December 2, 2019
In San Jose: a walk on the beach
San Jose is one of the larger coastal villages in Cabo de Gata Natural Park. We’ll be staying here for three nights before moving on east to Agua Amarga, another coastal village in the park.
We’ve been anticipating our visit to Capo de Gata for the last several weeks - ever since Maria and Fito enthused about what an exceptional place it is when we ran across them on the cliffs of Lagos. We’ve been looking forward to sunny rides by the sea and into the desert, and maybe a last chance to see some flamingoes in the large lagoon west of here.
It is exceptional country alright, but we aren’t having the experience we’d been anticipating. Instead, we’re largely hiding out from the wind and rain. We’ve added a third night to our planned two night stay here, because biking tomorrow looks completely out of the question - hazardous even. A severe storm is in the forecast, with up to two inches of rain predicted for tomorrow along with 35-40 mph winds.
Ironic. Over breakfast in the cafe this morning, we watch the weather forecast on the telly. We’re next to Europe’s only desert, but we’re in the wettest part of Spain today.
Today though turned out much better than we expected. A break in the rains came through mid-morning, so we took our chances and went for a walk along the shoreline west of town. We didn’t really have a destination in mind, and were just walking as far as we could before the weather turned foul. By chance, we picked the right direction and found ourselves on Playa de Los Geneveses, one of the best regarded beaches in the park. We were really lucky and managed a three hour walk with only a brief spell of light showers - just enough to bring out a modest rainbow. We have the place nearly to ourselves, most of the time not seeing another soul in this pristine, gorgeous spot.
From the little we’re seeing here, this is clearly an exceptional area. This seems like a perfect time to be here too, as long as you’re not unlucky enough to be here during a typhoon. You could plan an entire short tour just in this area I think, mixing biking, walking and probably sea kayaking, taking the time to explore more than just the one beautiful beach we saw this morning and to wander through the small towns in the interior.
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I think his fear of smelly feet might prevent him from moonlighting as a shoe horn.
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Might be a sanderling.
https://www.hbw.com/ibc/photo/sanderling-calidris-alba/flock-birds-shoreline
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