Plaza de Toros de Cartagena

We spend two more nights in Plym’s house after Tom’s departure and reconnect with the lovely neighbours Hilary and Graham.
On our way back to Cartagena we take a different route in order to travel through the Tabernas desert. The landscape is evocative of the Wild West and there are tourist parks built around abandoned movie sets. The good the bad and the Ugly’ was filmed here or as it translates in spanish - ‘The good, the ugly and the bad’. We find the theme tune on Spotify and listen to it as we drive through the arid terrain. When we stop for a picnic it is dusty everywhere so we eat out of the back of the car. Every time a car drives past us, it throws up a tail of dust. We conclude that this landscape is best enjoyed indoors preferably on a TV screen.
We stop for coffee in a pretty little town called Sobras, which is built on a height overlooking a dry but verdant river bed. After a wander around we still have an appetite for more sightseeing and decide to drive on to Lorca. It is a city we have driven by several times on our way to and from Anadalusia and we want to explore it, especially the picturesque hilltop fort we have seen from the car so many times. We park downtown which has some lovely old buildings and a pretty square complete with Irish pub. The Castle looks very impressive high on the hill overlooking the city and we start our steep climb through the narrow streets. The steps towards the castle becomes progressively dirtier and more broken up. We find we are a kind of a slum where children play between rubbish and rubble right outside their crumbling houses. We are surprised to find such poor living conditions in Spain. Our enthusiasm for the hike to the castle has waned and so we turn on our heel and return to the car and head home to Cartagena.
The following day we queue at the abandoned Eroski shopping centre, now a mass vaccination centre and receive our final Covid jabs.

Our next job is to Haul out the boat so her bottom can be cleaned and anti-fouled. All on board, we motor over to the boatyard to be lifted. The crane raises Regal out of the water just enough for the four of us to step ashore at the bow. We watch as she is lifted out entirely and then parked in the boatyard. She will remain here for a few days and though we are allowed stay onboard three of the four of us opt not to. Ronan volunteers to stay behind and get a push on with some boat jobs. The conditions onboard are borderline grim. It’s cold and dusty with an unsteady climb up and down to the boat, sometimes while carrying the ‘sink’ bucket or the ‘jacks’ bucket. There are a few other hardy bucks who are staying onboard boats in the yard and their good company is a pleasant diversion from the unpleasant living conditions.Read more