11 The Rock

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We leave Seville and pick up the AP4. For many miles its a featureless dull road, not many towns or villages to pass through. We had seen the sign for Cadiz, the city I remember from history lessons for many famous battles. It could have been a great place to stop, but judging by the lack of campsites it wasn’t, so we pressed on.

We were heading for the Rock of Gibraltar, situated at the pinch point between Europe and North Africa, where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic. It has been fought over for many centuries. It has been a British protectorate longer than America has been independent. It is 3 miles long and ¾ mile wide, the third smallest country after the Vatican and Monaco. With 32,000 inhabitants that had voted to remain British citizens in recent referendums.

But first where to camp? With the help of a campsite app, I was directed to a Marina a stones throw from the Gibraltarian border. On our trip we have been deprived of great views, here we had hit the jackpot, the Marina was ahead of us and the Rock behind. But oh, the best thing after our stay in our stifling, enclosed car park of Seville was the cooling sea breeze.

We set out to explore Gibraltar. Since Brexit, in Europe, we can only stay 90 days out of 180. Being British citizens, we could stay in Gibraltar as long as we want. Passing passport control we bought a hop on, hop off bus ticket this took us toward the town centre. The town seem to have been built in and around the military fortifications with names like the Kings Bastion. Being so close to the sea we were amazed that all we could see was buildings, blown away also, by the number of cars parked everywhere, we hadn’t expected this on a 7 half sq mile country! I doubt if there are many houses to buy on Gibraltar so the only way is up. We saw many new apartments built or being built as its very attractive for expats and many companies are settling here because of good tax incentives.

Trying to orientate ourselves we walked down Main St, (does what it says on the tin), before a quick drink and jumping on a bus. This one took us on the East side passing sandy bays -no cossies, so we stayed on the bus. The next bus route took us to the most southerly part of the peninsular, Europa point. This gave us an amazing view with North Africa ahead of us, the Straits to the right and the wider Mediterranean to the left. Many large cargo ships we’re moored, with the slight mist it made for quite a ghostly sight.

Gibraltar is a home from home, familiar names M&S, Next, Matalan, even a Morrisons. It seemed like the place to have good old-fashioned Fish and Chips so headed for ‘The Clipper’ it didn’t let us down. Greedy chops here (me) opted for Sticky Toffee Pud with lashings of custard. Ali opted out. My gluttony made us miss the last bus for the border, fortunately the bus driver, sort of, took pity. With an abrupt 'get in' he whizzed us back to the frontier. Phew!

Next day we made an early start to catch the cable car to the top of The Rock. Exiting the cable car gave us our first view of the Gibraltar’s famous macaque monkeys. We were pre warned by the cable car operator to keep camera, water bottles and food hidden away, and they can bite. Two were hanging on to cable car ready for ‘fresh blood’ (us tourists).

A light bite at the Top of Rock restaurant gave us a wonderful view of the rock and the Mediterranean, although service was ponderously slow. We had bought a pass to let us not only ride the cable car but also access to the Nature Park, but really it should have been historical park, because apart from the apes there was more military sites, as you will find out.

First attraction was the Skywalk, a walkway with glass floor that looks down over the cliff face. Then on to St Michaels Cave, a vast cave with a light show dramatically entitled ‘The Awakening’. The stalactites were staggering without lights but the light presentation added to it.

We avoided getting to close to the many apes we had encountered but they seemed not bothered by us mostly. We headed toward two sets of tunnels firstly ‘the Great Siege Tunnels’. While the British were greatly depleted by their war of independence with Americans, the Spanish with help from the French decided to take Gibraltar. The British created a tunnel to reach a promontory on a rock ledge called ‘the Notch’. Either by accident or design they created a hole in the cliff where they realised, they could shoot from. So then ended up creating more of these firing positions, than just the Notch. Its an amazing piece of tunnelling created by hand, nearly a mile in length.

The next set of Tunnels were created in World War Two because of the strategic significance of Gibraltar. They were built to house 16,000 men, and food, ammunition and equipment . Within the tunnels there were, a bakery, water and power plants. The tunnels were given names like Great North Road, Fosse Way and there was even a Clapham Junction. There are more miles of tunnels than actual roads in Gibraltar! Add these to the amount of caves within The Rock and it’s a wonder it doesn’t implode.

By this time, we were tunnelled out, but with brief stop by the Moor castle we walked down the many, many steps of the Bells Lane to the town. The Nature Park had given us a map but gave very little information on walking distances, in the end, with the journey back down to the town we had covered 11 miles!

They sorted us out last time so we thought we would go back to the Clipper. This time for a wonderful steak and ale pie before walking back across the airport runway! through border control back to the camper.

Gibraltar has been a wonderful, interesting, crazy experience. Shame it is so car reliant, as you can walk easily from one end to the other, or better still have an electric scooter. Gibraltar Government has a net zero policy in place for 2030 -good luck with that.

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Photos

Gibraltar's Bus Terminal
Very efficient bus service.

The Siege Tunnel
Georges Hall

Comments

[Robert Wilson]

Gibraltar
Love your blog about this wonderful stop and your adventures there. It’s a place I’ve always wanted to visit. Look forward to the next chapter!

[alikim]

Hi Robert
really appreciate your comments look forward to seeing you back in Norfolk