Days 29-33-Sunny, hot Costa del Sol.

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We're now on a campsite with a pitch 30 seconds from the pool and the beach/sea just over 2 minutes. Over the last five days we've been in the Med many times to cool off and it's great walking just a few paces and being up to you waist, so no hovering about, you just get straight in.....so refreshing, and, beautifully clear- yesterday we saw shoals of fish swimming on the surface a couple of feet from us and as waves broke, they could be seen in the waves!!!!

We've found that the days we haven't gone exploring, it's too hot to be at the beach all day, so we go for hour stints at a time, cooling off a couple of times with a swim in that hour, but the best time of day is 6pm, when it's more bearable to sit and enjoy watching the jet skis and yachts crossing the bay.

On Saturday we set off for Ronda, up into the mountains. We had a map which recommended all the Pueblos Blancos and the first on our route, Gaucin, we decided at the end of the day, had the most spectacular setting high on the mountains and a view of Gibraltar, the Med and Atlantic and across the strait to the Rif mountains of North Africa!!! What we didn't find out from our guidebook was that a great part of the road leading to it was unmade, very dusty and had huge potholes.....you can imagine Graham's horror over what it was doing to the car!!!!

We travelled on slightly better roads after that, still climbing and passing more tiny white villages nestled into the mountains...we wondered how the villagers were ever able to travel from there if it rained!! We started to descend the mountains, which was a surprise and came to Ronda, which was a lower altitude. It was crazily busy, very expensive, very hot and had some interesting ancient buildings and spectacular gorge of limestone, with old and modern Ronda straddling this and a bridge crossing it.

The journey back down, thankfully, took us on a much better route, but with the most incredible hairpin bends and sheer drops down cliffs, alongside most of the road.Very pleased we saw this most spectacular wild mountainous area of southern Spain!!

Today , after a day of yesterday, celebrating Father's Day with a roast dinner at the camp restaurant....very good it was, we went to Marbella, not sure Graham was too keen, but it was on our itinerary! Apart from the very overcrowded beaches and many yachts in the distance in the port( all of which we can see at home in Poole harbour or Sandbanks) we found the old town, with winding, narrow streets and multi coloured flowers tumbling over walls with a beautiful church, Iglesias de Nuestra Senora de la Encarnacion and delightful squares, some with fountains and the best, the Plaza de Naranjos-Orange Square, where we had lunch, sitting under the orange trees, which along with orange umbrellas, gave welcome shade.

Two more days at Camping International Bella Vista and then inland to Granada, as we start our way back north towards Bilbao.

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