Well the day
arrived and off we went to Gatwick airport for our flight to Malaga. All went
well, found Monarch airways efficient and had no issues with the flight. Although I have to say, nothing to do with
the airline as such, but what are all, those flipping suitcases, on the plane
about and why, we had paid to put a case in the hold, 50 odd people did not,
and then at the check in they are made an offer to do so at no cost, seems a
bit unfair, and why does someone have to recline their seat back on a 2 hour
journey.
Arrived in
Malaga on a drizzly grey morning……picked up hire car, the care we had been
allocated was damaged. A couple of large dents on both sides, I was concerned
and highlighted this to the staff, it was then we heard for the first time the
immortal words “don’t Worry”, my husband was not particularly happy with
this but we were caught between a rock and a hard place, as they said, they had
no other car… which I know was a lie, but not fluent enough in Spanish to
argue. It was not the last time we heard
these words and already I was worried. Anyway upshot was, they had documented
on all the paperwork, and we took some pictures.
So off we went to our first destination,
towards Puento Genil. Except 100 yards out of the car hire compound we ended up
in a shopping centre car park, a few deep breaths and a brief argument over whose
fault it was.
We eventually
got on the main road towards our destination dark foreboding mountains came
into view, dark clouds gathered over head.
This was not the “sunny” welcome that most would expect. We knew in
advance that the weather is not all sun, sea and sangria all year round. Many do not, lots of people said to us before
we went = “oh how lovely… at least you will get some sunshine………Well, they should
have been there when we arrived. Sun shine was in short supply. As I said we
knew the weather could get cold and we felt this first hand during our visit, More
of which later.
We found the
journey to our first stop over a breeze, and both commented on how empty the
roads were. We had been given excellent directions from our first contacts
which helped, along with the Sat-Nav. Generally we had no issues with driving
in Spain. Maybe I should clarify that statement, I did not drive, and this is
something that I am going to have to eventually be able to do. We travelled
around all sorts of roads when we were there including some scary winding roads
with what looked like sheer drops. Some dodgy tracks, however as we progressed
through the week, I felt more confident as a passenger! On our next trip, I
will definitely have to drive and am determined to do so. I wish I could practice here in the UK. As I have
already stated we were stunned at how empty the roads were, including the
motorways we encountered some traffic the day we went to Cordoba and the on the
journey from Alcala Real to the Alpujarras I was very nervous about the roads etc.
around the mountains in Alpujarras, and although I did have brief moments of
OMG, generally the roads were great. We came across a few rock slips, and some
ice – but on our return to the UK we had more pot holes between Gatwick and
home then in Spain. Yes some of the
Caminiro’s were bumpy, but we expected that.
Generally we had
no major issues driving… he had no major issues driving! But when we were travelling around the little
villages in the mountain regions it became apparent as to why the cars all have
knocks and bumps. Those little villages have such tiny narrow streets with so
nice bends, just sharp turns. I almost hyperventilated at some points.
Tomorrow Houses
and Estate agents!!!!!!!!!! Don’t worry
its Spain comes into its own
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