Wednesday, 25 May 2022

What price are we paying?

The rain in Spain.....Oh my word, did it rain, as we left Vickki and Darren we had a plan. We were heading along the coast for a few days by the beach near Almeria. As we travelled the clouds looked spectacular over the mountains but as the roads turned to rivers and visibility dropped, the clouds began to look angry and foreboding. It went from bad to worse rather quickly.





We have been thinking of possibly heading to Spain for a few months over winter and so decided to have a look at one of the possible sites - thankfully we arrived there before the rain was too awful to see how bad it was. The campsite in question had the appearance of a shanty town combined with the smell of something rather unpleasant. Unsurprisingly rather than staying, we quickly searched for somewhere else to stay and find respite. During the drive the motorway turned into a river, such is Spanish drainage!  Thankfully Agy's new tyres hardly noticed, throwing water out and gripping like mad.


The next morning you’d never known the biblical rain had even happened at Camping Los Gallardos. The sun shone brightly and we could head south again.




I have very mixed feelings about the drive from there along the
AutovĂ­a del Mediterráneo. Some parts were stunning, others totally covered in poly tunnels and rubbish. Miles and miles, as far as the eye can see of plastic and junk, all so we can have cheaper tomatoes, salad leaves and worst of all (in my opinion) cut flowers. 







The damage this must cause to the environment is huge, when the plastic starts to fail and  break up, it just gets dumped, or blows away, presumably into the sea, or buried for future generations to unearth, and wonder what on earth we were thinking. 





Nothing is worth that, I’d much rather pay a bit more and have a bit less salad. I love cut flowers (although Ian is allergic to many), but a pretty house, is it worth the price? I’d heard all about this, and was expecting to see them, but I was shocked when I saw the shear scale of it.



After a few days at the beach on a site close to Estepona to do the household tasks like washing and cleaning - They stay with you even in the van, we set off for another favourite location of ours. A little home from home and our furthest point south on this trip.  

 








No comments:

Post a Comment

Guadalest

  23 km north east, high above the holiday resort of Benidorm lies the mountain top fortress of El Castells de Guadalest. A Muslim fortress ...