Yesterday, after a fantastic few days in Gib, we packed up our spotty bundles and left our friends to continue their trip east without us. They were weatherbound in Gib until Saturday, so we decided to head home.

We walked out of Gib, across the runway, into La Linea, the border town. It was like walking from a prosperous city to a very poor one. The bus station was horrible, filthy toilets and poorly signposted, as were the ticket offices and buses themselves!

The bus journey was great, though, especially the bit from Algeciras to Tarifa, the southmost point of Spain opposite Morocco, approximately 15 miles away. The trip took us high into the hills, past countless wind turbines, and lovely green landscapes.

The bus trip took 4 and a half hours. After about 2 hours the driver stopped in a deserted car park, muttered something about ten minutes stop, and disappeared. No-one got off the bus, there would have been no point. No loos, no cafe, nada!

Eventually we arrived in Seville, had a coffee and a cake, and headed for the tourist information, to try to get some help finding accommodation. All they did was dish out lists of places and suggest we ring round. So we went out, went for a walk and found a likely looking hotel, and that was it. Sorted. Out later for paella for dinner (missed lunch) and then we retired for the evening. We were really tired, as the day before yesterday we had taken the cable car up to the top of Gibraltar, and walked down the very steep Mediterranean Steps. This is not recommended for those suffering from vertigo, and it takes two hours. Your legs take some time to recover, we are still stiff! But the bird life at the top was amazing. Ju counted 50 eagles then stopped counting, and there were griffon vultures, honey buzzards; it´s the northerly migration season. The birds were really high up. I will add some photos when I get back to the boat.


This morning we did the city bus tour, this afternoon the cathedral, and now we are chilling in an internet centre for a while in the heat of the afternoon. Seville is an interesting city with a really rich history. Like the cathedral tower which used to be the minaret of the mosque, and has ramps instead of stairs so the guards could ride up on horseback!!!!!

This evening perhaps a bit of flamenco, and we´ll head off back to Lagos tomorrow.