3 go mad in the hills ....

Decided today we'd had enough sea air so we pointed Daisy inland and headed to the hills north of Malaga to a place called Competa, a typical white washed Spanish town with narrow winding streets and lovely views of the surrounding hills. Unfortunately nowhere to stay overnight so after a good mooch (and of course the obligatory cup of coffee!) we carried on to El Chorro Gorge (where the film Von Ryans Express was filmed). The drive there was amazing, as the road got narrower and narrower the mountains got bigger and more dramatic and in some places the road was carved through the mountain side and we had to watch Daisy didn't end up as an open top bus! The gorge is huge but we were disappointed to find that the rickety old wooden path (see pics) that used to cling to the cliff face of the gorge had been allowed to deteriorate and was now closed to the public. So to get our dose of adrenaline we chose instead to walk through some of the tunnels still in use by the railway to get the best views of the gorge - only to learn later back at the campsite that people are being fined 6,000 euros (about £4,500) for doing this! The cliffs of El Chorro are popular with rock climbers and we felt a bit out of place not having a fixation for hanging off the side of rock faces! Met a mixed bunch of people on the campsite all there to rockclimb - Aussies, Kiwis and two geezers from Chorley! - and had a good night listening to them playing the guitar and signing Australian war songs! Bit of a funny place really, campsite not that busy but dozens and dozens of people living permanently in campervans at the side of the lake along with dozens and dozens of dogs!

Competa 1

Competa 2

El Chorro Gorge

Old walkway on cliff face