Walking part of the Bedar to Garrucha mining railway and discovering a good tapas cafe in Mojacar

We chose ourselves a fairly easy walk for yesterday afternoon! The

View through abandoned building window 

imaginatively named PR-A 367 takes in a section of a now abandoned mining railway that used to run from the mines in Bedar to the port at Garrucha. It officially begins in the village of Los Gallardos, but we chose to park out by the Camping Los Gallardos entrance instead so we could have a quick nose at the site!

As with the Via Verde that we walked back in March at Navajas, all the track rails, sleepers, etc, have been taken up, but we saw the remains of three derelict station buildings and the walking route goes through steep sided cuttings and across high embankments. There are some dramatic views along the way. Dave took the fabulous photo above looking through one of the buildings to the hills beyond. All three buildings were the same with no doors, windows or roofs, but we could still make out where the fireplaces and chimneys would have been inside. Most of the terrain is unpaved caminos and tracks with a few narrower footpath sections. There was only one short but steep downhill-uphill bit. That was where a stone bridge no longer went completely over the rambla so we had to walk down one bank and up the other. No scrambling needed though! We also passed through agricultural land with large fields of broad beans and what looked like coriander plants. Hard to tell through the white fleece covers.

Abandoned railway building on PR-A 367 

I have clicked out a Google map of the route we took. Follow this link to see it: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6515988 Our original route was only planned to be about two hours but, once underway, we saw this signpost and couldn't resist adding the loop onto our walk. So the whole walk ended up at three hours and forty minutes. I still don't know what the Pago De Angela Antonia is though.

By contrast, we spent today in the car with flying visits to Nijar, Sorbas, Los Gallardos. Nijar is famous for its rugs and ceramics and has a number of large stores along its high street with an incredible range at very good prices. We saw lots of things we liked, only being restrained from a shopping spree by not having anywhere to put anything. 

Sorbas is a pretty town built on a hillside. It has a web of narrow streets and we got quite confused about where we were. Unfortunately, by the time we got there, we were hoping to find lunch in a nice cafe. The perfectly located one had closed down and we didn't fancy eating by the main road, so just had a quick coffee before heading off to Los Gallardos - which was effectively shut for siesta time!

Ending up back at Mojacar, we headed up to the pueblo (in the lift!) and were fortunate to stumble into the Cafe De Torino. We were warmly greeted and, as well as a large outdoor terrace, the cafe also has a glass-walled room with stunning views for miles and miles! We had perfectly cooked tapas - swordfish, squid and chorizo for Dave; tiny sausages, kidney and a huge salad for me - followed by coffee and a pastry each - strawberry slice and apple tart. All in with beer, wine, bread and crisps for €20 and we're still too full for dinner now!