{"id":3037,"date":"2022-03-14T10:48:19","date_gmt":"2022-03-14T10:48:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=3037"},"modified":"2022-03-14T10:48:19","modified_gmt":"2022-03-14T10:48:19","slug":"spain-8-ronda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=3037","title":{"rendered":"SPAIN 8. RONDA"},"content":{"rendered":"

We’ve had the occasional ant join us in the caravan at Conil.\u00a0 When we came to pack up, we discovered hundreds of the blighters had taken up residence in our battery locker.\u00a0 Easy access up the power cable – and probably a bit warmer inside than out.\u00a0 At least we know where our unwanted visitors were based!\u00a0 Localised chemical warfare declared!<\/p>\n

As we head up the A4, towards Cadiz, we find the road closed.\u00a0 Everything has to divert off the motorway. Handy with a caravan!\u00a0 However, it transpired that it was a random alcohol check.\u00a0 As we approached the check point, we could see the look in the policeman’s eyes as he tried to remember the words for “blow”, “into” and “tube”,\u00a0 \u00a0He obviously failed because he waved us straight through – and back onto the autopista.\u00a0 Phew!\u00a0 Not that we had been drinking champagne at breakfast time!\u00a0 Of course we hadn’t!<\/p>\n

About 150 km east, we arrive at Olvera.\u00a0 The town is on one hill and our campsite is conveniently placed on the top of the next hill.\u00a0 The rain forecast for 3pm, arrived at 4pm.\u00a0 By then, we were all set up with a magnificent view…<\/p>\n

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We decided to try the restaurant attached to the site.\u00a0 Big mistake.\u00a0 The place has great reviews but was sadly lacking in both ambience and culinary excellence!\u00a0 OK, so we are in low season, but we still expect.a decent standard of food for 40\u20ac.\u00a0 This is one of the occasions when we regret our almost total lack of Spanish!\u00a0 (Like when you get hijacked, or you need new tyres or a water pump or your fridge fails or you need new gas regulator!)<\/p>\n

On Saturday, (not really a good choice of days, but the only guaranteed dry day) we went to visit Ronda.\u00a0 There are two ways to go.\u00a0 The shorter, cross country route via Sentenil and miles of twiddly roads just wide enough on which to pass a goat, or the longer main road which doesn’t actually go through anywhere and where no-one can pass because of continuous white lines!\u00a0 Turn left or right out of the campsite respectively.\u00a0 We chose left.<\/p>\n

After negotiating a few goats and several cyclists we paused at the tiny settlement of Torre Alh\u00e1quime.<\/p>\n

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We drove up to the top of the village until the roads became too narrow for the car, or just became dead ends or transmogrified into steps.\u00a0 We abandoned the car in the only place big enough and continued with mountaineering kit to the summit, where we had our mandatory coffees con leche.\u00a0 Reversing around several blind corners, we found the tiny square where had had coffees.\u00a0 Locals were setting up some sort of event involving tables, tablecloths and food.\u00a0 After getting a small white van to reverse out of our way and some of the tables dismantled and pushed aside, we squeezed out!\u00a0 Just!\u00a0 As Glenda said, we should have parked at the bottom and walked up.\u00a0 But that wouldn’t have been any fun!<\/p>\n

Back on the road, we were joined by a peloton of cyclists.\u00a0 Their uniform identified them as the Sentenil Road Racing Team.\u00a0 Worryingly, they were passing us on the uphill stretches, not just the downhill bits!<\/p>\n

Sentenil de las Bodegas, as it is known locally, is “famous” for its whitewashed houses built into the surrounding cliffs.<\/p>\n

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Sadly, that’s not my photograph.\u00a0 The town was a traffic jam with coach-loads of weekend tourists.\u00a0 The only things moving were the cycling team weaving their way around coaches and cars!\u00a0 Well, obviously, that’s not strictly true because we escaped by back roads towards Ronda.\u00a0 But there was no parking for miles.\u00a0 Apparently, the town’s hilltop castle was once an Arab fortress.\u00a0 So it sounds like a good place to visit – on a weekday!<\/p>\n

And so, into Ronda.\u00a0 Parking on the outskirts, we walked a mile on the Avenida Malaga directly into the central shopping zone.\u00a0 There seemed to me to be a lot of shoe shops and little boutiques but Glenda came out unladen.\u00a0 We found the Puente Nuevo (“New” Bridge) just where it was last time we visited the city.<\/p>\n

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It’s the newest and largest of three bridges that spanned the 120-metre-deep chasm that carries the Guadalev\u00edn River and divides the city of Ronda.\u00a0 But everything is relative!\u00a0 It was completed in 1793.\u00a0 \u00a0So it’s not really very nuevo!<\/p>\n

Drinks on the small terrace of the parador right beside the bridge; serenaded by a guitarist. All very romantic!<\/p>\n

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Actually, I don’t think he was playing just for us, but he was very accomplished.\u00a0 There is a lovely walkway that has been constructed on and, in places, over the edge of the cliffs.\u00a0 This gives a superb view over the surrounding countryside.\u00a0 But best for non sufferers of vertigo!<\/p>\n

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There were several peregrine falcons wheeling and swooping along the cliff edge.\u00a0 Very acrobatic!\u00a0 Other wildlife around seemed a little more intimidating…<\/p>\n

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Time for home, by the main roads – when we eventually work out what the road we want has been renumbered as.\u00a0 Maybe we should invest in a map printed this century!<\/p>\n

More from Olvera to follow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We’ve had the occasional ant join us in the caravan at Conil.\u00a0 When we came to pack up, we discovered hundreds of the blighters had taken up residence in our battery locker.\u00a0 Easy access up the power cable – and… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spain-22","category-travels-in-2022"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3037"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3037\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3057,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3037\/revisions\/3057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}