135 miles
The stretch of coast line to the south of Cartegna has Spain's most consistently sunny climate. We spent many a happy hour back in Buxton poring over Wunderground's historical weather data for Mediterranean Spain. Whereas in most places by mid-November temperatures are starting to dip into the mid-teens, on the Costa Calida they cling on to the 20s with more sunnier days than most.
Unsurprisingly the landscape in general gets hotter and more arid the further south you go. Between Benidorm and Alicante you get the first glimpse of Spaghetti Western Spain, with dusty tracks leading off into into stony hills and dry gulches through which you expect Clint to be riding towards you through the heat-haze garbed in a poncho and smoking a cigarillo. What you actually get is a Repsol service station with a very helpful Señorita who unbidden, hops out to assist a confused English couple struggling with the automatic pump - perhaps the last full-up of this part of the trip. It should see us back to Alicante airport on December 5th.
Nearby Elche is a Unesco world heritage site twice over the Lonely Planet guidebook tells us. Firstly because it hosts an annual mystery play dating from the Middle Ages. Secondly it is the site of Europe's largest palm grove containing over 200,000 trees. Originally planted by the Phoenicians, then extended by the Arabs, oddly enough, since Elche has developed into a modern vibrant city, this oasis does not give the place the the atmosphere of the Levant, rather it looks and feels distinctly SoCal - more Cupertino than Casablanca.
Anyway, true to form we were not cruising the boulevards of Elche in pursuit of world heritage culture. Instead we were looking for Caravanas Cruz in pursuit of a 3cm kitchen sink plug. We did find the place and magnificent the showroom turned out to be. You could purchase an all singing and dancing satellite system, or even a Cathargo Motorhome costing over €100,000 - but not a sink plug.
Crestfallen we soldiered on, through wild stony mountains north of Murcia, around the city's ring road busy with post siesta traffic, across sun-baked plains shimmering with acres of plastic greenhouses. We arrived at Mazarron mid-afternoon, grabbed some groceries in Mercadona, then drove on towards the small resort of Puerto Mazarron. Before we got there we were signposted to Bolnuevo where the ASCI site is situated. It was busy, but we found a 'parcelos'.
In less than half an hour we were wandering down the promenade which runs by the back of the site. It was almost empty, the sea was deep blue between the rocky headlands of the Golfo de Mazarron. Arid mountains formed the backdrop to the white village which straggled along the shore. The single storey houses on the beach were painted in shades of burnt umber and paler ochre. The setting sun made them glow, as if emanating warmth. Children scooted about on bikes weaving in and out of the promenading tourists. The buildings on the beach were somewhat ramshackle and graffiti daubed. A fishermen fiddled about with his small boat drawn up on the sand. The whole place had that slightly faded, dishevelled beauty that you find in parts of southern Greece.
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| Ramshackle buildings on the beach.... |
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| Arid mountains behind a palm fringed shore |
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| a fisherman fixes has boat |
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| evening sunlight on the beach front fincas |
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| kids playing a silly game on the promenade |
I grinned, "Yes, it's great,"
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