Calasparra- Rafting with Cañón & Cañón visit to Sanctuary of Hope/ Santuario virgen de la Esperanza

We absolutely loved this!

The plan was to go white water rafting at Blanca. Due to Covid outbreaks (we were constantly monitoring the situation throughout Spain), Blanca wasn´t an option.

A place we wanted to cover in one of our vlogs was the Sanctuary of Hope in Calasparra- we´ve been previously. A colleage suggested we look for rafting there, and Helen found the website for Cañón & Cañón – https://cañonycañon.com/

We didn´t realise until there that it wasn´t white water rafting we had booked. For us, this was MUCH better!

We had to meet the event organisers at a roadside cafe/ restaurant, that felt like the middle of nowhere. It was a traditional Spanish place, with painted murals on the walls inside, Spanish farm workers and locals enjoying a breakfast, along with either a Caña or brandy with their morning coffee- all before 9am!

We started with a toastada & coffees, or Spanish omlette (Tortilla with potato and onion- and it was fresh cooked and still warm!) and tea. The whole bill for the 5 of us was something ridiculous like under 15 euro.

From here we met our guides and followed them into the Spanish countryside….

Be advised – the event we did was primarily in Spanish. We had a trip down the River Segura (Rio Segura) near to Calasparra. We will definitely do this again. We saw loads of local nature, some old caves and cave paintingsd, paddy fields growing La Bomba rice, Otters, Terrapins/ Turtles, wild deer. A fantastic event.

We then had a menu del dia closer to Calasparra at Restaurante La Curva before heading to the Sanctuary of Hope– also on the banks of the river segura. All in all, a fantastic day out as part of our staycation in Spain.

MAP Locations:

• Restaurante Venta Reales- breakfast (and meeting point) : https://goo.gl/maps/MwQtZ1mq2DWDWBJi7
• Restaurante La Curva: https://goo.gl/maps/oAzXrtFebyLbSGfU9
• Santuario Virgen de la Esperanza, Calasparra : https://goo.gl/maps/FDBJj6KrSUELPhNa7

Video:

Photos from the day below: