This was our first night free camping and we got a good night’s sleep. I (Dave) was awake about 4:30 am and I could hear the Spanish still singing in the local bar, however, they seemed to be having a good time. We got back to sleep and slept through till 8 am. I looked out the window to see the sun shining through the trees, which was a welcome change from the last few days.
We decided to set off to Peña de Hierro which was our first mining attraction to see of the day. It was about a 15 minute drive from where we were, when we arrived there was a campervan that had been there overnight, so I think we might stay there tonight.
We decided to have a cooked breakfast which was a bean and pork and black pudding stew from a can. Sue added a few slices of chorizo and we had it with some bread and it was surprisingly very nice. I then washed up and by this time the sun was nice and strong. We chilled in the van for a while and then went to the attraction where we had to put on a hair net and a hardhat. We then entered the mineshaft and walked along it until there was an opening into a dugout lake which had fantastic colours of all the minerals around on its rocks. There was a Spanish guy there who wanted lots of photos taken of him which we were happy to oblige with.
By this time we were ready to set off to catch our train that will take us along the Rio Tinto river. We parked up, had a coffee, and boarded the train with hundreds of other people. The train has original carriages and the ride was very rickety but has spectacular views of the blight from the mining and the red River, Rio Tinto. Sue kindly let me have the window seats there and back so I got loads of photos, hopefully some are okay.
We then got back to the van and chilled out for a few hours before heading to our final trip of the day back at the Museum in Rio Tinto. From the museum we had to follow a car in convoy with 16 other vehicles to get to Corta Atalaya mine. It was really spectacular to get a close-up view of this enormous mine with all its terraces showing many different mineral colours.
We also learnt that, on the nearby route to Aracena in La Dehesa, the copper mines were now active again due to the rise in demand because of electric cars. This news had been greeted enthusiastically by many residents, who were pleased at the jobs it would generate. Many others, on the other hand, had been demonstrating because of the toxic waste being disposed of at Nerva. There was in fact a demonstration about this very issue on March 14th. Many saw this as history repeating itself and were saddened by the environmental degradation of the area.
We headed off after the talk and went to the parking spot at Peña de Hierro which we had identified earlier in the day. There were two other vans parked up there for the night, one about the size of ours and the other so palatial that we had seen them struggling to park earlier in the day. I cooked dinner in the van, which was chicken, red pepper and mushrooms and much better than we thought it would be!!
Amazing landscapes. Love the old rail freight too.
Hi, Yes it was quite a place. Well worth 2 days. Cheers Dave
Once again , breathtaking photos. Such an interesting place. Your camper van has certainly come inti it’s own on this trip. A brilliant investment. 🚅🚐. This is the best I can do. 😂 xx