King stage with love pearls

19.01.23 Peniscola - Pujaire: After narrowly escaping the premature end of my Morocco adventure on Monday with my diesel mishap, Volker and Renate almost had their turn today. At first glance, their problem doesn't look so bad, but the consequences are dramatic: the passenger door lock stopped working. Specifically, the door could no longer be locked. Volker and Renate would never have risked driving to Morocco with a motorhome that couldn't be locked. So Volker and his brother Gerd went in search of the problem. Volker finally had the saving idea: "I just tried the fuse," he says. And indeed, it was the fuse! But where to get a replacement quickly? Why look far and wide when the good is so close: Coincidentally, the fuse for the electric window opener is the same as for the door lock. It was quickly taken out and replaced, and so nothing stands in the way of continuing the journey tomorrow.

Before our king stage of 600 kilometers, I had a healthy dose of respect. But the start was promising: an empty gas station, payment with a credit card - without a hysterical cashier - and even with German language guidance. We set off promptly at 9 a.m. Apart from the regions around the major cities, the traffic was manageable. So there was time to enjoy the scenery - and the sun. Our route took us southwest, so we had the sun on our left for the first few hours. It was simply wonderful. The bright blue sky and the dark blue sea sparkled in competition. We didn't drive too fast, so we could admire the landscape. On the left, the sea and on the right, the hill and mountain ranges of the Penibética system, which from a distance looked as if an artist had wrapped their peaks, ridges, and flanks in a dark green velvet cover. But up close, the velvet covering quickly dissolved into many little bushes, ferns, and grasses that seemed scattered like dark green love pearls over the slopes and gorges. Sometimes denser, sometimes not so dense, so that the stone floor could show off its light beige color. And every now and then, smaller towns and villages nestled into the valleys, as if they were just filling the space that nature had provided them.

Unfortunately, that's not the case. The further southeast we go, the more barren the landscape becomes, the green decreases, and beige and brown increase. Every bit of land is attempted to be cultivated. One can almost feel how much sweat and effort goes into this work, which must also be done in summer when temperatures here rise well above 40 degrees.

We actually wanted to drive to Roquetas de Mar today, but the parking space there is closed. Luckily, Richard quickly found a replacement. We stopped just before Almeria in a small village with a beautiful parking spot. It's a shame there was no more cold beer for our crew. We would have deserved two or three as a reward for this long stage...