Tuesday 27th : Almeria to Salobrena (140km)

There is a daily ferry from Almeria to Algeria and the arabic script on the road signs around the port reminded me of my proximity to the African coast. The coast road out of Almeria is dramatic and cut into the side of the mountain with a constant risk of falling rocks. Its a lovely ride and ends in the resort town of Aquadulce some 11km further on. Aguadulce marks the beginning of the Campo de Dalias, a vast sea of plastic tents housing the intenstive farming of fruit and vegtables. It stretches for thousands of acres and is ugly close up. The main town in the area is El Ejido and I had heard and read a lot of bad things about the place so I wasnt happy that it was on my route. Expecting the worst I was actually pleasantly surprised and thought that it looked a prosperous place. As soon as I was out of the city I was into the tents and as there was only motorway ahead I had to zig zag through tiny lanes through the tents to reach the sea. This was the closest I got to being lost on the trip and the vast tents, litter and stray dogs left me a bit edgy. I also developed quite a cough from only having to spend 30 minutes close to the pesticides, I can only imagine what it must be like to live there. Once I hit the coast the road stayed close to it for the rest of the day. The almerian resort of Adra wall dull but once the road started to climb around the cliffs the scenry became much more interesting. Maybe it was was the cliffs or I was day dreaming but I looked at my watch thinking it was 3pm but it was 5pm and I still have 40km to go. Wiuth the head down I managed to get to Calahonda by 6pm but that meant the last 20km was in the dark so on came the yellow jacket and flashing light. In Salobrena I stayed in a lovely guesthouse run by a frenchman and his wife near the old town. Salobrena seemed to quite spanish with few foreigners for the costa, although it was mid week at the end of november.