John & Lin's Continuing Adventure in Their Caravan: Camping Monmar

Wednesday 23rd - Monday 28th January 2019 ⛅⛅⛅⛅ + howling wind midweek, and then 🌞🌞🌞
Motorhome Miles 0 and 🚴🚴 miles about 70
Parking Co-ordinates 39.8085, -0.12743

I seem to have got a bit off schedule with blogging (my plan had been to publish one every Monday), so this week I'm going to try and get back on track. But hey ho, when you live your life on a constant 'holiday' it's quite difficult to keep to a timetable because, with very little to guide our week, we often can't even work out what day it is😂😂😂

Anyway I'll start with last Wednesday when we took ourselves off for a spot more bird watching in the local paddy fields and nearby nature reserve of Les Estanys. Initially as we traversed through the paddy fields our interest was caught by a large tractor that was 'ploughing' through the waters preparing for this years rice planting. His wheels had been adapted to cope with the soggy terrain and the mud that he sprayed as he went was definitely something you'd want to avoid, but following in his 'wheel tracks' there were literally hundreds of Little Egrets searching for their lunch and they weren't a bit bothered about getting their lovely white feathers soiled!

The rice fields in this part of Andalusia are quite vast and it seems that Spain is the European Union's second largest rice growing country (30%) with the first being Italy. Rice production in coastal regions also provides environmental benefits because it can be grown in salty soils, and in certain areas that have high salinity this sort of cultivation is the only way to keep sea salt water away from the land that grows other things.

The tracks in the nature reserve go on for miles and all along the way various inhabitants
pop out to say 'Hello'🐀🐇🐌🐜🐞🐟🐤🐦🐾

A bit further on we paused again to watch a number of Swamp Harriers ducking, diving and gliding while searching for their prey over the read beds, and while we were gazing at them in the sky a number of swamp hens were also clucking round at ground level.

For our picnic lunch we ventured into an enclosed part of Les Estanys Park area and once settled we'd hoped to see more wildlife on or around the lake, but while we were watching all was quiet! However the park did provide a lovely peaceful dining room and the views were tranquil too!

We sat on the benches top left of the pic and we did wonder weather to dabble our feet
cos the pond is fed by warm water that comes from under the rocks!

However, while we were there the winds started to gather pace, and as we had to peddle home we didn't linger too long before starting to retrace our tyre tracks back through the paddy fields, and it was on this part of our journey that we were lucky enough to spot a Bitten both in flight and then hiding amongst the reeds. He had obviously spied us to because for all the time we were watching he didn't move a feather! Apparently sightings of Bitten's are quite rare so seeing one rounded of our outing very well, but I have to admit that the pic on the right isn't mine - there was absolutely no chance of getting 'our bitten' to smile for the camera!

And moving on to Thursday - Well - the wind had howled all night and hadn't let up with the arrival of daylight so our planned cycle trip to The Hermitage at Betxi had to be postponed until Friday. Therefore, our day was passed with another lovely coastal walk to watch the waves crashing up onto the shingle beach, a bit of lozocking about in the afternoon, and then an evening visit to the site's bar where we indulged in Tapas that came free when a large beer was purchased😀! But because after we'd scoffed that we were still hungry we also indulged in scrummy burgers and chips which were consumed in the very good company of our cycling mates Jack and Liz!

On Friday normal service with the weather was resumed 🌞🌞🌞 so the four of us (🚴🚴🚴🚴) soon had our picnics packed and were on our way to Muntanyeta De Sant Antoni (a Hermitage dedicated to St Antony). The Hermitage lies between the towns of Alqueries and Betxi and the hill on which it sits rises 139 metres in the middle of a huge 'plain' area that stretches for many miles!

The Hermitage

The ride to it was mostly flat, initially along dedicated cycle tracks and then through more lovely orange groves, but the last half a mile ramped up very steeply which was ok for me and John on our E-bikes but because Jack and Liz had only got peddle power they ended up pushing!

However, my chivalrous husband did nip back down the hill to help Liz with her bike!

And once up there we settled down for our our picnic lunch and also took plenty of time to admire the stupendous views that were extremely fare reaching.

Maybe this gives some prospective on the extent of the orange groves!

Then once we'd had our fill of both the views and our lunch it was a very quick swoop back to the bottom of the hill, and then a slower peddle through more orange groves to some Spanish Civil War bunkers (dating from July 1938) where Wally seemed to be hiding! And from there it didn't take us much longer before we were back with T4rdis2 sitting with our feet up and a cuppa in our hands!

So that brings us to the weekend again where on Saturday we spent our time learning a new skill - and if you've ever played crib with a couple of experts you'll understand that comprehending all the rules and scoring procedures, as well as actually winning was an impossibility! However, it was good fun especially as a bottle of wine and a wee drop more Thunder Bitch were involved! Saturday was also the night when the Rally was celebrating Burn's night but as we'd already indulged in a dram or two of said Thunder Bitch we opted not to go to the celebration - and as it turned out our decision seemed to be the right one! Apparently the food was far from good and some poor lady found a chunk of metal in her dinner so maybe we won't be frequenting that eatery anymore!

Sunday was dedicated to housework, and at the end of it T4rdis2 sparked both inside and out - all of which was completed within just over an hour and before lunch 😀😀, so in the afternoon we took ourselves off out for another walk to admire the sparking Med and crashing waves!

And on Monday instead of walking we cycled about 22 miles around a route that has now become quite familiar and one of our favourites. We traversed again amongst the paddy fields and waterways of Les Estanys, and then back to the coast at Almarada for another picnic which was followed by delicious juicy oranges that we'd scrumped fresh from the trees as we'd ridden by!