Wednesday, 26 April 2023

A Testing Walk

 This is a fine weather walk we have only carried out once before, many years ago. We started at Santa Elena tower on a headland three miles opposite the campsite, hopefully visible in the following longshot photo.

The tower was a watchtower to spot pirates that roamed the Med many years ago. It’s quite sturdy, with the entrance 20 feet off the ground for extra security. Not a popular chap if you forgot the ladder!


The tower soon disappears from view rounding the other side of the headland. The path is rough, with loose stones, and cuts across a steep slope.

This is where you’d end up if you slipped on the stringy grass, lethal in the wet but navigable with care today.

It’s barely a donkey track but is part of walking trail GR92. Usually these are well marked with paint stripes on adjacent rocks to confirm the path, but nothing much here. Some of the scrambles are becoming steeper and covered in looses scree so easy to skid on.

A surprise looking down at the next rocky bay: what appears to be the remains of a dwelling. A beautiful, quiet location – you could maybe live on fish, but what about the weekly bin collection.

The path then turned inland, away from the precipitous plummets to the sea, but time for a quick atmospheric seascape photo before we turn away.

The transmitter masts are at the highest point but we headed for the saddle to the left where the path drops back down to civilisation.

Here’s the view from the saddle before heading down. It was still careful going on the track, but gravity was helping now so we were back in time for lunch.

 




































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