The Ham Nomads

14 Feb 2015. <ES> La Linéa de la Concepción, Cádiz, & Los Monteros, Málaga, & Archidona, Málaga, Andalucía —

Morning at the sports field at La Linéa de la Concepción. We took a stroll along the beach and to the Spanish-Gibraltar border. Like all borders, it is a mass of concrete and barbed wire — they don't want anybody crossing except at the official points!

We finally left, drove up by the bay, watching the ships anchored offshore, windsurfers darting about, people exercising on the beach, and then dropped in for a shop at Carrefour (the same shopping complex we parked at the previous night). Spent a little time at Macca's, and then left to drive along the Costa del Sol towards Málaga. We drove and drove — and didn't find much opportunity to stop off. Most of the beaches along this coastline are private beaches, with no access for hoi polloi. We finally stopped of for lunch (at 3.30pm) at Los Monteros, where we found a place to park beside a rugby ground — but still no access to the beach! At about 4.15 we actually found a public beach, at Playa de Mijas — it was nothing to write home about, but at least we would have been able to get down to the sand! The Costa del Sol is set up for the holiday-maker who stays at a resort or a hotel, and would be absolutely wonderful for this kind of visitor. The itinerant nomad doesn't quite get a foothold.

On the way, we noticed a few large construction projects — obviously residential — that had been abandoned before completion. Even in what is probably the most prosperous area of Spain, the results of the Global Financial Crisis seem to be apparent.

We decided to go for an aire at the village of Archidona, which involved going off the main highway system and going on a back road. Suzie wasn't happy, as it was a narrow, winding, mainly uphill road with huge ditches on the sides, and the van was protesting a little, and she didn't want to break down in the back blocks of Spain. The problem was that we were coming in from the south — the road out to the north is much better! But finally we got there, and parked beside a gymnasium in a rather delightful site. The views were superb, and we were not the only motor homes there — two German vans were there when we arrived (and left in the morning before we did).

Distance driven — today, 118 miles ( 190 km ); to date, 13,163 miles ( 21,184 km )