Contributed by Richard Mead
A group of 28 local residents form the urbanisations of Calasparra visited the Cueva de la Serrata in the Canyon de Almadenes on Saturday April 6.
Arriving at 1.30pm the tour got underway with excellent Spanish and English information from two guides based at the Cieza Tourist Office.
A very steep, narrow and precarious climb down steps led us onto the firstt landing area where the cave opened into an enormous cavern. Down these steps, in ancient times, all the animals were brought down this way – no doubt carried !
At the next open area, the various artefacts on show, namely bracelets and other items used in olden days were explained. We were shown a Cave painting which according to historians, depicted a man – it did resemble a stick man with a circle for arms but we did not like to spoil the imagination.
Working down to the next level, this showed the living accommodation area of the family – very small and tiny – modern terms being compact and bijou! This faced the opening of the cave to the Canyon which must have been fairly chilly in winter. However, a large area at the back of the cave was very warm and this is where the families would move to during the cold weather and the animals were pushed towards the opening. We were given a practical demonstration in the ancient art of spray painting – this entailed the use of two small bamboo sticks a receptacle for the liquid and human blowing power to achieve the results – fascinating.
The final descent took us to the viewing point – not for the faint hearted – sticking out over the canyon overlooking the fast and menacing rush of the full River Segura.
An “easy” walk back up the winding stairs took us back to the top with sunshine and strong winds to greet us.
A fascinating trip, which ended with very good tapas at the Kalacho Bar in Cieza.
A Facebook link to photo’s is below:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10201094686468197.1073741826.1199808771&type=1
