061211

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6^th December

Happy Birthday Robert! (My big Bruv)

We spent a couple of nights on a campsite near Antequera. There we took a trip out on the bike to the lake at Fuente de Piedra, lots of flamingos, cool. Then on through the mountains and the gorge at Los Gaitanes. Unfortunately we have been a bit spoilt and these mountains, although pretty, do not compare with the Alps and Pyrenees. We ended up in Antequera and had a night out, watching the stunt bike and monster truck display which was on in the bullring. Much better than watching a bullfight!

Through Malaga (not nice) then on to the coast to Torre de Mar and then La Herradura where we found a small stretch that wasn't all hotels and concrete. Here we cycled into Almunecar and back. So far, we are not that impressed with the Costa del Sol.

Next it was on to Las Alpujarras where we visited Trevelez a village up in the mountains where they smoked ham and made rugs. On to the Sierra de Los Filabres. There was a theme park there where they did wild west shows in the summer, we could see why films had been made there as it looked a lot like America with the rolling desert and big red rocks.

On past vast marble quarries to Baza. Spent the night on top of the hill (Jabalcon), very cold and the next morning we were above cloud base, a bit like being in an aeroplane. Eventually the cloud cleared and Phil flew down, his first flight since Ager in Northern Spain two months ago. I would like to say it was an epic flight and he was up for hours, unfortunately it was just a top to bottom as there was no lift, too bloomin' cold in my opinion!

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