15.7 km today.
80.9 km this trip.
925.2 km from start.
0 metres minimum height.
117 metres maximum height.
237 metres ascent.
133 metres descent.
Track Log: Logged.
Travel: Bus.
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2006-12-27-Torrox-to-Maro.gpx
2006-12-27-Torrox-to-Maro.kml
Beach, road and golden mile.
Before dawn, we caught a bus to Torrox. This involved a change of bus at Torre del Mar and a chilly wait for over an hour. The route along the coast was nicer than we expected. The main road had been widened and straightened leaving the old road still passable in many places. Even when this was not the case, there were wide verges and a comfortable walking space on the safe side of the crash barrier. The winter traffic was not too heavy and mostly on the Autovia safely out of sight. In Nerja we meandered through the town looking for postage stamps, a shower curtain and the bus station so we could get the times of the buses for the next hop of our route. Nerja was full of English tourists getting bored in the cafés. At least we have a goal and sore feet. Near the end of our route, there is a wonderful aquaduct. This walk was through a region we have coined "Google Void". Google Earth has low resolution images so advance planning and main road avoidance is much less easy.
The route involved a little climbing away from sea level making the walk more interesting and giving nice views.
Today we set off on the 7.30 bus to Torre del Mar only to find that there is no onward connection before 9 o'clock. It was too cold to sit down so we had an hour's walk going nowhere before we started. We must do something different tomorrow. I was desperate for the toilet. It had no flush, but luckily people so far had only weed into it, so it was usable.
Once at Torrox, (I pronounced it [toroX] and this seemed OK) we set off along the coast to Nerja. This was mainly along the hard shoulder, as the road runs very close to the sea. We had a break at Torre de Calaceite at 10.00 in a lixo (rubbish tip) off the road. We had fidorkas (Czech chocolate wafer biscuit) to give us energy, as we had been en route for so long.
Then, we carried on to the outskirts of Nerja where we had lunch in the lee of some marram grass and stocks. It is bright but breezy today. After lunch, we went into Nerja to look for an estanco to get stimps (stamps) for Mini, and the bus station to get information for our next leg. If appropriate, I would also pick up a shower curtain and a large table cloth - they are really cheap in Spain and very nice as are their tiles. We found an estanco and got the stimps and we also found the bus station where we got some times.
Then, we headed back to the sea to continue towards the caves. We never did get a shower curtain or a table cloth but the stimps were the main thing. We passed Burriana beach and our previous holiday house at Capistrano. Later we crossed a tureen (ravine) with a remarkable aqueduct going over it with a minaret in the middle. Soon after this, the coast road and the motorway merge and traffic gets heavier.
Once out of Nerja, things begin to look more rural and we see thyme in flower plus two new blue flowers, one an umbelliferal and one a daisy. We also saw more aristolochia. Once at the roundabout before the caves we couldn't decide whether to go into Maro or not. We kept vacillating, crossed the road twice and in the end caught the bus there - a correct decision with hindsight as not all buses go into Maro. Just beyond Capistrano we could have used a side road for a brief period but didn't dare in case it didn't go through.
Tomorow we shall go to Maro. We have decided to get the 6.45 bus into Rincón central so we can pick up (we hope) the through bus to Nerja caves. This will enable us to get to Nerja caves by 8.30 and give us plenty of time to get to Almuñecar, our next target - 14.5km as the crow flies so probably 22km in reality. It's worth going to proper places now we are so far out, as the number of buses is few and not all of them stop at intermediate stops.