547-548: Gib – A Sort Of British Experience!

Posted on November 27, 2016 by Clunegapyears

547 – Friday 25th November 2016: Teeming Rain in Gib

We woke in Zahara and checked the weather forecast, given the rain was catering on our roof. Terrible weather right across Spain – we were not going to be able to out run this one until it blew over after the weekend. Having wanted to do some more walking around the Pueblos Blancos, but not relishing the idea of being sodden and cold, we aborted the hills and headed for Gibraltar. We know we will have to come back to this area of Spain … how many times have we said that?!

Our mifi also seemed to die … we have been expecting Three to cut us off at some point. We had rudimentary parkings for Gib from the apps I use, but could not easily verify them. But hey ho – off we set. We arrived in a large flat tarmac, gated (security guard) car park all of a few mins from the border. We can live with the expensive EUR 18/ night. The Rock is an impressive sight as you approach: Greeks and Romans believed it was one of the Pillars of Hercules – the other being in Morocco. We donned wet weather gear … well some of it as the waterproof trousers were deep in the garage, deep in a box and we did not fancy unpacking it in the rain. It was Noah territory … floods, puddles and just plain wet. We walked to the border around the corner and showed passports twice … once they were retrieved from a plastic bag to keep them dry. In fact, every thing, was in plastic bags … phones, wallets, us … but not Oscar!

Through the boarder controls, we slid our way across the run way which projects into the sea. By this time I, (K) was having a sugar low from insufficient food (and a skinful last night), so we slid into the covered apex of the first restaurant we came to and ate. Blood sugars sorted, we headed up Main Street … post office shut which we needed to send back a pair of J’s glasses for repairing under warranty. I ‘encouraged’ the boys to walk as far as the Governor’s Residence … Oscar shakes regularly to remove the rain and wears a hang dog expression … J hunches shoulders and grasps the opportunity to turn about when eventually proffered to him!

P1120583

Crossing the runway.

Initial impressions? Not great. Being sodden does not help. A few high street names, but mostly jewellery and booze shops as duty free so cheaper than the UK, but I’m not sure if things are not cheaper than Spain. Some dated red Post Boxes and telephone Boxes are about as English as it gets. Most of the natives seems to speak a heavlily accented Spanglish. The children coming off the school bus looked inbred and I wondered if it was a special school. Later back in Jez drying out, we decided to abort Gib tomorrow – J muttered something about it not being much different to Boroadmead (B shopping area) in Bristol. We slept to the heavy rapping of rain drops on the roof.

548 – Saturday 26th November: Up Ze Rock and Rugby

What’s this? … The skies are clearing. This was not the forecast. We decided to both go into Gib, back through the border control and across the run way. J to post his glasses, me to see if I could buy a lens cap for my camera and do a ‘can’t get this abroad’ shop in Morrisons. We ‘got into’ the garage and retrieved waterproof trousers … and set off. Now, Oscar only likes to do his business on grass and is a pain on the lead until he has emptied … trying to get him to walk in a straight line is neigh on impossible and he becomes NOT popular with regulars trying to get across quickly. Ho hum.

J got his glasses posted (Aged P’s, if they make it to Rothbury in time, another small item for your suitcase!) and then we did the cheese (no cheese on the plate!) full English Breaky. Well J did … I just helped with the odd mouthful!

A regular feature recently seems to be that if we see a hill with a castle / church etc on top, we need to climb it. Rain’s holding off, so up the Rock we go. Blinkin steep in places, but great views across to Morocco and along the coast. Gibraltar looked like a model village. There were not many other people walking it; most take the cable car. J has eschewed cables cars since reading about the Chamonix cable car failure in the summer, when people here helicopter winched off or stayed there overnight! Near the top we encountered the first of the Barbiary Apes. On the viewing platform, they were civilised and left us alone. A little further up, one saw Oscar and came screaming out of the trees snarling with long curling teeth warning Oscar off … think Sarbre Tooth Tiger for the fangs. Now I was not being naive, perhaps a little, I knew dogs and apes are not a good mix, but I guess I’d assumed that the residents were used to tourists et al and would keep a distance. Once we got to the top, and aw more of these flea infested buggers / baboons, J stayed back with O and I carried on to the top.

The Moorish Castle with the Union Jack … the water way below is really busy with container ships and ferries. Little did we realise that there was still a long way up to go!

The walk up did improve my impressions of Gibraltar (amazing what a lack of rain can do). Street names reflect the military outpost history: e.g. Tank Street, Camp Street. On the way up the free to enter Siege Exhibition described conditions during the 3 year siege; there were actually 17 sieges in total.

Discipline was tight.

This one did not show his teeth.

The runway we crossed from our parking.

Old military installations at the top.

After our knee crunching descent we lunched … J and I have a great partnership … I ate the prawn and hake stuffed aubergine in tomato and cheese sauces (Yummy – I will try to recreate this one) and J ate my chips. Don’t feel sorry for him, he’d had a full English!

I’ve not been using my camera since I lost the lens cap and broke the UV filter, so we asked in one of the many (tax free) camera shops for a 46mm lens cap. No lens cap, but a filter at £20. No thank you, I’ve ordered on on eBay for £10 which will be with me in a week … quick chat out the back in Spanish … suddenly the price dropped to £10. Yay! A big shop at Morrisons was a bit surreal … lots of Spanish speakers … rucksack and a couple of bags filled. J waited outside with O and chatted to a Hungarian busker who was trying earn enough for a holiday to Morocco. A lady came up and asked him (the busker) if she could empty her wallet into his hat … he did not say no!

One of the reasons for heading to Gib this weekend was to find a pub showing the Ireland v Australia rugby game … a super pseudo Irish bar, hostess moved us closer to the TV, turned up the volume and we sat and quaffed wine watching a really good game.

Back at the van, we were pleased not to have left Gib this morning … we did some shopping, climbed the Rock (not many can say this) and watched an excellent rugby game. But we don’t need to come back!

544-546: Steep Dried in Pueblos Blancos

Posted on November 24, 2016 by Clunegapyears

544 – Tuesday 22nd November 2016:

Those of our readers (are we up to 7 yet? – Terry Wogan had 21 million listeners – we will settle for 21 people for us…) – who read our adventures in “Castelbellissimo” in Siclia will know about this slightly misadventure…. Our brave SatNav CoPilot ‘Colin’ brought us to Sentinil via a narrowing hill road (when will we learn?) – I was driving and getting more nervous by the second. Sure enough our proposed parking didn’t appear and we were faced with a turning manoevre that didn’t quite suit a 7+ metre motorhome. A 7 point turn became a 7 point turn (am I repeating myself?) and with K directing, we retreated sadly from NavSentil… No dings or dents – good! Shame as the town sounded interesting with houses sheltering under the overhanging rock. To Olvera next – my best way to remember the name is to think of Basil D’Oliviera – south African cricketer who played for England during the Apartheid era – banned by South Africa – 1960s (if I’m wrong – please correct me – anyone?).

Good parking at Olvera – EUR7 incl. electricity – we met a German couple whom we had previously encountered at El Torcal … ‘small world’ we shared in German.

Coffee in Olvera – chatting to a resident gent from ’God’s own country’ – Wales! – wake up, Bronwyn… lots of good local advice on walks and weather – more heavy rain in the next week – are we back in Brizzle? The rain in Espana falls mainly on…. US! In said bar, we partook solo cafe! Honest. Dray day1 of 2 planned.

By the way, don’t ever pee or poo in public here…

Misty view up to the church and Arab castle .. bit of a theme may develop here.

Love the flower pots against the white wall. Church was shut; we suppose they did not reckon anyone would venture out with the clouds coming in.

And the mist sure folded in.

On the viewpoint by the church … never seen a sign like this before! There must’ve been a ‘need’!

545 – Wednesday 23rd November 2016:

After congratulating my gorgeous daughter Sarah on her xxxth birthday, we set ourselves to a long walk on the Via Verde – a never quite opened railway track. 22+ km later, we returned to our Jez-van. Oscar just about reached our van – and promptly dived into his bed and went ‘sparko’… Tired but fit, only for K to do some laundry (twin tub out!), sweep the floors, groom Oscar and me to do something (?)… Another alcohol-free night – and ‘vino-free-somnoque’ sleep…and tomorrow also…

View from our parking at the start of the Via Verde here.

Scenery changed and became more agricultural (other than olive groves), but always with distant hills.

Please explain this: cattle shelter under the tree and churn up the mud to form the inner brown ring. Why is there a bright green circle just before the normal dried earth?

Lots of tunnels; longer ones lit. Typical view as you emerge: just lovely.

On the return Oscar collected a stick. When he has a toy, out of our reach, he always does his happy dance.

No, you’re not having it … you might promise to throw it for me, but your aim is so bad, I’ve no idea where it may land.

I’m off with it … it’s mine! All mine!! And I’m still doing a happy dance.

546 – Thursday 24th November 2016:

Wednesday night bed at 10:30 – woke at 9:30 am (???) – exercise benefit – yes! Algodonales, home of a famous guitar maker and mecca for para gliders. Coffee – and chats with a young English couple – slightly self important man who explained his crowd funding to support his ‘I’m a different sort of sportsman … I walk for days and then paraglide down and save damsels in distress from nasty Moroccans who were beating her up …. glory glory.’ Are we self important? “To ourselves we must be true…”

Algodonales – heading up to the top of the town for the views.

View over the town, and I reckon that distant hill town is where we’re headed … not sure about the roads though, but won’t tell J!

Zahara, not Sahara Desert, and parked after only 3 hairpin bends :). The steepest mountain town we have visited on foot – climb up to El Castillio – even Oscar was breathing heavily. At the castle, which was open to the public with no fee, and the the battlements were open to … air and the drop – K had to grasp Oscar sharpish from going over the edge … back on the lead matey! El Castillo – mega high – more superlatives (?). 3 weeks in Espana and we haven’t even touched the surface… Roll on the rest of this wonderful country! The more of Espana we see, the more we are hugely enjoying it…

We have booked on to the Inverness Scottish Motorhome rally in June 2017 – Margaret and Shirley take note….. as people seem keen.

The most amazing sights over the valley and reservoir below – don’t think we’ll slide into them!. Cafe and our first glass of vino for some 3 days, actually two calendar days, but J calculated it is some 66 hours – not counting … much! Lessons here, fellow motorhomers? Enjoyed just the same…

Parking on a slight slope, but agin with wonderful views. Chocks out, van slipping a bit; it does not seem to rest easily on chocks and creeks when we move?! Sleep may be interupted be some slippage – maybe the earth moving? K: It does all the time, darling!

Yep, that is where we’re going, and I’ve not satellite viewed the roads.

The route up to the castle.

Mega wow.

Can just make out Jez. Later to be joined by a NL van. It looks as if we’re in the valley, but the scenery drops away from here.

The ledge Oscar tried to catapult! K was looking out, so O thought he would too!

No friendly barman offered to let us and Oscar inside, so we were layered up, but still managed two glasses each and the most amazing roasted and salted almonds.

542-543: Ronda – 3 Bridges & 2 … Gates

Posted on November 24, 2016 by Clunegapyears

542 – Sunday 20th November 2016: Ronda

Joy! Back to morning running after a few weeks off – Oscar towing K backwards as per usual – the Olympics seem a bit further away, somehow – but ‘hope springs…’ A mere 2k, but it’s a (re)start…little green shoots and all that…

We’ve seen this in a few places: a grid with roads, pavements, street lighting and even bins … but not all blocks yet built on … obviously at one time the town councils were optimistic about the economy. We’ve also spotted very large car parks virtually in the middle of nowhere. Any ideas why on a postcard to ….?

Next stop Ronda after lunch – for those of us from a more mature generation (not K, of course) the Beach Boys “Help me Ronda, help help me Ronda…”. K has just found this on iTunes – ‘course I know it!

We parked up at a car park in the ‘new town’. Cold, damp and blowy did not deter us. Up and down and down and up (not down and out!) – we circumnavigated the old town walls and the nooks and crannies – (I stopped myself from writing ‘cooks and grannies…).

The temptation of cheap very good local wine creeps upon us, as we took shelter in a bar for a couple of glasses before supper – we are definitely going dry. Tomorrow!

The Plaza de Toros … every town has one, but this dates from 1785 and is bull fightings spiritual home. Ronda’s bull fighting claim to fame is that it was here that a family of 3 bull fighters developed the art of modern bull fighting … on foot.

Square in the urbano sector where we found a covered outdoor bar area for a couple of glasses of the red stuff. A Spaniard at a neighbouring table told us that Oscar is very like his Spanish Breton dog … we googled a pic: same ginger and white colouring, but a little more pointer than springer in his head.

Two literary geniuses … well I chuckle when J writes the blog. The figure is Ernest Hemingway. Both him and Orson Wells loved Ronda and have streets named after them.

543 – Monday 21st November 2016: Ronda Twoo and “Umbrella Wars!”

Heavy rain all night, so a noisy one. Having a large rear end (garage!), our beds are nearer the roof than in Chardonnay. Rain sounds even more like conkers hitting the roof! We set off in time though, to make it before the TIC shut for lunch. I had the very large Spain map in the back pack as I wanted to know about the suitability of the roads for Jez if we were to wander the Pueblos Blancos (white hill towns). The immaculate and slender lady spoke the most excellent English (and without any trace of an American accent) and produced a much better map of the area (needn’t have brought the back pack after all). She indicated the roads which were best explored on a bike. All the other roads, she assured me, had bus routes, so we’d be fine. Supplied with a Ronda map and directions to a camera shop, we set of for La Ciudad across the Puente Nuevo … we could not walk anywhere near here in a straight line as:

Oriental tourists block any direct route with their selfies or ‘funny’ poses for picture taking
So many stopped to coo over Oscar. J may remember how many pix were taken of him!

Ronda, like so many of the towns was Moorish and built on rocky impregnable outcrops. It was the capital of an Islamic statelet until 1485. Hemingway’s ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’ tells how, early in the Spanish Civil War, the fascists were clubbed and flailed by towns folk, who then ran them off the rock to certain death below. This was based on real events, although the perpetrators were from Malaga, not local, of course! We wandered the narrow white streets; glimpses of the cloud over the hills and nearby valley. We found houses, museums and churches that we could have paid to go in. We know we would have found some very interesting, however, we would have had to take turns and the costs start to mount. We elected to spend our pennies on a cheap Menu del Dia …. take note … we strongly recommend Bar La Farola in the ’new town’… EUR9 for a starter, main, bread and a drink – 4 choices of food for each course … all home cooked good basic fare. We were all set to eat under the dripping canopy (heavens had opened again) as we had Oscar, but the waiter (Maitre D) called us inside, moved a chair and indicated the corner for Oscar to lie in, unseen by others. Nice – we were very grateful and the rain intensity increased. What set this lunch and venue apart was the people watching. Locals in and out, sherry glass after glass consumed … The waiter was totally on top of every situation:

gently evicting the drunk who slid in
handing over a forgotten plant as one guest planned to leave after half a bottle of Tio Pepe (no food!)
carefull balance of greeting regulars without being over familiar
shutting the door to stop customers getting a draft and
smoothing ruffled feathers as one customer flounced out with his umbrella as another customer, who just arrived, had obviously commented on it dripping over the floor …. this we dubbed “Umbrella-gate”.

We had to join in … two glasses of wine, followed by two sherries … each. Followed by a third on the house one as we paid the bill. Spanish measures are not mean! And today was supposed to be a dry day! Tomorrow is another day! Oh, and we stopped for a glass and a sobering coffee on the way home … actually we both needed a pee (but that’s our excuse!)

The view from near our parking.

No. 1: The Puente Nuevo: C18th crosses the …

…100m deep gorge. Don’t look down James!

Very typical of the houses in this area: white exterior and nearly every window and door has some form of wrought iron work. Buildings picked out with an acre colour.

Santa Maria la Mayor: Christian church, again built over Muslim.

Again … we found the outside of the old city walls – untrodden by most tourists.

And looking up see how the houses are built into the rock. We read that in a number of places that the rock is having to be shored up and repaired.

We walked across the Puente Arabe (No. 2) to take a shot looking up the the Puente Viejo (No. 3) … that’s all three bridges that join La Ciudad (old bit) with the newer.

I tried to photo edit out the red tinge to J’s face … mine was worse!

No, this really is not one on the way home! Actually no sherry here, so we had a Marie Brizzard and an Amoretto.

My bull, no bull!

Having got back to the van, I left my boys snoozing and headed out to the large super market nearby … just to buy nappy sacks to use as poo bags for Oscar … unsuccessful, but I came back with a large bar of chocolate and a bottle each of of Tio Pepe and Pedro Ximinez … both now in the fridge for another day. I then headed out to buy a replacement UV filter and lens cap for my camera (dropped and lost) … unsuccessful here too, but came back with a twin electric hot plate for when we are on hookup … saves our gas and I can cook outside. So on both trips I did not get what I intended, but bought what we really really needed! Sorry, Aged P’s the camera kit has not been ordered on eBay for you to bring to Faro in December. They are both small and light … honest! Along with everything else you are bringing out for us!!!!

I don’t know if it was the two espresso coffees, the copious booze, half the large bar of chocolate or what, but I was totally wired last night. Lying in bed awake and alert enough to hear through the barrage that was rain on our roof, a car pull up at about midnight. Peeking out the habitation door blind, I spied on two lads … getting it on together…. the car was all fogged up, so i couldn’t have seen much even had I wanted to! ‘It’ can’t have taken long, as I then heard them chat for a bit and drive off.

The next visitor was the dumper truck (they seem to do waste collection every day and at all times around here). I heard a bit of a bang, so again peeked out of the window to spot a semi naked German descending from the ladder from his African off road motorhome, closely followed by his nightie clad dressed wife … the refuse truck had reversed into them – knocking their high-off-the -ground bike rack totally askew. It was still teeming, so once they had persuaded the truck driver to come and inspect his work, they went and put some clothes on . They had to wait for about 30 mins for the local Police to arrive … all the while running the refuse truck’s engine! We waited with them … no chance of sleep! About 2.40 the incident report was finally completed, and the police car and truck departed. So this must be “Bin-gate”. We finally got some shut eye, and I did not get up till nearly 9.00 a.m … can you wonder?

Two bin lessons learned here for wild parking:

Do not park near bins as refuse trucks may empty them at any hour waking us up, and
said refuse truck may reverse into us.

But what a fabulous couple of days: El Torcal, Antequera and Ronda. It just keeps getting better. Hope the weather does too.

540-541: El Torcal – An Andalusia MUST do.

Posted on November 23, 2016 by Clunegapyears

540 – Friday 18th NOVEMBER 2016: Wow and double WOW!

First of all, thank you Margaret for spotting my date errors … we are in November but I was dating posts October! Age? Alcohol?

Now, I was driving (J here) up to the Sierra El Torcal mountains, thankfully… This enabled me to NOT look at the extremely sheer drops off to the passenger side! Narrow roads, plenty of sharp bends – Jez (and us) coped very well indeed – and as we saw on the road to Vesuvius – the roads got much wider as we approached our car/van parking destination, due to the expectation of bus loads of tourists. This may be the case in high season, but even in November, there were good number of cars and coaches.

The photos give a good indication of the beauty to come for our walking tours. Our afternoon perambulation was only a couple of hours long and – the “Wow” factor came out immediately. Best mountains we have seen since the Dolomiti in northern Italy over a year ago! “Wow after wow” around every corner, again and again. We almost ran out of superlatives – when did an Irishman run out of words?…

Some beers and wine, peaceful evening (do we have any other kind?) – and I continued learning by heart the rest of “The lake Isle of Inisfree” poem by W B Yeats – my all time favourite. Only one verse left… “I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore”.

Lovely quiet parking (free) for the night with only a small number of neighbouring vans for company. K had read that overnighting here was OK, but being British, she went and checked. ‘But of course’ was the warm answer … just keep inside one bus bay.

The route up was pretty spectacular … I (K) was able to ooh and aah – J was too focussed on getting around the bends and not over the side of the road!

And this was where we were headed – that limestone ridge.

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.
A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

Leisure by William Henry Davies

A well deserved beer.

451 – Saturday 19th November 2016: Down and Up and Antequera

AM – we set off for what we planned to be a 4 hour El Torcal walk – letting Oscar free of his lead as we had done the previous afternoon… we quickly encountered a Spanish family who told us that dogs must be kept on leads at all time while walking in National Parks – we hadn’t seen any signs but they told us there are poisonous snakes around and other wild animals and it is the local law – so no chances to be taken there. A pity because we curtailed our walk to about 2.5 hours instead – the scenery was just as spectacular, but different so the yesterday afternoon… as we were quickly through the limestone escarpment and the views opened up and fell away from us.

We will definitely be back to El Torcal – and we recommend it to anyone visiting the south of Espana. It really is a MUST SEE, but only receives a paragraph in each of our guide books.

The morning sun on the rocks by our car park.

J was up in time to catch the sun rise.

And off we go again.

Meet the locals. We’d heard their bells last night in our car park.

Ephemeral mist over the distant hills.

A restored shepherd’s hut.

After lunch we drove a short way to Antequera to a free van parking last at Antequera – with services – brand new – lots of other motorhomes – on a fairly busy street but still quiet at night time – other than the barking dog, which was finally strangled / shot by a neighbour at 2.20 a.m.

We wandered around and quickly found a …. bar. Then another and another and had a dish each for supper. Antequera we liked. Not touristy, sensible prices … again some fine buildings and fabulous views.

Plaza del Toros – now the museum – dedicated to bullfighting. Sadly shut.

Waiting for wine number 1.

Supping wine number 2.

C16th Arco de los Gigantes…

…The way into the castle and church plaza with views. And wine number 3 and 4!

Wandering around, we found the outside of the castle walls. Punters had paid to walk along part of them, but knowing how dogs would not have been allowed, we did not even attempt entry … wonder how few visitors discover this view of the walls though.

536-539: Cabo de Gata Capers

Posted on November 19, 2016 by Clunegapyears

536 – Monday 14th November 2016: Churros and off to Cabo de Gata

K said she’d never had a churro – so off we headed into the small town to a cafe – the churro was in 3 parts (a long thin donut to be dunked in hot chocolate – a typical breaky calorie fest) and too big to finish – my chocolate ‘croissant’ was about the size of the Aviva/Lansdown Road stadium (did I mention Ireland 41 All Blacks 29? Good so I can say it again… the backlash will arrive on 19th November…). Neither of us finished our snack.

We bought some rugs for the van at Euro 2 each – they may not be Oscar-proof… but who cares at that price!

Morning sun up to told town from our car park.

Los Escullos campsite for 3 nights at Euro 17 per night (ACSI) – massive twin tub laundry by K at the van – 3 weeks worth essentially. Thankfully Jez has a shower hose from his rear bottom / garage and therefore access to hot water. The pitch water tap was also in reach and provided the cold for rinsing. By the time we’d done several rinses for each load and so many loads … we had created an oasis / pond in the dry dirt of our pitch. The sun and steady breeze dried most of it too before a shower, which saw us back to the San Sebastian days of hanging wet items all over the van. Enough domestics!

537 – Tuesday 15th November 2016: Walk to San Jose

A coastal walk to San Jose – I know there’s a song “Do you know the way to San Jose?” – well we did – uphill and down dale for 2 hours – and then a lovely seafront lunch of pasta for me and chicken for K – Oscar watched us eating patiently as always. Partly on the road returning – shorter walk but still very pretty. About 11 miles in total … the loudest snoring that night was Oscar!

The small village a short walk from our campsite … a beach and a shut hotel.

Our destination is in sight … just a few more bays to navigate!

538 – Wednesday 16th November 2016: Lazy Day

Easy day after a job and walking day… beach walking where we met Graham and Jane – the photos show how beautifully Oscar and Benny played – we captured the Oscar ‘mad eye’ look…

We lunched at the campsite restaurant … starters were fine but mains were deep fried chicken or fish goujons with chips … not marvellous, but only EUR10pp. J was finally persuaded to dye K’s hair to remove the skunk white stripe down the middle … he resisted doing other ladies! We heard that one recently departed (from the campsite, not this life) lady had set herself up in business offering hair cuts for EUR5. J might have made a little more than this as his hair dying skills are really pretty good now.

We met more lovely family people on this site than we have for some time. Some really good chats ranging from motorhomes to resources, from dogs to lifestyles. Thank you to Marlene and Michael, Mal and Sarah (Mal fro Co Tyrone) and Graham and Jane – and a lovely post supper drink for 6 in Jez….

Mad Eye Oscar and Benny.

I think Benny is holding Oscar’s head there … honest!

539 – Thursday 17th November 2016: Costa del Sol (you can keep it).

We almost stayed another night as the people we’ve chatted to on the site were so lovely … but time stands still for no man and a rolling stone gathers no moss … and all that. See you soon said and all packed up and off.

Poly tunnels everywhere, but they are much larger and seem more substantial than in Sicily … as are the roads!

We contemplated staying another night, but to be honest felt we’d ‘done’ the scenery and we’d have been staying for the lovely people we met … and the Algarve and the Aged P’s flying beckons. A friendly Belgian told us we must visit El Torcal. It was in the guide book but sounded mediocre… but I’d read about an amazing gorge with a 7KM walkway nearby – not for us as no dogs allowed – so it sounded like the area was worth a visit.

We set off and by the time we’d done a massive Lidl shop just north of Algeria, time was marching on … so we detoured along the Costa del Sol, with the idea of wild camping along the beach. Not to be … the road is very close to the sea and not our idea of safe or fun wilding, so we re-routed again to a camper stop in Rincon del al Victoria recommended by Pauline and Michael (met in PL – spontaneous stop over and supper a few days back). There were only two pitches left; others were turned away later. EUR and fast wifi included 🙂 hence two blog posts uploaded and several computer updates undertaken.

We wandered down to the beach for a dog walk … a nice sun set, but we really do not understand what can keep people staying somewhere like this for weeks at a time. We chatted to several couples, who were all pleasant, but other than cheap lunches out and drinking whilst sitting in the sun, we are at a loss as to what you’d do all day. Perhaps when older and less active, but not for now.

Clune Gap Years

A journal and reflections of our motorhome travels

Category Archives: Spain