El Rocio - Inside the church

El Rocio - Our transport to the centre of El Rocio

El Rocio - Typical house with post and rail outside to tie up your horses

Seville - Triana, the court of the Inquisition

Seville - The bell tower for the cathedral, originally a tower for the mosque which was here first. Inside there are no steps but ramps so that the whoever had to get to the top could ride up on his horse.s

Seville - inside the bullring, front seats cost 200euros

Seville - outside the bullring. We don't agree with bull fighting but we were interested in the history.

Seville - a square in Santa Cruz

Seville - a square beside the cathedral

Along the riverbank in Seville

Sunset at Tarifa

Wild camping at Tarifa, not a bad view to wake up to every day

Africa only 15k away

The beach at Tarifa

Another meal lovingly prepared for Kev, watch out Masterchef

On Friday we moved on to Tarifa, the most southerly point of Europe. The site we were at was only 15km from Africa. This area is really popular with wind surfers and wind kiters and not really an area for sunbathing on the beach.  We stayed on the site for a couple of nights and then moved along the beach about 500m to a wild camping spot. The police came round a few times and one morning at 8am they did sound their siren but nobody seemed that bothered so we stayed another night.

We left Tarifa on Wednesday and headed for Seville. We stayed about 10km outside Seville at Don Hermanas at Camping Villsom. It was really cold there and the shower block did not have a door on it, it was absolutely freezing. On Thursday we took the bus to Seville and went on the open top bus tour. I ended up with gloves , a scarf and an extra jacket on. The tour was good though and it included 2 walking tours with a guide, one tour round the Santa Cruz area and one round Trianna . In between the walking tours we went to the bullring and did the guided tour there. Seville is really worth a visit and I would love to go back there.

On Friday we moved on to El Rocio which is south west of Seville about 100k. It is a funny little town the streets are covered in sand, impossible to cycle through it’s like cycling on a beach. The town is like the old Wild West, lots of post and rails outside houses and shops to tie up your horse at. We went for a look around late afternoon and got a bit lost as all the streets look the same. We stopped to ask directions from a man with a 2 mule buggy and he pointed us in the direction of the church and Main Square. 2 minutes later he came along with his mules and buggy and asked if we would like to get in the buggy and he would take us to the church. So disregarding the rules about not getting into a vehicle with a stranger off we went. On Saturday we went back to the town and had a better look around. During the year there are religious pilgrimages to this town when about a million people can turn up. They arrive by wagons pulled by oxen, mules or horses. That would have been good to see.

Today we are moving on heading back to Benidorm via Tarifa, Gibraltar and along the coast line.

At the parking at Gibraltar there was a dog and a pig living with a couple in a van the same size as ours

Blossom in front of the rock, the fence at the back is the border between Spain and Gibraltar, we were parked on the Spanish side

Kev and a monkey

Cycling across the runway

Our friends, Wendy & Mick, had already visited Gibraltar about a fortnight ago and they had told us where to park overnight for free. On our arrival at Gibraltar I had misread their instructions and crossed the border into Gibraltar. We had to show our passports at the border and then drive through nothing to declare after that you have to drive across the runway to enter into the city, that was a bit weird. Anyway after reading the instructions again I realised that we should not have gone into Gibraltar so we had to go back across the runway and you then have to queue to get back through the border to Spain, that took about 20 minutes, apparently in the height of summer it can take a couple of hours to get through the border back to Spain. Just now in rush hour it takes about 45 minutes to an hour. Once back in Spain we found the parking place and there were already about 40 other motothomes parked there, it’s a bit like a traveller’s site but cleaner.

We got the bikes out and cycled back into Gibraltar, still showing your passport and cycling through nothing to declare and across the runaway. Now here’s another Griswald moment, the cable car up to the top of the rock is closed for two weeks for maintenance.  So what else is there to do in Gibraltar I hear you say, NOTHING. The only way up the rock was by foot or bike. That wasn’t an option for me. We did find that some taxi’s do tours of the rock so we decided to do that the next day.

Tuesday we cycled to Morrisons and got a few essentials but we will have to go in with Blossom to stock up.  There are quite a few shops in Main Street that are the same as back home but if you are looking to buy electrical or photographic equipment then they are not that much cheaper although they are supposed to be duty free. The petrol is however only £1.03 a litre. We took our taxi tour, which was worth the money. One bit I didn’t like was the monkeys, we got out of the taxi and a monkey jumped on my head, they are quite heavy and they can bite so I was a bit scared. On the tour we also saw the Pillars of Hercules, St Michaels Cave, which is now an auditorium and the siege tunnels, there are 34 miles of tunnels inside the rock. We then went to the Gibraltar Museum.

Wednesday we had a cycle around and had a look in the shops.

Today we have come to Morrisons, with Blossom, and are taking advantage of the free wifi in the café there to post this blog.  We will be heading for Tarifa tomorrow.

Looks like the roads have been imported from the UK as they are full of pothole and badly repaired!!!!!!!

TTFN

Kev's idea of what the inside of the back of Blossom should look like, heaven

The square in Ronda oldtown

The view from the bridge at Ronda

The bridge at Ronda

The Bullring at Ronda

On the beach at Cabopino 29th January 2012

We left Torre Del Mar in the middle of a thunder storm but there was no rain. We went to a site just outside Marbella at Cabopino. The site was quite big and was nearly full, mostly brits who weren't that friendly. The thunder continued there and it was so loud Blossom was shaking. We had torrential  rain all night. The next day we took the bus to Marbella and had a stroll around the old town and then along the beach front. Quite an expensive place. On Sunday we took a picnic and cycled to the beach at Cabopino. It was quite disturbing as there was a naked Spaniard parading about the beach showing off his muscle!! to all the women passing by. Would have definitely been arrested on Aberdeen beach.

Moved on on Monday and drove to the top the of the world, an altitude of 1,065m, where we visited Ronda. It was freezing, there was ice in the puddles but Kev still wore his shorts and t shirt. Really enjoyed our day in Ronda apart from the fact that my cash card had stopped working!!!!! Another Griswald moment, overuse I think. We travelled down the mountain to just outside Estepona. The views on the way down were really good of the Rock of Gibraltar, only 45km from where we are now. The site we are at is Parque Tropical and our plan was to stay two nights and head for Gibraltar but we had to wait for a new cash card, which arrived on Friday. No point in moving on until Monday as the shops in Gibraltar close at 1.30pm on Saturday and are closed on Sunday. We have quite a long list of stuff we want to get from the shops in Gibraltar like M & S and Morrisons. We will be wild camping on Gibraltar so will not be able to blog for a few days. We did take the bus into Estepona and again did the tour of the old town and the beach front, had some really, really nice tapas, cheap as well.