The tranquil fishing village of El Rompido

Down the coastal road 10kms west from Punta Umbria is the sleepy little village of El Rompido.  It sits on the Rio Piedras, a river estuary that is sheltered from the sea by a spit.  

Compared to other tourist resorts on the Costa de la Luz, it is relatively unspoilt having managed to avoid the big build of tourist apartments and hotels.  That said, there is a large golf course and hotel on the edge of El Rompido and from the voices we heard as we walked around the area, it would appear to attract a lot of Germans/Austrians and of course us Brits!

There are little tourist boats that take you around the estuary and over to the sand flats, but this time of year they didn't appear to operate.

From 1929 to 1963 a traditional technique for catching Atlantic Bluefin Tuna was used in the area, known as Almadraba.  Buildings known as the ‘Real de la Almadraba’ housed around 900 people/families during this time. 
It was a hot day so we rode to the village on the scooter - giving it its first airing of the year, and parked up by Iglesia de Nuestra Señora del Carmen.  This church was built from bricks from Real de la Almadraba, when it was destroyed.

Iglesia de Nuestra Señora del Carmen

At the edge of the village you can walk across boardwalks and through a pine forest around the protected salt marshes of Rio Piedras and nature reserve (Marismas del Río y La Flecha del Rompido) - the area was given protective status in 1989. 

Crossing the marshes, with the golf course in the distance

The area has an abundance of plants and birds. but the hard part was getting any of the birds to stay still long enough to be able to snap them with the camera!

Mel decided he was going to have a go at picking some cactus fruit known as prickly pears - never a good idea without gloves on though!

Heading back to the El Rompido

It never ceases to amaze us that virtually every town/village we pass through in Spain - however remote, has free exercise facilities and even after a 10km walk, Mel couldn't resist trying them out!

For me, it was time to sit and admire the view with a nice glass of wine.  There are lots of lovely cafes and restaurants along the beach and marina but this was one was the perfect setting for watching the sun go down!

Salud!

Happy weekend to you all.

Sally x

Punta Umbria – carnivals, nature parks and beaches

We woke up this morning a little bit worse for wear, as we were partying yesterday for most of the day and night – eating and drinking lots, and dancing in the streets.  The Spanish love a carnival, especially around and leading up to Easter.  This time of year, carnivals take place all over Spain to celebrate the beginning of Lent (which started on Valentine’s day this year) and Punta Umbria was no different.  The floats were out in force, along with lots of music and dancing in the street, fancy costumes and face painting.

Think these were supposed to be jelly fish

Melissa (Adam's girlfriend) with her cousins.

Not sure if this was supposed to be a donkey or a horse!

Enjoying some tasty Norwegian Lobster

Adam and Mel on the brandy!

To clear our heads and to get over our hangovers from the day/night before, we decided to go for a long walk today.  For the last few days we have been walking along the beach (Playa La Bota) and paddling our feet in the sea.  It’s only a 5 minute walk from Adam’s and there are some lovely little cafés en route to enjoy a coffee, beer or a nice glass of wine.  However, we decided we would have a change today, so we packed up a picnic and set off.  
Mel downloaded the App Wikiloc on his phone.  You just download the maps of the areas you want to hike, run or cycle and then using GPS navigation you can follow the routes off line.  The App is free but costs £4.99 for a year if you want to use it offline.  It’s a great App and I am sure we will be getting plenty of use out of it as we intend to do a lot of walking around the Andalucia area.
On the edge of Punta Umbria a walk through the forest takes you around a nature reserve, along the River Odiel river estuary that has board walks and information boards.

Setting off on our 19 km walk

Along the route there are information boards on the wildlife and fauna you can see but unfortunately, our Spanish only extends to the basics and translating these boards proved impossible for us!

Information boards along the route

Flamingos on El Paraje Natural Marismas del Odiel

During January to April, you have to be careful of these little critters when walking though pine forests or near pine trees - processionary caterpillars.

Pine Processionary Caterpillars

If you touch the hairs, they give off dust that can cause nasty rashes and breathing problems.  They are also particularly dangerous for dogs if they get the caterpillars hairs on their feet and tongues.  We saw one line of them that must have been about 6 foot long - ahhhhh!
Plenty of prickly pear cactus en route as well - the fruit on this is edible but you just have to watch you don’t get spiked on the spines!

Prickly Pear Cactus

The next village to Punta Umbria is El Portil and the walk took us around La Laguna de El Portil.

La Laguna de El Portil

Then on through the town, with lots of lovely white-washed buildings and then down to the beach.

And time for a paddle.

Then the long walk down the beach back, you can just make out Punta Umbria in the distance - about 5kms away!

18.8 kms later we were back home and after last night we didn’t even want a cold beer or glass of wine, just a nice cup of tea!

Sally x

Punta Umbría – what a difference a year makes

It is hard to believe that we have been in Punta Umbría one week already. We arrived midday last Tuesday (after a 368kms drive from Cáceres), in time for a lovely lunch and catch up with our son Adam and his girlfriend Melissa.  Mel then had a much-needed physio session on his shoulder.

We were last in Punta Umbría January/February last year, when we spent quite a few weeks exploring the area.  The weather was quite different then.  We walked along the beach in T-shirts, paddled in the sea and enjoyed temperatures of between 18-24°C.  Now like the rest of Europe, over the last few days we have been experiencing grey and cold days and temperatures of around 12°C.

Sonny, the motorhome has done 1,715 miles (2744kms) over the 9 days we were travelling down through France and Spain, so he is now parked up in a car park enjoying a well-earned rest and in desperate need of a wash!  We have put the scooter in Adam's garage.

Sonny, the motorhome parked up for a few weeks in Punta Umbria

The population of Punta Umbría out of season is just over 14,000 but in summer it increases to around 300,000.  The hotels are overflowing with Spanish holiday makers and Europeans, mostly Germans and Brits.  However, this time of year it is like a ghost town, with a lot of the shops and restaurants closed down. Although, some are able to sustain themselves all year round and even in wet weather put out their pavement cafés.

And like most towns you will always find an Irish Sports Bar.

An Irish Bar in Punta Umbria

Punta Umbría is a piece of land between the Atlantic Ocean and the Ria de Huelva, with lovely wide and clean blue flag beaches.

The town has been inhabited since ancient times by Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans, and the town today dates from 19^th century, when the British arrived in Huelva and founded the Rio Tinto mining company and chose Punta Umbria as their beach resort and from there rose the fishing industry.  It sits on the banks of the River Odiel river estuary and is surrounded by extensive salt marshes that make up the El Paraje Natural Marismas del Odie – an important nature reserve in the area.

We even spotted some signs of galleon ship building!

Fisherman bringing in his catch of the day

A seagull illuminated with light, the night of Punta Umbria – poetic words and  statue situated on the promenade by P Gil Mazo

Torre Umbria is the oldest construction in Punta Umbría and stands 14.5m high with a wall 4.5m thick– a defensive tower against the Barbary pirates that plagued the Spanish coast during the 16^th and 17^th centuries but ultimately played a large role in various conflicts maintained by the Spanish Habsburg dynasty.  It was of great importance in monitoring entry of ships in the Ria de Huelva.  If you want to go inside it you have to arrange a visit.  Not sure if there is much inside worth seeing though.

Torre Umbria

Iglesia de Lourdes – the first church to be built in Punta Umbria in 1950.

We have just checked the weather forecast for here tomorrow and it is to be sunny and 19°C - yahoo! So we plan to take a long walk along the beach, paddle our feet and soak up some rays.

Sally x

Over the mountains and into Spain we go!

The last few days we have been doing a lot of driving and not much sightseeing.  The weather has been brutal – cold, rain, hail, sleet, snow, with the odd fleeting glances of sun!  Mel’s shoulder has taken a turn for the worse, so we have decided to get down to Adam's house at Punta Umbría quicker than first planned so Mel can get some physio treatment on it.  That means long stretches of driving.

Since setting off we have followed the theme of parking up for the night by either a lake, river or the sea and our next stop was no different.  We found a lovely Aire in a little village called Clérac (N45.17907 W0.22676) by a little lake that reportedly has Koi Carp in it.  We looked but didn't spot any!

Sonny, the motorhome enjoying his new home for the night

We had earmarked this place as it said it had free electric, water, and dumping for grey waste and chemical toilet.  However, when we got here there was a new looking notice up that roughly translated to 'closed down over the winter period'.  Undeterred, we still stopped here for the night as we didn’t need any facilities and it was such a beautiful, quiet spot.  There's not much in the village to see but there are some purpose made walking routes leading to chateaus and surrounding area.

From Clérac we drove 161 miles (257.6kms) down to Anglet, a seaside town a few miles north of Biarritz. The weather continued to be bad and we kept to the motorway most of the way apart from a quick stop off at Bordeaux to stop up with some of their delicious wines!

Bad weather and visibility on the way to Anglet

The Aire at Anglet is right next to the sea front (N43.50696 W1.53373).  A walk along here today though nearly blew us over.   The sun came out for a couple of minutes but continued to rain – you can just make out the rainbow.

The last time we were here was the end of December 2016 and it was a sunny 16°C and full of motorhomes (it takes 60).  Unfortunately, this time it was a wet and cold 7°C and just 8 of us – a mix of French, Danish, Belgium and a couple of Brit motorhomes.  The Aire is free between November and April, with drinking water, and waste disposal and is a lovely spot overlooking the sea.

Leaving Anglet the temperature continued to drop as we went over the Pyrenees and into Spain.  We planned to stop off at San Sebastian (just over the border) for some tapas, for us it is the ‘home of Tapas’ – so much choice and the quality is fabulous.  However, the rain there was worse than in France and that’s saying something! So, we continued on the motorway to Alaejos, a journey of 283 miles (452.8kms).  We spotted our first massive black bull not long into Spain – not a real one though just a silhouette one!

They were created by the Osborne Company in 1956 and stand about 14 metres high.  Originally they were used as advertising boards for their sherry/brandy but in 1994 EU passed a law that prohibited all roadside advertising of alcoholic beverages, so the advertising signs were removed but the bulls were allowed to remain.

There’s not a lot to see on this route through Spain, so plenty of tunes were blasted from the ipod and sung along to, and a few quizzes too, to keep our brains functioning!

The Aire at Alaejos is brand new (N41.30304 W5.21844) in the middle of an old town that is having a ‘make-over’.  Lots of new builds taking place but not a lake, river or sea in sight ha!ha!  We parked up next to a Brit couple from Sheffield.  They too had planned to stop a few nights at San Sebastian and stay around the northern area of Spain for a while, but the cold and wet weather has made them head to southern Spain.

Waking up this morning the overnight temperature outside had dropped to -1°c Brrrr and inside didn’t feel much warmer.  Mel ramped up the gas heating and 15 minutes later we were nice and toasty!

This morning we set off early – destination Cáceres, last stop before Punta Umbría.  Another long stretch of motorway – 173 miles (276.80 kms) that saw us climbing to a height of 1186 metres with more sleet and snow and outside temperatures struggling to get above 0°c.

We arrived at Cáceres Aire (N39.48041 W6.36649) in time for lunch and the sun was shining and temperatures up to 15°c in the sun – at last!  We stopped here last year and just as last year it is popular once again.  It only takes 15 and by 2pm it was full – mostly French making there way to southern Spain and across to Morocco, a couple of Brits and Dutch.

The old quarter of Cáceres was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986 and parts date back to 34BC, a lovely little town that is well worth a visit.

The buildings are that old that I think Mel felt the need to prop them up

Next stop Punta Umbría and we are feeling excited about tomorrow, as we will be seeing our boy!

Sally x

Wherever we park our motorhome, that’s our home!

We are slowly making our way south through France to Punta Umbría, Spain, where we plan to stop for a few weeks with our son and his girlfriend, before exploring Andalucía and beyond.  Although the weather is getting warmer, we have seen a lot of rain since getting in to France.  Yesterday and through the night was no exception – rain, rain and more rain!  Despite that our home for a day/night - the Aire at Arnage (N47.93035 E0.18418) - was very quiet and we got a great night’s sleep.  Fortunately, this morning we woke up to blue skies and sun.

Sonny (the motorhome) drying out in the sun on the Aire at Arnage!

Wanting to make the most of the sun, we were up and out for a stroll around the river Sarthe.

When we get a free night on an Aire we like to give something back to the town, so from the river it was a short walk to the local boulangerie for a fresh baguette and of course some yummy strawberry tarts.  Even on the standard motorhome melamine plates they tasted delicious!

Enjoying some yummy French strawberry tarts

Leaving Arnage the road took us onto the Le Mans 24-hour race circuit.

Driving around the Le Mans race circuit

Mel is unfortunately suffering with a trapped nerve in his shoulder, so once he had raced his way around the Le Mans circuit, I volunteered to do the rest of today's driving.  Apart from a stretch on the motorway leaving Calais to Rouen, we decided to take the country roads through the pretty little towns and villages of France.  This way you see more of the country, plus we are in no great rush to get into Spain (which is a good job when I’m driving!).  Leaving Le Mans we headed south on the D338 to the Loire region.  The Loire region is so pretty and we have spent couple of summers touring around this area in our motorhome.

A couple of hours later we are parked at our next home – Chézelles, near Naintre (N46.76635 E0.51086).  Another small Aire in a village by a lake (Le Clain) with free facilities.

The Aire at Chézelles

Think we must have a thing about water as our last 3 Aires have been by a lake or river!

Sally x