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In January 2014 we had abandoned our Morello at the Fiat garage in Malaga, where she had refused to start!
Thursday 6th March 2014
Well here we are off to Spain again on an unscheduled trip to check Murvi has been fully repaired.
4 am start to catch 7am flight from Liverpool to Malaga.
i sailed through security but Nicks hand baggage was stopped and searched, the man asked if he had any salt in his luggage, which Nick denied (as did I)……but low and behold the security man found a salt mill which I had put in his bag before we left as we had been unable to purchase one on our last trip……Nick was not amused!!!!!
We arrived to a lovely blue sky and warmth, we caught the bus to the station then walked to the fiat garage, stopping to collect provisions on route.
Murvi was awaiting us and after parting with a hefty sum, we set off to check she was fully functioning again. Luckily no problems, we drove east along the coast road deciding to stop at Torres del Mar, on a campsite with electricity to ensure leisure batteries are fully charged.
Campsite full of a great mix of nationalities, it is interesting to see how they manage to create their own territory with temporary fences etc, even though they are only staying a few months.
I am sure it doesn’t really matter where you stay along the coast as it looks pretty much the same….long promenades,cafes, bars, apartments, dog poo drying nicely in the sun etc……
Friday 7th March
Slept until 9.30, so much for an early start! showered followed by breakfast in the sunshine, then drove to local shops for a quick wander and visit cash point machinebefore heading into the mountains. Glorious trip up and up on narrow roads. The almond trees in full blossom, and all the fields carefully tended, mainly olives., but fields of artichokes on the mountain plateau.
Strolled along beach side into local recreational area, all looked rather deserted and abandoned, we think it is mainly used an outward bound camp, maybe it comes to life in the summer. There was a map with local walks illustrated, a walk around the lake was 27 km, Nick decided he would give that a miss and head back for supper!!! But he did agree to do the 15 km circular walk tomorrow.
Saturday 8th March,
True to his word, we set off on our planned walk, taking a picnic and flask of tea.
Slight difficulties finding start of route but we eventually headed off in the right direction following a dirt road through olive and almond plantations, stopping to pick and eat a few almonds on the way, they were very enjoyable until i picked some bitter almonds…the taste of cyanide rather put us off our scrumping!!
We stopped half way for our picnic next to a roman bridge, then heading onwards along the now signposted footpath, only to get lost within 500 metres!!! We kept loosing the path and Nick had us walking up and down scrubby hills for ages trying to find the correct path. Way below us we could see the gorge and all the marvellous rock formations. We took a break and listened to our next Spanish lesson lying on the cliff top, whilst soaking in the sun.
We could now see the gorge side path way below us, and somehow found a route down without breaking our necks!! The effort was well rewarded, the gorge path was spectacular, despite having to navigate rickety ladders and ropes to get around some of the sections. We then had steep climb to get out of the gorge…..by now Nick thought the 27 km flat lakeside walk might have been preferable!!
Headed back to camp for showers and a well earned beer. The early beer, the walk and the sunshine finished me off and i was sleeping by 8.30!!!
Leaving Nick to go and seek companionship in the camp bar, they were two old soaks from England who moved here years ago and forgot to leave!! He is made of tougher stuff than me!
Sunday 9th March,
Face time to Anna prior to leaving camp. Poor little Florrie still has a rash and kept them awake most of the night….
We drove to Orgiva via winding mountainous roads hugging the Sierra Nevada, snow was clinging to the tops, but we were in the sunshine……
Camping Orgiva was just below the town, lovely situation surrounded by hills, we walked into town, nothing open as it is Sunday! But noticed a lively terrace by the church on our return so we went and sat in the sunshine with a glass of Tinto de Verrano (wine of summer) before strolling home via the orange groves and along the river. We watched with interest the local shepherd with his herd of goats and sheep in the field next to our van, he was quite content listening to his ipod and chatting to his three dogs. I completed my holiday book ‘ the shock of the fall’ an interesting easy read.
Monday 10th March,
Lazy start to the day, coffee and breakie in the sunshine…we eventually set off to head back towards the airport, retracing some of our route over the Alpujarras, then down the valley to visit Almunecar on the Granadian coast, described as having a hint of the Italian Amalfi coast to it…..well there were coastal hills covered with houses and a few coves which made a pleasant change to the long stretches of beach further west. It also had a pleasant old town of winding streets, cafes and shops. We then decided to head back into the hills and found a campsite in Iznate again it offered a full panorama of beautiful hills, this time covered mainly in avocado and almond trees, the almonds trees here were in full leaf and the almonds had formed. In the distance we could see the range of mountains we had driven over at the beginning of the week.
We then sauntered into Izante approx 2 miles away and explored the village, where we went up and down incredibly steep streets, Nick said he felt ‘ unbalanced’ !!!
Back at camp we had Tinto Verrano on our private terrace as the sun set, followed by supper.
Tuesday 11th March,
Last day of relaxing on this trip……. We spent a few hours reading in the sunshine, then packed up to tour the area. We retraced some of day one’s route as we had seen a reservoir that we thought looked nice, so we headed there and set up for a picnic, read, and a stroll around the shore. A Again beautifully quiet, relaxing in stunning scenery.
Time to head back towards airport for our final night, but we decided to take a scenic mountainous route… again very winding roads and small hilltop villages. Nick and the sat nav had me negotiating some very narrow streets with parked cars! We kept thinking we were at the top of the mountain but we always seemed to keep going up and up, so the downhill was very steep and not recommended by the sat nav….so Nick took over the driving and did it anyway!!!
I am always amazed by how many people live up in the mountains, small villages miles from anywhere….
Safely to our campsite a few miles from airport, wandered to the local cafe for supper, it was only small but they had 4 televisions on showing the football and only about 5 people watching the match!!!
Wednesday 12th March
Up early to pack and clean MURVI.
MURVI was duly delivered back to her parking slot again. We said our farewells and will see her again in April for the next adventure.