An early start today to catch the train from San Roque La Linea to Ronda.

We had booked our tickets the previous day via loco2.com and printed them off on our mobile printer.

Whilst it isn’t a long drive to Ronda, the train journey on the single track line is proported to be very special amid scenic views adorning the climb through the valleys and mountains.

It’s 9:30 in the morning and we are around the halfway point and the journey is living up to its expectation.The GPS shows we have tracked up to an altitude of 320m. Ronda itself is around 720m.

Mo had pre-planned a guided tour around the Old Town to take in views of all the old bridges and sights. This included a hike down the “Water Mines” at the Casa del Rey Moro palace – all 300 steps.

 

The journey down was ok but fairly gruelling back to the surface. In a bygone era, the water mine was used to get water to the surface from the river at the bottom of the gorge and apparently slaves were chained up in the mine shaft to perform this work.

 

 

 

 

And the reason for the water mine – the gorge at the bottom of the shaft.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also hiked down the side of the gorge to take the classic view of the Puente Nuevo.

The “neuvo” bridge is not actually that new, as the building of this bridge commenced in 1751 and took until 1793 to complete. The Puente Nuevo is the tallest of the bridges, towering 120m above the canyon floor.

The highlight of tour of course was watching a group of Indian guys with their “Aerogenix” drone.

Flying it around the main sites in the town. I’ve said before that I definitely need a drone but I hadn’t anticipated the added benefit of it accompanying us on our travels. No more hiking down gorges, just launch the drone for the perfect selfie.

It did look a fairly sophisticated piece of technology and a quick Web search suggests they come in at around 15k Euros. Might have to increase the budget somewhat…

 

I did think about blog entries every other day as everything around here is 50% British and it doesn’t quite feel like the genuine European travels.

Anyhow, today is an exception. We have a chicken crisis. On Monday, we wanted a easy meal so we went up to the campsite bar which has signs plastered around “Chicken and Chips takeaway, 13 Euros”. So we sat down and ordered some drinks and then tried to order the said takeaway. With a big smirk on his face, the barman announced “We don’t have a chef on Mondays. No Chicken”. So, we then had to finish our drinks and fire up the BBQ. So much for an easy tea.

Today we wanted a speedy dinner because we have an early start to take the Train to Ronda tomorrow. Aha. Chicken and Chips. Again I persuaded Mo that we should have a drink or two whilst they were prepared. The beer arrived and with a smile on my face, I ask if the chef is working and can I order the chicken please. “Aha, no problem sir” grinned the same barman, “it will be ready in 2 hours – the chef has to cook it”.

Foiled again. Friday, whether we want Chicken and chips or not Mo is determined that it will be third time lucky.

I think otherwise.

 

The more observant amongst our followers may have noticed that there isn’t yet a blog entry for Day 26. Well, the diary is only maintained whilst we are away in the caravan on a Eurotrip and to be perfectly honest, we’ve become a little confused and disorientated.

Firstly, nearly everyone around here is British and secondly, when you try to speak to someone in Spanish, it elicits a bemused response. I know our Spanish isn’t great but ordering a cerveza and a cola lite is normally ok.

It didn’t help when we visited the local village to discover one of our nearby restaurants, which would be more at home in Camberley High street!

Anyhow, it’s taken a full 24 hours to become acclimatised to Little England (remember we are still far away from Malaga, Torremolinos and Benidorm) but we have concluded that we are actually still in Spain hence the blog is resumed.

 

Walking yesterday and cycling today including a visit to the Puerto De Manilva.

We left El Rocio today. With mixed feelings about missing the festivities and pilgrimage but en-route we did pass a number of pilgrims with their horses and wagons all beautifully dressed up. Perhaps we should have stayed…

Anyway, onto the Costa del Sol and a category 1 campsite near to Estepona named La Bella Vista. Mixed feelings about this part of Spain as we don’t want to find every restaurant serving Fish and Chips and fried mars bars! Still we haven’t been here before so we should give it a chance and we understand Estepona is a well preserved town, far away from the high rise monstrosities of places like Torremolinos, Malaga and Benidorm.

We have heard and read lots of reviews about the campsite which is located with its own private beach and whilst the pitches are allegedly a little cramped, the facilities are reputed to be second to none.

We arrived at the site mid afternoon following a 4 hour drive from El Rocio. First impressions of the site were very good. Yes, the pitches are tight (a van over 7m and full awning would create issues in getting the car on the pitch as well). The hedges though have now grown somewhat from the pictures readily available on websites and there is some shade.

The view over the pool, private beach and ocean is stunning. Not bad for 29 Euros a night, discounted to around 20 Euros per night for a 7 day stay.

 

Another early morning walk although the definition of early seems to have slipped a little.

More like an early lunchtime walk across the sand dunes to the beach.

 

 

 

 

Mo on the way back…

 

 

This was our last full day in El Rocio and we’ll be glad to see the back of the dust. At times you can barely see a 100m and there’s so much activity preparing for the pilgrimage.

It wasn’t quite so hot today – it appears that the worst of the heatwave is behind us. Hopefully temperatures will stay warm but not excessive.

This morning we had an early start and walked a section of Donana National park, around 4 miles in total.

It’s good to see the EU is spending our money wisely – around 5 miles of boardwalk to stroll around on.

 

We didn’t see a Lynx today and in this region of the park, the marshland and lagunas are dry and there was little wildlife to observe.

 

Several Storks nesting on the electricity pylons and a large Black Kite hovering above, hoping to relieve the Stork of its chicks.

 

 

 

 

In the evening we cycled into El Rocio.

Just like the Wild West – townsfolk riding around on their horses and being pulled along in their horse drawn carriages. Away from the solitary tarmac road, cycling is impossible on the sandy streets and we should have left the bikes behind….

… Still, a million people will complete their pilgrimage to El Rocio next Sunday.

As I said in an earlier post, it isn’t possible to just take off and explore this National Forest on your own.

Hence we signed up to an “expedition” through the area on a jeep. Highlight of the trip was seeing a Lynx but sadly just wasn’t quick enough to be able to take a picture.

The area is a haven for birdlife and we saw numerous birds –  too many to recall. Lots of Red Kites, Black Kites, various eagles and a host of water birds.

Here’s a picture of Joe next to the tour “jeep”.

 

The El Rocio pilgrimage takes place next week over around 5 – 6 days, ending on the Monday. El Rocio will play host to 1 million pilgrims who will have made the journey mainly from Sevilla, along with 30,000 horses. That’s in a town of 900 inhabitants. Here is a leaflet we picked up from the campsite reception.

 

The main reason for visiting El Rocio was to explore the Donana National park. We expected it to be somewhat like the New Forest which it is and it isn’t.

Firstly, much of the National Park is not open to the unaccompanied public – so the idea of exploring the area on the bikes isn’t an option.

Secondly, it’s just so hot that the only time of day when it’s cool enough to walk or cycle is between about 08:00 and 10:30. Now I know why the Spanish enjoy their Siestas.

Today we visited the church in El Rocio which is home to the Virgin El Rocio. The Virgin is the reason 1 million people and 30,000 horses will descend on this village of 900 residents – next week!

Dinner was the 10 Euro three course menu of the day at the campsite restaurant.

As is not said on Game of Thrones “Winter isn’t coming”. We are caught up in the mother of all heat waves here amidst the arid semi desert of the south western Spanish province of Andalusia. And it’s hot. Very hot.

 

New Weather symbol

So hot that today we spotted a new symbol on the weather website. One which isn’t seen to often in blighty.

 

Tomorrow we had planned a full 10 hours tramping around Sevilla but the forecast is 41 degrees (for all you folks stuck in blighty at the moment, that’s centigrade not fahrenheit – it’s just shy of 106 F). So, trip cancelled due to inclement weather and the priority will be to keep cool.

Today we managed to walk to the supermarket and back in the centre of El Rocio.

What an interesting place. A few dirt (well sand actually) roads and next week, there will be a million pilgrims here.

 

 

The heat was oppressive, the streets are just sand (it’s better for the horses) and if one took away the cars, it’s just like the wild west.

Mo is struggling in the heat – so much so she even went in the cold swimming pool later this afternoon. More of that to come I’m certain, but sadly no photographic evidence.

El Rocio is famous for its annual pilgrimage which takes place next week. Campsite places top 150 Euros per night (we are paying 16 Euros per night via the ACSI scheme presently).

We were planning to be well clear by next weekend but, have to say, we are mildly curious about the festival. Mo has gone to find out if there are any pitches available – will report back on that tomorrow…

I think I might create a “special post” to cover El Rocio festival.