Sopalmo and Mojacar and Bigastro

Mimosa on the Mojacar cliff walk 

We've had downs and ups since my last post and I'm not talking about the ridiculously steep hill that our current site, Camping Altomira, is built upon. We meant to leave Bigastro after one night but, due to an accident which temporarily put Bailey off the road, we ended up staying there for a second. Before anyone panics, the accident was minor, at low speed and no one got hurt. I may have taken a sharp corner slightly too sharply and bashed the end of the motor mover bar on a high kerb. In the car, we just heard a bang, followed by Bailey not wanting to move on one side. The motor mover was stuck pressed against the tyre on one side and we couldn't shift it so after unhitching and pushing Bailey off the road - thanks to kind Spanish guy who came over to help push - Dave drove back up to Camping La Pedrera to seek assistance. The very helpful receptionist tracked down a fellow camper, a German who 'likes fixing caravans' and, after nearly two hours non-stop work, he managed to fix Bailey. Big thanks to him too. Woo hoo and phew!! (We took a slightly different route out of Bigastro on Wednesday.)

Mojacar Nazarene 

Before catching the blog up to where we now are, I want to talk more about walking around Mojacar as I completely failed to mention the recently built cliff walk from Sopalmo direction to its beach front strip of cafes and tat shops. The path has been cut out high above the water line and gives good views out to sea as well as affording glimpses of some of the mine workings for which the area was previously known. It's a bit narrow on places so cyclists zooming round blind corners could be a hazard and we even spotted a couple on a big motorcycle attempting the footpath too. What we knew - and they were about to find out - was that there was a pair of rather matronly Spanish women walking a few minutes behind us. I suspect the motorbike duo weren't going to get far.

One 'local landmark' which now has an official information board on the route is the Nazarene pictured here. Apparently, many years ago, some miners were on the cliffs below this rock formation when there was a landslip  further up. The men would have been forced into the sea and drowned, but for the presence of the Nazarene which blocked the path of the tumbling rocks and saved several lives. Personally, I don't quite see a person in the rock shape, but it is pretty amazing how it stays put at that angle - the slope really is that steep. Perhaps someone's been up there with lots of Blu-Tack? Anyway, it's a (tenuous) excuse to shoe-horn in the Sam Baker song at the end of this post! I think we'll definitely be going back to Mojacar at some point in the future because there's far more great walking that we didn't even attempt. The Mojacar Walking Group has detailed information on their website if you're interested.

Finally, I've recently seen fun news from one of our earliest campsites, Camping Beira-Marvao, on their Facebook feed. Annick and Rudy are offering a selection of Portuguese cakes and pastries on the campsite this season including my favourite, the pastel de nata custard tarts. Tempting photos have been posted!