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Winter Wonderland… Spain in January
La Azohia, Murcia
A grand day’s walk on the Cabo Timoso today.
It’s been warm , well hot, and sunny for a while now, but Lin has reminded me it’s not that many years ago that we left here in a blizzard.
We have been parked up in a village car park for a few days with many other nationalities and have been enjoying the many and various walks of this area.
On previous years we(me and a canine) have climbed the highest peak, Penya Blanca.
On the last occasion it was Gracie.
Lola had tied herself to the van screaming ‘not again’ and the darling boy Phin was not even a flicker in his dad, Whisk’s eye. Mist his mother had strongly rejected motherhood!
So Gracie went, to cut a long story short the poor little mite was so tired she fell straight asleep after her grub , forgetting to do her stretching….consequently the next day she was stiff and could barely get out of van!
Previous students of our blog will recall this sorry tale.
Yesterdays walk took us to the pensioners social club , along the beach, for coffee and a bun.
Today it was to a hill top gun emplacement from the civil war.
Until very recent times the Spanish civil war was a subject very rarely talked about in Spain , until the
1. The Pact of Forgetting 1977, the political decision by left and right parties of Spain to move on from the civil war and subsequent repression, and to concentrate on the future of Spain.
2. The Historical memory law, 2007, recognising the victims of both sides of the Spanish civil war.
It formally condemns repressions of the Franco regime.
Since then and the recognition of those who perished has meant it seems no longer a taboo subject within the Spanish population.
However it is very possible to come across remnants of the war that are long abandoned.
My walk today was to former gun emplacements and living quarters of the Republicans, the government. The kitchen of the living quarters
This is Phin at the gun emplacement.
These were seeking to protect the port of Cartagena a republican stronghold and the last city to fall at the end of the war.
Indeed Cartagena was the base of the Spanish navy and today still has a Naval Arsenal.
Thus it was considered a target for the nationalist side with attempts to land troops by sea meeting resistance from the many gun emplacements along the very rocky coast, particularly the Vickers guns , which can still be seen on Cabo Timoso, below.
On one such occasion a lone Nationalist troop ship the Castillo de Olite which had become detached from the main flotilla was attacked as it entered the harbour sinking with the loss 1476 fatalities. see murciatoday.com.
The city suffered from aerial bombardments and in 1937 established a bomb shelter which could house over 5000 people.
Visits to the shelters are possible. Tuesday to Sunday……on our bucket list. See below.
Whilst in this area we have been visiting friends .
As previously mentioned we were on our way to the lettuce capital.This proved to be a very fruitful visit, not oranges , toms or even lettuces but Pet passports.
Since the dark ages began ( 31st December 2020)when the U.K. formally left the EU, pet owners visiting the EU. have had to obtain an animal health certificate (ahc) at a hefty price for each visit.
Replacing the pet passport which lasted for the life of the animal.
Gracie being a Spanish girl already had one of these coveted items.
Additionally the ahc lasted for 4 months, strange as we could only stay for 90 days….think the phrase given for the deal was oven ready….or as it’s turned out half baked!
We backtracked slightly to visit an old acquaintance near Elche, home of the Palmeral de Elche a UNESCO world heritage site being the only palm grove in Europe.
Our friend lives in a large villa and it was here our wee ginger thug , Gracie, was born and since our previous visit a blue plaque has recognised this. She lives in a small town named Catral and in September 2019 this area experienced a Gota Fria storm.
This is a term used to describe any high impact rainfall events occurring in the autumn along the Spanish Mediterranean coast.
Our friend lives in a road Torre de los Pavos and a chat line for the road recalls water 4 ft deep and 3 days of torrential rain…houses flooded, cars swept away, and in the nearby village of Dolores 750 animals drowned. There are many websites of this Goto Fria …depicting the terrible damage caused.
For us this stop gave us time to do a few domestics washing us, clothes, van and check our planned route against the time frame.
Deciding we had a bit in hand we further backtracked to the Costa Blanca mountains and the dramatic setting of El Castell de Guadalest.
With the intention of a few mountain walks.
Guadelest is a destination for a day visit if staying on the coast, maybe Benidorm. Coaches arrive and quickly empty on the rush for shops, cafe and maybe a stroll up to the castle.
Having arrived the previous evening we saw both the departures and arrivals….and for us the departure of the sun.
The arrival of the sun the next morning. 
We were staying in the main car park , at a charge of 6 euros, no facilities but a public toilet.
We left and descended south via the Callosa road having ascended from the Benidorm road.
Arriving at a village called Bollulla we were delighted to find a large parking area opposite the departure point of our walk to Bollulla Castle.
The walk was about 4 hours via dirt roads, tracks and old mule cart routes.
As we ascended the wind become very strong, at the very top I was just able to say ‘ yeah been there done that etc’
Lin very closely behind.
We stayed the night at our car park and the next morning trundled up to a font .
Our route headed up , with all of the cycle teams who use the Costa Blanca mountains for winter training purposes… Astana, Super K and some others but to be honest they went by so quickly I couldn’t see who they were.
Mark Cavandish had just signed for Astana ….but didn’t see him either…..not surprising with him being a sprinter.
The Costa Blanca mountains are a paradise for walkers and cyclists who in the winter months feel the need for a bit of sunshine on their backs.
We continued on from Bollulla on the mountain roads, good surface, white line up middle, and in general the bumper bars which Lin loves to see!
Our circuit of the two valleys through Castell de Castells, Facheca and on to Alcoy was stunning.
Cartagena shelters:-
Readers may have guessed we are interested in the history of the Spanish civil war when a country, towns , villages and families were divided between the government and a nationalist uprising.
So we visited the air raid shelters of Cartagena .
In our camper the parking was somewhat limited, but we found what we thought as a piece of waste ground .
Well, we were directed to a parking spot by some local lads and off we went.
The visit to the shelters is well worth the 5 euros and takes about 1 1/2 hours with English commentary by head phones.
As previously mentioned there is a naval Arsenal , but also some lovely buildings.
The Tourist Office building.
and some that seem to have been left as a reminder. 
We have now left Murcia and travelled onto Andalusia and are staying at a beach side Chiringuito cafe.
There are several walks we have done over the years so will enjoy them and the sunshine. 
Now look carefully and there is our Murvi! The next day we moved a few metres and parked right on the beach!
I went for a walk with the boy Phin while Lin decided to enjoy the sand , sea and sunshine.
Along this coast there are a serious of towers, some showing signs of wear and tear, but this one was restored several years ago….we can remember it happening. Torre Pirulico
Built as a defence against attackers in the 18th century…..not sure who they were…. But obviously did the trick!
So after 3 restful days, off we go to the hills …
via the A348 to the Alpujarra and onto Orgiva and Lanjaron and Guejar Sierra in the Sierra Nevada.
So lots for us to look forward to and hopefully you will enjoy this episode and tune in for the next….bye for now.