The Rain in Spain….. Storm Emma keeps us in Punta Umbría

We are still in Punta Umbría - we had planned to set off last Monday but Storm Emma and ‘The Beast from the East’ had other ideas, wreaking havoc all over Spain!  Over the last 7-10 days the Andalucía coastline and all of Spain has been hit by torrential rain, gale force winds, high seas and even a tornado.  Fortunately, unlike the UK and other parts of Europe, we haven’t suffered with snow and freezing temperatures, with it staying between 14-18°C and the occasional burst of sun.
The pictures below were taken a few days before the storm hit Punta Umbría:

Beacon at the end of the pier, where locals come to fish and beach at PuntaUmbria

and these are scenes now- high seas

and the Beacon at the end of the pier washed away and nobody is fishing off here today!

The pier getting battered with the storm and Mel stood on the  pier - as far as we could get without getting wet from the sea!

The pier cats, sheltering from the windy weather - there are quite a few of them that live here!

We were surprised to see a windsurfer on this rough sea, but he clearly knew what he was doing as he managed to stay up for quite a while and didn't get swept out in the Atlantic Sea!

All along the coastline are washed up fish and hundreds of star fish - unfortunately, all dead.  The locals were walking along the beach picking them up in bucket loads, not sure what they planned to do with them all - probably sell them as souvenirs! 

Sandstorm along the beach and all the washed up baskets used by fishermen to catch octopus.

Frothy sea!

Seagulls after all the washed up fish

It was a little less windy down by the marina, and a galleon replica is ready to set sail once the sea calms down.

Replica of Spanish carrack ship, Nao Victoria - first ship to successfully circumnavigate the world

The storms In Cadiz have been really wild.  So much so that the wind has blown and parted the sand and revealed parts of an old road destroyed by the tsunami of 1755, triggered by Lisbon's earthquake that year.

and some ancient Roman ruins, including part of an aqueduct, built in the 1st century and though to have been eroded by the sea.

During the storms we have kept ourselves busy by decorating Adam and Melissa’s house – no mean feat as it has 3-storeys and very high ceilings.  

Plus, Sonny (the motorhome) has had a thorough clean courtesy of the local garage's 'Easy Wash' that allowed Mel to give his top a good old scrub!

We are keeping our fingers crossed that the weather turns at the weekend so we can move on around the Andalucian coast and start doing some walking in the hills. 

I hope, wherever you are, that you are not getting too battered by the weather!

Sally x