16.2 km today.
2.3 km/h average today.
7 hours 4 mins walking time.
129 km this trip.
518.1 km from start.
0 metres minimum height.
41 metres maximum height.
122 metres ascent.
128 metres descent.
Track Log: Logged.
Travel: Bus.
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2005-04-03-Novi-Sancti-Petri-to-Conil2.kml
2005-04-03-Novi-Sancti-Petri-to-Conil.gpx
Mostly beach.
Novi Sancti Petri to Conil de la Frontera. Our route started along the beach. Later we walked on the low cliff tops through gorse and pine. The last couple of kilometres were on a fairly busy road. There was an alternative route along the beach but we found this too late.
We took the bus from outside ours to the far end of Novo Sancti Petri where we finished the walk the previous day. It is a nice place but without integral bread (wholemeal or boggen blocken (German rye bread).
We are living in the Coto la Campa district. Our street is Calle Percebes.
Now in the dark, we have to look for a way through to the beach and match it on to where Neil made a way mark yesterday.
It is 300m east to our start. The lighthouse is flashing. Our way to the seaside has street lights but they are not lit. We always promise Mini to "be in the street lights when it is dark". We are reliable and always achieve this!
We don't quite know why we set off so early. Neil had trouble with his mustang this morning because I made him take the salad left over from the restaurante supper which we had nicked and that spoiled his loading and then the bag fell over. Now it is all uncomfortable because the bag needs to be filled in a certain order to be comfortable.
Truly today we are early to bed and up with cock (EU simultaneous translation story) although not all that early to bed. It is a sliver of a decrescent waning moon (sorry tautology) and the tide is out so we are on neaps.
It is now 7.55 and almost light, as it was when we arrived at Chiclana. When we were waiting for a bus in Novo Sancti Petri, someone had dropped a Titsa (The rude name of the bus company in Tenerife) and from that we were able to establish that buses go in a circular route so you can always get one near where you live if you are willing to stay on the bus until it goes round to where you want. The fare is fixed so price is not an issue.
We have nearly reached El Roche, the first village on our route, so we are making good time. The tide is coming in and the beach looks covered over where the rocks stick out into the sea in a little pronomontry as spoken by Sharon, the travel rep' from Essex who also called the Hotel Baleeira the bally-are.
The sky dogs which had been lying down are now beginning to stand up and are now beginning to open their mouths. Sky dogs were coined in Lanzarote by me. Is this a technical term or a private one? It’s private as Neil has looked it up on the Internet and they don’t yet exist there. They are convection cloud formations that forbode rain especially when the dogs sit up and beg.
8.20 and we are leaving the beach as it is no longer passable. There are steps up so this is easy to do. I am removing a light bulb from the sand to prevent anyone from treading on it. This reminds me of the lady in Rota who gave back a crisp bag to a small child who had chucked it down and then took her to the bin to show her where to throw it. The child was quite small and upset but maybe the lesson was needed.
We reach Cabo del Roche, the cape beyond the village This village is actually called El Roche. We left the beach and found rosemary and large white cistus on another promontory.
We've been going for 1 hour and 10 minutes and we are looking for a place for a break as the sun has now risen We are on a lovely gorse and cistus cliff top.
It is the 3rd of April and we hear our first cuckoo, it feels late for Spain but the English cuckoos were also very late.
9.10 Cala del Faro, a nice place for lunch but it's a bit early for lunch.
We've just seen a black bird on a prickly bush crow size but more a matt black.
9.50 We now reach a rocky coast. This marks the end of the Guadalquivir estuary. The countryside is still relatively flat but there are hills and mountains to come soon.
We see Ajuga, iris, small stock, small succulent yellows, small succulent pinks. Sorry about the lack of botanical knowledge.
9.15 we have reached the lighthouse and turn east so we are actually making progress towards Istanbul.
9.25 we cross the river Roche which flows straight into a picturesque harbour.
At this port there is a project or viability study into the cultivation of new species of jaulas. What are jaulas? As my dictionary says jaula is a sort of case or crate, this remains a mystery.
We are over the bridge at Cabo Roche and climbing up the far side until we get to a lovely woo to the right which we go on.
On the telly news it said the Acebuche lynxes had had cubs which is quite special.
We see a soft herbacuous rock rose as well as prickly shrub rock rose and vinca.
The river in Chiclana is called Rio Iro. The rocks we can see ahead are not Gibraltar but much bigger ones on the mainland.
Neil keeps treading on his watch and changing the time and then he has to wait until he picks up a radio beacon for it to self-correct. In the meantime we have to use my watch which I bought for 4 euros in a market in Puerto Mogán when I dropped my old one on the marmor (marble) floor.
Neil says it's ever so good having a GPS because you can see where the main road is and you can try to turn off before you get to it. We have just turned right on this basis and we have the sun in our faces which is correct for once as we are going to Turkey and it is still morning.
We see white campion, tall asphodel and a second kind of lavender. We are crossing a field of barley and various weeds so perhaps it's a fodder crop.
There is a fierce tufty top geranium.
10.20 We've just seen some bicycles going parallel to us. We are on a track going through a field but they are on the cliff top which would be even nicer.
10.30 we reach the outskirts of Conil. I now watch two Spanish people with three doggies to see which way they take into town. We follow them in.
There is a huge barranco at the entrance to Conil and we are now skirting it on a nice woo.
Sticking to the cliff top has led to a narnula (Banana, nana, narnula, plantations on Tenerife rarely have an exit so a narnula is a cul-de sac). Neil is photographing some fagonia - also seen on the saltings outside Santa Maria.
Another type orobanche at the foot of the cliff and on the way up aristolochia (non thorny) and in flower. This is a dead end and we have to retrace our steps to go round a tureen (malapropism for a ravine related to a camisole (casserole)). Not many of those this holiday so far. Dead ends usually have something interesting at the end so they are well worth the effort.
On our way into Conil we were asked the way by some Affen to the lighthouse we had just passed. We were able to explain with great authority.
We are now crossing the tureen that was blocking us when we went along the cliff top. There are nightingales in here. The tramp didn't like them but I do. (Stephen Graham - The Gentle Art of Tramping) He also believed in bathing naked in streams three times a day! We hear another cuckoo.
And now we should be able to get into Conil with no difficulty. In the event this next stretch is quite tedious as it is getting hot and we are on a long road. The town stretches along the seashore and is quite extensive.
We have stopped off at a little shop in Los Gallos, a suburb of Conil. This must be a resort patronised by Germans as they have proper integral bread here with lots of different seeds in it but no kmin luckily for me.
In this sees-cweem place three are lots of pussies and a pussy lady has just given them a dinner so they are all in one place. She talks to Neil while he does his photos and they decide between them which is the most muy linda and guapo. The ice creams are pecan and have a fudgy sauce in them.
We may go a bit further along the coast to shorten tomorrow's walk as we have got here so early, but don't as we miss the bus station where we would discover if we could get back.
We're having lunch by the Rio Salado next to a pedestrian pont. We tried to locate the bus station on our way through but must have walked past it. Just here there is an information board with a map on it so we know where to find it after lunch.