Run to the sun - Oliva (Valencia) and Roquetas de Mar (Andalusia)

 

After a couple of soaking wet days in Valencia we were pleased to see that the weather looked to be set fair in Oliva – a favourite stop if we’re in the area as the place where we used to have our holiday home. Although we arrived in the sun we could see that heavy rain had not long since visited – and may be coming back! The skies over the sea were both unusual and pretty threatening.

Having camped up within earshot of the sea, we were pleased to wake up the next day on our very autumnal pitch, to clear skies. So, as is our wont when in Oliva on a Friday, we cycled off the 6km to the weekly market to treat ourselves to some goodies – which this time included toasted whole almonds in their shells, fresh Galician clams, and a few bottles of an amazingly good value Priorat at just under €4 and a local white (Bahia de Denia) at just under €5 – also incredibly good value!

After enjoying some fresh fried Valencian padrones (little peppers with the odd spicy one) and a lush clam and prawn fideu (a Valencian pasta version of a paella) rustled up by Mrs B later that night, we were looking forward to a few days zoned out and enjoying the amazing beach that out site backed onto.

By Sunday however the weather had turned and we were treated to a deluge lasting 36 hours. Having endured similar relentless downpours in Oliva on far too many occasions in the past at the house, we checked the weather further south and decided to cut our stay short and head off to the Andalusian coast near Almería. We’d stayed previously in the beautiful Cabo de Gata-Nijar natural park, so decided to try a little further west at a place called Roquetas de Mar.

Choosing another ACSI campsite near the beach, we arrived in sun and 19c – a great improvement! Access to the site is via a small road past the ubiquitous poly tunnels; this whole area, even around the Cabo de Gata-Nijar nature reserve is covered, one could say blighted by them, but look beyond to the mountains and the sea and you can almost forget they’re there, and those tomatoes we buy at home in the winter have to be grown somewhere I guess!

This campsite (Camping Roquetas) was an unusual choice for us – gone were the small-ish, mainly picturesque sites we’d normally choose, and instead we had entered an enormous and very busy over-winterer hot-spot with peeps from all over northern Europe clearly settling down for the long haul through the dark nights. Although not pretty to look at (unless you love row upon row of motorhomes and caravans with their nut-brown owners), you do get a double pitch in the winter that allows loads of space to set up camp and follow the sun around during its low winter orbit. We’d missed the bit about pitch size at reception but luckily our new German neighbours (Klaus and Sylvia) explained and kindly moved their car off what we thought was another pitch but turned out to be ours! This conversation was in German and proved just how useful my schoolboy German still is… even though my reports used to say, ‘could do better’…

The last day of November brought winds gusting to 70kmph and although it was largely sunny and sheltered on our pitch, our exploratory trek into nearby Aguadulce along the beach blew more than the cobwebs away and we returned to the site a few hours later feeling thoroughly salted and dried!

Luckily the weather improved the next day and after getting an overdue load of washing on, we set off on the bikes to the nearby port town of Roquetas. This turned out to be a real treat on a number of levels compared to our walk to Aguadulce. First was the provision of a proper ‘carril bici’ or cycle path just outside the campsite.

This led (at times on an elevated boardwalk) through a small nature reserve where we saw black-winged stilts wading… then on past ever improving views as we left the poly tunnels behind and could see more of the Sierra Gador (the foothills of the Alpujarras) that back onto the coastal plain hereabouts… and then eventually into Roquetas itself.

Not sure what to expect here, we were pleasantly surprised to find a good few beach-side cafes and restaurants open, with a mix of locals and northern Europeans clearly making it worthwhile to stay open in December. The town is fringed on its northern side by holiday developments (as well as a popular free camping area on some wasteground) with the original and much older part radiating out around the port, where we also discovered the well restored castle and naval museum.

The cycle path ran on past the castle and continued to head past increasingly larger and well pisted beaches, backed by some enormous villas that then became smaller as the beach and cycle path carried on…and on…and on! In fact we could have carried on no doubt for miles had we not chosen a chiringuito on the north side of town where we fancied lunch and needed to get back to.

We’ve not come across such brilliant provision for bikes in Spain outside of the Via Verde network before – and what a great investment the Spanish authorities have made. In this particular stretch, not only are there dedicated cycle paths, but also running/jogging paths and regular footpaths.

We made it back to Chiringuito/Restaurante Cabaña just in time for the sun to cast a shadow over the lovely sea-view terrace that had tempted us as we cycled past… and when we said to the waiter we fancied a table in the sun, he quickly offered to set up a table on the other side of the building. OK it was on the footpath and in the carpark, but we had the sun and the views to ourselves – perfect! And the food was lush too – a homemade lentil and pork broth for Mrs B and grilled cuttlefish for me – yum! And with the food came a lesson in Spanish that made me realise how much of what I’ve learned in-country has been influenced by spending so much time in areas with Catalan/Valencian inspired food – so although I asked for ‘sepia a la plancha’ which I thought was universal (along with ‘choco’), down here in Andalusia it also translates to ‘jibia’!

Realising we were enjoying the site more than we expected, certainly compared to our initial impressions, we set about analysing why. In essence, it seemed to boil down to a combination of a very efficient and well resourced site, with a very friendly vibe (most pitch residents shouting cheery ‘hallos’ as we wandered by, admiring the variety of Xmas decorations), good shopping close by, a decent sized pitch and excellent walking and cycling straight out of the gate, all bathed in fabulous Andalusian sun in the day and with very mild night-time temperatures of around 15c. We did half wonder, as we cycled past some very warm poly tunnels on our way to the shops, whether the balmy night-time temperatures were in part due to a storage heater effect from the surrounding agricultural land. It was even warm enough to have breakfast outside fairly early in the mornings! So, whilst enormous, anodyne to look at and not in an especially picturesque location, for a winter stop it was a winner and an area we’ll return to.

After a few more days of mixed sun and cloud – and a passing rainstorm one night, we reached the day we’d decided was the turning point to start heading home. Ironically, the day we left it was clear skies and 22c before lunch – a reminder that this coastline in Andalusia really does seem to benefit from warmer winter sun than further north – and is definitely worth more exploration on another trip. So, next stop, Oliva again, to see whether we can tempt some sunshine to spend a bit of time there with us!

S.