Cadiz/Puerto de Santa Maria

A couple of hours along the coast and we are stopping off at Gib to stock up on hard to get Brit items to tide us over till our return in the summer

Our original two night plan was slashed to just the one as we'd seen what we needed to before on previous visits and TBH we were glad when we were back on the road in Spain...

We travel up from Gib to Puerto de Santa Maria and head in to town to sample a few beers and a tapas bar Keith & Chris recommended to us after their visit here

Found it, and some fine fayre...

We sit in the sun for half an hour next morning awaiting the next departure across the water of the catamaran to Cadiz

The Taxi...

The Tourists..

Stunning as ever

Our mate Gull..

Poser...

The Castillo de Santa Catalina proved to be quite interesting with some 'Explosive History' dating back to 1947 together with a Policia museum

It was also a prison to 'Conscientious Objectors' during Franco's time in power

Oh dear, Nina's been arrested!

Was the crime naked trampolining perhaps?

or wilful misuse of playground equipment?😊

Its Carnaval time in Cadiz too but thankfully today its quiet (apart from the very loud music being banged out from a stage downtown)

As ever we walk practically the whole city and take in some very nice tapa resulting in two tired teddies returning to Puerto DSA

Malaga

After one night spent at Almerimar and a good walk in to the harbour area we set off again along the southern coast towards Malaga

We use the site at Almayate, actually a caravan/motorhome storage depot again and Nina takes this shot of a brighter and much warmer morning...

Thankfully the cold snap is now behind us and we can return to normal once again

I'm itching for a ride on Max though perhaps not in this particular fashion!

As ever, blue skies and classy Malaga greets us as Max is parked up on the seafront boulevard

Its quite warm in the sun and we are soon lunching and quenching thirsts...

The Jury is still out on this...

Nina reckons it was directions to a homeless shelter but I think it meant something more blatant

(It was actually pointing out of town)

Seems its Carnaval time everywhere we go at the moment and these 'Guys' just love a party

Takes 'Balls' I suppose....

We are firmly stuck in the middle of the parade and the city grinds to a halt

We decided on this one if we had the cash...

As night descends the parties begin amid the multitude of bars

Always a good day out for us here with lots to see and always something going on 

We spent three nights at Almayate visiting Nerja and nearby Torre del Mar a couple of times

There are very few quality camperstops on this southern coastline and unecessary cramped campsites are just not suitable for us and our limited needs

That said Spain is ever improving and adding new locations and it was nice to see the newly opened site east of Malaga full of vans as we drove by

The 'Wild camping' spots are on the wane I'm afraid with several lovely locations now out of bounds we've discovered. This is a real pity and the blame for their demise must rest surely on those Muppets who stay for weeks on end not moving on and dumping their waste in the local environment

This is not conjecture, We've seen it happen on many occasions...

The locals and the Policia have had enough and who can blame them? If only there were more sites along the coastline with basic facilities and charging just a nominal fee for a few nights stay then perhaps everyone would be a lot happier.

The reality is I'm afraid that those who dump their black waste in the river or nearby bushes, hang out their washing and are content to cram next to each other on unsuitable wasteland are in fact way beyond redemption. Any number of newly built camperstops would not change their behaviour

That said I must point out that they are in the minority by a country mile and most vanners are really nice responsible people. As with anything in this world its the 'Muppet Minority' that give the rest a bad name sometimes...