Sunday, 31st of March 2013 - day 40
Despite losing an hour overnight we are bright and chirpy, but the day is overcast and drizzly.
We sat off after breakfast an our way to Baza, 24km away. We again basically follow the A-92N, but on the old road that takes us into the country side only to bring us back to the freeway, never more than 300m away we follow the twists and turns of this rural road. A bit over 5 hours and a tad damp we arrive at our destination. It was in the afternoon that the rain started and did it come down. the weather forecast indicates the rain is here for a few days, lucky us. Our accommodation has washing and drying facilities, so we make good use of them. Then try to catch upon that hour of sleep we lost overnight. Diner, luckily don't have to leave the building, as the rain is now relentless. I had a steak for a change with chips and salad .... have not seen that in a while, it was good for a change.
We catch up on emails and things, then its time to turn out the lights. At this time the rain is still coming down.

Saturday, 30th of March 2013 - day 39
After a look on the Internet for a place to stay in the next town, we are booked in and on our way.
Another glorious day, we follow the highway on a local road that runs beside it, its dead flat and we go up and down following the terrain, but its easy walking and we have little to no traffic ..... but there is the constant noise of cars and large trucks on the A-92N Hwy.
As Chirivel was only 20km its a easy 4 1/2 - 5 hour walk, and thanks to our GPS we go straight to the B+B, its too early to check-in but we leave our packs and head down to the near by bar for lunch, a selection of tapas and some beer. Easter festivities seem to have taken a break today. I think daylight saving starts here tomorrow and we lose an hour over night.
So better get to bed.

Friday, 29th of March 2013, day 38
Its Good Friday and as most things will be closed today we decide to stay put in Velez-Rubio. The day and the hole Easter period is just one big festival, bands, parades and people in the streets, lots of eating and drinking
Well its been a very long day, its not that late but I am bushed, so off for a bit of shuteye.
Will decide tomorrow as to what, when, where with our trek over this weekend.

Thursday, 28th of March 2013, day 37
Up early this morning and out on the path at first light, about 6.30am as we have about 10hours of walking to do today and about 43km. Luckily it was relatively flat or very gentle climbs. We follow a valley into the distant hills, it is coolish for most of the morning, but its a clear day and the afternoon gets to mid 20's.
About half way we come across a small town with a petrol station and a couple of houses, replenish our supplies with more drinks and energy bars and continue on. We eventually make it to Velez-Rubio about 4.30pm foot sore and tired, clean up and then rest. A late diner and we will definitely all sleep well tonight.

Wednesday, 27th of March 2013, day 36
Today is but a short walk, 10km a bit over 2 hours. Its flat and a sunny day, but as yet it does not heat up till the afternoon and its looking to reach mid 20's today. We walk the back roads to Lorca but the main freeway is not that far away so the noise of it is in the air. We would have liked to get a bit further down the road today, but no where to stay there. Tomorrow will be a long one, about 42km to the next town with accom so a bit of R+R today in readiness for that. We make sure we have provisions for tomorrows walk and take it easy for the rest of the day. Off early to bed as a 6-7am start in the morning.

Tuesday, 26th of March 2013 - day 35
Buenas noches amigos, today was a long day over 34km of pavement, luckily all country lanes and flat. Carried all our provisions for the day, we only passed through one town and that was at the start of the day, La Pinilla - we bought our supplies for the day here. The day was again overcast but warmish and a tad humid, the possibility of rain ever present.
We walked past farm after farm. almond, walnut or olive groves seems to be the speciality here (well that was our impression) as there is no fruit on the trees that we could see.
Arrived at La Hoya, a typical rural town, mid afternoon found a place to stay, luckily as it was another 10km to the next town, we washes showered and crashed, all tired. Awoke around 8pm ish and ventured out to eat diner, its around 11pm now, so,
Despedida de osta noche, Luke.

Monday, 25th of March - day 34
It was time to move on, a slow start today as we are all  a tad hung over from a very fun but boozy weekend. Luckily it is a cool start to the day and we seek out a coffee first thing - we are on the road to Granada, it is built up with dwellings, cafes, bars, small farms and orchards all the way to Las Palas.
It is dead flat for the first 3 hours walking and the odd gentle hill for the further hour and a half, it is overcast and easy walking, we have footpaths till about an hour out of Las Palas where we walk narrow country lanes through open farm land and pasture.
Las Palas is a typical rural town, we locate the bar and get some lunch,ask about hotels/hostels .... non in this town. But he tells us of a place some 5-6km on the way we are going, called Las Golondrnas Holiday Centre .... we are thinking English Holiday Centre like in the older English movies? Any way another hour and a bit through pleasant surroundings and we arrive. Its a group of old buildings, a town that has been completely be taken over and turned into apartments, motel like accom and turns out to be more than acceptable, we book a 4 bed apartment and settle in. not many other people here as busy time is the week end. A good meal and some more vino and another late ish night ..... its Spain.

Saturday and Sunday, 23rd and 24th of march 2013 - days 32 and 33.
One heck of a weekend, we stumbled upon the Bohemian quarter of Cartagena, a very colourful area full of artists and alternative people. Staying at a hostel that is in the centre of this. The hostel is also the home for a cooking school, though I think this is just an excuse to drink the local wines. Any way we have checked out the local artisans , galleries and exhibits, eaten of the local fare and consumed way too much of the local wine, am exhausted, may need an extra day here just to sleep and recover. Good night for now.

Friday the 22nd of March 2013, day 31.
Headed inland as fast as we could and plenty of roads running parallel to the main road. Walked country road all the way to La Palma 31km down the road but about 7km short of Cartegena.
The day was overcast and coolish with a top of about 18C with the odd shower to keep us grabbing for our wet weather gear. Terain .... flat farm land .... easy walking, an uneventful day.
Enjoyed the quietness of todays ramble, we all did.
At La Palma, accommodation OK, restaurant for lunch and diner OK, early ish night for a friday .... well Cartagena tomorrow, only a couple of hours walking.

Thursday 21st of March 2013, day 30.
Up bright and early, grab some breakfast just down the road in Torrevieja, a rather large town/city then keep walking . Today turned out to be a walk through the suburbs, very built up all the way.
Looked for ways to go inland, but that was all they did, non ran parallel to our path, so plod on we did, There were some pleasant paved paths along the waters edge, which we took when possible.
Arrived Pueblo Latino lunch time in warm sunshine, but clouds where building withe the hint of a shower or two later in the day. In a modern apartment tonight with washing machines and dryers etc.
For tomorrows walk we are looking to get back to the country and away from modern development.
Cheers for now.

Wednesday the 20th of March 2013, day 29 of Journey.
Up early ish and on the road by 7.30am, its sunny and mid teens, temperature wise. About half an hour and we are out of Santa Pola and for the next hour or so we walk a causeway with little verge and cars whistling past, a bit nerve racking but it would take many hours to go around and we could still have the same problem. Once off the causeway is a lot better plenty of room on the side of the road, even armco between us and road traffic. Terrain is flat and treeless but country side and quiet except for the traffic which luckily is minimal for the most part.
Decide to stop at Torre la Mata, its getting quite warm by this time low to mid 20's, bright sun shine little to no breeze or trees for cover. To days path covered about 27km, we are hot, tired and looking forward to a beer and a light lunch. Our accom is almost on the beach, we go in for a swim, brrrrr the water is a tad cool, very refreshing. A siesta is in order then diner and an early night. its just after 10pm, but very tired tonight even after a short nap earlier, may be the bottle of yummy red has had an influence, so untill tomorrow, bye.

Tuesday the 19th of March 2013, day 28.
Up early, another cloudless day, low teens first thing but latter a warm-ish 21-22C.
We follow the beach road today with scatterings of development all down the coast, its flat and the traffic is quite light. little to no breeze today and we make good time ..... an easy 23-24km walk takes a bit over 6hours with a stop for a coffee about 11am ish.
As we enter Santa Pola we see a cafe overlooking the water with a pleasant outside sitting area, so grab a bight to eat here, relax, and talk of to days walk and the beauty of the Costa Blanc area. We have booked our hotel for night online, so no hurry.
Later we check in and the usual laundry thing and wash the grime of the walk away.
Diner, which was a late one tonight as we all had a snooze and didn't go out to dinner till well after 10pm, so I'm just doing the blog and its late, more tomorrow.

Monday the 18th of March 2013, day 27.
A day of taking in the sites of Alicante, the day turns out to be perfect, clear sunny skies in the low 20's. We walk for miles and stop for a coffee here a beer there, walking without the pack is great .... we settle down near the marina, there is a great park that runs along the foreshore, we have a restful couple of hours here doing nothing after lunch. then dinner and talk about the next part of our journey.
From here on we should be following the scallop shell of the camino?
But have checked out the Basilica of Santa Maria, inside and out, no sign of the camino scallop shell so guess we carry on as before.

Sunday 17th of March 2013, day 26.
A cool and a bit of a light misty rain early in the day and for the first couple of hours country roads .... but the inevitable, our path leads back to the water and Alicante, a rather large city and officially the start of our Camino. Walking past a bar no an Irish Pub decked out in green shamrocks, we stopped and went in, then the penny dropped ...... it is St Patricks Day, people in big green hats ...... and hearing people speaking in Spanish with an Irish accent. Well it certainly was a different lunch from what we have been having, a few pints later we roll out and find a place to put our heads down for the next couple of days.

Saturday the 16th of March 2013, day 25.
We have covered some 500km of country on our pilgrimage so far .... today we are forced to walk the suburban beach route for about 8km and then head inland a bit. The path we are following is initially along a main road for a couple of km and then turns onto a gravel track .... we wonder if we are on the right path .... GPS says yes, then a few hundred metres up this path we are back on a narrow paved road ..... low and behold it has a pedestrian walkway and a bicycle path .... weird.
Anyway of we march, and follow the red paved path until it abruptly stops at the entrance to a park or something. Our route is on a gravel road leading us out into the wilderness .... about a km down the road we find we are walking the embankment of a large weir/dam ... so about 10km of walking through this hilly but sparse country, vegetation like heath or salt bush, hardly a tree in site apart from pencil pines along the side of the road in some parts.
We arrive at our destination in time for lunch .... this is the village of Aigues. the day has turned out to be clear and high teens, no wind once away from the beach. We sit on a balcony overlooking the surrounding hills and enjoy lunch and the afternoon, Check into our hotel, clean up and do laundry (a must when only 2 lots of walking clothes and one lot of going out gear, as a light pack makes for a pleasant walk).
Its Saturday night so off to the bar/cantina and a pleasant night had by all.
Well its about 12.30am so will sign off and grab some sleep.

Friday the 15th of March 2013, day 24.
When we get going it is cool and overcast, with the potential for the odd shower or thunderstorm. The road is twisting this way and that and we are climbing or descending, there are lots of houses and some rural ..... we expected more farms along this route, but no, big houses with swimming pools and large gardens are numerous. Lots of villages along this route as well, road narrow, little room for us on the verge and quite a few vehicles today.
Reach Cala on the coast early afternoon and find a bar/restaurante, we sit inside as the breeze of the water is chilly, we snack and drink red wine.
Most of the accom. is modern and lavish ..... but find a more modest but comfortable hotel and settle in. Then off for a wander about to check the place out and refurbish a few our meagre belongings, a new pair of socks and a new T shirt for me, managed to get my T shirt torn avoiding some traffic today and socks had developed a hole. Whist wandering found an interesting bar for diner, which was a lot of fun and quite lively.
Not a late night tonight, but its still almost midnight.

Thursday the 14th of March 2013, day 23.
Day started out cool and overcast, following back roads and now meandering through hilly country side ..... many small villages dotted through this part. We arrive at Tarbena, just under 30km down the road around 2pm and decide to set up camp here, we are all a bit tired as haven't had much hill training over the last week or two.
The afternoon is pleasant enough with high teens and the sun sneaking out from behind clouds every now and again, so lunch outside is enjoyable.
For a small village there is a surprising amount of accommodation choices, we select a modest yet clean hotel and do all the normal washing clothes, etc and relax for the later part of the day.
Diner earlier than normal and hopefully to bed prior to midnight .... still some emails to do though.

Wednesday the 13th of March 2013, day 22
Today we start walking but instead of following the beach and all its built up apartments and hotels we walk about 2 streets inland and its a different world ...... we are in farm land, maybe 1/2 km to 1km inland ..... quiet roads, narrow but little traffic. Its coolish today, low teens temperature wise and little wind, land dead flat and walking on paved road.
We make good time and cover almost 30km by lunch time, its about 1.30pm, we find a small country bar with tables out front so stop and have lunch with a, you guessed it a beer or two. The bar owner tells us there is a good hotel just down the road with comfortable but inexpensive rooms .... so after lunch off we march, its more like 4km down the road and get there about 4pm, closest town is Pego.
The farm land here looks like its set up for rice or cotton growing with irrigation channels everywhere.
Hotel is comfortable though sparse, basic but clean and friendly hosts, food is good and it turns out that the bar owner and the host are related, surprise, surprise.
Great diner and and a few vino's, its cold tonight so sat by the open fire. We are the only guests so seem to get special treatment. Our hosts are totally bewildered by the fact that we are walking. They understand the Camino thing but that what we are doing is a bit circuitous to get we are going.
Well off to bed, I think we walked some 33-34km today.

Tuesday the 12th of March 2013, day 21 of the walk.
A pleasant day of walking though the green belt we are walking through is all apartments, hotels ..... well it appears everyone wants a sea view. walked the pavement of, boardwalk, for some 26 - 27km ...... not what we expected, found ourselves another comfortable apartment for the night near a town called Tavennes de la Valldigna. A lot of these seaside developments don't seem to have a name.
Well weather sunny, low 20's, windy and a bit humid today ..... will be glad when we get away from this type of development ..... may have to venture inland to get back to the heart of Spain ..... this is just no it. This is plastic could be anywhere in the world ... so may be a rethink on our path.

Monday the 11th of March 2013, day 20
On the road by 8am this morning and it was just over an hour and we were out of Valencia and walking along tracks running through the dunes near the water. Easy walking as its compacted not sand, still lots of buildings about, I guess its a beach resort area, but not all that busy at the moment.
In parts it reminds me of Surfers paradise, with multi story developments along our walk, well its better than the main road.
We get to El Perellonet about 1am and decide to stay here and get a 2 bedroom apartment, then out to lunch at one of the bars/restaurantes. It has heated up to low 20's with a warm breeze so sit outside looking out over the water, very pleasant ..... then back to the apartment and time for a siesta.
A late night diner, plot and plan tomorrows walk, do emails and blog and then good nights sleep.

Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th of March 2013, days 18 + 19
Am exhausted from walking here there and everywhere, trying to see all the sights.
Well tomorrow we head south to Cartagena, basically following the coast.
Well wishes to all at home, more tomorrow.

Friday the 8th of March 2013, day 17
Well we made it to Valencia, bit of a circuitous route to get over the freeway that runs north - south (unexpected) then straight forward. Weather cool but dry, made for a comfortable 11-12km ramble.
Found our hostel, we picked a 4 bed room, works out at 14 euro a head per night, booked in for 3 nights. Will update later.

Thursday 7th of March 2013, 16th day.
Another pleasant day, sunny low 20's walk some 22km to Alaquas a suburb of Valencia. Bill and Ann the couple from California, are a bit subdued today after there food poisoning but we make reasonable time, though just ambling along. The country is a mix of farmland, light industrial and housing estates as we walk today. Liz and I get stuck into tapas over lunch, Bill and Anne stick to a chicken salad, we have a great bottle of white wine and talk about what we will do in Valencia over the next few days.

Wednesday 6th of March 2013, 15th day
Bright sunny day, clear skies, no rain as expected .... started walking bright and early, stopped for a coffee and snack in Godelleta, the couple from California had a snack from a road side trader here and within half an hour were both crook, so ended up staying in this village. Luckily it was a mild form of food poisoning and were ok, but both very washed out .... no diner for them.

Tuesday the 5th of March, Day 14.
Day was threatening to rain, so with wet weather gear handy off we trod. Hilly terrain and on the verge of a main road we walk on, and make it to Bunol, about 16km down the road ..... stop here for a coffee and snack ..... then the skies opened up, thunder lightning and a massive downpour.
It slows but doesn't stop for about 3 hours, have lunch, still showery.
Still very dark and more rain on the way, so found some where to stay  and that was that, nice accom, and not over the top price wise, siesta, then diner. Hope tomorrow is drier.

Monday 4th of March 2013, day 13 of walk.
Cold with a slight wind, overcast and possible rain on the way, so up early, breaky and away. we depart from the highway and follow back roads that cut through the farms, vineyards and orchids .... following this path bypasses all the towns and is shorter than the highway. Therefore we carry all provisions and plenty of water and energy drinks.
We arrive at Siete Aguas about 3pm ish after some 32km of walking but the last 5km or so was back on the side of the highway, luckily we avoided the rain.
Its 11.30pm now and its poring outside, and its meant to continue all tomorrow, so will wait and see as to what we do tomorrow ..... its not much fun walking if its bucketing down .... time will tell.

Sunday the 3rd of March 2013, day 12 on the road.
Today turned out to be very pleasant,overcast but warm, again getting into low 20's in the afternoon.
Coolish start to walk,first thing in the morning, terrain gently undulating and again walking on the verge of the highway. Walking past orange or olive groves, vineyards and pasture lands.
After about 3 hours walking arrive at Caudete de las Fuentes and stop for a coffee and snack then onto Utiel another hour and a bit, then wind our way through the maze of narrow streets till we find our accommodation, again a small local hotel with bar/restaurante and a pleasant though small courtyard. Get cleaned up then down for lunch, its Sunday so seems to be family day .... the locals seem to prefer being inside, so we have courtyard pretty much to our selves.
We are all feeling a tad hungry, and start by sharing a tortilla de patata and sip wine and nibble away the afternoon ..... then a few hours siesta and back for a light diner, inside as it had cooled down, a lot.
Tomorrow back to a top of 9C in afternoon and its expected get down to 0C overnight.
Well off to bed now, good night.

2nd of March 2013, 11th day of pounding the pavement.
Started out early-ish about 8am on the road as lots of hills and valleys today, clear skies, bright sunshine and temp expected to get over 20C today.
Walking to next town about 21km away, we will be passing along a huge water storage lake called Embalse de Contreres, we are walking along the old highway, luckily only used by local traffic as a major freeway runs near by, every now and then we either go over it or under it.
Lots of pine trees along this section .... but very exposed no shade at all and time to pull out the sun block for the first time.
Got to our destination of Villargordo del Cabriel about 1pm ish and settled in for a pleasant lunch of tapas and beer after checking into accom and a quick clean up. The bar/restaurant has this great garden area, so under an umbrella just enjoying some of the warmth, unfortunately expecting some rain tomorrow.
Well great afternoon which dragged into evening so guess I should do a spell check on this,
all was ok, so till next post, Bye.

1st of March 2013 - day 10
A good days walking today gentle slopes up and down or flat, problem though it was all along a major road, luckily plenty of room on the verge, good weather sunny all day, no shade but then at its hottest it was 10-12c ... the country a bit like up in the Mallee near Mildura. At this time of year its all green and looks great, give it a few months though and it will be hot and parched.
Today's walking was dead straight for miles with a couple of rural towns to break the monotony. We made good time as we were walking on asphalt or footpaths for most of the 29km to Minglanilla.
Had a coffee at a bar in Castillego de Inieta and lunch at Grajade de Inieta then a bit over an easy hour and a half to Minglanilla.
Well about to head out to diner at the local bar/restaurant so,
Adios por ahora, Luke

Update back from diner, and a quietish night, the guy running the bar said that a lot of the locals are out of work or just working part time or moved to Madrid or Valencia where work is more plentiful, so business is down for him, as well.