We've turned north this afternoon after spending most of the day in Gibraltar.
We woke on the outskirts of Cadiz and crossed the huge bridge to check the place out. We totally failed to find parking as the place was rammed so we didn't stay. We did take a mad tour of the cobbled lanes inside the city walls in the van before finding our way out again though. Liked the place and would have liked to have stayed and properly explored it.
Next stop was 80 miles south east - the British colony of Gibraltar. A very interesting place and a bit quirky. All the road signs, the road markings, the traffic lights, even the bins are English, yet they drive on the right which is a bit strange. The place is hugely built up with one local telling us property was really expensive to buy or rent - due to the lack of space.
After a lunch stop on the southern tip looking over Africa in the distance we took the cable car to the top. There we saw the famous "apes" of Gibraltar that are actually a rare breed of tail-less monkey. They're very cool, climbing and jumping on everything including the visitors. Suffice to say before long they decided to jump on us too.
We experienced a cool phenomenon on the top of the rock - the easterly winds brought warm wet air off the Med and sent them straight up the 423m sheer face of the rock where they literally turned to clouds right in front of our faces. I know the theory but to see it in action right there at cloud level was something exceptional.
After exploring the rock and playing with the monkeys for a while we wandered into town. Gibraltar's high street could be any pedestrianised English high street with M&S adjacent to Next and BHS. We stopped for a coffee (sadly no real ale seems to get out there) in a very English pub and chatted to a few locals for a bit.
Definitely Gibraltar is very unusual and somewhere I've never been anywhere like before.
From there we drove onto the Costa del Sol and parked up in a very small, plush shopping centre we found in the dark. We spotted a few motor homes parked there surrounded by uplit palm trees and decided to join them. Getting out and looking around we realised we're about three foot from the beach! We cooked a chili and munched it and then took a wander around the shopping centre not quite sure what to expect.
Wow. This place has its own beach, pool, beach side bars and restaurants but we were the only ones here. It looks like a posh beach hotel complex only it's all free! We found one restaurant which was open and were invited in by the italian owner from Rome who we spent some time drinking a few beers with. No one else was around. What a top place to find for some free camping!
Cali comment for the day: we wish the carpet at the front didn't exist but they'd carried the excellent rubber floor through to the cockpit. As this is supposed to be a camping vehicle, why have carpet up front? We have some mats but it seems silly that we need them.
Tomorrow: Costa del Sol. I suspect it's gonna rain.
Sent from my ZX Spectrum.
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