We collected both bikes from the bike shop in Ronda in the morning of Friday, 10 February. We’d hoped the stormy weather hadn’t followed us inland, but the wind blew up really strongly as we wandered around Ronda to see the sights. Taking refuge in the Parador, we enjoyed a very expensive coffee and pastries before setting out to look over the renowned bridge into the gorge of the River Tajo, over 300 feet below. Taking 42 years to build, the Puente Nuevo was finally opened in 1793. We wandered down into the old city, but decided against going right down to the Arab Baths as it was getting extremely cold. Instead, we visited the Bull Ring, no longer used for bullfighting but housing a very interesting museum.
We found another excellent tapas bar and had an early supper before leaving Ronda at 1815 to escape the wind. We’d decided to stay at a campsite less than 50 miles away, so only about an hour’s drive, with showers and electric hook up giving us time to spend a couple of days planning what to do next. After a phonecall, the campsite owner had sent local directions and confirmed he had space for us, so we were confident about arriving after dark. However, his directions were far from adequate (particularly in the dark) and finally, at about 2000 and several text messages, he drove out to find us. There was indeed an electric hook up, albeit somewhat Heath Robinson, and we looked forward to a shower in the morning.
Saturday morning dawned and we were asked to move our van so that the owner could get his car out . . . Bev then waited 10-15 minutes for the trickle of water to warm up in the shower, and gave up. The place was literally in the middle of nowhere, about 700 meters along a rutted dirt track. We decided to cut our losses and find somewhere else to go and offered to pay for the electricity, but were surprised to find the owners expected us to pay the full charge of €15 even though there were no showers available and we were parked about 3 metres from the next van with our door opening onto a fence. We set off for the Costa del Sol at 1130, hoping to find sunshine.