Mount Calamorro.

Blue Sky Spain this week :-)

A quick trip out to the Costa del Sol for a tenner return inc tax from Ryanair was too tempting to resist in these dreich months.Flew out from Prestwick on Tuesday lunchtime and Pepé and Brenda picked us up at the airport and then straight into Malaga for an "all the meat you can eat" for 7€ job.I had starved for three days in anticipation of this :) Very good it was too I must add.


Popped along to Benalmadena and had a few beers before retiring for the night but not before I was informed that I was on dogsitting duty the following day.

Breakfast the next day....the usual. Coffee,fag and the Guardian complete with added sunshine :)



Lucky was a street dog before an expat Irishwoman fell for his charms and took him in.Unfortunately he is in the habit of wrecking her house if he is left in alone and she has to resort to a network of volunteer dogsitters when she is working,which is where I came in.




The girls were all set to go to the local market so Lucky and I tagged along for the walk.More of a car boot sale than a local market with the majority of sellers being British,trying to earn a few bob to compensate for their plummeting pensions and the like due to the exchange rate.I`m not a great sun worshipper and the heat was rather stifling during the afternoon hours.We walked back from Arroya taking a break every so often for coffee or beer.I should mention that we had another dog in tow....sort of miniature schnauzer kind of thing which was completely blind.You can imagine what it was like in a busy market with these two in tow..!


Anyway,at least I had the next day to myself I mused...

I was up well before sunrise and sat on the porch having coffee and watched this huge container ship ghosting past the rising sun....


The forecast was for much the same as the previous day....too hot for me to go hillwalking alas.
Mrs.Blue Sky came to the rescue however by announcing that she too wanted to go up the hills.After picking myself up from the floor and a half hour to recover from the shock a plan was hatched.We would get the cablecar up to the top of the hill behind Arroya and walk along the ridge in the hopefully cool mountain breeze.As punishment for denying me my long hill day ( at least that`s what I told her ) Mrs.Blue Sky would have to pay the 13€ each for the return trip :) We were away by 10.30am which is good going for Mrs.BS and I successfully negotiated her through the backstreets to avoid the temptation of the 1€ shops :)

Some pics from the tops....

Hawk over Benalmadena...


The summit of Mount Calamorro.The cablecar stops a few hundred feet down off to the right here....

This gives you a rough idea of the terrain hereabouts...


Mrs.BS heads along to the Mirador Sur viewpoint....



There is a great network of well made paths along the tops here and if I was going again I`d repeat the cablecar ascent and wander along the ridges for the day.Maybe walk along the entire ridge perhaps and down to Fuengirola and return by train.The Mirador Sur would be an ideal bivvy spot as well :)

Friday was Pepés day off so we went for a hurl along the Costa towards Marbella.Not my cup of tea but at least the temperature had dropped to around the mid seventies.Had a walk along the coast for a bit while they were having lunch.....deserted...never met a single soul.

I was up early each morning to walk along the beach before sunrise..





Nothing much to report in the way of birdlife...just a few waders at the seashore,vultures and hawks on the hill and these noisy parakeets who were creating mayhem in the palm trees....



The following link is a great facility for nabbing a cheapo flight.Just enter how much you want to pay and either click "anywhere" or type in a destination.Just remember to try and travel with only hand luggage.Ryanair charge £35 each way if you are over 10kg or over size.

Flightchecker

Considering it costs me £3 to get into Glasgow this trip represented good value for a tenner..! Many thanks to Pepé and Brenda for putting us up :)