Viewpoint at Gebas

Another day, another walk from El Berro.
This time we followed the red, yellow and white markers in the opposite direction. We had a lovely, if unexpected time walking through olive groves, then along what looked like a railway cutting (pic 4), through a flooded tunnel then over rocks and down to the little village of Gebas.
The markers stopped at the church, but I had seen a small sign to a viewpoint, and this was when the landscape became really incredible.
Our deserted sandy road took us past strange multi coloured rocks that appeared to have been shaped by floodwater, but the best bit was the turquoise coloured reservoir in the distance.
It was too far to walk down to it, so we went for a long lunch in the village, then walked across the hills back home.
We walked about 17kms and didn't see another person all day.
Excellent bit of undiscovered Spain.

Walk in the woods

We drove up into the mountains behind the coast today and have ended up at a place called El Berro. It is 650 metres above sea level and noticeably colder than at the coast.
It is within the Sierra Espuña national park and we found a 10km hike that started right outside the campsite, so off we went to explore this afternoon.
We were trying to follow the yellow and white route, and sometimes there was markers every few metres, but then at one stage we lost them for ages, so we started thinking that we must be lost. Eventually they reappeared and then changed to red and white on the journey back.
It was a nice walk, but as Darren said,  "too many trees and not enough danger".
Speaking of danger, I put my hiking boots on today due to an incident a couple of days ago. We were taking a shortcut through some waste ground in the last town and all of a sudden a snake shot out of nowhere. It whizzed past my toes and I just had time to swear really loudly and jump in the air.
Honestly, it was about a metre long, but thin and grey. I have just looked it up online and it was a Montpellier snake, and it is one of the five poisonous snakes in Spain, so I was lucky not to get bitten.
We did see some good wildlife in the woods today - about half a dozen Barbary sheep who glared at us suspiciously and then wandered away out of sight.

Happy mother's day

It's hard work writing with pebbles on the beach, and even worse if the tide is coming in while you are posing for the photo's!
As well as being mother's day, today was very exciting as we were taking part in our first ever triathlon.
We looked the distances up online and the shortest was called a Sprint Triathlon - we had to swim 750 metres, cycle for 20 kms and finally run 5kms.
We hadn't entered a race but we were doing it ourselves, as our campsite has a heated pool and the roads around here are very quiet, so it seemed like a fun thing to do.
Also, two of our sisters and brothers in law race in proper triathlons and we don't like to miss out.
We measured the route earlier in the week, and practiced the cycle and the run. It was really surprising as my legs felt like they were made of lead once I jumped off the bike and started running.
This morning we set our tent up as the transition and changing area, put everything that we needed in place and slightly nervously walked down to the pool.
We were going to start at 10am on the dot, but we were sitting on the edge of the pool at 9.55, so as we were also our own timing officials, we decided to start early.
I was confident that I would win the swimming section, but Daz had other ideas and leapt out two lengths ahead of me. He whizzed up to transition and was almost ready to leave by the time I got there.
It took me a while to get changed as my cycling kit seemed really tight and difficult to get on, but eventually I was off after him.
The cycling route involved a couple of loops, so we waved to each other, but I could tell that he was gaining more time.
Back at the run transition there was no sign of him, so I grabbed a drink and set off, and this time my legs only felt as if they were made of wood.
The running route was beautiful as it was along the promenade, which took my mind off it for a while, and I was pleased that Darren waited for me and cheered me across the finishing line.
My face was bright red by the end and it was hard going, but I really enjoyed it.
Darren finished in 1 hour 39 minutes and I took 1 hour 55. At first I was just pleased that I made it round, but once I got back I obviously had to see how fast other people did it. The fastest British woman in my age group at the 2014 world championships took 1 hour 18 minutes, so I have got a lot of room for improvement.

Guns of Mazarron

Our neighbours on the campsite told us about these nearby guns, so today we went to see them.
We cycled from the campsite through a deserted village surrounded by olive trees and then up and up, through the mountains and on to the end of the headland.
The first thing we saw was a fairytale style fort and beautiful views along the coast to Cartagena.
Behind the fort were two gigantic modern black guns pointing out to sea.
Explanations about the area are very sketchy, but the guns were definitely built in England in 1928 and weigh 88 tons each.
The only time that they may have been fired was in 1936 during the Spanish Civil War, and the whole place was eventually abandoned in the 1970's. The whole place has recently been refurbished and turned into a tourist attraction and it was a fantastic find, with a great bike ride.

Soaking up the sun

The last couple of days have been really warm and sunny,  and we have settled in around the massive pool at our campsite. We have been working on our tans, although I have got some dodgy red patches that just need to turn golden brown.
Every night the pool is completely emptied and then first thing each morning it is filled with warm water from a natural hot spring. It gradually cools during the day, but there is also a large indoor pool in case the outdoor one gets too nippy.
We haven't just been sitting around all day though, and have been practicing swimming lengths in the indoor pool.
The weather is cooling down from tomorrow, so don't worry, the clothes will be back on again very soon.

Cartagena Roman Theatre

We cycled over a mountain today to Cartagena, arriving exhausted and ready for a coffee and a sit down.
After a quick pit stop our first visit was to the Roman Theatre. It was built in the first century BC and at that time it probably had loads of space around it, but 2,200 years later the whole theatre is completely surrounded by houses, shops and bars.
There is no easy way in, so the entrance is very surprising. We bought our tickets in a modern building about 100 metres away then caught an escalator underground, walked through a long corridor, then up again and out into the sunshine - right in the middle of the theatre.
Back out in the town again we were pleased to find that dozens of local bars were doing special wine and tapas deals this month, so we spent some time checking a couple of them out.
We also had a good look around the town and it is very pretty with narrow streets lined with tall imposing buildings. The really strange thing was that many of the buildings had just the front wall remaining and all of the rest of building was completely missing.
Where had all the rooms and roofs gone?  - I have no idea.