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squiz Member Member#: 6644 Location: Registered: 27-05-2007 Diary Entries: 2888 |
18th February 2018 Hiking - Walking: Delta de I,Ebre Wind Direction: Wind Stength: Surf / Sea State: Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: sunny Max Speed: Distance Covered: Saturday 17th February – travel + little sight see – mainly cloudy. In the end I didn’t have a bad night, the same couldn’t be said about poor Mag:( Still unsettled about the break in, me snoring and several vehicles passing in the night going to the small port at Sant Vicene de Mar, in the end she got up in the night and read in the front seat! Woke to a cloudy day and Saturday must be keep fit day for locals with a constant stream of joggers and mountain bikers! Had some good news when I checked Mags phone, firstly the window should be covered on the windscreen insurance and Ken who we met in Dorset last year messaged he has a F2 Stoke 117 in Spain I could have – result:) We had already made up our minds that we couldn’t face a trip into a busy Barcelona on a Saturday morning to try and get the slide window put back only to be disappointed! So, after breakfast we removed the high small cupboards in the van, only 6/7 screws, and we managed with a bit of brute force and ignorance to fit the window back!!! With the bottom lugs broken its not perfect but at least we can continue on now:) The only down side was we had to disconnect the light and that refused to work again after we put the shelf back, there is always something to go wrong! We wanted to get out of this crappy neck of the woods as quickly as possible so headed for the motorway, unfortunately this is not the one that by-passes the city of Barcelona to the north so ended up right in the centre. In the end this turned out to be a good thing, after passing a sad group of refuges dragging all their worldly good in a case being moved on by the police, what a sad world we live in:( I spotted the huge fancy cathedral in the style of Dali I wanted to visit last year but couldn’t find. It was surrounded by huge cranes with building work in full swing. Mag was not keen to stop in a busy city – she hates it - but it was an opportunity too good to miss. After riding around for several minutes, (this part of town is built in perfect squares) we managed to find a spot right outside a bakery:) Mag tried to figure out the parking machine, then decided to buy a loaf of bread and ask about paying and the very friendly assistant said it was free at weekends, result:) We only had to walk a few blocks back to the very busy Cathedral with hundreds of mobile phones and cameras pointing up at the amazing building. The best part was the small park you had to walk through was full of bright green noisy parakeets. We did a full circuit but didn’t go in although I can imagine that it would have been incredible even if very crowded! Back at the van we managed to make it out of the city despite the crazy drivers and hundreds and scooters whizzing everywhere! Back on the pay motorway through loads of tunnels it became quiet. We were heading for one of our favourites, Riumar on the Delta de L’Elbe unfortunately we turned off one exit too short and got a little lost but soon found our way to the flatlands. Passing the rice fields not planted yet, spotting an Egret with a freshly caught frog followed by several Ibis, just like black curlews. The wind had picked up and was buffeting the van and it was not surprising to see several kites out at Riumar but not going great? We parked at the end of the prom for our bread and ham lunch and with Mag knackered from a disturbed night she just read and dozed for two hours! I played cards then went for a walk on the miles of raised wooden walkways they are now building; very impressive it is too. The wind had swung 180 degrees and a dozen kites were out having fun as the sun was setting. Missing my board now as I could have sailed but can’t win them all. Just checked the weather and there might be a couple days of wind in a week at Lo Pagon so hope to arrange to pick the board up later next week. Let’s hope we have a good night’s sleep but might be breezy! Sunday 18th February – Relax, sightsee drive and walks ***** Delta de I,Ebre – sunny Good night on the seafront at Riumar on the Delta de I’Ebre, woke to clear blue skies and the kitesurfers in four campervans parked just down the road were out early enjoying the onshore breeze and for the second day in a row I am missing my board:( Mag went for a walk to a bird hide in the reserve spotting a Marsh Harrier, Flamingos ,Glossy Ibis and loads of ducks, then checked out the beach and new wooden walkways while I sorted out the van. After breakfast our plan was to head further South but it was such a nice day we walked through the Nature Reserve to the River I’Ebre with its large wooden tower observatory then back past the shooters punts and bird hides seeing all the birds again, we didn’t see Flamingos here last year. Then we walked along the unfinished wooden walkways as the wind had gone light and the kiters were packing up. It was lunch time by the time we got back to the van after which we couldn’t face a long drive so headed off to Deltebre to cross the river in search of the Torre de San Joan a ruined castle apparently. There is just mile after mile of flatlands with very few roads and even fewer road signs but in the end, we found a large etang called L’Encarnyssada with a restaurant and loads of large campers parked with another large viewing platform. We then spotted the small ruin but couldn’t get anywhere near it but saw a group of campervans parked in the distance so headed to them. What an amazing spot we found, it is a long narrow spit of sand leading out to the Salines de la Rapita with a huge pile of salt! On one side you had the open sea and the other a massive bay called the Port dels Alfacs the most perfect looking windsurfing spot, if the water is deep enough? We didn’t fancy parking with all the white elephants so headed off along the sandy track, Mag got a little nervous so we parked and had a lovely walk along the beach with a fantastic mountain backdrop. She found these clear shells we had never seen before that looked like they were made of glass or plastic and saw loads of Sandpipers feeding in the shallows. There had been loads of cars driving out to the end so when we got pack to the van we whizzed out to the end at least another mile. There was a locked gate leading to the salt workings so headed back looking for an overnight spot. There were signs saying no overnight parking but I had a word with a French camper and they said they were stopping so found a nice sheltered place by the covered parking with stunning views of the mountains across the bay for a welcome cuppa and cake:) It was lovely sitting in the van in warm sunshine reading but as the Sun started to drop behind the mountains I took the camera/tripod over to a nearby jetty to take some sunset pics and half of Spain turned up, some from Beijing with loads of camera kit with the same idea as me. It was impossible to get the jetty without someone on it but I got some nice pic as the sky exploded into firey reds and oranges, just stunning:) Mag opened a couple of tins for tea and yummy they were too. Fingers crossed we are not visited by the local police asking us to move! We have decided these signs only have effect in the summer!! Photo Gallery Here |
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