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With some dark clouds in the sky the discussion on attire was a difficult one for Woolly, Sombrero, Bandana or Scarf? Finally he was ready and we headed from the coast road towards Gibraltar. The passing scenery would have been stunning, well it was stunning to be fair but the wind turbines did detract quite a lot from the beautiful mountains. The forty kilometres journey led us through the busy town of San Rouge, with huge billboards advertising C and A, Primark, Shoe Zone and many other familiar names, but where were the signs for piece of Britain on the Spanish shores?
Woolly says – with only a few kilometres to go I spotted our first sign for Gibraltar. Ceded to the British in 1715, the Spanish have tried to regain it several times resulting in two referendums, both which went in favour of retaining its British status by over 90 per cent of the votes. We were all looking forward to this visit, how English would it be? Joining a very long queue of cars we waited patiently to go across the border, after forty minutes I wasn’t feeling quite so patient and was very bored of
looking at the immense rock that we should be on. At last we waved our passports and it was just like being in the UK, we got stuck in a traffic jam! Having sat for five or so minutes Ian pointed out that we were waiting for a plane to land at the world’s 4
th worst airport, we heard the engines and there it was going past us only metres away, within moments the cars started to move and we sped across the runway.
With us all looking for signs, we spotted one and thought we were following it until we arrived at a dead end in the naval ship yard, reversing Oliver we tried another road and found ourselves facing the fire station, with a car park adjacent we decided that feet and paws would be better and parked up. Trying to get our bearings we spied the cable car, with big gulps and our fear of heights this looked like the only way up to the Top of the Rock.
Woolly says – I’ve never been in a cable car before, it looked like fun, we debated at the cost £37.00 GBP
(approximately £37.00 GBP hehe), it’s a lot of pistachio’s! The cost covered our journey to the top and access to everything up there but we would have to walk back down, no problem I said. The ride was really exciting and as we got higher and higher I could see for miles, Jo and Ian were looking a little pale but I was sure they were fine really. The man in charge told us to hold tightly to bags, cameras and anything else we were carrying and we soon found out why. Alighting at the top we headed straight for coffee, £3.00 GBP, blimey this wasn’t a cheap place to be. Sitting and admiring the mammoth rock formation we heard a commotion and saw an ape running off with someone’s bag, pulling stuff out of it and throwing it over the side of the rock face before opening the bag of sweets he had found inside and munched away happily while the crowds took his picture. I felt scared, very very scared, looking at Jo she had the same thought, I jumped into her bag for a safety measure.
It really did seem best, we admired the
views from the top and found apes everywhere we looked, playing together, arguing over food and blatantly waiting for their millions of fans to get there cameras into focus. Following the map we had been given we made our way towards the furthest battery point, half a mile later we stood admiring the views of Africa across the short distance, we let Woolly out but made sure one of us was holding him at all times.
Woolly says – the views were incredible but with the temperatures rising quickly and a very steep hill to climb we turned and headed downwards to St Michaels Cave. They were pretty specular and with no apes in sight I was able to admire the sheer magnitude of them, we even saw a stalagmite that had been cross sectioned, a first for us all. Leaving the cool depths of the caves behind we returned to the bright sunlight and apes everywhere, I made a quick decision and was happy to be shoved back into Jo’s bag.
We picked up the road and with only 2.4km to walk we wandered the lanes, stopping every few minutes to let vehicles
go by, the walk seemed to take forever. Just as we were losing hope we saw the signs for The Great Siege Tunnels, up a very steep incline we plodded onwards. The tunnels were interesting, started in 1772 they now exceed 3km in length. Woolly found several cannons and with no threat to his wellbeing was back into posing mood. We reached the point of no return, carry on for another 2km or turn back now, with aching feet we turned back and set off downhill where we found Princess Caroline’s battery, now a monument to the brave soldiers who have defended Gibraltar through the years.
Woolly says – just as I thought it was safe to come out I spied some apes, Jo took a quick snap as one of them launched itself onto a passing women, no hesitation I headed for the bag.
Downwards we went finding the City under Siege Museum which told the story of how they had lived and survived and their methods of punishment, one man was lashed over 30000 times for wrong doings, be warned Woolly. We could see the town getting ever nearer and the Moorish
Castle came into view. By now we were bone tired and dragging our legs as we climbed up into the castle.
Woolly says – I wasn’t a bit tired, the castle was square and we could see shell and cannon damage to it everywhere. Inside the metal stairway took us into the bathroom (no latrines unfortunately), the chapel and the rooms that would have stored the arsenal of weapons. Reaching the top we had a clear view of Spain, Africa and a small piece of the UK in one view, pretty impressive. Steadily descending we reached the back streets of Gibraltar itself, with bin bags lining the roads, paint peeling off the buildings and cars parked everywhere it isn’t the most attractive of places, I got very excited when I saw a red phone box but Jo said we hadn’t got time to start making phone calls and we made our weary way back to Oliver. With the town behind us we queued to leave, not even an acknowledgement of our passports and there we were back on Spanish soil. Was it was we expected? Not really, the houses are Spanish, the prices are high and the
apes are scary, I just hope I don’t have nightmares tonight!
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