11. Apr, 2017

TUESDAY 11-4-17

We awoke to a partly cloudy sky, though thankfully the wind seemed to have finally dropped.

Today had to be a strip wash as I was trying to conserve our water. We have a full tank to last us four days, so tomorrow and Thursday will be shower days, and if there's enough water left another one on Friday before I drive to the end of the marina to top the tank up and dump our grey water and loo before we leave.

Once scrubbed up and fed I turned the vehicle around to face the marina so that we could give our neighbours some privacy as our habitation doors face each other. I parked nose-in so that we could keep the wind off the door, but everyone else, bar one, has backed in.

Then we made our way back across the border and in to Gibraltar, a sort of cross between Hong Kong and Sugar Loaf Mountain, Brazil. It's only about a ten minute walk from here, but today we were delayed by about fifteen minutes because not one, but three aircraft used the runway, one after the other. First an RAF transport plane landed, followed by two Easyjet's taking off. The airport is certainly busy this week, there have been far more landings and take-offs on this visit. As the RAF have about as many planes as the Royal Navy has ships these days, it's probably a good thing that they use the airfield for civilian purposes to avoid a layer of dust building up on the runway surface. Our lack of military capability these days is what happens when you let ex public schoolboys loose with our defences.

Once in town we crossed Grand Casements Square before popping to the indoor market for a look round. It wasn't very big but was very Spanish indeed.

Then it was a walk up the long and busy Main Street for a bit of window shopping made sweeter by my acquiring a litre bottle of Drambuie, and a bottle of Pusser's Rum, extra strength, for just over £27 so I was pleased with that, though they took a bit of lugging around.

Lunch came in the form of two packs of sandwiches bought from Marks & Spencer and eaten on a bench outside the Kings Chapel & The Convent.

Next it was a visit to Trafalgar Cemetery. Not far away out to sea is Cape Trafalgar where Nelson gave 'The Frogs' and 'The Armpits' a good thrashing, so you'd expect it to be full of British sailors bodies, lost in that great Naval victory. But no, just two of them are there, the rest were buried at sea. Those who died later of their injuries were buried in St Jago's Barracks. After which, in 1932 their headstones were removed and bought to Trafalgar Cemetery. And their remains? Probably left as hardcore for Morrisons supermarket or something. Such a shame.

Next we entered Gibraltar's Botanical Garden for a nice peaceful walk round. Something a bit different we thought. Though by now the sun was out good and proper and it was really quite hot. I think tomorrow we shall be attempting to use the Gibraltar bus service to travel further afield. We took a different route down from the gardens which gave us a view of the former Naval Dockyard and dry docks, now used for the repair of civilian ships. How sad to see it, that harbour would have been a hive of activity as little as fifty years ago, but now, nothing. As I recall I only visited it once during my years in the Royal Navy.

As we wandered further down the hill we called in to the Trafalgar pub near the cemetery for a well deserved cold beer, and me being a pig, had a plate of chips with it. Then it was a steady walk back, buying a pack of beers and a baguette to go with this evenings meal of cheese and ham salad.

Approaching the motorhome parking area we were wondering if we should try our luck and ask if we could sit outside the vehicle in our reclining chairs, or saying nothing and just do it anyway. The Chef favoured saying nothing, so we didn't. Just as well really, as we would have drawn attention to ourselves, because as we turned the corner two motorhomers side by side had turned their areas in to something resembling a Pikey site. That was it, out came the chairs.

Tomorrow we plan to take a ride to the other side of the island. We won't be going up on the cable car. We did it before some years ago. The views at the top are terrific, but it costs fifteen euros each and there's about a one hour wait to go up.

Having turned the vehicle around we enjoyed a nice view of the sunset this evening.

10. Apr, 2017

10. Apr, 2017

10. Apr, 2017

10. Apr, 2017

MONDAY 10-4-17

It always pays to have a Plan B. I said to The Chef when we woke, that I didn't see the point in hanging around in the Puerto del la Duquesa area, because we had seen it so often in the past, and nice as it was to see it again, we've no reason to stay, we'd just be killing time. I suggested we made for La Linea this morning, with a view to taking a chance, Easter or not, and make for Cadiz on Good Friday. There's a large car park holding fifty motorhomes, costing €6 a night in El Puerto de Santa Maria, from where we can catch a catamaran across to Cadiz.

So that was it. Scrubbed and fed we prepared the vehicle for going much further than the waste piece of land just up the road in the village next door. I took a whole tank of fresh water with us, because if it all went wrong for us at La Linea, I would have to move on, probably dossing on the public land on the beach near Tarifa with all the windsurfers.

Fortunately the journey went fine and we arrived here at the marina complex in La Linea, just inside the Spanish border with Gibraltar (GPS: N36.155601º W5.354221º).

Setting up was quite straightforward, we nosed the vehicle in to our parking space to keep the wind off the 'front door'. We are not allowed to use such luxuries as chairs outside as that constitutes camping rather than parking, still at €12 a night we can't complain.

After lunch we took my backpack and a few shopping bags folded up inside it and set off with the intension of visiting Morrisons supermarket on Gibraltar. We'd been there before, but I had it in my mind that it was just across the border, but no.

Getting through Border Control was straightforward enough, before then crossing the very wide runway owned and controlled by the British military, it does have a few civilian flights in and out each day. If an aircraft is due to take off or land, barriers come down across the road and footpaths, and public access across the runway is forbidden.

Once in town we managed to find the bus station, as we remembered having to get a bus there last time. The number 8 finally arrived and on we got. Two return tickets for a total of £4.50. The bus journey length - four minutes, I timed it on my watch on the return journey. Needless to say if we want to go to Morrisons again we'll find our way there on foot.

We didn't buy a huge amount, but nevertheless it came to just over £40. My word, you don't get much for your money in there, the only advantage being you are buying familiar brands. Still supermarkets work on a narrow profit margin as a norm, so somebody has to pay the additional shipping and transport costs to get goods delivered from the UK.

Our evening meal was Southern Fried Chicken and potato wedges bought hot from Morrisons, then just heated up in a dry frying pan when we got back. Two hot meals for £3.15, add the price of a couple of nice cool beers and a crusty baguette, and that's not bad value, and it made The Chef's life easier as we have limited facilities parked up at places like this.

Tomorrow we shall play tourists, and have a wander around town, and maybe a closer look at The Rock than we did last time.