Day Three of Tom and Chica’s walk

The journey continues!

I made a mental note to republish this wonderful story more often than hitherto.

Certainly, if I am do the story justice, and I do want to do that, then a couple of republications a week is needed.

So we are at Day Three.

ooOOoo

Day 3: Embalse de Almodovar to Los Barrios 20k

By Tom and Chica, 15th January, 2020

Written by Tom’s wife.

Silent sentinels

This was the first cold and cloudy morning we’ve had since we arrived in Tarifa – a bit of a shock! The lack of wind, which is a rarity here, meant that all the wind turbines were motionless – like silent sentinels guarding the the hills.

 

 

Silly Billy!

oooo

Back on the stony track.

oooo

Don’t run them over!

We reached the start point (What Three Words location: dashes.outlived. plums) at around 10.15. Frustratingly, the route is barred by an electronic gate and notices warn that vehicles are prohibited, although google maps shows it as a through route. This wasn’t a problem this morning but made for a long drive for the pick up later.

After yesterday’s day off both dog and man keen to get going and set a brisk pace to keep warm. The lizards referred to in the sign weren’t in evidence – it was definitely too cold. The same very stony track caused less problems for Tom today with medium rather than light weight boots. The route climbed steadily to a high open valley to Puerto de Ojen giving views of the Sierra del Nino to the north. There used to be a bar here offering refreshment to walkers but sadly only a rather angry little dog and a donkey there now but a brief lunch break was taken anyway.

Puerta de Ojen

oooo

Paths of the prisoners.

This sign on the right (Ed. the last one above.) was a little further down the road. A brief translation tells us that, as a result of the Spanish civil war, prisons were overflowing so Franco decided to create disciplinary battalions, an organized group of political prisoners to perform forced labour. After the outbreak of WWII, he launched the Fortification Plan on the northern shore of the Strait of Gibraltar, with the aim of fortifying and defending the area from possible attacks from the coast. To do this, he built a network of roads in this coastal area of ​​southern Spain from Conil to the Guadiaro River and the path of the prisoners is part of this network of roads built by disciplinary battalion number 22 that was located between Venta de Ojén and Cerro del Rayo from 1940 to 1943.

Rustic bread oven

oooo

Further along they came cross this old bread oven that is currently being restored. Tom is a builder specialising in stone work so was able to determine that it was a good example of modern stonework. He was unable to fully translate the sign but it said that bread was a very important part of the diet and this was oven was a vital resource used by many people.

All in all, an interesting and reasonably easy route. The weather had improved as the day went on and it reached 18 deg but after 20k both Tom and Chica were quite happy to see the car, I think.

Pooped!

ooOOoo

I am so grateful for being given permission by Tom’s wife to republish this amazing journey along the GR7 path.

I’m assuming that you all are enjoying this!

 

20 thoughts on “Day Three of Tom and Chica’s walk”

  3. We are only too happy for you to republish. Just a thought…you very kindly offered to send me a copy of the book (and I am happy to pay postage) but I’m only here for another 10 days. Please don’t worry, I am happy to order it but I wouldn’t want it to come after we left. Gill 🙂

    Like

    Reply

  4. We are only too happy for you to republish. Just a thought…you very kindly offered to send me a copy of the book (and I am happy to pay postage) but I’m only here for another 10 days. Please don’t worry, I am happy to order it but I wouldn’t want it to come after we left. Gill :

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  5. Call me a pedant, but is this:
    Day Two of Tom and Chica’s walk
    or is it:
    Day 3: Embalse de Almodovar to Los Barrios 20k
    ?
    I know, I know, your recall is so poor these days 😛

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  6. PS (totally off-topic):
    I clicked on your book on your home page (hoping to discover that you offer an eBook version of your book) but I was surprised to find that https://paulhandover.com/ is ‘server not found’ 😦
    Did you forget to pay your registration fee? (I know, I know…)
    Is there a problem with your server? (Hamsters on strike for more pay?)
    Maybe I should suggest that you read my blog post ‘How to ensure that your blog lives forever‘ again 😀

    Like

    Reply

      3. PPS I see from here that you do have an eBook version — so I’ve bought a copy 🙂 One of these days I’ll get a round tuit and write a glowing review 😀

        Like

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.