Day 42 – EU – Spain [San Pedro Del Pinatar to Guardamar]

16/01/20

36km

  From San Pedro Del Pinatar (Spain) to Guardamar (Spain)

Europe

A navigation error, a lost sight and missed kms… c’est la vie!

I had been looking forward to today, as I was to run past the “Laguna de Torrevieja”, a pink salt-water lake on my way to Guardamar. The picture on the left is what I did not see! The road from San Pedro was pretty straight forward, on the same N332 road all along. I had memorized from Google Maps the point where I should make a turn left, and navigate by the side of the Pink Lake – then around the second lake (Laguna de la Mata) and to Guardamar.

File photo

When the Kms counter on my Garmin indicated it was about time to turn left, I looked around. I spotted some sort of industrial zone, murky water in the background… and assumed I must still be a fair way from the lake. I kept running.

I eventually saw a big lake to the left and turned into some side trails. It was quite beautiful! I took some pictures and took in all the sights. When I looked at my Google Maps app, I realised I had already passed the “Pink Lake”. The murky water behind the industrial estate I had spotted earlier was indeed the Laguna Rosa. How disappointing. To my credit, some internet reports mention that the lake does not always look pink. Well, it must have been one of these days…!

This error also cost me 4kms, which I missed due to not running around the lakes as planned. Hence an unexpected shorter day of running. Beside this navigation error, the day went fine. I enjoyed a good portion of today’s kilometers on cycling paths and side roads, which was a relief from the main road.

Ah and today, one thing I did not miss, was the crossing from the Region of Murica to that of Valencia! Third Spanish region – one more to go (Catalona) before I eventually reach France…. but that’s some way ahead.

Check my daily run GPS data on or

Here is the map of today’s run: