9 November 2022 - Up in the clouds

Miles driven today = 59

Total Miles to date = 3,058

As we left the aire in the shadow of Gibraltar this morning the trip counter clocked up 3,000 miles.  Google Maps gave us 3 options to reach today's destination, all supposedly taking within 5 minutes of each other, so we plumped for the one which we thought would fray Lisa's nerves the least.

We took the A7 coastal road for a while, which had some spectacular views along the westerly beaches of the Costa Del Sol, with imposing mountains as a backdrop.  Then at San Luis de Sabinillas we took a left turn and started to climb.  Lisa was quickly grabbing the armrest and stamping on her imaginary brake pedal and the situation was only exacerbated by the local sports car enthusiasts club who came hurtling past us in their Porches, Ferarris and Lamborghinis, sometimes 2 at a time, on stretches of less than 100 metres between hairpin bends. 

Then on one particularly tight bend the backrest of one of our bench seats detatched itself from its velcro fixings and threw itself on the floor, together with the pineapple and full punnet of grapes it had been holding in place.  So we stopped at the lovely looking hillside town of Gaucin to put everything back in place and take a look at the scenery.

By that stage it had started to rain.  We passed plenty of miradors with fantastic views over the white painted villages which seem to cling impossibly to the hillsides, but elected to stay warm and dry in the van whilst wondering who on Earth thought it would be a great idea to start a settlement half way up a cliff face in the midde of nowhere.

The rain was easing by the time we approached Ronda.  We checked in at Camping El Sur and promptly chucked the majority of our loose change at their laundry facilities.  It's €30 including electric for the first night here which is the most we have paid anywhere for an overnight stop on this trip.  But they do increasing discounts for the second and subsequent nights.  We are going to be here for at least 2 nights so it will average out a bit cheaper overall.

By 2:30 the skies had cleared so we took ourselves off for a stroll.  The campsite is about half a mile to the South of the outskirts of Ronda so we headed down the hill towards the town.  We are about 750 metres above sea level here.  Most of the cultivated land is given over to olive plantations and there are great views of the mountains in every direction.

When we reached the first buildings of the town itself we took a left turn up a small lane and then a footpath through the olive trees so that we could get a good view of Ronda from a distance.

The town was built at the top of 130 metre cliffs which, thanks to a river confluence, surround the original Moorish settlement on 3 sides.  I'll tell you much more about it tomorrow when we actually get to see it close up but even from here the scale of those cliffs was just breathtaking.

It was only 14 degrees when we got here earlier, which is cooler than the lowest night time temperature we have had for a while and it was a bit of a shock to the system when I jumped out of the van wearing shorts and sandals.  It warmed up in the sunshine this afternoon but there is definitely an autumnal feeling up here in the hills and it's due to drop into single figures tonight.

We're still managing a bit of the old al fresco cooking though.  Motorhome ovens are notoriously inept when it comes to grilling so the Cadac has been an absolute God send.  Tonight's offering - Grilled pork fillet with ratatouille and garlic potatoes.  Bloody marvellous with a €3 bottle of Tempranillo.

10 November 2022 - Ronda