Introduction
Calblanque
Monte de las Cenizas
Cenizas Battery
Portman Light House
Pena de Aguila
La Chapa Battery
Calzada Romana (Roman Road)
The Calblanque Regional Park,
marked by the sign in the picture, is
located in the south eastern area of the region of Murcia, and includes
approximately a third of the mountainous bowl that encircles Portman.
The park is divided into three areas: Calblanque, Monte de las Cenizas
(Mount of Ashes) including the Faro de Portman (lighthouse) and the La
Chappa Artillery site (adjoining the lighthouse) and Peña del Águila
(Rock of the Eagle). Below is a map showing an outline of the park:
The park comprises
more than 13km of coastline covering a surface of 2453
hectares. Lately, more investment is being infused into
the park.
Pine Forests are being managed
and walking tours are becoming available for groups of
15 or more. Call +34 968 228 937 for more information.
You may also visit the Environmental and Geographic
Information system at this
link, or if you have a
enquiry or suggestion they may be contacted by
email. More to come...
Calblanque Park -
Car from Puerto Vallarta (it's
a long ride on a mountain bike as the roads from the motorway to the
beach are dirt) past La Manga Club towards Los Belones. Take the
motorway towards La Manga and then take the Calblanque exit (Exit 10) on the
right. The map on this
site provides and overview of the area.
The coast and beaches remind one of Monterrey, California. There is an
information centre which provides more detail of the area's amenities.
Access
Monte de Las
Cenizas - Mount of Ashes - Starting
from Puerto Vallarta take the road towards La Manga Club. At the top of
the hill you will notice a gate on the right (See Image) and a road leading up the
hill. At the top of the mountain is an artillery post of interest. There
are also spectacular views up and down the Spanish coastline. Takes
about an hour to walk up the winding, pine covered, road with great views along the
way of the mountains down to Cabo de Palos and up through Cartagena. YouTube
Link
Cenizas Artillery Battery
More information Links:
Mazarron
La Manga Dreams
Cartagena
Military Museum
Old Photos of the Batteries
You Tube Links:
Guns of Ceniza
Portman Light House (Faro)
Portman Lighthouse (Faro) - Great views of
the surrounding area and the Med. Situated alongside the 'La Chapa' coastal battery.
La
Chapa Battery
170808 - Effects of the continuing cleanup of the La
Chapa Battery area can be clearly seen. Brush has been
cleared away, trees trimmed and buildings cleaned of
debris. One wonders what will be happening next.
Remnants of a visit by a parachute regiment is shown by
the painted rocks. Also caught, a picture of swimmers
off the cliffs.
La Chapa coastal
battery - 140608 - serious maintenance
work is being carried out on the La Chapa costal battery.
The buildings are being cleaned out, trees trimmed, etc. More to come...
More information Links:
Old Photos of the Batteries
Some wells, shafts, iron smelting
furnaces and dumps still remain around the Peña del Águila indicating
that, some time ago, there was an important mining industry.
Roman Road - Note that there is a section of the
old Roman Road (Calzada Romana) on the left a hundred yards or so down
the road towards Portman from the gate on the road to Monte de las
Cinezas.
A
grant of €200,000 has been
approved for the upgrade of the Roman road
from Portman towards Atamaria, completing near the top
of the mountain. The upgrade is supposed to include
information kiosks. Clearance of the path had started
several weeks ago and now they are clearing the heavy
brush starting from the round about leading to Playa
Lastre.
You can walk on history.
291008 - Real
progress is becoming evident on the Roman Road restoration work. Repair
patches can be seen in the following photos outlined in white cement. It
looks like they have completed patching the base layer about 25% of the
way down from the top. Pictures left to right taken walking up the road.
180808 - Work
continues on the restoration of the Roman road. As with anything that
has been neglected for centuries the progress is difficult but
progressing at a good pace.
070608 -
Work on restoring the old Roman Road to it's former days
of glory is well underway. The following pictures
provide some insight. Many show the old roadbed while
others show there is much work to be done due to the
destruction caused when the old, now disused, water line
was installed. Picture sequence left to right starting
near the Playa Lastre roundabout and ending at the upper
end of the road where a ceremonial pillar has been
erected. More to come...
140508 -
La Verdad has indicated that 2700 meters of the old
Roman Road will be rehabilitated over the next year.
It's finally officially happening!
See Link...
100508 - Work
has started on the path leading to the Roman Road from the top. Ibarra
has signed the area and the
walking club took it's first steps on
the new construction.
090508 -
Ibarra, a company located in Lorca looks like it will be upgrading the
old Roman road to a pathway. More to come...
020508 - The
Portman Half Fast walking Club followed the route of the road. The
following pictures show some of the finds. It looks like initial
evaluation works have been done to ascertain how the road may be revived
into a walking path. We started at the round about end of the road.
Pictures below.
More to come...
The Calblanque Regional Park,
marked by the sign in the picture, is
located in the south eastern area of the region of Murcia, and includes
approximately a third of the mountainous bowl that encircles Portman.
The park is divided into three areas: Calblanque, Monte de las Cenizas
(Mount of Ashes) including the Faro de Portman (lighthouse) and the La
Chappa Artillery site (adjoining the lighthouse) and Peña del Águila
(Rock of the Eagle). Below is a map showing an outline of the park:
