The Wild, Wild West....

So where to next? After another of our regular planning meetings we decided to head south again to a campsite on the edge of the Donana National Park, the site being at a town called El Rocio. When we arrived we asked the receptionist about cycling in the area and were told 'this is horse country, the roads are sand and not suitable for cycling'. This we discovered for ourselves is true - the town of El Rocio is like the Wild West - all the roads are compacted sand and every house or building has a rail outside for tying up your horse. 

The town has a very different atmosphere to the typical Spanish town, for one thing it was much quieter because there was less traffic and what traffic there was travelled slowly on the sand roads (apart from the odd maniac who didn't care about the suspension on his car!) 

The church in the town is a magnificent white building built in 1969. It houses a famous sixteenth century statue of the Virgin Mary which is believed by many to have miraculous healing properties, every year at the end of May, one million pilgrims come to the town when the statue is ceremoniously carried through the streets. It must be an amazing sight - so many people making the pilgrimage to this small town!

The Donana National Park is Europe's most important wetland and ' constitutes a mosaic of ecosystems housing a unique biodiversity'. It provides a habitat for thousands of European and African birds, some in danger of extinction. We were able to explore the area on the roads (fortunately there are quite a few tarmac roads as well as the sand roads!) and we had a last visit of this trip to a wonderful sandy beach before we start a steady journey northward towards our boat trip home from Bilbao on 5th November. 

Travelling to this area wasn't on our original agenda but we are glad we made the detour to visit such an unusual area.

The fantastic baroque decoration surrounding the statue of the Virgin Mary  which overlooks the alter 

The Silver tabernacle