Tabernas 2017

[froggy Steve]

Its on again! This time, heading through northern Spain to Portugal. A mixture of trails and roads all the way through Portugal, to meet up with the Spanish members across the border in southern Spain then trails through to Tabernas.

Dates are roughly as follows:
5 October Frenchies meet up and head to Santander to me Les Engleesh.
6 Oct head to start point at Spanish Portugal border
7-13 Oct trails to southern Portugal
14/10 cross to Cazorla to meet Spanish cars
15/10 rest day + beer up
16-18/19 Trails around Tabernas
19 / 20 - head home.......probably over 2 or 3 days, depending on which way we decide to go!

Still early days on the planning front, but...........we are fully booked already! There are unfortunately no available spaces, unless someone drops out. We have 8 cars which is manageable, any more and it gets difficult and will end up with 2 or even 3 groups. This is not an all out off road trip, but a mix of road and trail. Camping on sites (maybe one or two wild camps) as we have the women folk and a pack of at least 5 dogs to keep happy!
We hope to finish mid afternoon so can set up camp and crack the beers open before it gets dark

Watch this space for more info ........

 

[Chris]

"We hope to finish mid afternoon so can set up camp and crack the beers open before it gets dark"

I like the sound of that. Very civilised.

 

[AndyCook]

The mid afternoon and beers plan will work well for the first day...
....but then delayed start next morning due to hangovers will scupper it

 

[froggy Steve]

Last time we put everyone's tables together to make one long one, very French, and social breakfast and dinner all together

 

[Rodger]

This weekend Dave 2000 and us started the reccies for the the 2017 Fistful of Trails tour. On Saturday we travelled to the Sierra Baza and ran the trail - beautiful scenery, not difficult but requires concentration. My outline plan for October was that we'd then take the motorway to Tabernas however for us we returned to our house over the Puerto de la Ragau - a 2000 metre high pass - although this is a tarmac road (rough in parts) the scenery is fantastic and Dave suggested that the plan be modified to take this in as this is an interesting road.
On Sunday we decided to go out again and picked up the route as if we had just come off the mountain pass - another tarmac but challenging road with fabulous scenery and it passes through the highest village in Almeria province (1255 metres) and then down to Tabernas.
Once in the Tabernas area we went in search of 'challenging' areas using the Rambla Seca and the Rambla Sin Nombre (both areas we didn't get to on GBU16) both were turn arounds but there were some interesting bits. We then went up a rambla, off the R Seca, until we came upon surmountable rocks but it was getting late and we didn't know if it went through. Looking at the maps/G Earth this morning that has potential to go through so we will investigate this further.
In a few weeks time, depending on Dave's work calender, we'll head up to Coto Rios and run the trail from there to Freila and on the following day run the Gorafe desert. If the Gorafe section is too long or whatever reason not feasible then we can go from Freila and be in the north end of the Sierra Baza which connects to the trail we ran.
It is spring in the desert and some areas are carpetted in yellow or purple flowers - very beautiful.

Regards,
Rodger

 

[froggy Steve]

No piccies Rodger? Shame, you will have to go out again .
Those trails sound fantastic - do you have room at your place for a stop over
Thanks for doing the reccies Rodgar and Dave really appreciate it

 

[Rodger]

Piccies? a few but as you know I'm a Luddite so I've just got to get them from the phone.... give me time.
Stop over? - do you mean on the trip? We live in the old part of the town and I reverse the 40 up our street with a mirror folded in but we have beds. People do wild camp next to one of the bars and use their facilities (and eat there) specially when the round of the national rally championship is in town so I could arrange it. Alternatively there is a campsite near Laroles (15kms from us and on the route). Tell what you're thinking Steve

Regards,
Rodger

 

[froggy Steve]

Lol the trail over the Puerto de la Ragau - a 2000 metre high pass, sounds good! Be a good end to the day sitting round your pool supping G&T's or round the bar at least

 

[Rodger]

So while we are thinking about that, here are a few photos from the first reccie weekend.

From the old railway at Gor

The Sierra Nevada from the Sierra Baza

Regards,
Rodger

 

[froggy Steve]

Smashing photos Rodger. Looks like we are going to have more fun this year

 

[Dieseldragon]

If you are planning on doing any reccy around second week of April, I will prob be free for a few days

 

[Rodger]

Whenever suits you Ian as the plan is to get out as much as possible but that's easy for us as we are retired so we can fit in. We want to cover as many of the potential trails as possible and, currently, the plan is to meet Dave at a half way point to do the Cazorla-Freila-Gorafe section when it suits his work commitments and it brings us back to a junction where we can split for home (east for Dave; south for us). But there are the film location runs near Tabernas and the similar run through Cabo de Gata, so plenty to go at. With Dave, we also plan to do some one-day exploring where we meet at Tabernas and try more of the 'as-yet' unknown stuff.
The exploring is far better/safer with two vehicles as opposed to one or eight and we want to be in a position where we can tailor the days with different options. Everything is mapped and when we know a route works I can send the routing and gps points to Mark. I am using 1:250000 maps this year rather than 1:500000 which is much better. We tried various forms of gps stuff but neither system we tried was successful so there are answers still to be found.
Plenty to go at, so just let me know dates that suit you. At the end of May Andrew is planning to come for a long weekend to see how he and his family get on off-roading, so I may take that opportunity to explore trail routes from this area down to Tabernas and that then gives us the opportunity to stop in this area after the Puerto de la Ragua section.
Regards,

 

[Dave2000]

The mid afternoon and beers plan will work well for the first day...
....but then delayed start next morning due to hangovers will scupper it

Nah.......they are as tough as nails, they will knock back at least a dozen beers each, and with a hearty belch turn in early for the night.............the guys will probably do the same.

regards

Dave