Spain, Andalucía, Cadíz

Murcia

Date / Distance

Transport and Route Summary

Sun 12^th Feb 2006
13.6 km

Torre de la Peña 2 camping site to Tarifa.
Bus. This is an easy walk along the beach. But you do have to wade across a creek. At high tide or during storms or spring tides this might be dangerous. At mid tide, we just wet our knickers.

Mon 13^th Feb 2006
20.7 km

Tarifa to Pelayo.
Bus. Pelayo is a small village between Tarifa and Algeciras. This walk was easy but we crossed fields full of cows and bulls. They were all placid so Anne did not need to wave her red knickers. We also unintentionally crossed some military zones - only finding the prohibition signs on leaving. We believe there are spectacular routes through the Parque Natural de las Alcornocales. We failed to find these on Google and the local information is poor too.

Tue 14th Feb 2006
15.8 km

Pelayo to Algeciras.
Bus. At last a walk without military zones. Or so we thought. After walking on farm tracks for most of the day, we came out onto Pista Militar 7 with the usual array of prohibition signs. If walkers are really not welcome, both ends of the zone need to be signed! Fortunately we were not denounced.

Wed 15th Feb 2006

Day Trip to Gibraltar.
Bus and taxi. We traveled by bus from Tarifa to La Línea changing bus in Algeciras. There we walked across the border. In Gibraltar we took a taxi tour of the main sites. We met Father Francis for lunch near the Cathedral. We got to know him 30 years ago when he was the Beccles parish priest.

Thu 16th Feb 2006
25.5 km

Algeciras to Estacion de San Roque.
Bus. This was a surprisingly pleasant walk avoiding much of the worst industrial and urban excess. So close to urban areas, there were still a few tarmac free routes. Algeciras is a busy port town with industrial and dockland areas. There are a few down-at-heel areas but also lots of work going on to improve the town. Los Barrios was a clean, orderly and prosperous looking suburb. Google Earth was really useful when planning this route. We were able to avoid the big industrial zones and motorways and also find a route with river crossings.

Fri 17th Feb 2006
22.7 km

Estacion de San Roque to La Línea.
Bus. We were unsure of this route. We expected to be blocked by a military zone near La Línea. In fact it was a nature reserve and the only hazards were bulls bread for the ring and many bee hives. We were able to avoid the bees and the bulls were calm. The mountain reserve was covered with flowering scillas and crocuses. These were doing exceptionally well after a bush fire. All the scrub was burned out allowing more light at ground level.

Sat 18th Feb 2006
13.5 km

Gibraltar.
Bus. We took the bus to La Línea and walked across the border. A number 3 bus took us to the Botanical Gardens (twinned with Kew Gardens in London). There Mini stayed to view the gardens and Anne and Neil set off to walk round Gibraltar. The tunnel on the east side of the rock was unsafe and closed so we didn't see this side of the rock. Walking across the RAF Gibraltar runway was an unusual and interesting experience.