The grand tour of Southern Spain: Western Andalucía 31st January – 6th March 2024 Day 19 - 23 Cadiz, Zahora, Barbate, Bolonia

 To help you navigate our blog more easily - this link - https://wherenexthun.blogspot.com/2025/06/how-to-navigate-our-blog.html will take you to a summary page detailing all our blog posts. Clicking on a link will open that post in a new browser window. To return to the home current page just close the browser page and return to the post you were reading beforehand. 

Day 19: Monday

Start mileage  16579

We are up and away for Cadiz by 0840. It takes us fifty minutes from getting up to departing. Routines are set now. Familiar and quick.

The bridge into Cadiz is genuinely impressive. Awe inspiring with inverted ‘Y’ shaped structures and long support stanchions and cables. An architectural masterpiece. We park in the carpark/aire down at the dock. A warning! If you are 6m+ you will not be able to make the turn into the car park. It is just too tight! Carry on down the road in front of you. It will go up an elevated section. Drive to the end, go around the roundabout and come back on yourself. The turn into the car park will now be so much easier! If you are staying here overnight, park on the right-hand side up near the dock itself and the shipping crates. If you go to the left there is a big night club and reviews of the site say it gets very noisy down that end through to 3am!  8.5 euros for 24 hrs. No services.

A ten-minute walk has us into the heart of Cadiz. We go via the seawalls route before cutting through the narrow streets with their tall elegant old buildings. A sort of renaissance/Edwardian feel to the buildings. Beautiful wrought iron balconies, little parks and gardens. Shuttered windows, lots of little cafes and shops. The streets are cool and shady. The temperature is 26C.

We wander the streets, we get lost a few times, we reach the ocean facing side of the peninsula. Cadiz is amazing! A huge port complex and surrounded by hundreds of kilometres of saltwater marshes and lagoons where flamingos roam. What became clear to us as we rambled the streets was that the city is on a long peninsula hemmed in by walls and possessing only one land exit. An amazing history dating from the Phoenicians, Carthaginians and Romans to destruction by the Visigoths, Moorish rule and then Spanish rulers and the Catholic Church. Headquarters of the Spanish Treasure fleets in the 14 and 1500’s and under siege blockades by the British during the late 1700s and the French around 1810. Cadiz fell to the Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War. Now it’s primarily a commercial port – metal working, tuna processing, food processing, wine, salt, olives exports; imports of coal, iron, machinery, timber and foodstuffs.

We admired the Cathedral and various castles and rested in shady little parks full of orange groves.

After exploring the external sites of Cadiz, we head down the road to Zahora. Distant surf beaches are calling us and the weather is picking up!

Camping Pinar San Jose is lovely. Sandy pitches under cooling pine trees. The sounds of bird song and distant crashing waves. But beware! These pitches are not for the faint hearted. The internal roads are narrow with tight corners. 7.3m long we struggle in places. Our pitch is one of the ones up a central avenue and the road up is literally the width of the motorhome. The combination of pine trees and brick built water points makes access onto our pitch almost impossible. I have to drive into the one opposite and then reverse back onto ours. If any one fills the pitch opposite, we won’t be able to get out. A tree and a water point are poorly placed. We just won’t be able to make the turn!

foot note: we moved pitch the following day to this one above  which was a tad easier to deal with 

In saying all this, there are great facilities, a cycle track immediately outside the gates with a supermarket and restaurant. The site has tennis courts. The location is stunning.

Its late evening now and I am stargazing. There is a slight chill in air and the roar of breaking waves in the distance. Large deer are making their presence felt in distance pine forests. A three quarters moon appears through pine branches above. A lovely evening! 

Distance: 50 miles

Carpark costs: 7 euros; 22 euros per night for campsite  – 66 euros total 

Route: N480 – A4 – N443 – A48

Day 20: Tuesday 

We cycle the Via Verde across to the town of Barbate. Oh my! It is a steep hill and huge climb up to the coastal cliffs. Thank God for ‘E’ bikes. And thank you Andalucia for such a great cycle trackway. Bright green tarmac and protective roadside walls. All new and funded by the EU. 

Barbate is a lovely coastal town with a big fishing port/harbour and miles of golden sandy beaches. Beyond it, coastal marshes and then miles more of surf beaches.  We sit on the promenade at a little café and eat croissants. Great views.

Caring for swifts outside the port area 

Fully nourished, we are able to face the uphill slog back over the coastal hills to Zahora.

Day 21: Wednesday

We drive over to check out Zahora Dos Atunes. We are thinking of staying a night there but we discover that motorhomes don’t seem to be welcomed. No parking, no Aires; not a motorhome in sight, which is unusual for this part of the Spanish coastline. We drive back to El Pamar and discover that all the beachside car parks are closed and all the roadside ones behind the surfing shops and cafes are chocka! Not a space anywhere, which is a pity, for the place has a great surfing culture and some stupendous ‘hippy’ vibe bars and cafes!

We end up parking at Cape Trafalgar – 3 euros and we could have stayed the night there as well according to the car park attendant. At the end of the beach road, we find a lovely bar. African style, stone, wood and thatch with swallows under the eaves. Chilled vibe! After a drink we head out onto the beach to watch surfers. Reddish sands, aquamarine coloured seas, rip tides, surf spray, sunshine and gentle breezes. Beach berms and cusps. Stunning! 

Day 22: Thursday

Start mileage: 16579

We have moved along the road a short distance to the port of Barbate. Another marina aire – 15 euros per night and that includes EHU and services. Showers and toilets in a block 400m away in the port. We take a twenty minute stroll into Barbate to meet friends and after a meal we cycle more of the Via Verde over to Zahora Dos Atunes. That Via Verde – 3 million euros well spent as far as I am concerned!

Costs: 2 nights x 15 euros = 30 euros

Distance: 10 miles

Route: A48

Day 23: Friday

Our friends who have a villa apartment down along the coast pick us up in their car and take us to Bolonia for the day.

Oh my, what a place. A great beachside café for a start with extraordinary views across a golden surf beach towards huge sand dunes. Wild horses on the beach and the sand dunes behind.

And then, after a great beach walk, we head over to the little museum and the old roman ruins. If you are a history buff, this really is a must visit place! Absolutely fascinating! Roman ruins are compact but excellent. An old fish processing port with forum, three temples, theatre, fish processing factory and small aqueduct. Great to walk around and a fascinating insight into Roman life on the mediterranean coast.