We have heard that the lightening display we enjoyed watching last night was actually a series of terrible storms along the Spanish coast. Apparently Mazarron was affected and the area round Denia where we also stayed had it bad. We hardly had any rain at Almeria but as we drove down to Roquetas del Mar we saw that it must have been bad here too as workmen were clearing branches and mud from the roads on the coast. Hope we don't get any more....although the forecast is rather changeable for the next day or two.
We stocked up with supplies at a Lidl, which was very busy. So busy that people were queuing at the checkouts and Janice got barged by a couple of locals who jostled for an opening checkout, even though they had joined the queue behind us. It got us talking about a lack of politeness that we have perceived from the Spanish people. We have experienced a general demeanour amongst some of the Spanish people that they seem unfriendly (not returning smiles, being a little reluctant to help but helping eventually). Also, rather impatient, eg the barging incident and they often invade our personal space without consideration (they park their cars right next to our van when there is lots of space available elsewhere and yesterday a woman stood right next to our van door whilst texting on her phone, she had no sense of our close presence, I could almost read her texts). It seems that many Spanish don't practice the niceties of our English manners. Having said this, I don't think they mean to be rude but just have a different social expectation. It may help if we had the courtesy to learn more Spanish language!
When we returned to our van in the Lidl car park we saw the legs of a cat climbing up into the engine space of the van. We think that a cat from the harbour area (there were several of them) may have climbed aboard for the short journey to Lidl and possibly was trying to get a lift back again? I discouraged it from another ride and it stalked off into the scrub area nearby.
Roquetas is not far along the coast from Almeria and we know the place name as a tourist resort popular with many British people. We parked on the north end of the long beach in a place where it seemed OK to wild camp.
The beach is long, about 6 miles of sandy beach. No wonder it is popular but it is very quiet at this time of year. It wasn't warm enough for anything less than a brisk walk on the prom. It is pretty sunny but the wind is strong.
We stopped at the Castillo Santa Anna which is only a small fort (closed today).
We found some workmen with a 'Cherry Picker' and noticed they had chopped down some 'dates' from some palm trees. One man took a bite from on of the dates, so I asked if we could taste one. They gave us one each and as we walked away one of the men followed us and gave us a small branch of dates. How nice it is to get a small act of kindness.
I have also had to reconsider the name of the 'cherry picker', it should be a 'date picker'.
No comments:
Post a Comment