20 km today.
113.5 km this trip.
1085.5 km from start.
0 metres minimum height.
17 metres maximum height.
45 metres ascent.
45 metres descent.
Track Log: Logged.
Travel: Bus.
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2007-02-16-Almerimar-to-Playa-Serena-Roquetas.gpx
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Marismas nearly all the way. Mosquitoes.
Because the 7.30 Almería bus seems to be quite punctual, we get to the bus stop a bit earlier today. The time passes quickly because there are lots of lovely pussies and doggies to look at. We get on and ask for our tickets to El Ejido. There are no anomalies about the price this time. Once in El Ejido, we nipped to the toilets before getting on the next bus. We disn't need to wait long for a bus and we got off at the port.
We could have stayed on the bus as far as Mercadona but are not sad because we would not then have walked round the port which as always was interesting. We worked our way through some obras to get to the Paraje Natural which is our route for today. The landscape is a mixture of saltings marismas and dunes. It is by far the nicest beach walk of the holiday and apart from the beginning and the end, no asphalt at all.
We passed the Punta Entinas-Sebenal. The wind changed yesterday an is still the same today - in our faces but not unduly strong so not a problem. We see centaury, centaury thistles, alyssum, fagonia, limonium, horned poppy and pea. Yesterday we saw pancreatic maritimes but not today. We saw tracks of deer and scrapes of rabbit or boars.
We saw possible lynce (lynx) tracks. In places there were carpets of the reed leafed asphodel. Our track is the GR92. Here there is a succession of large marismas and at last we see some flamencos. There are also various kinds of duck, terns a back heron (check type) dabchicks and gulls various. The marismas are a breeding ground for mosquitos. Neil was eaten alive. His bites started to itch straight away. Anne didn't notice her bites until the next day. She had been eaten alive too.
We reach a very wild bridge but don't think of photographing it. Neil says if he were a real photographer he would have done so but he would also be a pain in the arse. Anne said Neil already was one. We are able to find a more suitable crossing point. My knee has pneemoania again. When we do our longer trips we must build up like the Buddhist monks when they do their 1000 marathons ie.. begin slowly - just four miles a day a the beginning.
We will leave out the nine days without food or water however. When we get to the outskirts of Roquetas at Playa Serena, we are not yet on the streets of Neil's GPS. We continue until we get to his streets and then turn inland to the main road. We pick up a number 2 bus quite quickly. This does not pass through Aguadulce so we don't see our next holiday place.
We arrive in Almería at about 5.45. I realise I have left my purse on the bus. Not a tragedy as there are only ever a few coins in it. The serious money is stored elsewhere. We go back to the bus and wait for the driver to come back from his break and get permission to have a look. Unfortunately, unusually for us, we got off quickly so the whole bus load will have got off after us. A purse was obviously irresistible to one of them. I should have been more careful. My velcro is going on my trouser pocket.
We get our tickets for the 7pm bus (the same bus as we took yesterday from El Ejido). We look in the cafeteria but the food is indifferent. I can't see any point in paying 4 euros for a bocadillo which you can make yourself for almost nothing. We go out of the Intermodal Station and soon find a Mercadona where we get integral bread, mature cheese and then (upstairs) we get strawberries for afters. All the other fruits came in huge bagged quantities. We had our picnic on platform 4 of the station. While we were there a train came in for Seville and Granada. Our Alsina Graells bus took the low route through Aguadulce so we could have taken a number 1 bus in Roquetas and changed there.
We didn't know where to do it so probably just as well. We got back at 9.30pm. The journey takes a long time because there is gridlock in Almería. When we got back, the fridge was full as indeed was the freezer. Lucky Mini too had bought bread and strawberries too!
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