Sopalmo

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The little hamlet of Sopalmo is perched on a ridge, sitting either side of the winding coast road between Carboneras and Mojacar surrounded by hills and valleys where grey shingly ramblas make their way to the sea.

Camping Sopalmo is a small very friendly international campsite. The owners, Simon and Macu, work hard to keep everyone happy and speak good English. It is a very special place.

Although most of the campers have stayed here for many winters and are really good friends with each other, they welcome newcomers with open arms, passing on useful local information and socialising in the Friday evening bar. When we arrived we thought we would stay for a maximum of a week but we stayed over four weeks only moving on when we needed to start our journey back. This despite the lack of nearby shops or a good bus service - things we normally require from a campsite. The genuine friendliness of the site, the traditional Bar Sopalmo (20 minutes walk up the rambla), the interesting landscape and lovely walks kept us very happy here. Occasionally (when we needed food!) we explored the surrounding towns and villages where there were fantastic local produce markets.

From the campsite we could see hills across the valley where a herd of goats was taken to graze during the day

Sometimes the goats came into the fields next to the campsite and ate carob pods which the goatherd beat down from the tree with a stick

Just across the rambla was a wild orange tree. The windfalls we picked up were small but sweet.....

Here are some photos taken on our many walks up and down the rambla:

Almond tree sprouting from a rock

Carob Tree

The goats

Dry rambla (it's normal state)

Rambla in flood (after just a few hours torrential rain)

Car damaged in the floods

Coloured rocks at the side of the rambla

Cormorant on a rock

Crocodile log on the beach

The quiet valley had once been farmed and irrigated more productively and was full of history. We frequently stumbled across fascinating ruined buildings and walls and old irrigation systems. This abandoned mill must once have been surrounded by water:

Abandoned farmhouse

Terraced hillside

Ruined animal enclosure

We walked several kilometers from any tarmaced road to see the ruins of a village which had been abandoned in the 1960's because people were starving:

Here are some pictures taken from the ridges we climbed either side of the rambla:

The scents of thyme, lavender and another pungent herb which we have yet to name were around us every day and every day we saw different flowers blooming, many of which were new to us:

orchid

wild sweet pea

beautiful black lavender

In various secluded spots we came across dozens of beehives and it was lovely to see and hear the bees.

During the month we were at Sopalmo we watched the almond trees come into blossom. By the middle of February they were fully out: