Forts and the knowledge of forts

 Generally all of life is on one spectrum or another. Take knowledge.  At the one end are people who horde it and use it to bludgeon people who clearly are dullards because they didn’t know what reform movement Pope John X supported - the Cluniacs, but you know that. On the other end is the free sharing of the stuff because it is more joyful to have people to share with that King George I divorced his misses in 1684 - which makes him the third English monarch to be divorced, I think.  Footnotes are available.


I say all this because we are nearing but will never go to Algeciras.  Algeciras first appeared in my consciousness as a conference venue [1906] in GCSE answers.  I know you want to know this, so this was sorting out the issue of which European powers were going to nab Morocco.  The French got most of it, Spain got a bit and Germany got the hump.  I think it was only when we stayed in Malaga I found out it was near Gib and only when writing this that it was on the Atlantic side. Use this knowledge wisely.

 We have another torre on our journey.  The Torre de la Chullera is the place less visited - given it only has 11 reviews.  Adolfo got very specific two years ago.  ‘MTB cycling. Chullera Tower. 16th century. Site of Cultural Interest. It has a truncated cone shape, with a circumference of 23.40 m at the base, which represents a diameter of 7.45 m, which increases to 5.75 m on the exterior of the roof. The height is 10.05 m, with the entrance door at 6.15 m above the ground. The escarpment is 75 cm, which represents a 7.5 percent drop. It was built with small limestone and russet stone masonry, laid in horizontal rows. Its upper body appears to be the result of a reconstruction at the beginning of the 16th century, judging by its composition, with small and disordered masonry, interspersed with some terracotta bricks’


Time to eat Thai. Kuwago gets 4.8 stars from 125 reviews.  Frans van Ham declared, two months ago, ‘A warm welcome. Friendly staff. Excellent food!  There were eight of us, and the kitchen delivered perfectly! We'll definitely be back!’  Nichols felt ‘The service was excellent, the staff very attentive, and the food was excellent, but the portions were a bit small for the price. More "gourmet"?’

This is truly the land of forts.  The Casa Fuerte de Cala Sardina only gets 3.6 stars.  It is a well grafitied fort.


The Torre Quebrada de Guadiaro is of the tower variety.  JL Rodriquez  wrote a lot. I will edit.  ‘The Broken Tower of Guadiaro or Broken Tower of Guadiaro is a beacon tower located in the Andalusian town of San Roque, Cádiz. The tower was built as part of the defensive system for the Bay of Algeciras and the Strait of Gibraltar during the 15th century. The tower is circular, with a diameter of about 10 meters and a preserved height of about 8 meters. It is built of masonry and ashlar. The entrance door is located high, about 4 meters from the ground, and is accessed by a wooden ladder that was retracted with a rope to the interior in case of attack. It is currently in a state of ruin, but consolidation work has been carried out to prevent its collapse.’


We are crossing the Puente Rio Guadiaro at the end of the day. Pablompsy informs us it was ‘Dedicated to James the Conqueror (James I of Aragon): King of the Kingdom of Aragon from 1213 to 1276, as well as Count of Urgell and Lord of Montpeiller and other Occitan fiefdoms.’


We are on our way and three days from Gib.





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