Motorhomers on Tour : 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!