And to the beach......

Photos:
Photo 1 – Sunset over the beach in Matalascanas, Spain - taken from the 'Truck'
Photo 2 - Paul fishing on the beach in Matalscanas, Spain
Photo 3 - On the beautiful empty beach
Photo 4 – The main street, El Rocio (see the sand)
Photo 5 - The huge church, the Ermita or Sanctuario de Nuestra Senora de El

We left Ronda on Wednesday, 7th May to travel to El Rocio in the Donana National Park – South of Seville. The journey was a bit hair raising – on the way out of the mountains, the police had shut a tunnel and directed all the traffic through a tiny mountain village – not good with 10 ton Tess (The Truck), so we got stuck and had to do a three point turn in what I can only describe as a sixpence, between buildings closing in on all sides and the traffic building up – lovely. Anyway, we did escape with just a slight bruise to the rear end (now covered with a silver plaster – ahhh) – and one matching the other side, so you can’t guess…..and finally arrived in El Rocio to find out it is festival week (Pentecost), and two million pilgrims, mostly on horseback, were also arriving to have a fun week.

The campsite was obviously fully booked, so we had to carry on and find somewhere else to park up. So down the road to Matalascanas which is on the Atlantic, and we found the most fantastic place to camp, and settled ourselves in for a week. Sunbathing, fishing, walking, birdwatching, really what more could you want…..We did return to El Rocio, which is just the most fascinating place. All the streets are sand, no tarmac to be seen. When I say sand, I don’t mean compacted sand suitable for cars, this is sand dune sand, soft…more suitable for horses and walking, than cars or our bikes, which we had to abandon on the outskirts as it was impossible to ride them. There is also this amazing church which houses a statue of the Virgin Mary known locally as ‘Our Lady of the Dew’ which legend says that one hundred years ago this statue was found in a tree trunk where the site of the church has been built. We are staying here a few more days exploring the Donana National Park – plenty of Flamingos, Spoonbills, Glossy Ibis and much, much more, and then we are off to the Algarve, Portugal.