Downhill to the Rock!

Tues 25^th

7 vans were parked overnight and most moved out early when we were getting the bikes ready. Bit cooler today so long sleeved tops and off we went. We cycled to km 25 / 36 before turning back as Tina was getting a bit weary. We had a snack at a lovely bar in Coripe station. Great friendly service and a free pomegranate thrown in!  29 miles  total when we rolled up at the van. Very nice ride with great views and we had also watched at least 50 griffon vultures circling high above some crags to the side of the route. Tea please!

30 tunnels on Via verde

Vultures high above

Weds 26^th

Another quiet night , bit of sun by 9am to warm us up. Packed up the van and headed back to Ronda to try and find a supermarket. We failed! No out of town one to be found and the streets into town were just too congested for us to park. Plan B – use what we had left. No chance of us starving, oh no.

The road to Benarraba our next stop was fantastic. It climbed high over the Serrania de Ronda  before snaking down towards the coast. As we descended we could clearly see the Rock of Gibraltar and the Straits. Wonderful.

The aire was 200m above the village and is one of the best we have stayed on. 5 slots with water, WC and waste water on each one plus a great view. The clouds were looking threatening so we went for a walk about pronto!  It was a lovely old village with steep and narrow winding streets. Very clean and tidy too. When a single deck bus appeared at the village entrance we thought “no way”. It reverse turned and headed back up the mountain road – phew.

great setting - my kind of place

We just got back to the van before the heavens opened – in a huge way. Thunder and lightening followed with a few hailstones thrown in. It was very hard to hear the news on the TV that evening as rain hammered down on us. We also had very strong winds gently shaking the van – I slept ok, Tina …………….. not really.

Benarraba centre & church

Thurs 27^th

Heavy rain still pouring down when we got up so a slow lazy breakfast before we headed down the mountain to Gibraltar. The road down was totally knackered and more like a roller coaster ride. Interesting.

When we approached la Linea where we intended to park, the Rock of Gibraltar finally appeared out of the gloom. It did look imposing as we drove along the sea front in La Linea. We parked up on the harbor side right in front of lots of super yachts. Very nice, and only a 700m walk to Gib.

The Rock appears thro' the rain

La Linea parking spot

More rain showers but we donned our waterproofs and walked to the border. Very strange to walk across a runway into a slice of Britain with all the signs in English.  We headed for main street and immediately noticed the amazing amount of traffic. Central London amounts. First impressions were not good, the buildings were drab and tatty. Ok there were several very modern / flash tower blocks down by the harbour, but the central part was very unloved looking. It was very densely developed and I have never seen so many scooters on the road or parked up in front of all the apartment blocks.

Main Street was very underwhelming with grubby pubs and fish & chip shops, the cable car up to the rock was closed so we elected to walk down to the former defense wall from the 1800’s. Very little is now visible, as newer buildings have swallowed it up. So onwards to Morrison’s!  It was just like the one in Bracknell. Supplies of mince pies bought we chatted to the cashier – 19 years living in Gib and she doesn’t speak any Spanish? Probably no need to. It really is like a slice of Portsmouth has been cut off and stuck onto the end of Spain.

runway to cross

mainstreet

Curiosity satisfied we headed back to the reality of our van. We would have liked to explore the tunnels up in the rock and some of the other historical sites, but it just was not to be. As you can gather we found Gibraltar a very strange place and not for us at all, but we had to go to see for ourselves.

can I have one for Xmas?