Today we head away from the touristy coastal region. Adios to Alicante et al. Higher hopes and slopes in mind as we head inland in search of Spectacular Spain.
Our many free, but boring motorway miles – no toll roads so far – have been more bearable listening to Just William stories, eloquently read by Martin Jarvis. With a 90K leg part of today’s plans, we opt for a different tac and choose The Curious Incident of The Dog in the Night-Time. We get caught up in the story. Don’t realise Little Missy’s gone walkabout. Gone and switched herself off. No instructions or reminders forthcoming. We pass our turn off. As it turns out she’s done us a favour. We check the paper “map” (yes, we have got one Rog). Decide on a longer, but shorter cross country course to revive our attention. It pays off . . .
. . . to a degree. We start to get a bit edgy. Should have filled up this morning, but didn’t. The extra miles and cross country diversion cause consternation. No garages out here in the wilderness. Fuel indicator edges into the red. Then the display panel issues its own “red” alert. Five minutes later a beeper sounds – just to give us the heebie-jeebies. As the warning light comes on we are full of regret. A coin toss may be needed to decide who draws the short straw and the long walk to the nearest garage. We make it to Velez Rubio with maybe 5K spare in the tank. Not quite running on fumes. Google maps tells us there’s a fill up there. There is, but there are forecourt renovations in progress. It’s open, but the scaffolding and covering restrict Beastie’s entry. 6K further on Verez Blanco is our only hope. We make it and decide not to do that again!
We’re now pitched fairly high up at Parque Natural Sierra María-Los Vélez in the province of Almería. Hardly anyone on this huge site.
Beastie gets a perfect view of a rising crescent and it’s partner.