Locked out in a far distant corner of Spain

Cabo de Gata - the view across the bay to Almeria and the snow capped mountains of the
 Sierra Nevada  in the far distance

Have you ever locked yourself out? Do you recognise that heartsink feeling when you realise that you are outside your vehicle but all the keys are inside? Well, that is precisely what happened to us! We arrived at a lovely area to park at Cabo de Gata - the national park on the southeast tip of Spain. The sun was shining and we had taken our chairs out to enjoy a cup of tea and enjoy the view of the rolling waves, when I came to get back in the van I found all the doors were locked, the keys were inside - it's a ghastly feeling!

Fortunately (now, please don't repeat what I'm about to tell you) the van has a security weak spot and we were able to remove all the contents of the underbed storage area from the outside access door and Keith wriggled his way into the van, lifted the bed from underneath and got in to rescue the situation. Phew! Panic over but lesson learned not to operate the internal central locking system and then get out of the vehicle and shut the door! Take note other Motorhome owners!

One thing we discovered about Cabo de Gata that its very beautiful but it is also very windy. Not only that but just down the road there are saltpans and the salt seemed to permeate the wind covering the van in such a sticky layer of salt that we could hardly see out of the windscreen in the morning!

Nevertheless we enjoyed a couple of days here cycling along the long beach road to the nearby village stopping to watch the flamingos in the wetlands (sadly they were only distant pinkish blobs!)

Far distant Flamingos (the pinky white blobs)