Wednesday 5th March 2008

With all of the necessary support services in place and Jane's parents coping well, we were able to resume the Odyssey. We caught a very early flight that involved taking a taxi to Bristol Airport at 04:00 this morning. Once again, the flight went very well, landing in Malaga 15 minutes early at 10:00. This gave us more time to explore Malaga and have a good lunch before we caught the 15:30 bus direct to Orgiva. We explored parts on the old town that were not on the official trails and were particularly impressed by the Inglesia de Los Martires (Church of the Martyrs) where we found all of the statues dressed in dark clothes for Lent. Some of the statues were mounted on plinths that would have large wooden poles attached to them so that they could be carried through the streets in a procession. We assumed that this would happen at Easter but we have subsequently discovered that the Spanish have processions during Lent.
The bus journey back to Orgiva was half an hour quicker than on the way out and the driver kindly dropped us off close top the campsite, saving us a long walk. This meant that we arrived back at 18:30, before it was dark. As we approached Henrietta the dying sun was giving an orange glow to the small clouds in the deep blue sky and we heard the Little Owl start its call as it hunted over the fields. It felt like coming home.
All was in order in Henrietta and, after clearing the fridge of slightly decaying food and throwing the mouldy apple cake that we forgot to take with us, we settled down to tea.
Photos: Inglesia de Los Martires; Statue of Christ ready for the procession; Body of Christ with statue of Mary in the background.

Thursday 14th February 2008

The bus for Malaga left Orgiva at 08:30, so it was an early start for the 20 minute walk into the town. It was a three and a half hour journey to Malaga, the first part of which was through the Alpajuras and, although rather windy causing problems for some of the more sensitive locals (they provided sick bags!) it was very pretty. The journey along the coast was not as interesting – a succession of resorts with high-rise, densely packed apartment blocks. We arrived in Malaga at 12:00 and after obtaining a map, we set off on a sightseeing tour of the city. The old town was interesting but was not as well preserved as some others that we have seen. They are obviously attempting now to preserve the historical buildings even when they want to redevelop areas of the centre. We passed an example of this – the facade of a huge building was set on props with scaffolding to support it but the rest of the building had been demolished (see photos). Following two of the town trails shown on the map, we stopped off for an excellent lunch in a side street by the Episcopal Palace. I had the local speciality of Ox Tail Stew, which was very tasty. We visited the impressive cathedral and then walked on through a park to the Malaga Bullring. The building was closed but we walked around the outside and admired the statue to a famous toreador.
Walking back to the bus station we then caught the airport bus and arrived in plenty of time for our flight. After an appalling and very expensive pasta and tomato sauce (how can they make such a mess of such a simple dish?), I vowed never to eat in an airport restaurant again.
The flight left on time and arrived in Bristol 10 minutes early. We were very grateful to our friends Ann and Nick who were there to meet us at such a late hour and it was good to catch up with their news on the way back. We arrived to a lovely warm house (Ann had put on the heating for us) and after a very short time we fell into bed and slept soundly.
Not a very romantic St. Valentine's Day but we were home safe and sound.
Photos: Preserved facade in Malaga; Toreador monument outside the Malaga bullring.

Wednesday 13th February 2008

Today was spent planning our trip back. I walked into Orgiva to the bus company office and found that we could take a bus to Malaga centre at 08:15. This gave us plenty of time to catch an evening Easyjet flight to Bristol in the evening. We booked the flight and prepared for a very long day travelling tomorrow.
We were very happy to leave Henrietta at the site and they were very understanding when we explained the circumstances and the fact that we weren't sure when we would return.
Photos: None.

Tuesday 12th February 2008

Yesterday we had checked the bus times in Orgiva and, on the recommendation some other friendly campers, we took a bus to Pampaneira up in the mountains. There were wonderful views from the bus as we climbed up the winding roads but we were somewhat concerned about our ability to find the track back to Orgiva. Fortunately, there was a tourist information office in Pampaneira where we could ask advice and purchase a good map of the area. There are a number of maps available but most of them look pretty but are totally useless – coloured lines on a plain background with no landmarks marked. It turned out that the track was clearly marked for much of the walk but the map was useful for the latter part.
We were miles from anywhere when we received a phone call from Diane, Jane's parents nextdoor neighbour. Jane's mum was lying on the kitchen floor with paramedics attending to her. She had broken her arm and was about to be taken to hospital. We had no option but to complete the walk and wait for further news from the hospital. Once we arrived back at the campsite, we were able to go onto the Internet and investigate options for flights home. Being relatively close to Malaga, there were quite a few options but we had to work out how to get to Malaga airport. We would have to wait until tomorrow to find out how we could get there by public transport.
Photos: Local wares on display in Pampaneira; View from footpath of Pampaneira (bottom) and Bubion (top); Almond blossom and the view towards Orgiva.

Monday 11th February 2008

Happy Birthday Jane!
Jane's day today, so she had the choice of what to do. We had consulted Linda (a long termer on the site over a number of years and very knowledgeable) about walks in the area and we decided to do a circular walk taking in Orgiva. This involved walking a few hundred metres down to the river and then west along the riverbank. We then crossed over a dry stream bed and cut north towards Orgiva. There was much evidence of foreign ownership of houses and the odd yurt and we then came to Orgiva school, which consists of a number of large yurts used as classrooms. Linda had warned us about a gypsy area with aggressive dogs but we found that there were very few gypsies and no dogs although the area was a mess with rubbish strewn over the area. Once in Orgiva, we purchased more supplies and stopped for a coffee in a café opposite the church.
Under cloudless blue skies we continued the walk back to the campsite and spent the afternoon sitting in the sun and reading.
Photos: Orgiva school.

Sunday 10th February 2008

We really like this site and have decided that it is ideal for chilling. We have decided that we will stay for a number of days. This means that there is no hurry to do anything, so after a late start we took the 20 minute walk up a dirt track to Orgiva town. The track took us past many smallholdings with olive and orange groves and fields prepared for crops. On the track we met a man with only one leg and that was twisted at a strange angle. He was using crutches to move slowly along the track but gave us a cheery 'Hola' (hello) when we approached. We later found out later that he tended his olive orchard and a large field (beautifully prepared, not a weed in site and perfectly furrowed) with all of the work done sat on the ground. This makes one feel somewhat humble and puts one's very minor problems and challenges firmly into perspective.
The town reminded us of Glastonbury in Somerset, not because it had a tor or an abbey (it didn't) but because it is very 'alternative'. It seemed that every other car had a British numberplate and foreign (non-Spanish and largely British) voices were everywhere. Shops windows showed adverts for meditation classes, holistic healing etc. and there were many ageing and young hippies.
After looking around the town, doing some shopping and some people watching, we returned to the campsite for a late lunch.
Another great feature of the campsite is the free Wifi Internet access. This means that we can access the Internet using the laptop whilst sat in (or outside) the motorhome. We used this to listen to the Italy v England six nations match live on BBC radio. Not as good as television but great to be able to listen.
Photos: Furrowed field on the track to Orgiva town.

Saturday 9th February 2008

Reluctantly we said goodbye to Cordoba and Camping El Brillante and set of for the countryside south of Granada. Soon after we started, we came over the top of a hill to see through the haze the folds of hills going into the far distance. And then the olive groves started, mile upon mile of them continuing all the way until we approached Granada and saw the snow-capped peaks of the Sierra Navada apparently floating in mid air. All along that journey we passed olive mills and farms selling extra virgin olive oil. We then descended into the valley in front of the mountains and the scenery changed with irrigated fields, cereal and vegetable crops and orange groves. The journey was very easy and enjoyable with very little traffic and few towns to negotiate. Having passed Granada we then headed south to the campsite near Orgiva in the Alpujarra region. The scenery was very interesting and we were very impressed by the campsite. It is small and has lovely views of the snow-capped mountains and down the valley. We chose it because we wanted to do some walking and it has trails that start from the site.
Most of the people on the site are British but not a single one has a satellite dish – unlike the site at Olhao where this seemed to be the most important piece of equipment. We had arrived at about 13:45 and were going to have a late lunch. By the time that we finished talking to the other campers who greeted us, it was nearly 15:00, so we had a very late lunch!
Photos: Camping Orgiva; The intriguing tree house at Camping Orgiva.