Guadix, Puerto de la Ragua and Cabo de Gata

Seem to have taken the scenic route to all the wrong places today – and spent most of the time driving (well, Guy)! We set off this morning for Guadix to see the Barrio Santiago or rather the troglodyte quarter. A square mile of cave houses. We expected it to be full of tourists (like ourselves) but the place was deserted and a bit like a scruffy, run down gypsy camp. We were invited in as we passed one house but declined. There was a dead cat in the gutter, but it was the trainers tied together and thrown over the telephone wire ‘get your drugs here’ that caused us to do a u turn!
On the road out of town we suddenly decided to drive up Andalucía’s highest all weather pass on a whim. It was a safe smooth road I suppose, but it was quite hair raising in places. Had a coffee and dog walk at the Puerto de Ragua and then started the long and winding descent. It took us quite a while to get through the weird desert like countryside, finally coming out near the coast just west of Almeria. Unbelievably, another mile after mile of plastic greenhouses – nothing but plastic all the way to the sea. Then we hit Almeria – a huge sprawl of a city and now I can finally stop trying to whistle the Pogues ‘Fiesta’ because we really “must say adios until we see Almeria once again” – hopefully not too soon! 😬
No choice then but to carry on. El Cabo de Gato had a good write up in the Rough Guide and is supposedly set in a national park, so we made our way there. It’s really not very great and we are surrounded by about fifty other motorhomes. We are now second row from the sea but wouldn’t dare move up to the front. Think there’s a bit of a hierarchy here and you have to serve your time before you can go on the front. Blinds up!