Almería

Moved from Málaga to Almería with the Alsa bus. In Almería we stayed with Nely Pascual. We have been in her place before, starting the Mozerabe. She was a terrific guidance and information source to us then.

During the bus drive we got to see a lot of water coming from the mountains and running into big puddles and pools. I am quite impressed, we will have to see how this develops the coming days.

At Nely’s , she told us that this time of year it can be difficult to find accommodation along the first part of the track to Lorca and she was very helpful to organize that for us. In no time she had phoned 11 end stage locations to confirm that we could sleep there. You will see the details the upcoming days. She also tipped us for a very good menu del dia restaurant almost downstairs from where she lives. We can highly recommend cafeteria Óscar.

When we returned she had bad news. Pension Navas in Cabo de Gata canceled our reservation. A stormy wind damaged their windows and they had to close down. We could not afford to wait another day. We were booked for ten days ahead… not what we normally do, just for situations like this. We decided to skip Cabo de Gata and stay for 2 nights in San Jose. Tomorrow we will drive by bus to San Jose and do a day walk in the park and part of the coastal route to Cabo de Gata the next day but then heading south. We had to improvise. Good thing is that we can experience how strong the winds are tomorrow (gust winds up to 80km are predicted, that is serious) and adapt our plans accordingly. Also skipping the first km’s out of Almeria and past the airport is not that bad either.

Further camino news is saying that the Mozerabe and the Argar on places are impossible to walk due to high waters. The today’s downpour in Almeria itself was minimal but the wind is definitely picking up.
~G

Accomodation news Cabo de Gata.
The sports center in Cabo de Gata is with minimal service. Just a toilet , no shower, no blankets. And this time we had left our sleeping bags at home because there were so few Albergues! Pension Navas is still an option when the windows are fixed.Read more