10 miles from Catavina
travelling along Highway One in Baja California
a short passage from my blog...
I left El Rosario just before 7am and at midday, 5 hours later, I had only managed to cover 30 miles. There was many steep ascents to climb and in 1st gear I average 3.5 mph. At one point I was almost at the top of a ridge when a police car came screaming down as fast as possible, ten minutes later I found out why. Going downhill I passed an overturned lorry on the apex of a tight left hand bend, its trailer smashed open discarding its cargo down the hillside. I guess the police car was being used as an ambulance!!!
A few miles later I was going downhill into a large and wide valley and by 2pm I had covered another 20 miles, making it 50 in total. Passing through a town (if you can call 2 houses and a shed a town) I realised that I would have to carry on in the saddle.
The nearest town with a hotel was Catavina, 26 miles away. By now my ankle was hurting and my right knee was starting to feel the strain. It was too hot and to early to camp by the side of the road so I just carried across the desert landscape.
By 3pm I was only 12 miles away and the road was crossing a boulder strewn cactus forest. The road was mostly flat and when it wasn't it was downhill...which was really lucky!
An hour later I had reached the town of Catavina. There are about 20 houses, a restaurant/shop and only one hotel. As soon as I saw the hotel I knew it would be costing me more than 250 pesos a night. I was right, it's 1100 pesos ( or about £60 ) but its not like I would go anywhere else!
Its now just gone 6pm and I'm sitting in the courtyard garden next to the swimming pool
a short passage from my blog...
I left El Rosario just before 7am and at midday, 5 hours later, I had only managed to cover 30 miles. There was many steep ascents to climb and in 1st gear I average 3.5 mph. At one point I was almost at the top of a ridge when a police car came screaming down as fast as possible, ten minutes later I found out why. Going downhill I passed an overturned lorry on the apex of a tight left hand bend, its trailer smashed open discarding its cargo down the hillside. I guess the police car was being used as an ambulance!!!
A few miles later I was going downhill into a large and wide valley and by 2pm I had covered another 20 miles, making it 50 in total. Passing through a town (if you can call 2 houses and a shed a town) I realised that I would have to carry on in the saddle.
The nearest town with a hotel was Catavina, 26 miles away. By now my ankle was hurting and my right knee was starting to feel the strain. It was too hot and to early to camp by the side of the road so I just carried across the desert landscape.
By 3pm I was only 12 miles away and the road was crossing a boulder strewn cactus forest. The road was mostly flat and when it wasn't it was downhill...which was really lucky!
An hour later I had reached the town of Catavina. There are about 20 houses, a restaurant/shop and only one hotel. As soon as I saw the hotel I knew it would be costing me more than 250 pesos a night. I was right, it's 1100 pesos ( or about £60 ) but its not like I would go anywhere else!
Its now just gone 6pm and I'm sitting in the courtyard garden next to the swimming pool
“Wandering re-establishes the original harmony which once existed between man and the universe”……Anatole France
www.sfauphotographs.com
www.sfauphotographs.com
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I remember that hotel- we only ate dinner there (camped out in the desert for free) One of our group who hadn't bothered getting pesos had a shock when he saw the difference in prices to US dollars. Beautiful area, especially all the Cardones and Bojum trees.