We awoke to a colder day, there was a thin cloud layer and the temperature must have been as low as 15c - pretty cold! A quick walk round the Olive groves then breakfast and make a packed lunch before we set off. Our friends John and Jenny had suggested a trip over to the lakes to the north of Malaga so we set off.

We drove to Jimera, then to Atajate and onto the Ronda Road.

We stopped to take this picture at the viewpoint near to Atajate. My camera had run out of power (remember New Zealand) so these are all taken on Susans.


We drove along to Ardales where we stopped for a walk about with the dogs. It's a nice town, about the size of Cortes, maybe a little smaller. There was a very drunk man interested in the dogs, he kept stamping his feet and making noises at them. He was taking a risk as he was struggling to stand on 2 feet, never mind 1,


This is the main square near to the shops and bars, we passed here on our way up the hill to what looked like a fortification and a church at the top.


We sat for a bit at the top watching the world go by, it was sunny and windy so the temperature was lower than it looks.

This is the view from the top of the town near the church and the main road you can see is the road to Malaga, it has been suggested that this is a better road to use to the Airport.

We walked back down to town, as it was cooler the bars didn't have any tables outside so we had to put the dogs in the car and have a drink inside. I realised we were sitting next to a display of porno DVD's - I liked the way the bar owner had tried to hide the covers with bits of paper. Susan tried to translate the names but I think the title is probably irrelevant!

We drove onto the lakes area, this is a big area of freshwater lakes which should have been great for the dogs. In summer I bet this place is heaving but today there was just one other car (another british car, in typical brit fashion we parked neatly beside them). The dogs couldnt get out the car fast enough.

We walked round the lake a bit throwing the ball in and out of the water, the spring flowers were just coming out, it'll be stunning in a few weeks. There was another family having a picnic further down the lake, we think they were fishing.

We had our picnic lunch in the car as the wind was up, the other brits seemed to be asleep. I'm glad that we had a 4x4, getting an ordinary car in there would have been a challenge!

Susan was reading her book so I walked the dogs round the other way. I was slightly put off by the amount of rubbish, this is something that really annoys me about Spain, people seem happy to chuck rubbish away, even in the street. It looks like someone has gathered this together ready for collection but I'm not sure it will ever be collected. The shore line was littered with old cans and broken glass so the dogs were kept to heel.

The dogs also got absolutely covered in sticky horse chestnuts which will take hours to get out, Susan says I cant use the scissors!
We drove to the bottom of the El Chorro Gorge through Alora then north.

We passed this hydro electric dam just before the start of the Gorge. It was a tiny road, quite exciting to drive on and frequented by cyclists

In most countries this would be a major tourist attraction, or ,given the state of disrepair of the walkway, would be out of bounds to the public. The approach to the gorge is either through the railway tunnels from El Chorro station, or along the track down by the lake. Soon however you will come to the first section of the 90 year old "path". It was built around the turn of the Century for the King of Spain. Amazingly he never acually got around to using it! Now holes and even large sections are missing, making it a stomach churning affair. Dont think I'll be walking along it. Look to the middle of the picture and you'll see the walkway.

These pillars hold the railway line, aparently it is possible to walk along the railway line to make access to the walkway - scary!

On the way back we took a slight detour to what we thought was a viewpoint and restaurant but we never found it. we stopped to take these pictures anyway. If you click here http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/angusandsusan/OurBigTripRoundEurope2Adults2DogsAndATent and then click on the text that says View Map near the top of the page, you'll see on a map of the world where the pics were taken.

This was taken near the lakes we had been at earlier. We drove back via Ronda where we went to the garden centre to get more Tomato feed and some other bits and peices. The roads were being dug up so we had a big detour.

When we got back we spent ages getting the tuggy bits from the dogs then went to La Fuente for dinner. In the meantime we tried to sort out a booking for the house - successfully!. Rentals are going very well this year.
Took this of Ben, tired him out I guess, his back legs are on the floor and the rest of him on the sofa.