Heading north

12th-29th jan
I'll bundle these days together as I spent the time at the apartment.
Washed tent, replaced groundsheet patches and patched up all the other holes. Quite large holes in tent mesh so decided to unstitch one of the three mesh pockets and use that. Took a while to work out best method of sewing them on but got there in the end. Cleaned rest of kit, washed clothes etc. Took opportunity to eat well with plenty of roots, greens and pulses. Worked my way through all Neal and Carol's novels and wrote a few simple pieces for guitar. On nice days went for walks along front and down to harbour. Otherwise I just lazed around and generally relaxed.

Fri 30th Jan
Time to move on. Finished tidying apartment then headed towards Aguilas. Not a long trip but want to start easy after such a long period without exercise. Not very scenic start with all the apartments and development, but eventually cycled along nice rocky coast. Although sunny when I started, a thick sea mist came in ( I initially though it was a large fire) which obscured much of the view but very atmospheric when I passed some ruins. The hills inland are finely layered brown and grey crumbly rocks which often remind me of large slag heaps sparsely covered with small shrubs. Occasionally you can see the contorted bedding planes and several chunks I picked up to examine looked just like fossilized wood. Got to campsite about 14:30 but ended up chatting to a few motorhomers so didn't pitch till gone 15:00. They were commenting on unusually bad weather this year with deep snow around Granada and flooding in Northern Spain. It snowed a few miles W of Garrucha while I was there but otherwise stayed reasonably pleasant where I was.

Sat 31st jan
Sleepless night with aches and pains. Hopefully things will improve as I get used to camping again. Lovely sunny day and a pleasant ride into and through Aguilas past the harbour. Pick up minor road NE which heads inland a bit. Long, long steep climb twisting around to top of hill. Legs not up to it so walk a fair bit of the way, still tough going though with a loaded bike. Extensive views over barren hilly landscape with more enormous polythene greenhouses in the distance. Fast twisty descent for about 3 miles before hitting major road then gentler roads for 24k into Puerto Mazarron to get supplies. Get to campsite about 4k on from Puerto Mazarron and book in only to find i've left my passport at previous campsite. No way do I fancy cycling back, fortunately I have a colour photocopy which they accept. Pitch up, have bite to eat and shower then pop back to reception to see if they can organise for passport to be posted here. No problem but It will take a few days.

Sun 1st feb
Cold, windy, rainy day. Cold enough to see breath. Get book from reception and spend most of day huddled in tent reading. Brewed cuppas during the few short breaks in the rain. Not a pleasant day at all.

Mon 2nd feb.
Continued to rain through the night but cleared a bit in morning. Cycled into Puerto Mazarron and got map from tourist info. Aithough an archealogical museum was indicated on the key it was not indicated on the map. The remains of a phoenician ship indicated must have been still underwater as there was nothing visible where the map said. Did find remains of roman house and aquaduct though. Just got back to camp when it started raining again.

Tues 3rd feb
Nice sunny day.
Found out where museum was so cycled back into Puerto Mazarron. Quite a nice little museum, in the basement of a block of flats, with the remains of a roman fish salting factory and brief history of area from stone age to present. They also used to produce garum there; an expensive and popular roman flavouring made from mashed and macerated fish viscera. Lovely. Arrived back at camp to find passport had arrived in post. Quite a few folk were discussing the snow that's fallen in north europe. Things bought to a standstill by the sounds of it.

Weds 4th feb
Glorious sunny day.Time to move on. Take minor road through Isla Plana that slowly starts to climb then steeply zig zags up the mountain to a pass. Once over the pass I dry myself off then begin the gentle descent through narrow valley lined with pink and white almond blossom. Can see for miles across the large plain I shall be crossing tomorrow. Freewheel almost all the way into the urban sprawl of Cartagena. Make way to harbour and follow it below the city walls, past an 1888 submarine. Head back towards the city between the two forts and pick up the N332 climbing steadily east to La Union. Turn north and freewheel down onto the plain passt fields of young cabbages towards Los Alcazares. First campsite is shut down and up for sale. Not sure where other is apart from on the beach. Reach Los Alcazares and head towards seafront. Lots of folk kite surfing in the brisk southerly wind. In the distance the hotels and apartments on the narrow fingers of land that enclose the Mar Menor look as though they are floating. Follow seafront then across a marsh on boardwalks to find campsite sandwiched between the sea and an airport. As I pitch several military and civilian jets are talking off. Hope they don't continue through the night.

Thurs 5th feb
Very friendly site and aeroplanes stopped at night. Apparently the spanish air display team are based at this airfield and often practice overhead. Also the customs helicopters often operate from here at night.
Cloudy day threatening rain but wind in right direction so head north. Take wrong turn and head W to San Javier. Allow fate to take its course and carry on. Find Decathlon in San Javier which is fortunate as foam sleeping mat is tattered and worn beyond redemption and self inflating mat has had a slow leak since before christmas. Consequently I have occasionally woken up with cold back, legs and shoulders. Replace both with new self inflating mat full length for same packed size as old 3/4 length and foam mat with reflective surface.
Press on as its a busy road and all built up so not particularly pleasant.
Only things of interest are the Salines or salt lakes with occasional large mounds of creamy white salt that's been extracted. Branch off main road to pass through La Marina. Nice and quiet and sun appears so stop for a beer. First one for ages and goes down extremely well. Reach Santa Pola by 15:30 so about 70k in 5 hours including stops.
Pitch up and walk down to Aldi for supplies as will probably stop here for a days break.