Thursday 30th

Susan was feeling arty farty

After a "not too bad" sleep, we showered, ate breakfast and set off towards Zahara de los Atunes; Zahara is a windswept place with an interesting atmosphere. On a quiet day, it is like going back in time. A fine example of what we politely call Opopulist architecture. By contrast, on a summer¹s day, it's the trendy place to be. A stunning wilderness of 20 km of unspoilt white sandy beaches stretching as far as Cape Gracia. You can drive south from Zahara, as far as the lighthouse on Cape Gracia and explore the beaches. This is a no through road, hence the area has remained unspoiled.
In the village itself there are the sadly neglected ruins of the Castillo de las Amadrabas built in the fifteenth century by the Dukes of Medina Sidonia for protection against pirates and later used by local fishermen to store their tuna fishing equipment.

We stopped for a drink, ran into some Americans that we had been chatting to at the camp site, they are cycling round Spain, Portugal and Africa - crazy!

After that we drove on to Vejer de la Frontera, another Frontier town. This classic white village on the hilltop is well worth a visit. It is actually 10 kilometers inland, perched high above the steep gorge of the River Barbate.
The more interesting arrival is from the outpost at the bottom of the ravine called La Barca de Vejer. From here take the steep road up the escarpment and straight into the beautiful Plaza de Espana, undoubtedly one of the prettiest village squares in Spain. The town square, shaded by vast palm trees, has a wonderful old fountain with traditional ceramic Andalucian frogs, which spout water high into the air, thus forming a fountain.


There were 2 barking Alsatians in this courtyard so we didnt stop for long. We walked up the hill to the town square, it's a nice little town, friendly and busy. We had lunch in a streetside cafe, it was quite good and we had a good position to watch the comings and goings.

The family at the next table looked a little odd, the wee boy had a kitten in his school bag, I am sure he had been to school with it.

The town square was interesting but it was getting a little cold by now. We stopped and were approached by a Danish woman that had a Border Collie, Collies are very scarse in Spain, we've been her for 3 months and only seen a puppy that was a cross with a border Collie, this was to be the first of 2 encounters with Collies today. She chatted away a bit, she seemed a little scatty, explained she was a writer and had moved here 4 years ago.

We drove back to the camp site, Susan got tidied up a bit and I took the dogs to the beach, typically I didn't bother with a lead. As we entered the beach I spotted 2 women sun bathing and they had a collie, they were holding it tight so I didnt go over, we just waved and said hello - they were English too. I walked along the beach throwing the ball for ages, we were having a great time when I heard an engine behind me, it was the Guardia Civil and he was on a motorbike heading right for me. He stopped and asked if I was Spanish, I said not but spoke a little Spanish, he asked for my passport, which I obviously didnt have, he asked my name address etc. He was having trouble understanding me so I suggested that I wrote it in his note pad for him, he said that was fine so I did, he'll never read that again! I asked him what the problem was (knowing full well it was something to do with the dogs as his partner was over taking to the other Collie owners), he asked for the papers for the Dogs but of course that was at home. He explained that they need to be on a lead and said I had to take their collars and lead them back to the camp site and get the lead. He was ok about it, sometimes Guardia can be obnoxious sods but he was ok, I do wonder if there is not better things they can be doing though!

I bumped into the owner of the other Collie in the kitchen area, she had the same treatment as me but got off lighter, she suspects that is was because she speaks no Spanish at all and didnt understand what was going on. The cop probably got fed up.

We drove into Tariffa for a meal, it's not a great town, populated by some drop outs and of course the dropping off point for people coming from Africa. It's a pity because it has the potential to be really nice but we agreed we didn't really feel comfortable. We drove back and had a good sleep. Me in my favourite position, eating an Ice cream. A restaurant in Tariffa

This is the port of Tariffa, Africa is just in the background.