A dry half day drive.
Aug 5, 2023 13:02:53 GMT
Post by onlyMark on Aug 5, 2023 13:02:53 GMT
A couple of hours away from me is one of the driest places in Spain, if not Europe. I think the second driest. It's around and to the north of a place called Gorafe in Andalucía.
As it was a hot day I thought a drive through there would be in order.
There are two motorways heading roughly east/west, one from Jaen towards the east(ish) and one from Granada also heading east(ish). Jaen is to the north of Granada by 100km or so and a main motorway connects the two - so there are three sides of a rough square. The eastern side of it doesn't exist apart from minor, often single track, roads interspersed with remote villages.
Initially the road was good with larger villages (my car looking all lonely and forlorn, panting away in the heat) -
I started rising above the olive tree line -
In the distance to the south you can see all the way to the Sierra Nevada mountains -
Mainly just rough scrub and normal trees appearing as I headed upwards and south passing another small place -
Then it became mostly devoid of reasonable vegetation -
The road had deteriorated and wound it's way into a valley -
Still very dry -
Getting lower and back to where olive trees are viable -
Reaching the borderline, scrub increases and so do some attractive rock formations -
Eventually stopped in one of the villages and found a shady cafe for a bocadilla de queso (cheese roll) and a Fanta Limon Zero -
Not far north from the road heading east out of Granada are a large number of megalithic graves. At least a hundred or more spread through the area. I wasn't in the mood (and it was about 43 degrees anyway) to walk far around looking at them so I stopped off at a small patch of a few -
There were a couple of signboards with small writing and lots of information. I decided that after half an hour in the sun I'd just take a photo and use google later -
If you want to see some quite spectacular dolmens then head for a place called Antequera.
From there I joined the Granada road and headed that way but then cut the corner off to head home. Called at Lidl on the way because they do some good aged mature cheddar then went in the pool.
As it was a hot day I thought a drive through there would be in order.
There are two motorways heading roughly east/west, one from Jaen towards the east(ish) and one from Granada also heading east(ish). Jaen is to the north of Granada by 100km or so and a main motorway connects the two - so there are three sides of a rough square. The eastern side of it doesn't exist apart from minor, often single track, roads interspersed with remote villages.
Initially the road was good with larger villages (my car looking all lonely and forlorn, panting away in the heat) -
I started rising above the olive tree line -
In the distance to the south you can see all the way to the Sierra Nevada mountains -
Mainly just rough scrub and normal trees appearing as I headed upwards and south passing another small place -
Then it became mostly devoid of reasonable vegetation -
The road had deteriorated and wound it's way into a valley -
Still very dry -
Getting lower and back to where olive trees are viable -
Reaching the borderline, scrub increases and so do some attractive rock formations -
Eventually stopped in one of the villages and found a shady cafe for a bocadilla de queso (cheese roll) and a Fanta Limon Zero -
Not far north from the road heading east out of Granada are a large number of megalithic graves. At least a hundred or more spread through the area. I wasn't in the mood (and it was about 43 degrees anyway) to walk far around looking at them so I stopped off at a small patch of a few -
There were a couple of signboards with small writing and lots of information. I decided that after half an hour in the sun I'd just take a photo and use google later -
If you want to see some quite spectacular dolmens then head for a place called Antequera.
From there I joined the Granada road and headed that way but then cut the corner off to head home. Called at Lidl on the way because they do some good aged mature cheddar then went in the pool.
excellent pics . I shall google the ancient graves. 
