23rd Sept. Jerez-Donana National Park

The plan today was to visit Jerez and if that didn't work out, Sevilla, but after the Cadiz experience, the navigator had a certain amount of trepidation - and rightly so!
We drove all through Jerez, a beautiful town, but nowhere to park. We even had trouble getting into the supermarket car parks because of height restrictions. I don't think they like motor homes in this country!
Then we drove on to Sevilla. It was 42 degrees but felt more bearable than Cadiz as it was much less humid. There were so many things we wanted to see here, but again, only underground car parks and narrow streets :-(.

So we headed south west to the national park of Donana. We picked up some beers in the town of Almonte, Kat's birthplace! well maybe not! We found a nice wild spot to stay in a pine forest. It is weird that we are about 20 miles inland yet there is sand everywhere. This park is meant to be a mecca for bird watching, wish we had brought our binoculars - and Peter!

21st Sept - Another calamity :-(

The next morning we found we were in th midst of a car rally. Nick reckons that the front runners were world class cars - they were certainly loud! And we had a birds eye view of them winding down the mountain road below us. There seemed to be every conceivable competition going on. We met runners and cyclists all in racing gear. Then, unfortunately, there was another rally event going the same way as us! It was a bit unnerving when the Casa Coche became a moving chicane! One tried to overtake us and then had to slam his brakes on at the last minute, burning rubber like crazy, as a car was approaching from the other direction!
Then we had another calamity :-( We had seen very few motor homes in Spain, but we had a much to close enounter with one on this day. It was very large, going way too fast and came whipping around a bend towards us and completely destroyed our wing mirror! Poor Cassie! We had to drive several miles with me holding a part of it attached by wire until Nick could find somewhere safe to stop and perform some emergency surgery in the form of duct tape. Luckily a small mirror had remained intact, so the driver reckons he can still drive safely.

We decided at this point that we have had enough of mountain roads and headed for Cadiz. Cadiz was beautiful. Immaculate, clean and classy. We drove right into the centre, through the old quarter and then back along the coast without stopping. Not from choice, we couldn't find anywhere to park!! All the car parks were underground without enough clearance for us and the roadside parking was all too narrow! And it was so HOT! It must have been 40* with stifling humidity. Eventually we squeezed into a space, just slightly obstructing the road, stripped off and threw ourselves into the sea. Although this was the atlantic, it was a lot calmer than the med and lovely and clean and fresh. The golden sands stretched the entire length of the city which is one very long peninsular. After we had cooled off we headed to a campsite at El Puerte de Santa Maria which was the other side of the bay of Cadiz, but we definitely want to return to Cadiz, without Cassie and the dogs! We stayed in a National park of sand dunes. We decided to stay two nights here to recover from our harrowing journey. Another town to explore, another beach to swim at, and pine forested dunes for the dogs to play in. There were even some feral cats for them to taunt!

20th Sept. Ronda - Grazalema

The next day we parked just outside the campsite and walked the kilometre into town. It was scorching hot with very little shade, but the town was beautiful with some amazing old buildings and an incredible 18th century viaduct at the top of a gorge.
To quote my guide book: 'The white city crouches on a limestone shelf cleft by the precipitous El Tajo gorge nearly 400 ft above the river!'

 I'm not sure that the fountains were meant for cooling dogs! But they did appreciate it!

 The Moorish fortifications.

We had intended to stay and have a meal, but then we remembered that we had forgotten to turn the van fridge on - duh!

From Ronda we started our driving tour of the Pueblos Blancos (white towns) and stayed the night in a car park overlooking the pretty village of Grazalema. We strolled into the village that evening and founda bar in the plaza free wi-fi Yay! The whole village was using the square as a social meeting point and it was very lively with children running around until 11pm. We managed a skype date with Kat in Canada, and a little boy from the plaza decided to join in!

19th Sept. Terror in El Torcal!

What a scary night! As if the howling gale wasn't enough, in the early hours of the morning we were awakened by the sound of vehicles driving alongside our van. I said initially that it was probably just another campervan, free camping. But one of the vehicled kept its engine running. Two men were having a blazing argument, one was very angry and shouting while the other seemed to be trying to calm him down. Nick cautiously got out of bed and peeped through the blinds. One of the vehicles was so close to ours, it was within touching distance. We weren't sure if they had any interest in our van at all, but the worry was why they had chosen to come so close to us, when they had a huge parking area to stop in. I discovered the next morning that Nick had got dressed, had the van keys in his hand, and was watching them like a hawk, ready to leap into the driving seat  drive off the instant they made any move towards our Cassie. I did think that that would have been a bit challenging with the blinds over the windscreen, though! They eventually turned off their engine and then stayed talking for another hour, before eventually driving off! Then poor Nick finally crawled back to bed!

The next morning we found the visitor centre, it was 10km from the village, not 1km as stated in our guide book! We did a lovely walk among the most incredible limestone rock formations. It would have been a climber's paradise, if climbing had been allowed, even dogs weren't allowed, but I ignored that rule!

As with all of these kind of places, lots of the rock formations had 'names', the one in the background was a thumbs up - as I am demonstrating!

We couldn't get the remote to work, so we used the timer, and when Nick sprinted to me we crashed heads! Ouch!

See how she climbs rock faces with her bare hands!

Dartmoor isn't the only place with a Cheesewring!

We drove through more beautiful mountains, then descended to a fertile arable plain past pretty towns with the usual white washed houses and the ubiquitous castle on a hill.

We camped on the outskirts of Ronda, in a proper campsite with a pool - luxury!

18th Sept: Happy Birthday Mum!

We set off in search of more pretty beaches and found one at Maro. Unfortunately dogs weren't allowed - again, but we managed to park the van in the shade close by. The waves were still scary, with a really strong undertow. I would have loved to have been confident enough to get through the wave break to swim, but decided that discretion was the better part of valour! Several times I was standing in a foot of water and a wave broke right over my head! And this is the Med! It was probably because the beach was so steeply shelved. The weather remained hot and sultry.

Further along the coast it became very built up. We went to a supermarket and there were more Brits there than Spanish! Welcome to the Costa del Sol! Yuk! No, this definitely was not our scene. We decided against our original plan of following the coast around to Gibraltar, and instead headed inland to El Torcal Park Nature Reserve 30km north of Malaga.

We immdiately started climbing mountains again. We passed the town of Villanueva de Conception and it was very sad to see loads of part built appartment blocks just abandoned. We were not sure if we had found the Nature Reserve, but we parked up at an abandoned picnic spot next to yet another empty house. We were on the top of the mountains with a howling gale buffeting the van, wondering if we would be able to get any sleep!

17th Sept Au Natural!

As soon as we were west of Motril the scenery improved dramatically. The mountains came literally to the coast, the road either winds over the hills or through them via tunnels. The tunnels have humerous names like 'Cerdo Gordo' (fat pig). One of the towns, Salobrena is built on a rocky outcrop jutting out to sea with a Phoenician castle perched on the top, but we don't stop, as we have decided that we have seen and photographed enoughs castles!
 We stop at a picnic spot for lunch with a stunning view down a tree clad valley to the sea.

After a siesta we decided to walk down the valley to the sea. We see a sign saying 'Playa Natwista' and then a picture of pretty fish. Nick reckons it means nature reserve, but I am pretty certain it means nudist beach! But, hey, my swimsuit takes ages to dry anyway! There are lots of cars coming and going as we walk the 1.5 km in the baking heat - even though it is 4.30 pm, so whatever it is - it is very popular! When we get to the beach, we see the dreaded sign - 'No dogs allowed'! But it is a stunning beach - rocky cliffs on both sides and huge waves battering it. No surfers, to my surprise, but then I realise that there is no surf as such, just a massive 'shore dump' I think is the term.
On the way down to the beach, two dear leapt across the road in front of us, so I thought that maybe Nick was right and it was a nature reserve - but it was also a nudist beach but with the option of wearing clothes! Most bizarre! Half were baring all, while others were coyly getting changed under towels!
There were a string of outdoor cafes along the perimeter of the beach, so we got permission to have the dogs there, and did some voyeuring! Hehe!
I chickened out of going in, not averse to stripping off, just scared of the 4-5 ft waves!
We had some very welcome cervezas in iced glasses and then they brought out the most amazing tapas. Fresh anchovies with mayo and potatoes!
And then there was the live entertainment! A very well endowed young man that paraded up and down past all the cafes - twice!! Of course, I pretended not to notice him!

No, this isn't him!

16th Sept: Motril - Costa Tropical

On our way out of the Alpujarras we drove through the beautiful town of Lanjaron, and passes some scarily high rock faces, thinking Cam and Jamie would this area!

The one thing we didn't like about Trevelez was the flies, but they were nothing compared to the camp site at Motril on the Costa. The temperature was no higher, but the humidity was unbearable. It was quite built up, and the beach was long, gritty and uninspiring! The pool was very fancy but the site cost 36 euros! And I only got 30 minutes free internet! Tomorrow we are going in search of more attractive beaches and hopefully some free or cheaper camping!