Granada to Torreguadarrio 22nd October and Gibraltar 23rd October

October 23^rd

Yesterday we were up early, before 6, to drop Jo at the Granada airport for her return to NZ. It was pitch black, and cool, we drank coffee and watched her disappear, firstly through the security area and then along the outside pathway to board the big Iberian plane off to Madrid. We waited until the plane had taken off before heading back out to the truck and driving south towards firstly Malaga, quickly through Torremolinos again and on to where we had found a place to stay overlooking a beach.

The first couple of hours of our drive were in the pitch black, the sun hasn’t been rising until 8.30, but yesterday it was very overcast, and so when the sun should have been giving us light, it was a feeble attempt. In fact we were treated to amazing lightning and thunder and torrential rain, the first rain we had seen in Spain, and it seemed to be making up for lost time. You could almost see the parched grass lapping or slurping even as the rain fell. Once we got to  Estapona   the road was so wet in places it was more like tropical Asia, traffic slowed to about 40-50 kms per hour instead of the 120 which is permitted usually, and there were lakes to cross in some lanes. Some cars didn’t slow sufficiently, one paid the price, it was surrounded by emergency vehicles as it lay on its side with its nose cannoned into a concrete bollard. 

We stopped at McD’s to try to recharge some equipment and do some internet work. It didn’t open until 11 a.m (!!!!) so we sat in the truck for 20 minutes before returning. We made an order of a happy meal and two coffees, it took 25 minutes for delivery!!!, unfortunately the internet speed was about the same as that of the workers and so though I managed to get a connection I couldn’t get any blogging done as it took over an hour for 7 photos to load!!!!

We gave up and went to the supermarket instead, or more correctly di ducked into what was apparently a Piccadilli Circus type Carrefour (absolutely mad with jhoppers, not sure if the rain had made them all mad, or the fact that supermarkets don’t open on Sunday in Spain and so they were all madly stocking up before closing on Saturday. Either way, I had the usual issue of trying to find a park for the truck, all well not all, but many supermarkets put barriers up so that anything over 2m can’t get into the parking areas, I’m not sure how or where those of us with trucks/vans are supposed to do our shopping, but it is difficult.

Once we had finished here, it was a case of continuing to battle with the elements as we headed to Torreguadiaro for a spot to stop. The stop was easily visible from the road, and quite lovely, two tiered overlooking a very stormy Mediterranean Sea, with dark grey to black clouds splitting frequently with lightening. We drove down to the first level and became aware the surface with all the rain had become quite mucked up, and the truck slid a bit despite quite a bit of sand. We parked on some grass but as the rain continued, after a quick explore of the beach we cleaned as much of the mud off the tires as possible and headed back up to the top of the parking area. It wasn’t easy but we managed to negotiate our way up the slide.

We watched ships on the ocean, and flashing lightening, hunkered down in our campervan, played cards and hit the sack early as we had had a long day, nothing compared to Jo of course who was by now on a plane somewhere between Madrid and Dubai.

It rained a wee bit over night, but we all slept like logs, and awoke somewhat refreshed at 7.30. It was too dark to do more than read in bed until about 8.30 at which point we started preparing to leave while we could as it had begun raining again and I was aware that at the place where the road and the track from our park met there was a steep and thickly mudded area which I was a bit unsure of how the truck would manage to get over.

It took four runs at it before she finally managed to edge her front wheels over the lip of asphalt sufficiently to grind her way onto the road. We drove on south down to Gibraltar hoping to find a place where we could watch the rugby world cup final.

We took a wee while getting to Gibraltar and finding a stop where we could park. Eventually we parked at the supermarket parking spot and walked only a short distance to a café/bar which had the rugby playing. We were 30 minutes late so missed the All Blacks try, and the Haka and all that, but we sat very tensely drinking coffee, eating bacon rolls and stressing out for the remaining 50 minutes of the game, dressed in black, with our big black All Blacks flag Jo had brought over from Auckland for us.

What a game, what a result, I must confess I shed a wee tear at the final whistle, relief more than exhilaration, but I won’t forget it, sitting in a café in Gibraltar, watching the boys win it for the country.

Once we had recovered from that we went for a walk along the main street, “Mini England” everyone speaking English, having to change our euro to Gibraltar pounds to buy anything, “bobbies” in the streets, red telephone boxes and post-boxes…….. very interesting. Di wore our all Blacks flag, you would be amazed at how many people knew all about the world cup, the game, and keen to know the outcome.

We got heckled by a few Frenchmen, but congratulated by English, Spanish and others (and the French too).  We made our way up the rock, it is very steep going up, we didn’t go into the caves or tunnels, but had a great time looking at views and watching the apes. One tried to steal my water bottle (he snatched it out of my bag) when we wouldn’t give him/her any  of the nuts we were eating. They are only small, but very quick and very strong and very pushy.

Trying to steal a Werther's Original from Di's clenched fist

What?

Gibraltar Port

Please can I have some?

Patriotism gone mad

We had a brief drive around the other side of the rock, it is white (hence Gibraltar board), on the cliff facing out to the med, and very impressive with a straight cliff heading up 400 plus metres to the sky.  We left the island and passed through the border controls, like on our way over from Spain to Gibraltar we were waved through with the officers barely glancing at our passports, certainly no stamps, and possibly not even aware we were NZers, as my British passport  (EU)  was on top.

We are now parked on the portside at Algeciras which is the hop-off point for Morocco by ferry. We have a beautiful view with lights shining on the water, huge parking area, and lots of quiet. 

The view from our campsite

The view a few hours later

We think we can stay here, it says 24 hour parking, gratis and there are lots of other vehicles parked, some of which have been here for a fair while by the look of them. The difference may be that we are staying the night in our truck though. I doubt anyone will be concerned, we are nice responsible people who won’t cause problems.