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Published: January 24th 2011
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Monday 3rd January 2011 to Sunday 9th January 2011
Monday 3rd January 2011
Maro/Nerja/Malaga
Tom was going to ride on trainer and so was I, so Tom went on a bike ride and I went onto trainer for 1 hour. Tom was on MTB up a climb – it is 300 metres rise over 7kms of climbing in mostly 2nd and 1st. He said he felt good and so felt he is getting fitter.
Sue and Martin very generously offered up their time and picked us at 11am and took us for a long ride in the car up to the mountains, along scenic roads and where one of The Tour of Spain Category 2 climbs had gone.
Martin said the pro teams come here to train for the start of the race season – Tom guesses they are the ones who do not go to Aussie for the Tour Down Under in Adelaide. This is really bike riders heaven.
We stopped for lunch and had a really dry cheese and ham sandwich – as it was a P/Hol, we hadn’t come across anyone else open, and it was cool in the shade, but as per usual after we left
5.1.2011 - Ronda
Views of Ronda and our lunch restaurant there, about 2kms down the road there was a restaurant in the sun and open and then we came across more restaurants !!!
The towns in the area were Zafarraya, Colmenar and back through Malaga and along the coast road home. Stopped in at the shops on the way for some food for dinner. We had drinks and a BBQ at Sue and Martin’s. Home about 11pm.
A wonderful day and night with some very lovely people.
Tuesday 4th January 2011.
Quiet start to the day – Tom changed tube on road bike and we hopped on the motor scooter into Nerja to Vodafone and to organise the hire of a car, then home for lunch.
Sue’s 60th birthday dinner tonight at the restaurant around the corner from their apartment in Maro. Lovely dinner. Met a nice couple from Scotland, Mary and John.
Wednesday 5th January 2011.
Up at 5.30am and off to Ronda in the hire car (www.turismoderonda.es) – so glad we did not take the motorhome as it would have taken too long to get there and then see the place.
It took all up about 2.75 hours to get there. The last 44kms were of
5.1.2011 - Ronda
Views of the gorge from the restaurant we had lunch in winding road up the mountain edge. Beautiful scenery, very rugged.
Tom said he thought we were going to a small old village in the mountains – yes, there is a small old village on one side of the 100 meters gorge and a new town on the other side connected by the bridge built in 1750. Then we just walked around for hours.
We walked around and went into Museum of Juan Bosco built on the edge of a cliff. He was an Italian Catholic Priest dedicating his life to the betterment and education of street kids and juvenile delinquents. Bosco succeeded in establishing a network of organizations and centres to carry on his work. It is a modernist palace built at the beginning of the 20th century. It belonged to the Granada family which gave it as last will to the Salesian Priest Order as a nursing home of old and ill priests.
Had lunch in a restaurant on the edge of the cliff overlooking the gorge. See photos.
Now driving back on the mountain edge down to the auto via. Well, Tom had gotten the hang of handling this hire car – only wishes he could have hired
5.1.2011 - Ronda
View of old walls and streets surrounding Ronda something more sporty !!!. He made the comment that he could do any sort of work at Ronda but he would live down the bottom of the hill, just to drive up and back each day – what a buzz. Me, I was looking over the cliffs on my side of the car and hoping I wasn’t going over the edge and down of at least a minimum 500metres. :-)
Back to town and Tom drops me off at the campsite and he takes back the hire car, and then rides his bicycle back (they had been minding it in the office for him). About ½hr later we were on the motor scooter into Nerja to watch the parade of the Kings. This is held on the eve of 6th of Jan each year. The 6th Jan is when the children get their Xmas presents as this is the day that the 3 wise men arrived at Bethlehem and gave JC his gifts. We were told that the children of Spain are supposed to get a token gift on xmas eve and the rest of the presents on 6th Jan, and about 20 years ago they never used to have
5.1.2011 - Nerja Parade
Present giving parade on the Eve of Xmas Present giving day xmas trees, but it is becoming more westernized and the kids want presents on xmas eve and 6th Jan. Go figure.
After the parade we rode back to the campsite.
Thursday 6th January 2011
Tom was up and off on a long bicycle ride challenge. He rode to turn off and climbed for 1.5 hours up to just over 1000 metres in 12kms. He felt good.
I slept in. Sue rang at 10am to say there was present giving for the children in the village square and they were having lunch there. So we went to Maro. We had a lovely lunch in the village. It was a beautiful sunny day to top it off.
Came back home about 4pm and started to clean and pack up the motorhome ready to move off in the morning.
We went to the bar for dinner and ordered some tapas and drinks. Alicia gave us all a piece of Spanish Xmas cake and I was the lucky one who found a small ceramic figurine of one of the 3 wise men in my piece - which means I will have good luck all year. We stayed until 9.30pm and then went to
6.1.2011 - Maro campsite
Present giving dinner at Maro campsite - Alicia and Oliver bed. (Photos of Alicia and Oliver)
Friday 7th January 2011
Up early. Tom got in ½hr on trainer. Packed up and headed out towards Barcelona. We went through about 100kms of some wonderfully rugged mountainous country on both sides of the valley – really different to anything we have seen so far. All the way along, there were horticulture hot houses growing vegetables. We were told they rotate the crops and get four crops each year from using these hot houses.
We are now in a large campsite called Marjal at Guardamar del Segura – with gym, Jacuzzi, tennis courts, excellent, but the pool was not going. Only here for one night.
Met a nice family from Switzerland – we have an invite to go to their place for a raclette meal. Yum.
Saturday 8th January 2011
Tom up on trainer for an hour. On to Barcelona. A long day of driving and when we arrived at the campsite it was closed –I totally missed the opening times of the campsite (blonde moment). We had dinner and I checked the internet for other campsites. So I rang another campsite and they were open and had vacancies. So off
7.1.2011 - Plastic cities
Driving from Nerja - hectacres of plastic coverings on horticulture ot houses we go and get there about 8.45pm. The drive was very hairy. Part of the drive was 10kms of winding road along the edge of a cliff that drops into the ocean – Tom was watching the white middle line and I was watching the concrete edge.
Barcelona. El Masnou camping site.
Sunday 9th January 2011
Domestics day today. Tom had to fix the leaking drainage pipe, housework to be done and a restful day. Gaye needed a rest as she was more stressed by the driving last night than Tom.
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