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.

534-535: Spanish Cultural Extremes

Posted on November 18, 2016 by Clunegapyears

534 – Saturday 12th November 2016: Granada’s Alhambra

I was to be the first of us to do the grand tour – we arrived at the ticket office before it opened at 0800 hours – and queued for over an hour! Oscar was much admired by everyone especially a group of young ladies from Cambridge…K had come with me to get her ticket for the afternoon visit.

My visit lasted for about 3 hours and I couldn’t possibly see everything – stunning again – the photos (later) will show a good flavour.

Potted History: The first palace was built from 1237 for Muhammad 1 al-Ahmar; other rulers built / added on gardens and palaces. The Dynasty ruled the Muslim empire which stretched from the Straits of Gibraltar to east of Almeria. Muslim forces actually took over the area long before, but other regions fell to the Christians. In the words of one of our guide books “It all went pear shaped” in the C15 with family in fighting over the succession, leading to a civil war. The Christians took advantage and invaded leading to an 8 month siege. Boabdil surrendered Granada in return for much of the countryside. Isabel and Fernando then set up court in the Alhambra. The Jews and Muslims were persecuted and largely thrown out of Spain

Part of the Generalife (Architect’s Garden), the summer Palace were the Muslim rulers could escape the politics of the main palace. Soothing flowers, light and water.

From the exterior, the Alhambra is an imposing fortress of red and plain walls.

Carlos V Palace: perfectly square with a circle inner courtyard. Carlos apparently never much liked it and it is very out of place given its surroundings.

Alcazaba: some of the oldest parts. The military complex.

The Nasrid Palaces: the jewels of the Alhambra where 250 years worth of Muslim rulers lived, followed by the Christian royal family. The balcony was added by the Christians for the choir.

The detail in the stone carvings was phenomenal.

535 – Sunday 13th November 2016: Yeeha! Spagetti Western Country

Rather than fork more euros for staying a second night, we drove to a free aire on the way to Europe’s only dessert. A bit of an odd aire, as it was pretty full with a lot of Spanish who seemed to all know each other and had the BBQs out. Behind it was a small park with numbered tables (no benches) and an area with rows of stone BBQs. It must be a popular place in summer. Having walked Oscar and set off all the residents’ dogs barking, we headed for the dessert, near Tabernas. During the 1960’s and 70’s, Spaghetti westerns were filmed here and the full scale sets survive. We had a choice of 3 film sets and opted for the middle priced one, as it allowed dogs in … yehaa! Having paid the princely sum of EUR35 (with J’s senior discount, I might add) we wandered around the sets. A lot of them we recognised, but could not place in which film. Was it The Good, the Bad and the Ugly? A Fistful of Dollars? Who knows! There was absolutely NO INFORMATION about the making of the films. We really felt it was over priced, given how much more interesting the place would have been with some history / information. All we were treated to was a can can show, followed by a bar brawl and a shoot out in the saloon! Come on, J comes from Dublin, isn’t that a nightly event in Temple Bar? I lasted until the first gun shot, and had to take our ‘special’ gun dog out. We made rather a scene in exiting, as he wrapped his lead around the swing door in his haste to get away! J was not long behind!

Would you Adam ’n Eve it! We’ve run out of wine and the blinkin liquor store is shut!

The fistfight.

El hombre!!! Yeeha!

The Mexican village.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly?

Now really James, you don’t even like guns!

The Fort …

… and of course to complete the Western, the Indian Village.

El Hombre again. Yeeha! Giving paying punters pony rides. Tempting but we’ve spent enough.

We had thought it would be fun to stay in the dessert over night, as our entry ticket allowed us to park up there … but when on earth were we going to do all afternoon? A quick soup and off to Nijar.

We headed for the free carpark adjacent to the local police … however, we had our first buttock clenching moment with Jez, where I ended up in front of the van, guiding J down a too tight road with cars that had no place being there! It really does not help when a local tells you that you have no place being there either! Nope … back to the lower car park we’ve just passed. We wandered into the town … and relieved our driving angst with a half litre of red whilst consuming an early supper. A further walk up the town revealed lots of narrow streets … would not have liked to bring a Fiat 500 there either!) and shops selling brightly coloured pottery and striped cotton rugs.

On the way down, we stopped off at another bar and I ordered us a glass each of 43. This is a drink I remember from previous trips to Spain and I also (don’t remember) was told I got completely hammered on it once and could not face it again! Anyway, I had to introduce J to it. A telecon with the Aged P’s and mother said something along the lines … it taste good, but is lethal. Despite that, we had another glass each. And Spanish measures are LARGE! We wobbled down the hill to Jez, with the intention of finding a spaghetti western on the hard drive to watch …. oops … I managed to get the laptop out … but then passed out …. somewhere around 8.00 p.m., I’m told. Mr C was not long behind me. Thankfully, I’ve not seen 43 in the shops (yet!).

531-533: Spanish Decisions Unmade

Posted on November 17, 2016 by Clunegapyears

531 – Wednesday 9th November 2016: Arrived in Avila

Steep steps up to the walled city – birthplace of St Teresa….she ran away to be a martyr, hoping to be killed by the Muslims … at age 7 (!) but her Dad brought her back – to rejoin the nuns later. Nice market square and the usual bustle of Spanish town streets.

We really wanted to walk the town wall on the top – but ‘no dogs allowed’. Spain is definitely not as dog friendly as other countries… we contemplated our next move over a glass of vino tinto and decided to walk the wall … but inside and out. This was where the locals were perambulating …. the tourists, having paid, were on the wall! Us – we mix it with the locals!

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One of the city entrance gates, and pretty much our view from the Parking.

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The market square.

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Entrance to the cathedral… slight strange stone sentries on duty.

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Saint Teresa (the Spanish one) church and birth house here.

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Granada is known for the storks … only spotted a nest.

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Stone pigs were supposed to bring the merchants good luck. This one was still in situ in a garden. You could buy a miniature from the tourist shops.

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The Medieval wall circumnavigates the whole town: over 2 km long, 88 turrets, 9 entrance gates, 12 m high in places. Lit up at night it really was impressive.

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Whilst in the town, we criss crossed trying to find a large jubilee clip … needed for the kitchen sink to prevent our cutlery drawer collecting all the dish washing suds and washing (!) all the cutlery again. Despite K’s drawing and a translation, only small ones in stock, or none at all. On the way back to our parking, K spotted an animal alimentacion and goods place the other side of the river. We’d been contemplating a waterproof coat for our Oscar … never thought we’d come to this, but he does seem to feel the cold and doesn’t much care for the wet either. I’m sure we might have mentioned that he is rather ‘special’! Having queued at the counter where the man was dispensing advice and medicines … lots of racks of kit behind him, but not ‘ickle wee doggy coats. On the opposite side of the road was motor mechanic …. ahh, though K. Her thought was correct – he had large jubilee clips. EUR4 and the leak into the drawer is (mostly) stemmed.

532 – Thursday 10th November 2016: Spontaneous in PL

A beautiful and brand new parking with services at PL (we cannot remember the actual full name). Only stopped to use the motorhome services and have lunch, overlooked by some of Don Quixote’s white windmills. We were on the way half out of the gate – when K met Pauline and Michael (we had chatted to them when we arrived earlier). Now while I was in the van awaiting my K directions – our good lady had decided that we should spend the night and have drinkies with P and M!!! Not the first time we ‘flexed’ our plans – purely in the interests of neighbourliness…

An afternoon stoll and glasses of vino at the town square – is that a new thing for us, readers? I think everyone knows the answer to that one…

A lovely evening – and they fed us too! Many thanks to you two – we really hope to meet you again and to return the favour…

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Some of the scenery on our way to PL…

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And again, we are in awe of the flat and smooth empty roads.

533 – Friday 11th November 2016: Greetings from Granada

Cordoba was our destination, buy J spoke to another English couple by the services, who advised that there had been 2 motorhome break ins on the aire in the last week. Shame, but we’ll have to see Coroba another times .. it is just not worth the risk.

We changed our plans and decided to go straight to Cabo de Gata, a peninsula that is a nature reserve. We had wanted to also see Granaga, but there seemed to be an expensive parking by the Alhambra, or you found a campsite and caught a taxi … we’d investigate a train from somewhere. However, on the journey, we changed our minds again … we are allowed to!

To Granada and Al Hambra it was. It must be one of the very top attractions in Spain! Dog welcome? No. We decided to tour separately in the morning. Evening time saw us doing the Barcelona equivalent of the “Las Ramblas” family strolling. Wine and supper snacks. We met an English father, son and grandson who resided in Granada … the son was called Arthur. We’d previously met a Spanish family who had called their little girl Alice. Is there Spanish fashion for English childrens’ names? Granada was an amazing place to wander – young, slightly hippy and buzzing. K even managed with the aid of another drawing to buy a stitch holder from a knitting shop … yes her art skills must be improving!

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img_5804-1 Columbus and Queen Isabella … check out her train.

We were the only van in the very convenient parking, although it was quite a walk back up the hill at the end of the evening – no wonder at Euro 29 per 24 hrs!

Clune Gap Years

A journal and reflections of our motorhome travels