Province under yellow storm warning for heavy rain

Forecast for Algeciras
from our Weather Widget
(on the sidebar)

CÁDIZ The province is one of 17 in the whole country under a yellow storm alert because of the probability of heavy rain and thunderstorms, according to AEMET (State Weather Agency). The other provinces are: Almería, Córdoba, Granada, Jaén, Málaga, Sevilla, Teruel, Albacete, Ciudad Real, Cuenca, Guadalajara, Toledo, Alicante, Valencia, Murcia, Ibiza and Formentera. Our own AccuWeather link for Algeciras is quite clear about it. It turns out that temperatures are not expected to drop much as a result of any storms. For those who are visiting the area: you should know that our summer storms can reach tropical dimensions, with heavy, unexpected downpours. Golfers should NOT stay on the course, either. Storm alerts are graded yellow (low), orange (medium) and red (high).

This is why much of the Campo was closed yesterday

At La Atunara, La Línea
(Photo: lalineadigital/Marcos Moreno)

CAMPO DE GIBRALTAR Yesterday was a special saint's day: La Virgen del Carmen, the patron saint of fishermen, sailors and the Spanish Armada, and thus much venerated on the entire coastline of Spain, though mainly in the south. Originally honoured as Our Lady of Mount Carmel (in Israel, and the origin of the name Carmen), her image is paraded throughout the streets and in the water of most of the towns and villages with maritime traditions. It is an official local holiday in most if not all these places.

Boss promises changes for Arcgisa top management following salary revelations

Recent top management meeting

CAMPO DE GIBRALTAR Following yesterday's article on the subject, Arcgisa Managing Director Diego González de la Torre (PP) promised some changes to the top management at the public services company that revealed that nine of the twenty top managers earned more than the President of the Junta de Andalucía. De la Torre said that adjustments would be made as soon as those at Mancomunidad, Arcgisa's 'owner', were completed. This is not the first time such promises have been made.

Nine Arcgisa directors earn more than the President of the Junta

Directors meeting

CAMPO DE GIBRALTAR The top echelon of Arcgisa, the water, rubbish collection, cleaning, etc. semi-public company (in Spain a public company is usually created by entities such as municipalities, etc.) owned by Mancomunidad de Municipios del Campo de Gibraltar has for some time had a reputation for being a dumping ground for ousted politicians and hangers-on, as has its parent, Mancomunidad itself. Nice job if you can get it. And even nicer now that Europa Sur headlines today that its Director General (Managing Director, approx.), Manuel Alcántara, is paid €103,355.06, or 61.9% more than the President of the Junta de Andalucía, José Antonio Griñán, whose annual gross salary is €63,808. Another eight directors are also paid more than Griñán.>>>

'Gibraltar', a film by Julien Leclercq, with lots of familiar sights

This is the official trailer of a film that was shot in the Campo de Gibraltar in May last year. Directed by Julien Leclercq and originally called L'aviseur, it is scheduled for release on September 11. Campo readers will see a lot of familiar sights in La Línea and Algeciras, among others. Based on a novel by Marc Fiévet that is itself based on a true story, 'Gibraltar' stars such well-known French actors as Vincent Lindon, Gilles Lellouch and Ricardo Sacarcio and tells the story of a French man living in the South of Spain in the 1980s, who cooperated with French customs as an informer on drug trafficking operations in the Strait.

Two bikers die in head-on crash on the N-340, four injured on A-7

(Photo: europasur.es)

ALGECIRAS / TARIFA A man and a woman riding the same motorbike died in a head-on collision with a van yesterday, Sunday, morning. The accident happened at the first of the crossings to Tarifa off the N-340 (see our earlier item A-7 and N-340 Among Spain's Most Dangerous Roads). Another bike was involved one of its occupants is in hospital with serious injuries, another came away with only slight injuries. The dead riders were heading towards Cádiz when they hit the van, apparently at great speed. These two raise the number of fatal accidents in the Campo to four so far this year, when the summer season, which accounts for many of them, has yet to get under way. In a separate incident, four people were injured in a variety of seriousness on the A-7 yesterday afternoon, in an accident that involved three vehicles on the Algeciras by-pass, close to the entrance to the La Menacha industrial estate. Two women aged 40, another aged 28 and a man of 27 were taken to the Punta de Europa Hospital.

Readers' question: Where can I leave food for the food bank?

CAMPO DE GIBRALTAR Further to our earlier article Food bank beats its own record, several readers have asked how they can help. Almost every village or town in the area has some form of free food distribution system, though not necessarily a food bank as such. Much of the distribution is carried out by Cáritas, the Roman Catholic Church international charity, at parish level, though they collect from the big supermarket chains as well as from local contributors - look out for collection boxes near the exits of your local shops. In the Campo, the central food bank premises in Algeciras distributes not only food but other essential items such as nappies and shampoo, for instance, to the Cáritas volunteers in each village. Local distribution is usually carried out at or near parish churches. All you have to do to find out where and when, is ask at your local church (then PLEASE  let us know, so we can publish a list of all of them). Below, we have used  Jimena as an example (because it's closer and we can help more readily):>>>

A guide to 'South of Los Alcornocales'

CAMPO DE GIBRALTAR (and beyond) The Los Alcornocales Nature (not 'Natural' as is too often translated) Park promotion group, the Asociación Grupo de Desarrollo Rural de Los Alcornocales (GDR for short) has published a guide book to the municipalities bordering the southern limits of the nature park, which are Alcalá de los Gazules, Benalup-Casas Viejas, Castellar de la Frontera, Facinas, Jimena de la Frontera, Los Barrios, Medina Sidonia, Paterna de Rivera and San José del Valle. Not only does it include information on each of these places but also suggests routes by car. The only criticism we have is what appears to be less than accurate information on places to eat and stay,  as well as on some historical facts, which is certainly a shame as the booklet is evidently aimed at promoting tourism - it is called 'a tourist guide' on the cover. A shame too, and for the same reason, is that it is only available in Spanish (Prospero, under his TranslationHELP hat,  has offered to do a translation, at a price). Still, it is a handy thing that, in a bow to new technologies, includes GPS coordinates for just about everywhere in it. In Jimena, it is available at the Town Hall (until copies last), and we assume the same to be true elsewhere. (Watch this space for information on other such booklets.)

Food Bank beats it's own record in April

ALGECIRAS The Campo de Gibraltar Food Bank operates out of a large space in the town, ceded for free by its owner. Headed by José Cabello, it recently announced that it had beaten its own record thanks, he says, 'to the solidarity of the people and businesses of the area.' Over 90,000 kilos of foodstuffs were distributed in April, almost double the approximate 50,000 that is the norm. Much of it is the result of Operación Kilo run by the Carrefour chain's branches in La Línea and Los Barrios, which encouraged customers to donate a kilo of non-perishable goods. The company collected some 25,000 kilos, and then doubled that amount in donations. The Food Bank thanked the Fundación Solidaridad Carrefour, also for the donation of a large electric fork lift, which will make the work at the distribution centre much easier. Cabello pointed out that this kind of thing encourages the volunteers on which the Bank depends.

Just when we thought summer was here ...

CAMPO DE GIBRALTAR (and beyond, no doubt) ... Spring pays us an unexpected visit with some of the year's coldest temperatures. There was snow up North, and it was cold all over Spain. Locally, there were complaints like 'Oh dear, I'd just put away the winter clothes!' and the like. There was even one, heard by Prospero from a 'campo' man, that it hadn't rained enough (will they never shut up!). The silver lining to these clouds, though, was the snow on the mountains across from Jimena (that's Sierra Bermeja) yesterday. Enjoy! (Yes, we'll be complaining about the heat before too long...)

What's the weather like in your corner of the world?

CAMPO DE GIBRALTAR Our corner of the world, the Campo de Gibraltar is quite small compared to others, yet it has a variety of weather patterns that sometimes defy logic. Much of the explanation lies in the fact that we ride on two sides of the 'spine' of Southern Spain that runs down to Gibraltar from the Serranía de Ronda. You can see for yourself: here are the links to the seven municipalities of the Campo, plus The Rock: Algeciras, Tarifa, Los Barrios, San Roque, La Línea, Jimena, Castellar, Gibraltar. (See? we make it easy for you: you could do it yourself with our Weather Widget on the sidebar.)

Population comparisons for all seven Campo municipalities plus Gibraltar

Click to enlarge

CAMPO DE GIBRALTAR The data on this graph is from a couple of years ago but it hasn't changed that much, despite the exodus of numerous foreign residents (many of whom never bothered to register anyway, and about which another article soon). We included Gibraltar in the Campo not for any political reasons but because it is a population centre of some significance in the area - Rock residents please refrain from indignation.

Spring is here!

So where did winter go? Officially, Spring starts tonight, but you knew that. You also know that this is the rainy season in these parts (you didn't need us to tell you that, either.) It is also the time of year when a train ride up to Ronda is a magnificent experience - the wildflowers are breathtaking. In fact anywhere you go out into the countryside in the next couple of months will be well worth it - though we suggest you let some sun seep into the ground just to give the flowers a bit of a push. And if you get any good photos, send them in!

"At last we have a pool at home!"

JIMENA We couldn't resist this photo from TioJimeno. It is the patio of Antonio Gutierrez's house, which needs no explanation. It's a good thing we take things with a sense of humour, says the article, something which can probably be applied to many houses in and around the Campo de Gibraltar and well beyond. If you have photos of your home, street, garden, patio, pets or whatever during the rains, please send them in.

Reservoirs now contain enough water for 'three years'

Guadarranque reservoir, Castellar,
on a sunny day before the rain

CAMPO DE GIBRALTAR The Mancomunidad water company, ARCGISA, yesterday announced that calculations resulting from recent rainfall said that there is enough water in the aquifers and reservoirs for the next three years. A reliable private source told us yesterday that some 250 millimeters of rain had come down in San Pablo over the previous eight days. The water company declared that the reservoirs at Guadarranque (Castellar) and Charco Redondo (Los Barrios), which supply all of the Campo except Tarifa, contained a combined total of 146.71 cubic hectolitres (hL3). The Almodóvar reservoir that supplies Tarifa is at 90% of capacity with 5.17 hL3. Based on an annual consumption of between 55 and 57 hL3, says the company, this is a reserve for the next two and a half years, which, added to alternative supply from the aquifer wells of San Roque-Castellar and the Guadiaro-Guadarranque Canal diversion, would be sufficient to supply the area for approximately the next three even if it doesn't rain at all. Reservoir dams near Jerez had to be opened earlier in the week because they were in danger of overflowing.

Tragedy in the Straits of Gibraltar

Two fishing boats set out for Canaries and never return · British ship involved

ALGECIRAS A book presentation is taking place this evening at the Millán Picazo Auditorium in Algeciras. José Regueira, Jimena's retired pharmacist and Official Chronicler of the village (and father to the two current pharmacists, Victor and Hector) left Galicia fifty years ago, but never lost touch with his native A Coruña, and for years wrote articles for La Voz de Galicia, connecting that northwestern region with Cádiz. Much of what he wrote was about the sea, a common thread to both communities. One of his articles, a real sea story of the Spanish Civil War, caught the attention of a reader in the northern region. It was about two fishing boats, manned by 24 Galicians, that left Algeciras, in the midst of the war, headed for a port on the Saharan side of the Canary Islands. They never returned. That reader happened to be the grandson of Enrique Pereira, the skipper of the San Fausto, one of the boats. There's a lot more to this Campo de Gibraltar story that was also researched by Luis Romero and José Manuel Algarbani.>>>

Landslide cuts Algeciras - Granada rail line near Gaucín

(Photo: europasur.es)

Storms batter Andalucía · Better weather ahead

ANDALUCÍA A landslide between Jimena and Gaucín caused by the storms forced line closures on the Algeciras-Ronda-Granada route, which in turn affected the Algeciras-Madrid one as well. The incident, which occurred on Wednesday night, had the railway line administrator (ADIF) making alternative plans for passengers. The line is also used for cargo but no alternative measures could be taken for that as yet. ADIF said later yesterday, Thursday, that they didn't know how long the line would be closed because the 'situation is complicated by the weather.'>>>

Campo de Gibraltar gets cooking oil recycling containers

In Jimena this morning

CAMPO DE GIBRALTAR Jimena residents may have noticed some new orange/red containers in several parts of the municipality, where six have been installed recently. Getting rid of used cooking oil has been a problem for most households for a long time. The usual method has been to put it down the sink, but this is very bad for the water tables (one litre of oil can contaminate up to one million litres of water!). Some 114 special containers, with capacity for 420 litres, have been distributed in the Campo de Gibraltar, many at strategic points such as close to municipal markets and at Puntos Limpios (recycling centres). An important part of ARCGISA's Servicio Comarcal de Recogida Selectiva de Aceites Vegetales Usados (Regional Used Vegetable Oil Collection Service) is that bars, restaurants and other such establishments can request a special 25-litre drum that will be exchanged for a clean one at regular intervals. They can ask for it at their nearest ARCGISA office.

Whether the weather is wetter, depends on where you look

CAMPO DE GIBRALTAR It's raining, it's pouring, it's hissing down this morning in most of the Campo de Gibraltar. What's happening lately, then? Well, temperatures are coming down, and we're either on a yellow or orange alert in this area, which will be due to strong winds. This forecast map is for 7 a.m. on Sunday, but who's up at that time anyway? (You are? Oh, okay, you're just getting home... ) We're changing the link to our Weather Widget to offer a better service. Check here for yourself.

School meal service restored

(Photo: europasur.es)

CAMPO DE GIBRALTAR The 29 schools that had started the new term without their usual meal service are back to normal, though under new catering management. The problems, which seriously impacted families everywhere, arose when staff at the previous caterers, Brâssica went on strike because they hadn't been paid for three months. Two new catering services have now been contracted: Aramak for schools in Algeciras and El Cántaro for the rest of the area. The latter told us that they will be bringing in their menu daily (Brâssica did so weekly), and judging from other information received, the service looks to be good and nutritious (something else is if your kid won't eat carrots and veggies, of course).