Cape Trafalgar, Cádiz & Jerez - Days 145 to 149

Cape Trafalgar

I finally got to see the sea, we hit the coast and turned right, away from the Costa del Sol, to the much more remote Costa de la Luz. It was beautiful but very very windy. The drive was a bit scary, gusts all over the place, a BA flight coming into land at Gibraltar was all over the place before aborting and going to Malaga, at least we know we weren’t making it up!  https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-47360240/strong-winds-shake-plane-and-cause-it-to-divert

Our drive into Cape Trafalgar was interrupted for a while by this group of cyclists. We saw the blue flashing lights of the police convoy in front first and just pulled of the road at a very convenient layby. We waved and some of them waved back. Nice day for it!

The bee covered in sand we rescued from the beach

The coast felt a bit grungy, not the coast us Brits go to, but the coast wind surfers, kite surfers, and beach hippies go to.... We decided this wasn’t the place to branch into wild camping, reading reports of loud music, condoms, and druggies demanding parking fees....

As such we went to a privately owned Aire. It was fine, but expensive for what it was, he was a nice guy, and if he ever gets the bar built, and his own roof put on it will be vastly improved, but hey, we were safe and secure. (Campsite location: 36°11'54.9"N 6°02'00.3"W) (Campsite amenities with photos: click on this link then on item 62 in list)

And there he is safely on a plant having cleaned himself up a lot in the journey

The strong wind through the Straits of Gib.

We went for a walk to the lighthouse of Cape Trafalgar. The beach was lovely, the sea wild, there was nothing to see, but would they commemorate being trounced in a sea battle? 

Brian here: I just couldn't have driven past Cape Trafalgar without calling in to see the site of Nelsons famous victory against the combined forces of the French and Spanish navies on 21st October 1805. The British had been blockading the French Navy for months to prevent an attempted invasion of the UK by Napoleon. A fleet of 33 ships (18 French, 15 Spanish) had slipped out of Cádiz on 19-20 October hoping to make it to the Mediterranean Sea to support the French Southern Italy campaign, but Nelsons 27 ships caught up with them. A battle ensued during which Nelson in his flagship 'Victory' ordered his fleet to approach in two columns and cut the opposing line in three to break their formation, signalling his famous message: 'England expects that every man will do his duty'. It was a very unconventional manoeuvre at the time and it worked brilliantly but Nelson was mortally wounded and died at 4:30pm, but in the sure knowledge he had won. By 5:00pm the French Admiral Villeneuve had been captured, his fleet had lost 19 or 20 ships, which were surrendered to the British and 14,000 men, half whom were prisoners of war. The British lost about 1,500 men but no ships and the battle stopped all plans of Napoleon to invade England. The British Navy were not to be seriously challenged again for nearly 100 years, giving them supremacy of the seas (and incidentally allowing world trade to flourish in the sure knowledge of safety of the seas provided by the British Royal Navy). Not bad for a days work, no wonder he's got a square in London with four lions to guard it! Unsurprisingly there was no mention of the battle at Cape Trafalgar, but we did see an awful lot of English people walking around taking photographs.   

The lighthouse at Cape Trafalgar

Scene of Nelsons victory just over 213 years ago

We did do bee rescue, poor thing was struggling to fly and had sand all over his wings. We got him on Brian’s shoe and must have carried him for 10 minutes till we could finally put him down out of the wind, on a flower... we did our best.

I finally had to resort to a ‘store cupboard’ meal. Not bad after this long on the road, obviously I’ve been using stuff and restocking, but this is the first time for tuna pasta bake. Tomorrow we will find a supermarket, we will.

Our walk to Cape Trafalgar (click on it, its interactive):

And so we did, but we also then arrived at Puerto de Santa Maria, the ‘gateway’ to Cádiz. (Aire

The Levante wind brought out lots of kite surfers at Cape Trafalgar

location: 36°35'54.9"N 6°13'17.0"W) (Aire amenities with photos: click here then on item 63 in list). Cádiz famous for fried fish, so that’s a meal out then, and what’s this? Just over the bridge? An Indian restaurant.... I’ve done my best, but it’s never quite the same, so first Indian restaurant since leaving home, hurrah! Cádiz is a tricky place for parking, again reviews talk about all night discos starting just as normal people are going to bed, and other disruptions, so the best option seemed to be a secure carpark, with official mobile home parking, but no services for €6 with the plus of a ferry ride into Cádiz costing €5.50 return. 

The car park/Aire at El Puerto de Santa Maria for our Cadiz visit

The bullring and bull fight sculpture at El Puerto de Santa Maria

Sadly due to the wind the ferry was replaced by a bus service so that was a bit disappointing, but we could still get in and out. We hoped to do a ‘free’ walking tour where you pay what you think it’s worth, sadly English was only being run at 13.00, not 10.30 and then only if enough people turned up. We’ll do our own then, we’ve got the map from the tourist office. We did keep bumping into the guy doing the Spanish tour, so we saw a lot of the places he would have taken us to, so fried fish won out ... we walked miles, well 17km to be precise and gave it a good go. We liked it, it had a nice feel, but I can’t say anything made a really huge impression. It was a good day food wise though, chocolate and churros at 10.30 when we didn’t get on a walking tour (we had been on the bus at 08.20 so had an early start) fried fish and a glass of wine for lunch and very rich ice cream for dinner....

They did have a small exhibition in El Puerto of Christopher Columbus' expedition to find the New World of the Americas and here is a copy of  Juan de la Cosas map of the known world first drawn in 1499. Look closely and the coasts of Europe and Africa are shown in red in the centre and right with the newly discovered coasts of America in green on the left 

A model of Columbus' ship. Only 18m long. Would you sail off the map in that?

A long drive, of half an hour, brought us to Jerez, home of sherry. We are staying at a motorhome/caravan storage place, which is not attractive, but has a lovely feel about it, the people are great, you are welcomed with a sherry from a huge barrel, though we put ours off, 10.30 just being too early! There is a shop where B has been buying things (things we need! - Brian) and a book exchange (campsite location: 36°42'49.0"N 6°06'35.6"W) (campsite amenities with photos: click here then on item 64 in list). 

In Cadiz, the new and old cathedrals in the background

It’s a flat 5km cycle into Jerez, which we did yesterday, decided we were going to get the bus today, but missed it, so cycled again. We thought town was going to be really busy, today being Andalucia day, so a local bank holiday. All shops are shut and we expected the tourist things to be shut too, actually no, the Alcazar was going to be free, so in conjunction with finding anchovies on the market for €3/kg and boquerones, or fried anchovies, being Brian’s favourite we decided to come back and do our jobs and have fish for tea (that chicken I bought on leaving Cape Trafalgar on Monday is still untouched in the fridge).

Spotted in a park in Cadiz

Back into Jerez today then, good look round the Alcazar, but that was it, it wasn’t as buzzing as we expected and we didn’t want to pay €16 each for a sherry tour, yes we are interested in the process, but neither of us actually like it, and over €10 we think about what trips we do! So, under that threshold was a Menu del Dia for 9 with a bottle of wine between us.... so that was the afternoon then! The chicken still uneaten, but I have taken the meat off the chicken portions and whizzed up the onions, garlic, ginger and chilli while we have electricity so tomorrow butter chicken will be put on to cook in the thermal cooker....

The old cathedral in Cadiz, it used to be a mosque before the reconquest

The old excavated Roman amphitheatre in Cadiz

We didn't fancy the last item on the menu!

Just over the city wall in Cadiz were these cat boxes and quite a few cats obviously looked after by someone

The fort of San Sebastian at Cadiz, stuck out in the sea and connected by a narrow causeway. Sadly the fort is closed for refurbishment but you can still walk out to it

I did but Jackie didn't fancy it. Here's the view from the end. The new cathedral is just in view towards the left and the two towers of the impressive 'Constitution' suspension bridge slightly right

Our walk round Cadiz (click on it, it's interactive):

Our parking in Jerez. Its down the side of an industrial unit on an industrial park, but somehow it's quite nice!

Our cycle to and walk round Jerez today. This is the Alcazar, a beautifully restored mosque that was used for centuries as a church

Inside the dome of the mosque, the mihrab in front

Up on the fortifications of the Alcazar

The restored Arabic baths in the Alcazar

Very nicely restored gardens in the Alcazar

The cathedral from the Alcazar in Jerez

The Tio Pepe motif on top of their sherry factory in Jerez

We walked up to and all around the Tio Pepe sherry factory before we found the way in  (Jerez is famous for having many sherry producers)

But then looking at the prices we decided not to bother. Neither of us like sherry very much, we'd read on TripAdvisor that the tour was very rushed and the basic €16 one is two types of sherry and a poor tapas. There was no way we were paying €19 or above per person for something we're not that keen on, so we went and had a good lunch and a bottle of wine in the sun in the Plaza instead!

Andalucia travels, Benarraba & Casares - Days 141 to 144

It’s just as well we are all different, when we arrived in Benarraba there was a small Dutch campervan, and us. An English guy arrived, just to have a look, that’s an 18km detour down steep and windy, just to have a look, before going to Ronda for the day and probably coming back, that’s not much less than our journey for the day. 

We were then joined by the English couple who had been parked next to us, last night, in Grazalema, who we hadn’t immediately gelled with, they’d left before us, but then hared back past the Aire in the opposite direction, the way they’d come from yesterday. 

Views on our walk from Benarraba

It seems they seek out wiggly windy, so the sat nav had tried to take them the shortest route, but despite being windy enough for us, and edged in green, meaning pretty, in the map book, it wasn’t ‘goat track’ enough for them. They then, as they had the previous night, reversed in next to us which instead of the stunning view we were looking at gave them a view of the bins! The main reason for our disapproval had been that their grey waste water had just been left to drain out of the van, so that’s shaving, teeth cleaning, washing up just dumped in the carpark. Not the done thing. It transpired that this was unintentional, at some point, on a recent ‘goat track’ they had managed to knock off and lose the tap to their grey tank! We still didn’t gell.

Now here's an interesting thing, this is a cork tree. The cork is the bark and they cut it off and treat the trunk with some sort of protection. It takes about 9 years to grow back again

Here's a close-up showing the cork

Another British van then arrived, they quickly went out for a walk, much as we do. On their return, I was hanging out the washing I’d done to make the most of paying for water and electricity, and we had a really good chat, they Housesit, they walk, they were much easier to talk to. Before they left, the following day, she uttered the wonderful words “so any books to swap then?” As it happens, I had 5, as did they, two of which I’ve read before, but it bodes well for the others... They had also done the walk yesterday, that Brian was planning for today, with his own little addition.....they hadn’t really enjoyed it, whereas we quite did, though we didn’t do Brian’s little addition, which would have doubled the descent and ascent (yes, in that order, which is always a depressing way to walk) just to get to the river. 

we also saw this, an old lime kiln in the forest

We did quite enjoy it, so perhaps they don’t walk quite as much as we do! This left one space, would our English guy make it back from Ronda to make it 4 out of 5 Brits? Does it matter? Yes he did get back, luckily for him, just before the Belgian Frankia that turned up and just pulled in to a non space. When we got back from our walk, via beer and tapas, they had all gone, though this didn’t last long, we were soon joined by ANOTHER British van. They were nice enough, but even the walk to the beginning of town was too much for them! As I say, just as well we are all different.

Our walk from Benarraba:

Our next stop was at Casares, only 40 minutes or so further, but as close as we could get, parking

Enjoying the afternoon view outside Big Ted at Benarraba

officially, to San Pedro de Alcantara. (Aire location: 36°26'45.3"N 5°16'42.1"W) (Aire amenities with photos: click here then on item 61 in list)We hoped to catch up with Jean and Jimmy who we met on the repositioning cruise, and then met up with at the end of 2017 in Malaga. They were due back from their holiday on the 20th, so timing was all working very well, we reckoned we had a couple of days entertainment here, a day with them, then head off on Monday, and actually see a supermarket. It’s been 12 days since we actually went in a proper supermarket, in Antequera, and we didn’t need that much then, but when we come back we can really stock up, only for one reason or another, we never went back.....

The Aire at Casares from the viewpoint nearby

Best laid plans however, Jimmy has, as apparently usual, returned from holiday “with more than a tan”. We don’t want his rotten man flu, and he doesn’t want to give it to us, so after our two days entertainment we shall be leaving on Sunday, driving away from Estepona, the end of the Costa del Sol and all the supermarkets when all the shops are shut. Tomorrow will probably be tuna pasta bake, or corned beef hash, from the store cupboard, who says I’ve been carrying this stuff for nothing?

A climber abseiling off a 6c climb at the edge of Casares (in fact the town is just at the top). We spoke to them and they pointed us to the two via ferrata and some other climbs. There was a time when we would have tackled their 6c climb, but probably not now - lack of practise 

We did do the via ferratas though. This is the first (harder) one

We’ve had a good time here though, yesterday was two Via Ferrata, at the back of the town, you somehow end up falling into the mirador that is part of the old ruined moorish castle. In truth though I only did one, admittedly the harder one, which had a big outward leaning section, which definitely got the heart pumping, and also put a big strain on my elbows. The second one was probably more exciting, there were two wire bridges to cross, which I did think it was really too windy for, but this didn’t stop himself.....

We had to walk in down the side of a restaurant and what at first sight appeared to be two back gardens, though this actually wasn’t the case, but by the restaurant, were two cats, who were happy to be stroked, amazing. There were then three by the tourist information, though the old lady sitting on her chair on the street told me one of them might scratch, but no, three more strokes, to be rounded off by Wonky a ginger streetcat who is fed and watered by a local Scottish guy. We had a lovely chat with him. Six cats, six cats in one town, that’s more than the rest of Spain....

Jackies heading on up (before it got difficult)

Today was a walk, surprise surprise, 11km. We did the route the wrong way round in theory, this gave as the uphill on the horrible rough path and the downhill down the gentle road into the town, oh well, we’ll have to stop for a beer and a nibble then, rude not to..... it’s a good Aire and a nice town, but as one of the reviews stated it’s a 3 weetabix walk between the two, down, up and 1.9km, just to get to the main square.

Tomorrow we head off to possibly a nonevent... Cape Trafalgar, not sure there will be anything to see, we’ll just have to imagine the British and Spanish warships doing their thing!

And there she is just hopping over the wall into the top of town by the viewing point. No photos of the overhanging difficult bit, hanging on was more important than taking photos (and anyway, I might have dropped the camera)

Here's me bringing up the rear

Cat therapy after the quite exciting via ferrata

Brian going up the second via ferrata

And just setting out on the wire bridge

Halfway across and still going. It's quite a long way with a big drop below and just a moving wire to stand on!

That's the first one done, now up the wall to get on the higher one to come back again

Halfway back across the higher wire bridge

Pussy cats sunning themselves in the afternoon sun

The remains of the Moorish castle at Casares 

This apparently is a medievil bridge in Casares. The dry bed is sometimes a raging torrent we were told

Casares town from the Aire we're parked on. The climbing and via ferrata are on the right of the town, actually just out of sight 

Casares by night from Big Ted

On our walk today heading up towards Sierra Crestellina, Casares in the distance

It was actually quite hot today as Jackie in a T shirt shows

Arriving at the refuge halfway up the climb

It's seldom used apparently, but a couple had rented it last night (€30/night they told us) so we could go inside to take photos

The kitchen/dining/lounge (with wood burner behind me)

This is who you phone/email/visit to book it

At the Mirador (viewpoint). Casares is down just to the right and the white above is actually the mediterranean

The route we had yet to do (up there somewhere anyway)

Griffon vultures circling overhead

They were circling over Jackie at one point, but I think they decided there's life left in us yet!

Out at the furthest point and a zoomed in view with Casares on the left. In the distance we could see the rock of Gibraltar and, although it should be in this photo it hasn't come out for some reason

Tree blossom on the way down

Big Ted has just come into view, upper centre of the picture, but you probably can't make him out. The snaking road down and then back up this side is the 1.9km walk we have to make every time we want to go to town

But we made it back to town for a well earned beer and a bit of tapas. I forgot to remove the bread from the table that we'd just bought. But anyway, a nice pleasant square with lots of people having lunch on a Saturday afternoon.