Gibraltar

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Today is Cheap Fag Day, we're off to Gibraltar for our little taste of Britain. My mother reckons she can save a fortune on Fags so we'll drive an hour to the coast and across the border. If you want to learn more about Gib have a look at this web site http://www.discovergibraltar.com/





After we climbed up to the other side of the Guadiaro Valley we stopped at this Mirador which was built recently when they resurfaced the road between Gaucin and Ronda. It's a great spot to look back across the valley to Cortes, especially on a great day like today.

If you speak Spanish there is lots of information about the area on these attractive tiled signs. These are quite popular in this part of Spain, Cortes has it's fair share of these tiled signs, I'll photograph them another day.

Just past Gaucin we saw this view of Gibraltar, it's very clear, in Summer it is normally hazy and although you can normally see the Rock, being able to have such a good view of the Riff Mountains of Africa is unusual. It might even be possible to see the Atlas Mountains in the background, I'm not sure.

We drove down the A405 to Jimena De la Frontera, it's a windy and hilly road but it was a good drive. This road is pretty much on the migration routes for birds leaving Africa to head north for the Summer. Storks are very easy to spot here as the Government have built platforms on top of electricity pylons so that they can nest in safety. I'm not sure if this is an animal safety thing or purely selfish as the storks were cutting off the electricity when they fried! We stopped to photograph these birds by the road.

We drove to La Linea, we had coinsidered driving across the border to Gibraltar but I was in the wrong lane and missed the turning so we parked on the Spanish Side and walked across the border. We parked in la Linea, the parking machine was out of order but this guy was walking about taking money for parking, I was very suspicious that it was a scam but Mum pointed out that he had a walkie talkie, I did point out that I had 2 in the car! It turned out to be ok and we parted with 4 euros for a ticket.

To get it Gib it is necessary to cross the airport runway, we arrived just as a plane was leaving, I think it was Easyjet to Gatwick! We took the bus into town and found someplace for Lunch. We had a small shopping list so enjoyed a long lunch break in a cafe which was not great.

We split up and Susan and I headed off to find me a new watch as I have not brought one with me, I had decided on a fake rolex but couldnt find one, I ended up with a G-Shock style one for about £55 after a little haggling. They dont like taking Scottish notes so we had a little hassle but it was sorted out quickly.

This is the town square, just off main street. We met here at 3.30 to head to Morrisons.

This post box was made in Scotland by Machan Engineering, this made me feel better!

This is the main street, populated by asian shops selling cheap electronics, although they are not really cheap, it is possible to get things cheaper off the web. There is a lot of dragging you into the shops and no prices on display. I did look for a new router but the prices were higher than in Spain and I'd probably get charged duty on it at the border.




It's very sad but we did do a little shopping in Morrisons, this is very bizarre shopping in Morrisons in 30c temperatures. We did need some things that it is really impossible to get in Spain like Corn Flour. I was impressed with the quality of food and the variety and I suspect that we'll be back here again.

We took the Bus back to the border, on the bus was a very drunk man that kept singing to us. When he got off the driver carried on the singing for us. The traffic was terrible, incredibly busy, cars, motorbikes and cyclists all swerving around. I was very glad that I didnt bring the car. As usual the Spanish immigration and customs people were bad tempered and grumpy. It is such a waste of resource that border!

We walked back to the car in la Linea and headed back home

We drove back the same way home, again stopping at Gaucin to photograph the Rock in the evening. All in, a good and enjoyable day. My mother got 800 fags and reckoned she saved around £150.

An early night after all that driving.

Margaret had a chat on Skype with Hilary, the technology still amazes her!