Half way day … into our 6th week …

Very early start to get the 9am bus. We have nailed down wrapping the bikes now.  We are on the milk run stopping at lots of beachside towns picking up passengers 3hrs to do 100km.  From Malaga we are the only passengers so our bikes are quite comfortable … hoping it stays that way. It appears most passengers are daytrippers.

At one stop a man with an electric bikes was refused … he quickly locked his bike across the road and boarded, not sure if it was because the bike wasn’t wrapped or 2 bikes were the limit.  The bus driver appears grumpy.

To matters worse, we were 200m from the last pick up in Marbella and the driver side swiped a car on a roundabout.  The usual exchange of details and off again. 

The beachside towns are amazing, fully of apartments and hotels … today no wind and the glimpses of the sea is serene.  We leave the coast and head to the mountains for the last 50km.  We are thankful we are on the bus … a very steep climb.

Weaving around the mountains catching views of the coast, way below and little towns nestled between mountains. The mountains are a mixture of forest and rocky, then out of the blue we see pastures of different colours like patchwork. John noticed one cyclist. We contemplate if we were to consider riding here, John said we would have been crying.

Time to hit the town running, the hills haven’t gone away, the old town and new town are separated by stone bridges, we head for the smaller of the two which spans across a deep 120m gorge. Up river not far is the ‘new bridge’ also stone and very old despite it being coined as the ‘new’ bridge. The old town is spectacular as you wander the small cobbled streets but not before many steps and walking on the castle wall to get amazing views of the valley below and the gorge.

It’s quite hot, it’s the heat of the day, as we trudge up and down stone steps, there are many walking trails and lookouts offering different vantage points.

A great place to do trekking. We consider the route to cycle back to the coast … no way … we will bus it tomorrow then set ourselves up for a few days cycling.