We have done a couple of touristy things over the last couple of days that didn’t exactly go as expected but worked out ok in the end.

Can you spot the sea mammal

The first was to go whale watching off Tarifa in the Straits of Gibraltar where we spent the first 1 ½ hours trawling up and down the Straits and along the Moroccan coast without hide nor hair of a dolphin, whale or any other marine life! We were just getting to the point where we were thinking this was a waste of 60 euros when we spotted a school of 30 striped dolphins, shortly followed by two pilot whales and finally topped off by a sperm whale sighting.

After the whale watching we found a great little campsite which seemed to be totally occupied with wind and kite surfers and came complete with beach side bar.

Campsite bar

Our second was a visit to Gibraltar which we figured as we were so close would be worth a look. We parked on the Spanish side and walked across the border with the intention of getting the cable car to the top of the rock. Unfortunately due to high winds the cable car wasn’t operating, so we decided to walk up the 426 m.

Top of The Rock

Don’t leave your bike in the wrong place in Gibraltar!

You have to cross the Airport runway to get in

Whilst  in Gibraltar we stopped off in Marks and Sparks to buy socks (a few more days without the need to do washing!) , W H Smith to buy an English paper and then had fish & chips for lunch.

From Gibraltar we have headed inland to the National Park of Grazalema and are currently camping just outside the town of Grazalema with a contingent of the Spanish Army, who arose a seven this morning with some regimental chanting.

We spent today walking along a goat track between Grazalema and Benocaz and then got the bus back. It was a great walk and was reminiscent of Derbyshire in places with rolling hills and limestone, The Quaraing on Skye with high inland cliffs above the trail and The Alps with alpine type meadows – a bit of everything combined with kamikaze goats and donkeys who sought pleasure in having standoffs with walkers.

A great walk