Camino Mozarabe

February - March 2024
Debi and Gerard
Feb 3 - Mrt 8
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  • 34footprints
  • 1countries
  • 35days
  • 298photos
  • 1videos
  • 829kilometers
  • Day 1–3

    Malaga

    February 3 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    Arrived in Malaga during Carnival. Busy and festive.

  • Day 3–5

    Almeria

    February 5 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    Gerard: Two nights in Almeria before our walk begins. Nice tapas bars! Casa Puga was a happening. Total chaos in the place (according to me) however food was excellent, service perfect, I donot know how they did it but it was spectacular to have been there and went home in high spirits about what just had happened to us. Highly recommended!Read more

  • Day 5–6

    Almeria to Santa Fe de Mondújar

    February 7 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 10 °C

    Gerard: First day of our walk. Originally we would walk to Rioja, but there the albergue was closed. we were advised to go to the next albergue in Santa Fe. It was only 24km.... It was hard on our feet as the first half was only tarmac. And our bodies were clearly not adjusted yet to carrying the backpacks. I was kaputt when we arrived. We were the only pilgrims in the albergue so plenty of hot water, It took 20 mins of hot showering to bring me back... Pff The sun felt hot today, only 21 degrees, clearly our winter bodies were not ready for this bombardement of sunray's. And to end this all, we also overdid preparing the trip. We expected cold weather , and had heavy warm clothes with us. We will send a few kg back home and do some shorter walking days. everything will be fine . Buen camino. GerardRead more

  • Day 6

    Santa Fe to Alboloduy

    February 8 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C

    Debi: Today was a lot of climbing (3 peaks) with some steep downhills. Only about 15 km, but that took 5 hours, with breaks. It is a dry rugged landscape unlike anything I have seen. We also walked alongside many orange groves, and sampled a few. We were impressed by how well we are already adapting to the altitude and climbs. Another good day. Not sure why G chose to focus on food, other than we didn’t have much to eat today and arrived at our destination pretty hungry.🤤

    Gerard: Started with coffee and tostada. The bar owner asked me what I wanted. I am used in other parts of Spain to get toasted bread with cheese and marmalade on the side so that’s what I asked. Apparently it is common here to toast the piece of bread with the cheese in the oven. So I got this morning a piece of baguette with marmalade and melted cheese on top. It was delicious….. :-) Today was a shorter walk and at the end we had a late lunch in a cafe. Debi ordered a salad and i got meat and fried potatoes. When it was brought to our table debi eyeballed at my potatoes. The waitress saw that and she asked if debi wanted some too, which she did. Again delicious. Today’s walk was fine.
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  • Day 7

    Alboloduy to Ocaña

    February 9 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    Gerard: This day was 800 meters up and down, with very narrow tracks at some parts. We were intimidated but everything worked out fine. During the night we already noticed that the wind was picking up. There was a storm coming in and when we were at the highest point the wind was fiercefull. When we joined the road we walked in the middle because we’re afraid we would be blown over the railing, really, even with our backpack on it felt like we were feathers to the wind. We pushed ourselves to get as early as possible to Nacimiento because we knew a post office was there to post our abundance stuff home. Only to find out the post office was closed. It is hard to understand the opening times for shops bars etc. We will have to pay for that rushing I am afraid as it was very close to too fast. The walk after the mountain was thru the river bed, which was, I am sorry to say, a bit boring. Grey stones, bushes on the side, hardly any view and we had to keep our focus to the floor as it was so variabel. In Donna Maria no places to eat. We scored a bag of chips, a bocadillo (belegd stokbrood) and a bottle of wine in a bar. Just to be safe. Then we rushed the last 2 km to Ocaña where the only bar would close at six, ofcourse to find out that the bar was closed when we arrived. On a Saturday night! We wonder how do the people earn their money? So the bocadillo wine and chips was going to be our dinner and breakfast. We slept like a rose....Read more

  • Day 8

    Ocaña to Huéneja

    February 10 in Spain ⋅ 🌬 6 °C

    Debi: We began with a 7km walk to the next village, where we could have coffee and omelette. The wind was extreme headwinds and driving rain. We were soaked through. My boots were ponds. After food and drying up a bit we walked on for 8 km to the next village, where I insisted we find a taxi (not a very debi thing, but…) A local person gave us a ride to our destination, Hueneja. Another modest Albergue, but we are grateful. We are hanging out in the only open bar. Some people in the bar heard us trying to get vegetarian food and gave us their fresh beans. So kind.

    Gerard: The waiter communicated with us thru the google translation app. She was very helpful and even went with Debi to the tienda for some shopping. She also made fabulous barbecued chicken for me on their little indoor charcoal oven. Highly recommended! > Gerard
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  • Day 9

    Huéneja to Alquife

    February 11 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 4 °C

    Debi: what a beautiful day, despite the cold and a bit of rain. Snowy mountains in the distance, and an undulating path through almond orchards, in bloom. Walked through La Calahorra, with castle on hill. This area was used to film Hollywood westerns in the 1950s-60s. Some familiar mountain silhouettes. Only 19 km, but it felt like enough. Again no coffee available until we had walked 7km, but it is Sunday.

    G: Vandaag was uitzonderlijk mooi. Prachtige uitzichten op de Sierra Nevada. Wandelen tussen boomgaarden met amandelbomen in bloei. Prachtig wandelen langs de hellingen van verschillende heuvels. Misschien was gisteren ook mooi geweest maar toen waaiden we van de berg en zicht was bijna nul.
    Kortom een prachtige dag!!
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  • Day 10

    Alquife to Guádix

    February 12 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    D: what a beautiful 24 km walk today!
    The scenery is outstanding. The last half reminded me of the US south west landscape, so it is understandable that Hollywood used the area to film westerns. Some up and down to keep the walking varied, but our eyes were mostly on distances. We are staying the night in a little cave apartment, which is cool but cozy.
    G: Dag van regenbogen, zo leek het wel. Eind van de ochtend werd het afwisselend zon en zware bewolking want dan wel weer mooie plaatjes geeft. Hoogtepunt van de dag was het wandelen door een vallei ingesloten op de zuidkant door de Sierra Nevada en Oost en West door ruige rood kleurige rotsen. Gisteren al gezien dat hier veel spaghetti westerns zijn opgenomen. En dan uitkomend in Guadix dat tussen de rotsen opeens tevoorschijn komt. Veel huisjes hebben een paar kamers in de rotsen uitgehakt wat natuurlijk heerlijk koel is in de zomer. Wij slapen vanavond ook in zo'n Cueva.
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  • Day 11

    Guádix to La Peza

    February 13 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 9 °C

    D: The first half of the walk was stunning, winding through the mountains. The second half was an unpleasant dirt path and a winding mountain highway. Great views, but we did quite a lot of up and down, often steeply.

    G: de dag begon al mooi, lichte bewolking. We moesten eerst nog wat overbodige kleren naar huis sturen via de Spaanse Correos. Altijd een kleine uitdaging want men praat rap Spaans en zoveel ben ik de taak nog niet machtig. Met de Google vertaal app kan je spreken en het gesprokene wordt dan in je eigen taal vertaald. Op een gegeven moment pakt ze mijn telefoon en spreekt in rap Spaans bijna een minuut lang in. Ik denk dat gaat nooit goed. Maar dat viel reuze mee. Ik begreep wat ze probeerde te zeggen. Al met al drie kilo retour. We hadden dikke winterkleding meegenomen naar hier is het soms net zomer. Als het koud gaat worden trekken we alle laagjes zomerkleding over elkaar aan. We starten om Tien uur voor 22 km en 550 meter omhoog en 500 meter naar beneden. De foto's spreken voor zich. Door het mooie weer een eerste goede kijk op de Sierra Nevada. Meer rotsen en Cuevaas. Half zeven kwamen we aan in la Peza. Moe van het laatste veel eisende stuk. Na een goede douche naar het dorp om te eten, helaas alles dicht. Ik vind nog overgebleven pasta in de keuken van de herberg. Debi gaat direct naar bed. Voor haar was dit de zwaarste dag tot nu toe. Morgen dan maar stevig ontbijten....
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  • Day 12

    La Peza to Tocón de Quentar

    February 14 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    Debi: I was sick today from dehydration and so took a cab while G walked and met him at the Albergue in the next village. Only a very short stage, but it involved steep climbs, and I was not up to it. Hoping all is well tomorrow.

    G: Wat een mooie wandeling weer vandaag. Al was het wel werken, om uit la Peza te komen was 't wel een 20% stijging de berg op. Gelukkig had ik 2 koppen koffie en tostada met jam genuttigd als ontbijt, dus kon dit wel aan. Maar moest toch soms wel even stoppen gedurende het eerste uur. Vier honderd meter omhoog.., met rugzak die nu lichter is maar dan toch weer zwaar voelt :-).

    Debi gaat met de taxi, ze voelt zich niet lekker, ze was goed ziek vannacht. Wij denken dat gisteren te inspannend was in combinatie met de warme zon. Iets wat mij drie dagen geleden ook over komen is. En dan heb je totaal geen puf meer.

    Je loopt recht op de Sierra Nevada af die volgens mij nu al minder wit is vanwege het mooie weer van de laatste week. En daarna verre uitzichten naar het noorden. De wandeling is niet lang. 12,5 km maar met het op en neer en met de pauzes erbij, doe ik er toch vijf uur over. Ik heb ervan genoten.
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