Almendricos to Estacion; 13 km (+ Lorca, 11 km)

What a day again. This trip is eventful.

We started off at 8.45 after a little tour from the Dutch owner of the Oasis Morado. Spain has a lot of rules for entrepreneurs which makes it sometimes hard to move on. Interestingly he told us that there is an effort of the Spanish government to support women to start their own business. It was more profitable for them to have the business on his wife’s name then on his.

We are still walking in the basin Valle del Almanzora. The wind was strong but still walkable. It was a morning with many rainbows and taking off and putting on our rain gear. On one point we got wet and after some time i looked up, clear sky, no rain clouds to be seen and i took off my jacket. Less then 5 minutes later the sky above us had turned grey and the rain started. I have never seen the weather turn that quick.
Every time that it rained, the wind mysteriously also picked up and laid down when the rain was over.

The road we were walking on turned into slippery clay, but never to a point that it started to annoy us. The road was used for traffic and it had a lot of little stones on it which made it manageable.

The walk and the views were not interesting today. A lot of the agricultural produce was just sown in, the color of the landscape therefore was mainly brown. A lot of plastic debris every where, on fences, in trees. The agricultural growth activities make use of a lot of cheap plastic and you can guess when torn where that goes in high winds.

At twelve o’clock the wind picked up further. Workers in the field were hiding from the gusts of wind behind the large crates for their produce. When we wanted to have a break we dragged a crate behind another stack of crates to be able to sit out of the wind. It was getting a bit crazy.

After our lunch we left the protection of the wind blocker formed by the crates to experience that things were getting worse. Yesterday the wind lied down in the afternoon but today it was the other way around. The wind got stronger and stronger. And in that huge basin the wind has a free way to blow.

Debi had still sensitive feet from the walking down part after las Negras and the constant pressure of the wind on her side made her foot hurt bad. She could not go on. For myself i was also doubting if we could make it to Lorca, it was still 15 km to our hostel and the winds were still building.

We decided to stop at an old bar ( seemed to be abandoned ) and try to get a taxi to bring us to Lorca. We were at a point located in between two village centers. One village was 2 km against the wind, another option was 7 km down the wind. Both not options to look forward to.
The wind was now howling around the building we sat at. Trees were bending under the force of the wind. The soil on the roads was swirling up into the air. We were stuck there, with the wall of the closed bar to shelter us. We had to find a location where we could tell a taxi driver to come to pick us up ( in our terrible Spanish…). The old bar we sat against had no identification.

Then i heard some noise in the building, there was an old woman coming to the door. She opened the door and i asked if she could help us call a taxi.
~G

We struggled with communication for a while, and then she signalled us to wait, until she appeared again with her handbag and car keys. We were shocked that she wanted to drive us as she seemed to be in such poor physical condition. She lead us to an Audi car that was was mainly used for hauling oranges out of the fields. With oranges, branches and soil everywhere. Crumbling interior. Plus some dresser drawers in the back seat that G had to remove to make room for our backpacks. She drove us ( in the second gear) two km to a town with an estacion, but neither the buses nor trains were running. Then she insisted on driving us to Lorca. She gestured that the Señor upstairs (pointing to the sky) would approve. G didn’t want to have her risk driving in busier traffic as she seemed so frail…and also communicated a lot with both hands while driving (letting go of the wheel). But she insisted on taking us close to our Habitacion. We thanked her profusely and gave her some money. She gave us many hugs and kisses. We are sorry that we did not find out her name or get a selfie of her and us together. G worried about her driving home safely. She was a treat, and we will not forget her.
~Debi

Accomodation:
El 34, Calle de la Cava. 54 euro’s for a room for two.Read more