The rain in Spain falls mainly on the Guernsey Donkeys!

Saturday 3 March

We arrived in Spain and head straight to the carpark at Los Barrios. We’ve stayed here before and knew it was safe. There are loads of campers here and by 10pm the place is packed. It’s still raining heavily as we head over to La Carrefour supermarket for some much needed retail therapy, we stock up with chips, beer, cheese and pork sausages. Sausage sandwich for tea, yum yum, how we’ve missed you.

Sunday 4 – Tuesday 6 March

The supermarket was closed today so we couldn’t buy any WiFi for the mifi so we headed over the road to the ‘forbidden arch’ McDonald’s to have a coffee and some free WiFi to see where we were going to stay for the next few days. We looked at the weeks weather which was high winds and rain until at least Thursday so we decide to stay on the carpark at the football ground in La Linear which is 20 minutes away, no services but it’s only 4 Euros and close to Gibraltar.

The carpark has a few campers here and an English couple tell us they’ve been here a week without any issues. There is a manhole cover just off the carpark in which the toilet cassette can be emptied and water from the dog walking area nearby.

We park up, get our passports in the rucksac and head across the boarder to Gibraltar. Pass from Spain into Gibraltar passports being checked twice in the space of 40 feet. We wonder round for a while but the weather is terrible so we head to Roy’s Fish & Chip Shop for lunch with a beer. Although the Roys advertise the best fish and chips in Gibraltar we were a little disappointed they weren’t the best but it was great to be able to order something other than a tagine. The shops are shut, it’s raining so we head to the pub for the afternoon and we can enjoy the free WiFi and update the family where we are.

I’ve managed to get an appointment with a doctor in Gibraltar so I can be reassured about the diagnosis and what is happening with me. The doctor gave me a through examination and confirmed that I have Bells Palsy there is no damage to my eye and I have been doing all the right things, as all the research suggests she tells me it’s a matter of time and patience for my system to get back to normal. She gave me 7 days worth of steroids which may or may not be of any benefit but no harm in taking them as they will clear up any infection that might still be hanging around and artificial tear drops for my eye. I am now sporting a proper black pirate eye patch (which we couldn’t buy in Morocco) which is easier than trying to keep taping the sticky eye patches to my face. No I really do look the business now, just need to find myself a parrot.

We stocked up on a few essentials and a few luxuries and we find 3 litres of vodka for £9.50 Keith’ll have some of that thank you very much. After 3 days back and forth to Gibraltar we have to leave we are spending money like water having been deprived of our little luxuries for the past 10 weeks. We haven’t been able to get up the cable car because it’s either been closed or it’s so foggy its not worth the money paying to get up there to see nothing.

Wednesday 7 March

Oh my god we wake up to the big yellow thing in the sky and clear blue sky it’s almost cloudless but I suppose we can’t have it all at once that would be spoiling us. We head off north-east to Carease a small town an hour away which has a free Aire outside the tourist information office. The Aire has water and black waste this means we can have a shower in the morning (not having showered since we left Morocco). The site is at the top of the town and about 20 minutes walk up and down hills into town, it’s got amazing views of the surrounding area and we can see the beautiful white buildings nestled into the mountainsides. There’s an English couple who have been here 2 days without any problems so we park up and head off. It’s a nice walk but its 3pm and there’s not a lot going on we’ve arrived at siesta time, we really have to start getting used to places being virtually deserted between 2-5 everyday it’s like a ghost town. The town is pretty, white buildings with very narrow streets but absolutely nothing open so we can’t even have a coffee.

After a couple of hours we get back to Eugene and see the griffin vultures and buzzards flying low in the valley below they look incredible as they soar in circles around the valley it’s amazing how close they fly to us, we get out the big camera lens and snap away and manage to get a few good shots.

We make good use of the free WiFi at the tourist offices before the rain puts paid to camping outside the office door, Eugene can’t get close enough to pick up the signal.

It absolutely hammers it down all night, but it’s a quite site and we have a good night.

Thursday 8 March

We wake up to torrential rain and fog, we can’t see beyond 10 feet in front of us, what is going on with this weather?

After a long needed shower, top up with water and empty the toilet we decide to head off to Ronda which is along the Pablos Blanco route. The drive is good although the weather puts paid to taking any decent photos of the stunning scenery. Everything is vivid green, I wonder why?

We find a free carpark just outside of town to park and head off to explore in the pouring rain. The town is pretty with its clifftop buildings hanging on at the edges of the gorge. The town has an amazing bridge the Puente Nuevo which spans the jaw dropping El Tajo gorge which has been created by the Guadalevin river which flows below, it looks incredible. Civil War prisoners were forced to jump to their deaths from this bridge. Ronda also has one of the oldest bullrings in Spain but we didn’t go in to have a look because that costs money.

After a couple of hours walking around we head back to the carpark to head off to El Chorro. We’ve booked tickets via Trip Advisor to do the walk on the Caminito Del Rey tomorrow morning so we need to find somewhere close to there to park overnight. The walk costs 10euros each, you can pay extra to do the walk solo, in a group or with or without a guide, we opted to go on our own as there are billboards along the walk explaining the history etc.

The drive to El Chorro is pretty good, the scenery is amazing, there I go again another country and it’s better than the last, we drive through the narrow roads with only one moment where we had to squeeze our bums to get past the bus coming in the other direction. We find the carpark for the night in a wooded area next the Hydro Electricity plant on the reservoir, which is free. There’s a group of ‘hippies’ in the corner who look like they might have been here for a while so we guess it must be okay. We find our spot then head off to find out where we need to be tomorrow. The Caminito Del Rey walk is linear and we’re parked near the end of the walk so need to catch the bus to the start. We find the train station 5 minutes walk up the road and the bus goes from there every 30 minutes from 9am. Apart from the train station and the tourist information office and a restaurant there’s nothing else here.

Friday 9 March

We have a good nights sleep apart from the trees dropping their seeds or was it the birds shitting on us all night. It was really quiet and it didn’t rain.

The sun is shinning and the sky’s are blue it looks like we’ve picked a good day for the walk (checking on the website the walk has been closed for the past couple of days because of high winds). We make a packed lunch and get up to the bus at 9.30am, there’s about 20 people on the bus and we take in the scenery as we drive 25 minutes through the narrow gorge to the start of the walk. Once the bus drops you off there are 2 walks to the actual start of the walk, a short way or long way. We opted for the long walk 2.5km along the river which was great, the views were stunning. We arrived at the gate and showed our ticket which I’d download onto the IPad. “You need to be with your group” says the ticket attendant “we’re not with a group” “did you come on the bus” he asks “yes” “then you need to find your guide”, we go back and forth with this guy, we don’t have a guide this is an open ticket to do the walk without a guide, he gets someone else involved who wants us to email him the ticket, we don’t have any WiFi, after 10 minutes of further conversation he takes a photo of the ticket on my iPad and let’s us through, what the hell was all that about!

Next collect a hairnet and hardhat. A quick briefing about not leaving the path, no walking sticks or selfie poles, no hanging over the railings, no running, no shouting, no toilets, you must wear the hardhat at all times, they open the gates and we set off. The gates are opened every 15 minutes with about 50 or so through at a time, there’s not that many people so it’s a nice leisurely walk without too many people getting in the way of our photos.

The walk takes us through the gorge paths and then up onto the boardwalks which are pinned to the sides of the cliffs. High up there must be over a 100 Griffin Vultures circling round, wonder if they know something we don’t, but it’s pretty impressive to watch them.

The whole walk is amazing, the scenery is stunning and every now and then the train passes below through the manmade tunnels created in the gorge. How you begin to build something like this is incredible the original boardwalks can still be seen below the new boardwalks which were replaced in 2015. How do you get the heavy materials here for a start?

Although we’re high up on the cliff sides it’s not at all scary, but neither of us are scared of heights so it doesn’t bother us at all. There’s a small section of glass platform which everyone wanted to stand on and have a photo and a small suspension bridge which connects over the gorge which was really really bouncy.

Once we passed the suspension bridge we stopped to have our lunch overlooking the river probably one of the best spots we’ve ever stopped to have lunch. It was a great walk, something different and would highly recommend it.

A total of 7.5km and we’re back to the carpark and the clouds are starting to accumulate so we decide to head off.

We find the Aire which is in a new town of Campillos, it’s got everything we need. The town although new doesn’t haven’t anything of interest to see but there are some cycling routes nearby that we thought we might try.

We throughly explore the town searching for a laundromat, we’ve got a weeks washing to do and the bedding, but we finally give up and end up in the pub. The weather is not good it’s far to windy for cycling and the rain is on and off for the next two days, we venture out only to stretch our legs and get some fresh air.

Sunday 11 March

The weather starts bright and sunny but by the time we’re ready to leave it’s absolutely pouring down. We find an Aire on the outskirts of a town called Dona Mencia which is at the start of a railway walk so we decide to park up for the night. It’s still raining but it eases enough for us to venture outside. We find the pathway to the walk but it’s claggy mud like clay which is slippery. We venture on for about 20 minutes hiding under the olive trees when the rain gets heavy until we can’t go any further, the stream has bust it’s banks and there is nowhere for us to cross over without getting our feet wet, so we have to go back.

It rains all night but this doesn’t stop the local yobs using the carpark as a speedway track doing donuts, so it was a very long night.

We are trying to keep in front of the rain but it’s proving difficult at some point there’s got to be a break in the weather and the return of sunshine. We are slowly heading towards Barcelona we’re booked on the ferry to Italy on the 28th March so hope for better weather there.

We are also struggling with the increase in the cost of the internet so trying to use as much of the free WiFi when we find it.

A la perchoine

Shirena & Keith

Xx