Day 38: Agua Amarga to Mojacar

March 27, 2025

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We liked our Hotel Senderos, which matched its clean white sugar cube exterior with a clean, Spartan interior. It also gave us something to blog about, once more in the breakfast division. We have seen various strategies used by hotels to limit their breakfast costs, for included breakfasts. One is to bring a set amount of items to the clients at their tables, and another (favoured in America) is to make up the breakfast from cheap pre-packaged items. But Senderos had their own approach. They began by supplying no plates, other than one small rectangul one per client. Then they cut up costly items like cheese and meat into postage stamp size snippets. I can't remember what they supplied for tongs, but if they were staying with the program, that should have been tweezers. Despite all that, with patience a cyclist could take on enough calories. With the Batmobile, now, it did not matter much to us.

This is the day of days that drove me to rent the Batmobile. It was based on my recollection of the hill, in this case, leading out of Agua Amarga toward Mojacar. As it happened, my recollection had a slight glitch, because I thought the hill was directly at Agua Amarga. Not quite so. What there is is a pretty darn gnarly hill, one we surely would have been pushing up. But then the real hill is out of Carboneras. You can see these two hills on the track, above.

It's not just the hills here that give the place its cachet, its that they are dry, desert hills, of the Tabernas Desert.

The Tabernas Deseret. Carboneras is just up the right side from that large double lobed bay at the bottom.

Lots of films have been shot in this desert, notably Lawrence of Arabia. There is a monument about this in Caroneras:

Lawrence of Arabia in Carboneras. This is a stock photo. Last year, on the bikes, we were there in person.

This was also at the monument, when we visited:

Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif - I loved their performances, though I primarily think of Omar Sharif as Dr. Zhivago. Omar Sharif returned here in 2012 for the 50th anniversary of the film. Sharif died in 2015 at the age of 83. Peter O'Toole died in 2013.

Dodie documented the road and the landscape, leading to Carboneras. The region used to be known for coal mining, hence its name, but there also was gypsum, which we seem to see in the hills, rather than coal.

Maybe hard to see, but there was plenty of slope to have us pushing bikes.

Gorgeous landscape, and a road that though shoulderless is relatively empty.

Not sure if any of this is still on operation.

In Carboneras, school children are celebrating... something.

Well now, the road is going down. That wasn't so bad? (Wait for it!)

Here was something we remembered well. It's the derelict Hotel Algarrobico. This was started in 2003 and was intended to have 21 storys and 411 rooms. But though it started with planning approaval, it got hung up in environmental problems, being in a natural park and too near the water, I think. A current report says:

"The Hotel Algarrobico set to be demolished

The Supreme Court ruled that the hotel was constructed illegally, leading to a long and complex legal process. Environmental groups, particularly Greenpeace, have long campaigned for its demolition, arguing that it violates the coastal law and damages the surrounding ecosystem. Despite this, the hotel has remained untouched for years, a colossal reminder of urban planning gone wrong.

However, the saga seems to be nearing its conclusion. Recently, the Andalusian government took a definitive step by launching the demolition process, signalling the end of the hotel’s controversial existence. This demolition will clear the way for the restoration of the area to its natural state, bringing hope to environmental advocates who have long fought for its removal.

As the machinery prepares to take down this once grand structure, locals and environmentalists alike are eager to see the land return to its original beauty, free from controversy."

On the other hand, we read reports like this last year as well, and nothing at all has happened at the site.

The hotel sits at the base of the actual big hill. Here are Dodie's shots that depict that:

The road is not so terribly narrow, but you have to be alert.

Zero sight line, should there be cyclists on the road.

Oh we are up there! See the road below. Funny colours in the camera give an other worldly aire.

The bus down there needed to honk to alert ongoing drivers, on the tight turns.

Over to the side was this strange hill top house.

It looks pretty nice, but can you order pizza delivery?

Down below, a view of the area of the defunct hotel..

Time to head down...

Going down, there is now a little bit of shoulder.

White sugar cubes joined by brown sugar now.

After the dramatic hills, the Mojacar area is a long flat highly developed beach scene.

We reached our hotel (below) very early, and didn't stop. Rather, we had spied a birding area about ten kilometers further on, so we charged over there.

These are just apartment buildings, but with a quirky design.

It's flat beach front now, with bike ways.

The birding area is called Salar de los Canos. It's a relatively small wetland a little bit inland from the sea. The sand bar or whatever that separated it from the sea has been built on, and now contains housing and a giant Consum grocery store. Signage says that the wetland used to dry out seasonally but that the construction now somehow has it wet year round. The housing is actually quite attractive, and we appreciated the Consum as a place to park.

We learned of this birding place from a website called birdingplaces.eu. While eBird can also point you to birding hotspots, we found this site to be quite convenient. And in this case, we also appreciated the tip to park at the Consum.

This is one of two lookouts at Salar de los Canos. Salar means salt flats, and this area produced salt since Roman times.

Look behind you, one is heading for the Consum!

The story of this spot:

Some of the construction referred to in the poster.

Northern Shovelers and Great Crested Grebe

While we were thrilled to see various bird species today (14 in total, including one new one, the Common Swift, which brought our 2025 total to 157) at the wetlands, the 5 km walk around it was also very enjoyable. The weather has come to its senses, and it is now like walking in our summer. The trees and bushes were just nice to walk among.

We came to one area where just to tease us, the Salar had put up paintings of birds we should be seeing. Here are a few of them:

Ok, now that is really mean. A Grampie decoy!

There were one or two birds in these swampy bits.

We went back to the Batmobile and swooped over to the hotel. Unlike last year when our room faced the sea, this time we face the pool. Last year that pool was a big help, because we used the water to find a leak in Dodie's rear tire.

Tomorrow we will return to the Consum, but not necessarily to look for more birds. According to our blog, the breakfast here will be poor, so we will search up more supplies. After that it's a quite long transfer to Cartagena. (Cartagena is where Hannibal kicked off his invasion of Rome, in the second Punic War - around 200 B.C.) From Cartagena Grampies will kick off their own assault on Alicante and finally Valencia. After that we ditch the car, and ferry to Mallorca!

Today's ride: 5 km (3 miles)
Total: 1,068 km (663 miles)

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