11 November 2022 - Just hanging around

Miles driven today = 0

Total Miles to date = 3,058

A chilly breeze picked up overnight.  Strong enough to rock the van on a few occassions and dismantle the tarp our French neighbours had covering their motorbikes.  So having decided to stay for another night we did little more than hunker down in the van until lunchtime.

By then the breeze had dropped a little so out came the bikes and we pedalled off down a track which circles round to the west of Ronda.

Although it was still a relatively cool 15 degrees it was gloriously sunny once again, giving phenominal views of the surrounding olive groves and mountains beyond.

Looking back towards Ronda we also got a good view of the towering arches of the Puente Nuevo.

At the end of the track we locked up the bikes and descended down a steep path to the hermitage of the Virgin of Cabeza.  There has been a cave shrine here since the 9th or 10th century but unfortunately the gates were locked and there was even police crime scene tape strewn about so we couldn't investigate further.

We turned turtle and picked up another track which we knew led down into the valley and eventually on to the village of Benaojan but after a while the descent became perilously steep and the road surface deteriorated significantly so we decided that discretion was the better part of valour and headed back to Ronda.

We cycled through the town a little further than we had walked yesterday.  What we found was predominantly newer developments and commercial areas but we did discover a couple of new miradors.

Just look at that view!  You'd never tire of looking at that.

We stopped in the town for a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice and then made our way back to the campsite where we have loitered for the remainder of the afternoon.  Time to move on again in the morning.  We'll head initially for Malaga and then take the coast road along the Costa Del Sol.  There are numerous options there for stopovers and it will be our last chance to slow down and unwind on a beach before we head inland again to Granada and then start making our way home from there.  So we'll just have to see where we land tomorrow.  Home is where you park it, as they say.

12 November 2022 - Back on the Costa Del Sol