Chased by a huge lizard

The moment of our arrival at this place, with the sun coming through the clouds, is what you can see here. No, wait. You can see my boys too, in the role of fishermen.

The wild geese knew that it was not easy to catch a fish here... I guess they usually talk with the underwater population of these waters. Look, the proof, they immediately went to warn the fish that under no circumstances should they eat the corn from the hooks.

These white winged creatures weren't the only animals I saw yesterday during my walk around the Pantano de Crevillente (Crevillente Water Reservoir). My boys settled nearby, took out their fishing rods, and I left them there. I went off on my walks and explored the surroundings with the flora and fauna of this area. I can't say there was a forest (because there wasn't any dense forest except some Eucalyptus trees), but there were plenty of bushes and low vegetation, such as esparto grass.

My first stop was this tall rock, looking toward the mountains in the background. Such a peculiar colour that the waters of these reservoirs have. Something between blue and turquoise.

It is not allowed to swim here, but I don't know why. Maybe because you can't see the bottom, so it is dangerous for those who are not good at swimming? Knowing that some decades ago, there was no water (this reservoir was made in 1985), just the same rocky surface you see around, maybe it is indeed not advisable to swim around here, as you don't know when you can hit a stone in the water.

From this spot, I noticed a ruin on the other side... the walls with graffiti. That was my next destination, to explore that ruin, but I had to go up to the asphalted road that surrounds the reservoir and approach it from the other side.

I walked on this road, with uphill parts and curves. From here, we see a part of the road and some cool views toward the reservoir. I would call it a lake, but then, as it was man-made, with a dam on one side to retain the water, it is a water reservoir. That takes away the romantic touch, haha, but oh well - it is reality. 😂

Private road with no exit:

Back to the water and heading to the ruins. Here I could descend the rocks.

The ruins must have been a house (or a mill) that became unusable after building the dam. Not much is left from it, just the base of the construction is here and some old, concrete pipes. Nothing special, but what was very nice was the area around it. A line of Eucalyptus trees that made awesome shade. _{Btw, my shoulders are sunburned because I was wearing a sleeveless shirt and we didn't put on sunscreen. Ouch.}

The part of the Eucalyptus trees I loved. 😊

You can feel calm just looking through its leaves toward the hill...

...as well as toward the water.

Here, my real adventure starts. I met a man who passed there with a puppy, a three-month-old spaniel kind of a dog. She was adorable and very playful, a bit crazy, haha, but I asked him if there were hiking paths that I could take. He showed me the direction from where he came and said there is a rocky ridge that is worth climbing.

Ok, I followed the path. Dragonflies, butterflies, bees, mosquitoes and birds accompanied me... until a large lizard quickly darted through the bushes. I screamed in surprise! WOW, I wanted it to stop, but it ran so fast that I couldn't take a picture. Now no one will believe me, because I can't figure out what kind of lizard this could be. 😂 No, it wasn't one of the small, common ones, although I have seen those too. This one was like the ones you only see in zoos, behind a glass wall.

I reached the beginning of the ridge surrounded by water. It seemed cool, but from here I couldn't imagine that each step would lead me to even more beautiful views. And the ridge was growing in height... I was climbing and sometimes checking the cliffs.

This was the end of the ridge. I spent some time there, sitting on the edge but in a safe place, enjoyed the sun and waved to my boys who were on the other shore. Yeah, you know how it finished, first time being on sun for several hours after winter... In the meantime, clouds had to come to cover the sky.

The views, as the man said, were worth coming up here.

As you can also see, esparto grass is the predominant vegetation here. This plant likes dry, rocky surfaces, and it forms a kind of blanket over the rocks.

It has been widely used since ancient times for rope making, paper pulp production, or handicrafts, among other uses, especially basketry. It grows even on the top of this ridge. But...

...but, it seems that esparto is also loved by the huge lizard, as his playground!! He was again here, omg!! Was it another one or the same, chasing me? 😱

The thing got serious, I was scared hahaha, so run mipiano, run back to the fishermen and don't move from there! Wednesday Walk finishes here. 😂