The town of Salobrena in Granada has a beach that for many years was called ‘La Cagailla’. A priori, the name did not seem very commercial for a natural treasure located between the Guadalfeo river and the border with Motril. ‘La Cagailla’ can in fact be considered one of the last virgin beaches in Andalucia. There are no beach bars, no hammocks, or even showers. Without a doubt, a place with possibilities.
So the Salobrena City Council decided in February that it was going to change the name of the beach to be called ‘Punta el Rio Beach’. The truth is that the name ‘Cagailla’ has no eschatological origin. Its origin is behind ‘Cabo Guilla’, who was the person in charge of the watchtower that existed at this point on the coast.
Over the years, people transformed it until it became ‘La Cagailla’. We have lost a beach with an outlandish name, perhaps for the benefit of Salobrena and its neighbors. But fortunately there are more beaches that make this summery post make sense.
Rompeculos Beach (Huelva)
Located between Mazagon and Matalascanas, Rompeculos Beach is an extensive sandy area about 100 meters wide and 3 kilometers long. Perhaps due to its isolated condition and because it is a place with difficult access, it is a meeting point for nudist fans, although it is not officially considered as such.
There are explanations that point to the fact that since the 19th century the people of the area called this corner of Huelva that way because of the irregular watercourse that breaks the line of dunes making its way to the beach. As there were many unevennesses in the sea, many boats crashed when approaching it, breaking their “ass”.
However, another explanation of walking around the house indicates that the name of this beach is that to access it you have to go down a small, very steep hill. Although today there are already some wooden stairs that make the task easier, not long ago you had to walk down it, half on all fours, half dragging yourself “with your ass” to avoid falling. The name would have come from so many falls, in an area that is known for its joke.
Los Locos Beaches. Torrevieja (Alicante) and Suances (Cantabria)
We have managed to locate two “locos” beaches. One is near Torrevieja (Alicante) and apparently receives its name because in its day there was a mental hospital nearby.
Previously called ‘Playa del Salaret’ it took the name ‘Playa de los Locos’ as a result of the fact that in 1913 a sanatorium in Madrid opened a branch on the grounds of the palm grove on the beach to take the mentally ill to the coast in summer as an innovative means with which to help your healing.
The sanatorium that fulfilled its mission for many years finally closed a few months before the start of the civil war in July 1936. The Alicante town has two other beaches with curious names: El Mojon and La Zorra. Of course, there are no strange explanations behind.
Los Muertos Beach. Almería and Fuerteventura.
La de los Muertos, located in the municipality of Carboneras (Almería), is a huge, totally straight beach over a kilometer long. Among its virtues, it stands out for having what is probably the bluest and most crystalline water in the area. Its name refers to the corpses that arrived at Punta de los Muertos from shipwrecks on the high seas.
The last drowning on this beach occurred in 2006. Caution is more than necessary at this point when the easterly wind blows, which makes the beach more dangerous.
In the case of Fuerteventura, Playa de los Muertos is located in the town of Ajuy. The truth is that if the island of Fuerteventura is especially known for something, it is for its kilometer-long beaches of fine white sand, undoubtedly among the best in the Atlantic. However, the beach of ‘Los Muertos’ or Ajuy can be considered as an exception that makes some people consider it “the black pearl of Fuerteventura”.
It is a beach of fine black sand and volcanic gravel. Nudism is welcome on this beach located about 2 kilometers northwest of the town of Pajara, in the south of Fuerteventura. Very close to it there are some interesting caves that are a must, the Ajuy caves.
As is the case with the beach of the same name in Almeria, it is known as the “beach of the Dead”, because people who drowned in the area ended up there, carried away by the sea currents. Not surprisingly, the Ajuy beach is a windy beach with strong waves, dangerous for bathing.
Bad Name Beach. Fuerteventura.
The Bad Name Beach has undoubtedly a movie name. We have not been able to find an accurate explanation for the “bad name” of the beach. Those who have been lucky enough to enjoy this beach point out that it has a restaurant-chiringuito, hammocks, umbrellas, public bathrooms and a small staircase to go down from the cliff to the beach.
This despite the fact that the beach is totally isolated. Apart from this restaurant on the beach, the closest thing is a hotel about 500 meters away and it is abandoned. We will have to wait for some local to enlighten us about the bad name of this beach…
El Cabrón beach. Gran Canaria.
El Cabron beach (in Aguimes, Gran Canaria) is relatively popular, although it is not signposted. With a length of 290 meters, it is a beach of golden sand and windy (which can make swimming difficult) with relatively calm waters.
«Pedro Hernandez came out with a stone to the head, and was left without some teeth and a crooked mouth, unable to speak or eat. He well came denying the canaries, the conquest of such beasts », refers to the text by Tomas Arias Martin de Cubas «History of the seven Canary Islands», which can be consulted in its facsimile edition.
Las Rubias beach. Cudillero, Asturias.
The beach is shell-shaped, with a length of about 500 meters and an average width of about 20 meters. Its accesses are very difficult, one having to slide down the cliffs, quite vertical and with the need to use a rope in the last section. The name could come from the golden color of its sand, without much more explanation. Or not. Maybe someone enlighten us.
Los Borrachos Cove. Alicante.
Los Borrachos cove is part of Alicante’s Aguamarga beach, which has become a stage in the City of Light for filming movies. We have been able to find little about the history of the name, although we believe that it has to have some relationship with alcohol.
Slaughterhouse beach. La Coruna.
The center of La Coruna extends over a peninsula linked to the mainland by a narrow isthmus, so that the city has two maritime façades: the port (towards the La Coruna estuary) and the open sea, towards the Ensenada del Orzan. The main urban beaches, Riazor and Orzan, extend over this second façade.
Matadero beach is much less known. With an extension of barely eighty meters, it is separated from Orzan Beach by what is known as the surfers’ roundabout.
Little mystery to the name of this urban beach in A Coruña. In the vicinity there was once a slaughterhouse and hence its name. In fact, the remains of the slaughterhouse are still visible.
Los Naufragos Beach. Torrevieja, Alicante
This name may be more “traditional” as it is a beach. I take the denomination for the number of shipwrecks that occurred in its vicinity in the 19th and 20th centuries. The so-called beach was apparently previously called “Quarantine”, since in front of it anchored the sailing ships that brought in patients who for health reasons had to keep the quarantine.
