Fancy doing a Cher impression?

Today we hiked up to 331meters, which is not much of an effort but a very nice walk to fantastic landscapes. This is Bateria de Cenizas on Monte de las Cenizas aka Ash Mountain. 

"The harbour at Cartagena has always been important for trade and the navy and hence heavily fortified since Roman times. On high hilltops either side of the city are pairs of very impressive 381 mm guns (in the style of the 'Guns of Navarone') which were used to protect the approaches to Cartagena in more recent times.

They date from the late 1920's and are well preserved, with sighting towers, magazines, barracks and a very impressive gateway. The guns are British built, by Vickers and Armstrong. The walk to reach them takes you through lovely countryside and there are some beautiful views when you reach the top.

The only access to the guns is by a footpath. It's wide, even under foot and shaded by trees, but it is a steady climb that takes about 40 minutes. On a weekend morning you will meet a lot of very fit looking people power walking along the track for their weekend workout. Also, watch out for mad cyclists on their way down."
from http://www.playaparaiso.org/guns_portman.htm

I have more pictures on Instagram. There really were loads of people enjoying view, picnicking and taking selfies. Some were running the hill up and down, some biking. Youngest ones had just leaned to walk, some were carried by their parents. Popular place and with reason.

While exploring the barracks up there I noticed the damn caterpillar nests on pines. I managed to take a picture of one that didn't look so dangerous, but I see later on my laptop that it had some outside life as well. I wrote about them just yesterday. In some of the nests huge caterpillars were hanging out, so they are almost ready to move on to their next form. I have to say I freaked out. Suddenly I saw nests in so many pines. I still get the shivers just thinking about them. Luckily our dogs did not run into any of them and not one fell on my neck while I HAD to walk under some of the trees with nests (see extras). What a nightmare it was coming down. Knowledge does increase the pain. I don't think I'll hike on pine area for next couple of months. Yikes!

Unfortunately the S-thingy in my camera is indeed inside the camera and appears with all the lenses. So once again I choose a picture that has melted my now trademark S in the colors. We live in a ghost town so there's no camera shop nowhere near, and our days are booked for something else. So I'll just have to live with the S for a while. Our next 2 places to stay are very remote too... One is a farm...