Time at La Paz was, sadly, brief as we had a long drive north, and wanted to see a bit more of Spain on the way so after an evening with Mick and Jayne, the next morning we packed up Susy Suzuki, said goodbye to the place and started back.
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| On Jayne and Mick's terrace |
The first part of the drive is pretty familiar - Granada, Jaen, Valdepenas... there are some lovely rocks to admire on the way though it isn't as scenic as it was before they rerouted the stretch north of Santa Elena to avoid the Desfiladero de Despenaperros!
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| One of the tunnels which cut through the seriously craggy bits |
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| Pretty sure I've snapped, and posted, this lovely stack of colourfully striped rocks before! |
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| Nearing Jaen there are some massive beds of limestone in the hilltop crags. Also a Nasrid watchtower on the rocky outcrop above the main road! |
Once north of the mountains we've climbed up onto the level plains of the "Mamba Country" (Miles and miles of B all) so there's little in the way of rocks to snap!
We wanted to get as far as possible that first day and decided we would go west around Madrid, turning off the main road north after Manzanares, past Consuegra (the hill with the windmills - this is Don Quixote land) and Toledo, in the direction of Avila. We'd spent a day in Avila some years ago and liked it, so it seemed worth a return visit. However, it wasn't to be: bypassing San Martin Valdeiglesias, we went over a roundabout onto the road to Avila and found out way blocked by smoke and flames!
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| A moment or two later the flames were leaping across the road! |
We did a rapid turn around - there was no knowing how far the fire stretched on the far side of the smoke - and headed into San Martin for a restorative coffee, and parked up to eat our lunch. We found the road was still blocked off though and, checking the map, there was no obvious detour to get us to Avila so we changed plans and headed around Madrid, through San Lorenzo de Escorial towards Segovia instead. Although pretty - wooded and mountainous - it was quite a slow and circuitous route and we were glad when the Escorial finally came into sight heralding that we were at last getting somewhere. Even so, the road is still quite slow - this is Madrid's "countryside" and fairly unspoilt.
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| The Escorial is some way out of Madrid on the NW side |
We passed Segovia in the late afternoon so we began looking for somewhere to stay and found it in Torrecaballeros a little way east.
Finca El Rancho comprises an hotel, a
posada (where we stayed), a restaurant, a wedding venue, a shop etc etc and is a converted farmhouse and buildings in the middle of this village. The downside was that the restaurant was shut that evening but there were several to choose from nearby and we found one that served a delicious
revuelta with
morcilla and broad beans in it! Plus grated apple on top. Delicious!
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| A pleasant view from the window of the posada towards the Sierra. |
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| The revuelta was delicious - and what an inspiration to grate apple on top! |
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Overnight the rain came in and next morning it was wet,
though the rain stopped by the time we set off! |
After a good breakfast with freshly squeezed orange juice (all in the room price) we continued NE towards the main N1 which goes to the north. The clouds were flowing over the top of the Sierra de Guadarrama as we drove - a beautiful sight!
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| Clouds spilling over the crest of the sierra, and down the side |
After leaving the Sierra de Guadarrama we were back on the very flat, young sediments of the plains of Old Castile
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| Rather liked this quirky bit of reinforcement of a single soft bed in a road cut. |
Once north of Vittoria-Gasteiz the layer-cake geology gives way to some nice sensible mountains again
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| A thrust or onlap? |
We'd booked a B&B near Mutriku for the final night, called Haizalde. An interesting drive out of this little coastal town, along a narrow road, contouring around the cliffs, for a mile or so (always seems further when you don't know where you are going). However at last it came into view - an intriguingly modern building in a little coombe overlooking the sea.
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| Haitzalde |
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| Parking is up above, and we had to take our bags down a zigzag path to reach the house |
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| Lots of decking, both by the house and lower down but the rain put paid to any ideas of sitting in the afternoon sun enjoying the view |
No restaurant/food, although there was a very handy self-service area for drinks, snacks, coffee etc. There were three lots of people staying and we all ordered take-aways (tasty pizza and salad) from a pizza place in Mutriku, which turned up at 8pm, delivered by Hagrid's twin brother!
The rain stopped for a while next morning - we enjoyed a rather watery sunrise, and a wander down through the grounds to the cliff top, before breakfast. There's a grassy, zig-zag path past several areas of decking with sun loungers etc. A real shame about the weather!
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| Sunrise |
Over breakfast we asked the young woman who was serving what Haitzalde meant (our Euskadi not being up to translation) - Haitz = rocks and the "alde" ending is dative, i.e. "to the", so the name is "To the rocks" - most suitable since we are above exposures of the flysch for which the Basque Geopark is famous.
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| The rocks! There didn't appear to be a path so we contented ourselves with the clifftop view of this Lower Cretaceous turbidite which forms part of the flysch deposits here. |
Originally we'd thought about exploring the Geopark more thoroughly but as it was we only managed 5 days at La Paz so that treat is going to have to wait for another trip. There are boats trips along the coast which sound a great way of getting a good view of slippery rocks.
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| Still too damp and chilly for breakfast outside but we could still enjoy the view |
On the advice of the hotel we took the coastal road west as far as Lekeitio before turning inland past Gernika (don't bother going there she said, there's nothing to see there) to the main road around the Bilbao ria to the port. The Basque coastal towns are quite modern in appearance, and seem to quite thriving commercially but not terribly attractive on a rainy, misty morning! We couldn't even find a cafe by a beach for a half hour break and a walk by the sea.
I thought I'd just include a couple of photos of the famous flysch that I snapped through the car window in passing. I can't say I get too enthusiastic over it - I think I would have to be a dyed in the wool sedimentary stratigrapher! A bit reminiscent of the Bouma E units north of Aberystwyth, or most of Mid-Wales.... but supposed to be Very Useful as they have good biostratigraphy.
We got to the port in plenty of time and found a nice little "cafe in a container" type of place where we had a tasty snack and the long awaited coffee. Then we enjoyed seeing what was going on, in particular the umpteen bits of wind turbines and their masts, and the 50 or 60 LKW Walter trailers that were being loaded onto a cargo ship by a couple of little cabs that buzzed back and forth. Apparently bound for Poole.
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| Masts for wind turbines on the quayside at Bilbao |
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| Trailers being loaded onto a cargo ship bound for Poole |
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| Plenty more trailers waiting! |
As a final geological flourish, we sat on deck enjoying a beer whilst we sailed out past the Palaeocene/Eocene sandstones and limestones which crop out in the cliffs to the east. These form an anticline with sandstone in the core but I think we were looking at parasitic folds on the western limb of the main structure. I wanted to ask the captain to sail east along the coast for a bit so that we could check this out but was dissuaded!
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| The "classy" bit of Bilbao, on the other side of the ria from the port. |
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| Very steeply dipping as we got further out. |
So that was that. The two old bats folded their wings, hung themselves up on a handy beam and prepared to hibernate for the winter!
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