Even though we almost start at the beach, we will only occasionally see the ocean in the distance today. Between Rota and El Puerto de Santa María is a large naval base with an airport. As a result, there are quite a few kilometres of coast that we cannot pass, so we need to go around it. The Vias Verdes continues for a short while, then it follows major roads. We are curious what ot will bring.
It starts off pretty chilly this morning and it is still dark when we leave the campsite at 8 am. In the verge we also see some frost on the grass, so it really is cold. But with our backpacks on, we warm up in no time. Past meadows and houses, we walk towards a big road that we have to cross. This one is completely empty. That's the advantage of today's public holiday; there's a lot less traffic on the roads than usual. We follow the road for a bit on a cycle path next to it, until we reach the army base and the path ends. We have no choice but to descend along a bridge to the main road and follow it. The verges are full of beautiful flowers and it's still not really busy, but we are glad when we see a road that runs parallel to the main road, after a while. That walks a lot more relaxed. The road enters the open field and, with the wind picking up, it feels icy cold. We even put our gloves on.
The road becomes unpaved and continues through the farmlands. In the distance we can see the mountains of Sierra de las Nieves, a mountain range nearly 2,000 meters high. Our stage remains fairly flat, but there are a few hills here and there. It's been a while since we've used our calves! 😉 At the break, the sky starts to break open a bit and it immediately gets a lot warmer as soon as we start walking. In no time we are walking in our t-shirts as usual. We leave the main road behind and walk past beautiful fields. The plastic is no longer to be seen here, flowers all the more. Yellow fields full of rapeseed colour the hills. It looks like spring, on the last day of February. Towards the end, before we enter El Puerto de Santa María, we walk on the edge of built-up areas for a while. There are many horses in the meadows, standing against the walls of the white houses. With cacti, palms and flowers at the edge. Gorgeous!
We walk towards the village. It's again situated at the ocean, at the ending of the Guadalete river. A real port town that's very quiet this afternoon. All shops are closed, although we find a small kiosk just in front of the campsite to do some shopping. At a counter in the doorway, we order the supplies we need, using our hands and feet and Malou's improving Spanish. Charmfull little shops like this are hard to find these days... At the campsite we get a nice quiet spot. Great to stay a day over, after 4 rather tough walking days. But very varied and beautiful!
