Bedrock

Archive for the ‘Castril’ Category

We’ve been to Guadix before – but just passing through and I seem to recall the weather being poor and everything was closed the one time we went into the city. Guadix is a city in the province of Granada on the left bank of the river Guadix.

So today was something new. We headed off first thing from Galera to drop Maureen’s god-daughter Briana off at the train station. She has been staying with us but now it is time to continue her adventure. Her train was at 10am and we turned up a little early, just enough time for some photos.

There was hardly a soul at the station, just a cleaner at first, like something out of an old western. Apparently it seems the area has seen it’s share of movie action in the past.

The train arrived more or less on time – we had a quick look in (none of the security you might expect at a station in the UK) – looked like a reasonably fast and modern train –  off she went to Seville (as it turns out – she only got part way there and had to take a bus – one of our friends here had warned us in the bar some time ago that this might happen but somehow it all got forgotten) and Maureen and I headed back into Guadix to make good use of our time there.

In town we parked the car up, grabbed some coffee and tostada at a local cafe and went off sight-seeing. By the time we started wandering around the temperature was up way past 30c.

The first thing we came across was an excavation in progress.

We know nothing about it but it looks like it is going to make for interesting sight-seeing – it was right in front of the large Guadix cathedral.

We headed off to the latter, I took some photos and we took a look around the city itself.

The shops looked nothing to write home about and eventually toward lunchtime we headed off back to the motorway.

As often happens we ended up on what Maureen affectionately calls a Peter-tour on a country road which started off great but rapidly went downhill to the point where it was little more than a dirt track.

Here’s just a small selection of the photos I took inside.

Correct that, it WAS a dirt track even though the sat-nav insisted it was a road!  On the way we came across the strangest sight – we’d noticed the shadow of a vulture pass over the car and looked up only to see a burned out forest.

That went on for some time then it was back to the usual desert-like scenery for what seemed like hours. At the end of it all we arrived at Pozo Alcon and then headed toward Castril – an area we know well.

We stopped off for lunch by the lake and after a brief stop in Huescar came back home. All in all an interesting day. I’ve added the photos and more to the June 2016 album on Flickr

Castrol is a small town somewhat west of Galera – but due to available roads the route is a little convoluted. Non-the-less it only takes maybe 40-45 minutes to get there and it is worth the trip.

At its peak the town is around 3,00ft about sea level with a population of maybe 2,500. The river Castrol canyon is amazing with a path running along a wooden footbridge over the Rio Castril, including a suspension bridge and a tunnel.

And so today, with temperatures in the upper twenties, six of us headed off to Castril and surrounding areas, stopping in a parking area just outside of town and doing the footbridge walk.

Along the way we came across yet another friendly bunch of schoolkids who were dying to say things in English. 

The walk took up much of the morning and then we headed off in search of lunch, unsuccessfully at first but eventually ended up at Asador Romero and had a very pleasant 3-course + drinks at 10 Euros a head . Good value.

Amazing how a simple walk and lunch can take up almost the entire day! But what a day!

Here then are a few photos of the trip – the rest are on the May 2016 album in Flickr. It is getting warmer now and today we hit over 30c. At this rate, a day lazing around in San Clemente surely cannot be far off.

Today has been a good day – weather stunning. Mid-morning Maureen and I headed off with friends over to a river near Pozo Alcon, stopping along the way at the river itself, for lunch and to the nearby Embalse De La Bolera for a quick swim. Words fail me really – excellent day so instead I’ll leave you with some photos of the trip. Don’t forget to click on the photos for larger versions. Or head off over to Flickr for the high res originals and some more photos! https://www.flickr.com/photos/scargill/albums/72157656795573120

Another nice evening at the bar downtown last night with friends but we managed a relatively early night and today we took a drive (about an hour or so) to Embalse De La Bolera (on recommendation last night) – i.e. a lake – but not just any old lake – the place is clear blue-green – superb and the water not only looks great but feels great.

Yes, that’s Maureen in there in the image above – we certainly had plenty of room – there were others but we weren’t in each others way at all.

Along the way we went through Castril – it’s not the first time we’ve been there but I love to stop and take pics – it’s a very special looking place. The whole drive in fact is nice but the party piece has to be the lake – where we stopped there’s a little bar/restaurant though we could not tell if they actually do food – no matter it has seats with spectacular views.

Don’t forget you can blow most of these pictures up to a larger size just by clicking on them so for example the map on your right is quite readable when enlarged. We went over just before lunch so sadly all the shops were closed in the various places we passed through. Sandwiches out of the way we went for a dip – I have to say that at first getting into the water I felt a heart attack coming on but it took only minutes to get used to the water – which will warm up further in the summer – by mid-August I should expect it will be heavenly.

I think we stuck around for an hour or so then headed off to Lidl in Baza for supplies before returning home. I’ve a little more plastering to do and some work on my home control stuff – I hope to start building a second board this evening but you never know, in Galera there’s always a chance of someone popping in and that’s not so bad. Next time we come back to Bolera we’ll be staying somewhat longer – great trip out.

When you get to Castril, Pozo Alcon is another 25km and the lake is around half way on the right.

Tonight is likely to be a quiet BBQ night, once I’ve finished plastering I’ll be fit for nothing by lying around with a glass of wine – another benefit of this area, there are some decent inexpensive wines and we just stocked up!

Check out the colour of the water in the photo below – just superb..