore towns, villages, or natural features.

Sooo. We began, where were most likely heading for tomorrow. Sierra Maria, in Almeria.

Last year we stayed at an Ermita (chapel). We had a very quiet night, so we're hoping tomorrow night will be the same.
We approached via the village of Velez Blanco, the photos of the castle were taken there. And then our overnight spot

 

[bobandjanie]

We have our first guest coming from Germany on Friday, so busy time getting sorted, my second jab tomorrow and I think Janie is the week after, so probably a week on the campsite, making sure our new meet and greet / cleaner is OK with everything.

Then have a wander, probably south because it looks like we have volunteered ourselves to take a friends dog back to the UK for her in July.

Funny because Janie found this dog wandering / lost, phoned the very happy owner, a while later we went into Black Tower to sort my private pension out and she works in there, so not only have we lumbered ourselves we have to try not to loose it. Bob.

 

[jumartoo]

From Maria we went to wild park at an area with some archaeological graves. We first had a bike ride and then a stroll around. It was near the village of Orce, one of the first villages in Spain. It was a semi official parking, where we collected walnuts and got brown stained fingers for our troubles for the whole of the next week! I don't appear to have any photos of our parking, strange

Still in Maria

And on our bike ride, in a semi desert (we are in the Almeria region though)

 

[jumartoo]

Our bike ride took us through the village of Orce and the cave house village of Galera. Galera looked interesting enough to drive there the next day.

But before that we had a walk around the archaeological site of Necropolis de Tutugi.

Necrópolis Ibérica de Tútugi - Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre

es.m.wikipedia.org

Sandwich break in Orce, after negotiating the market!

A few views in Galera

And in the archaeological site.

Access free and a free night in their car park.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Spriddler]

I apologise that it's a negative post jumartoo and I appreciate that it's everyone to their own but to be totally honest I have to say that the pics put me off going.
I just couldn't cope with so much scrubby and barren 'countryside'.

 

[Mikeco]

I apologise that it's a negative post jumartoo and I appreciate that it's everyone to their own but to be totally honest I have to say that the pics put me off going.
I just couldn't cope with so much scrubby and barren 'countryside'.

What a strange posting.

 

[jumartoo]

I apologise that it's a negative post jumartoo and I appreciate that it's everyone to their own but to be totally honest I have to say that the pics put me off going.
I just couldn't cope with so much scrubby and barren 'countryside'.

This was in October after a long, hot summer. Of course the vegetation was barren.

I'll slowly come up to date, if anyone is interested.

 

[Mikeco]

This was in October after a long, hot summer. Of course the vegetation was barren.

I'll slowly come up to date, if anyone is interested.

Keep it going, have spent quite a few years in Spain if you combine all the Winter 6 months that we have had, mostly in Murcia so interested to see other parts. Hopefully back there in January.

 

[jumartoo]

That was our first trip of the autumn into Almeria. A few weeks later we set off for another trip. This time into the Albacete region. Our first night was at the official motorhome parking area of Elche de la Sierra. It's also on P4N. We were entertained all afternoon and evening by the people from the town exercising in various ways (the parking is next to a sports centre). We thought it might be a noisy night but it was very quiet. I can't find a photo of the parking from then, but we were back there a few weeks ago and, if this thread makes it that far, I'll post the photo then.

We had a bike ride the next day. We use Wikiloc and mostly things go well. We had a few places when the route went a bit pear shaped but we managed to get back unscathed.

After our ride we moved to another town (Molinicos). Another small place with an official motorhome parking (on P4N). The town was used in a Spanish film and has many murals painted on the walls of some of the buildings. Some of them not immediately obvious! An interesting place to wander round.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Lenny HB]

I apologise that it's a negative post jumartoo and I appreciate that it's everyone to their own but to be totally honest I have to say that the pics put me off going.
I just couldn't cope with so much scrubby and barren 'countryside'.

Look at it as a nice change to all that green stuff. Also shows you it's warm & dry.

 

[Spriddler]

This was in October after a long, hot summer. Of course the vegetation was barren.

I'll slowly come up to date, if anyone is interested.

Ah, I assumed it was now, i.e. late Spring. I wasn't aware that it was last Oct after the long dry summer.
I was rather seeking an assurance that all of Spain wasn't so brown and grey as from my brief business trips of 20 years ago I have a vague memory of Spring flower meadows (or was that in Greece?).

EDIT. In retrospect my post reads like the lady guest at Fawlty Towers expressing her dissatisfaction with the view of Torquay.

 

[bobandjanie]

We love the fact that sometimes we can be out walking or cycling all day and not see a single person, keep it up Judith and Martin Oh if you want brown fingers again, walnut picking is from now for the next two weeks apparently the best time for pickling them. Bob.

 

[Hagstrom]

A graceful exit, Spriddler!

 

[Lenny HB]

walnut picking is from now for the next two weeks apparently the best time for pickling them.

Pickled walnuts.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[jumartoo]

Shortly after our last trip I fell off/with my bike and broke my upper arm/shoulder. That put paid to biking for a few months. The only slight consolation for me was that at the same time we were locked down into our town's boundaries only.

Haha now a distant memory.

So, instead of a trip the next photos are from our local areas, visited over the next weeks as we went in and out of boundary rules.

Anyone visiting Mazarron/Bolnuevo may have seen some of the coastal ones.

There are a few new motorhome parking places opening up around the area. The wild camping areas are being lost, slowly.

The first photos are at Puerto Mazarron and an old salt mine, accessible at low tide. The exit can be seen just below the white house.

Oranges.

Then Bolnuevo.

The Blue Lagoon in the "Badlands"

Mazarron mines after rain. The colour is real!

And the last one is the Church on the coast at Isla Plana, Christmas Day.

 

[EuroTrotters]

Fantastic photos, what camera are you using?

 

[namwaldog]

And the last one is the Church on the coast at Isla Plana, Christmas Day.

Thanks for that memory Judith.

When we stay nearby, we liked to cycle down to Isla Plana, call at the Supermercado there and pick up a pack of cervezas frias , pan, chorizo, tomatoes, queso, frites etc and have a picnic near that Iglesia.

Looking forward to the time we can get some more of that wine you recommended at Puerta Mazarron.

Barry

 

[jumartoo]

Fantastic photos, what camera are you using?

Mostly this tiny Nikon Coolpix and occasionally my phone. The camera clips onto my rucsac waistbelt for walking or biking.

 

[jumartoo]

In January I was almost back in the saddle. We were still limited to the Murcia region. Our first overnight stop was at a reservoir north of Lorca. An unofficial P4N parking but with lovely views. It was a quiet night and then it struck us that it was because of the curfew. Which got us wondering whether we might be breaking it? Anyway, we weren't too worried and we never had a problem.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[jumartoo]

The following day we went for a walk. This trip holds bitter sweet memories for me. We were in the middle of nowhere when I suddenly received a message on my phone. It was from Anthea M and, as it turned out, it was the last message I got from her .

After our walk we had a meandering drive through northern Murcia and eventually ended up in a car park for the Via Verde (old railway walking/cycling route) as it passed through the wine town of Bullas. That was our overnight because the following morning I wanted to go and look at the natural pools of the Salto del Usero. In summer access is restricted because of the huge number of people wanting to cool off there, but on a frosty January morning we were the only ones there . There's no parking nearby, but a huge car park has been provided on the edge of the town and about 10 minutes walk away.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/salto-del-usero-y-sierra-del-castellar-bullas-region-de-murcia-62570149&ved=2ahUKEwjw6pvQ0_jwAhWmVRUIHfD6D8EQFjACegQIBBAC&usg=AOvVaw1bmPamrxIxymE6PAN22hwd

Again it's on P4N (it had a good 4G signal from the town).

Check out the jacket!! It DID warm up later though.

 

[nicholsong]

What a strange posting.

Well I did not find Spriddler's post about it being arid strange, since when I was looking at the pics I was thinking the same, but just did not post my thoughts.

I have sailed the Greek Seas for many years and much prefer the greener islands and mainland, but when at the coast one has the sea to look at, plus what water falls on the island finds its way to the sea-level areas and irrigates the parts there so they are greener.

Geoff

 

[jumartoo]

A few days after this trip we were back into our town's, and its surroundings, lockdown again. Luckily we could still go to the area around the Blue Lagoon and part of the Sierra Espuña mountain range, so we could still get out and about. The coast was out of bounds to us though ☹. This also meant our trips came to a halt. At the same time we had snow!! Only in the mountains, but they were then also closed off for a day or two.

Anyway, we did plenty of biking and walking (as far as Martin's knees allowed). The almond blossom put a bit of a cheer to the terraces, but not much else was flowering due to such a dry autumn and winter. That all changed ...

In the middle of a February we were again able to move around within the region and, I'd found another P4N parking at another reservoir so off we went. It was a nice place, with the bonus of a signal for internet and Wikiloc found us a suitable ride to do.

Not fancying leaving the van parked in a remote place, the next morning we moved it to the nearby hamlet and started from there. I don't know why we felt that way, it would have been perfectly safe.

 

[jumartoo]

We're off in the next 30 minutes on our latest trip. I'll try to catch up when we're on the road.

 

[JJ]

It's a disgrace!

Parking up in all those stunning and interesting spots, away from everyone.

Don't you know you should be parked up in rows on an official site where you can empty you cassette properly?

You could give motorhomers a bad name.

JJ

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[jumartoo]

It's a disgrace!

Parking up in all those stunning and interesting spots, away from everyone.

Don't you know you should be parked up in rows on an official site where you can empty you cassette properly?

You could give motorhomers a bad name.

JJ

We're not against using an occasional site, and we'll probably be using a few private camperstops for leccy to charge the bikes.

It's either that or running our gennie (which we only ever do when we're totally alone).

We love being parked up in solitude.

 

[sedge]

Spriddler - Many years ago when David Bellamy used to be on telly presenting wildlife-type progs in the evening we watched him bumping along (like a sack of spuds) on the back of a donkey dressed nondescriptly as BBC/ITV could manage as a peasant as he said (and wemember he couldn't pronounce his Rs ) 'Hewe I am in the desert - the only official desert in Euwope!' and the camera panned out showing the bawwen landscape suwwounding him.

Where was he? - Cabo de Gata ........ not far from the salt flats where the flamingos used to always congregate and the lonesome scruffy shack that used to, every Tuesday, have a bit of wood propped up outside it with the legend 'Hay paella' scrawled in white paint on it. (Bloody good paella an' all it appeared, as it was very popular indeed.)

The other side of Cabo village (which had c. 20 buildings in total in the mid 1970s with nowhere to even get a drink so had to take it with you in the car when you went there) was nowt except prickly pear plantations.

But - this would be in high summer/early autumn - by spring the same area would be very green and the begin with after that time, they grew a lot of salad under plastic tunnels there. Dunno now, haven't been near for well over 20 years.

 

[jumartoo]

That afternoon we drove to the Ermita Nuestra Señora de Esperanza behind the rice growing town of Calasparra. The church is built into the rock. I lit a purple candle .

P4N says parking is allowed on the big carpark there but we went uphill and parked in the pines.


A bonus of doing that was that we suddenly acquired a good signal for internet .

 

[jumartoo]

We're now back at the first stopover on this thread. It's so much greener, and we've picked a different place to park .

Anyway, with the good internet we have here, I'm going to try to condense mid Feb to today in a few posts, because I found some interesting places to visit in the small Murcian region of Spain, and I thought they might be of interest to some.

Here goes.

A late night phone call from Paco (the first Spanish person we ever met, in 1998 and who we've been "besties" with ever since) told us of a place some other friends had just been with their motorhome. It just so happened I was looking for a new place to visit, so the next day we set off. It was a small hamlet in a lavender growing area. (Condensing now) . We wild parked here and had a bike ride. The lavender was still sleeping!

We left there after our ride to another Ermita. This is above the town of Morella and has a restaurant. We parked, and went to eat there.

Another good, quiet night. How much was down to the curfew we're going to find out on this trip!

 

[K R B]

Thanks for a great post. Missing Spain would be great to get back this winter.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}