Spanish Adventure Part 3

 

Spanish Adventure

Part Three.

 

Having arrived in Ronda travelling by the scenic route we had an evening and all the next day to enjoy the place. I was not feeling too good early evening I thought it was too much pollen in the air with the strong fragrance of the tree blossom in the park but it turned out to be my UV contact lenses and corresponding Polaroid sunglasses that gave me such a headache. It was eye strain from being double polarised. There was a grainy view to the world I could not cope with. A rest and not wearing contact lenses or sunglasses I was alright after an hour too late for Gita to go shopping.

The next day was all action starting with a chef cooked fried eggs done to perfection and sausages and bacon. Out of the hotel and across the road the shopathon begins at the first jewellery store. Contactless card payments are magical at removing money from your account. As the little machine bleeps you almost hear the whoosh as the money goes. Fortunately for me there is only the one “High street” where all the shops congregate. We shopped until the shops closed for lunch so we took a break too. I was dragged into most of the jewellery shop and bag stores. Some were both with Mia-Mia have four stores in that area and something was bought in each store. Post lunch is a quiet time to fill in the time before the shops open again we visited the Bull Ring just behind the hotel. Ronda is where Ernest Hemingway wrote “Death in the afternoon”. Drama of the bull fight and about the villains and heroes of that era. But the Bull Ring is about equestrian prowess and where the Olympic sport of dressage was born. Spanish Elite School of horsemanship was born there out of necessity as there were no trained cavalry to go to war with and Ronda was that school. The Bull ring was built after the riding school. I like Ronda and staying at the Paradore, the hotel on the cliff with stunning views looking down on the birds gliding on the thermals.

The next day was a leisurely start to head to Malaga; some 65 miles away for another two night stop over.  Driving over the hills was challenging. It is the first time I have experienced brake fade from repeated acceleration and deceleration. It was not gentle. I am still not sure Malaga was the best place to stay but considering my shopaholic I thought a hotel of character near the shops would be a good idea. At the end of a hot day the hotel was not easy to find and even more difficult the secure car park. I’m sure I went the wrong way down a one way street to get there. Other than a great deal of walking and the long climb to the fort it was not that memorable. 

We did not even get into Picasso’s museum as you had to book on line. We had no roaming on our phone contracts. Our last evening we enjoyed a beer on the terrace as the sun went down on this unusual hotel. In the morning we had to find the car and take it back to the hotel to load up. We set out early but we could not find the car park. I was one street out in my memory. The car was fine. I am wary of remote car parks from past experience. Back to the hotel past road works that required both mirrors to be folded in to get through. It was a hold your breath time, couldn’t go forward, couldn’t go back situation. After a bit of going round the houses we were back at the hotel. Loaded up we went on our way to Almeria some 128miles and easy driving except for finding the entrance to the hotel. The Gran Hotel Almeria situated on a corner but you had to be on the right road to get to the car park.

 The beach looked close but you had to walk the perimeter of the new marina to get to it. After much cruising the town we asked in a shop for the best place to eat and were rewarded with the Bar Tomat and a very special meal.

 

Comment Time June 2022

 

Comment Time June 22

 

I have had a number of emails from MAG (Motorcycle Action Group) asking me to respond to a couple of surveys. I have just completed both of them and I feel a bit jaundiced about the outcomes. The first one was TfL and the increase in ULEZ does anyone know about this one?? A well kept secret to minimise the response you still have a couple weeks to respond. Look up projects on the TfL website under air pollution and do the questionnaire. I found it quite irritating because they asked questions that were emotive and you had to answer yes to them like is air quality important to you but did not ask me how I would be affected by the implementation of these measures.  It was a questionnaire designed to support what they want to do. I have a couple of classic cars that are not yet historic vehicles, the El Cid, the Burton and the Van as from January I will have to pay ULEZ on them just to move them off my drive. Just my luck they would install an ANPR camera on the lamp post opposite me. AS you may gather I am not too pleased about ULEZ. It will curtail my presence at car club meetings and events. Going to a 2CV club rally will add £25 to the cost of the weekend if I go. Being within the M25 I cannot escape payments until all the cars are old enough to be historic vehicles.

The other questionnaire was about parking charges in Hackney. At the moment visitors on motorcycles do not pay charges but that is about to change with banding being the same as a car for the same engine capacity. Not many 650cc cars around they are claiming to do it on levels of pollution but there is a flaw in the argument in the size of the vehicle as the only comparable car is a 2CV and they have no information on them form the government database. I have read their information about the impact on health and all the figures are estimated which means they have made them up and now are quoting them as fact. I continue to ask what are the figures?  Where is your data to support what you say? I asked that with the ULEZ as well. I know they do not have that level of detail otherwise they would be making use of it. I really do not like it that statements are made with no information to support them and claimed to be fact because it is an emotive issue. You can tell I am wound up I’ve started to repeat myself.

Last whinge of the day: I did not mention it in Spanish Adventure Part Two but on our trip to Caceres I filled up in Valladolid at a Carrefour supermarket. Excellent fuel 98 super and gave nearly 49mpg compare that to the previous fill up with E10 95 from Sainsbury’s in Plymouth that returned a dismal 37.9mpg! I know I filled right up and only a few miles from getting on the ferry but sometime during the crossing some 30 miles worth of fuel disappeared. There was a full tank going on and a noticeable loss when I drove off. I mentioned this to my friend Bob and he had noticed a discernable drop in fuel economy with E10. My policy was not to fill up before parking the El Cid for the night after that. Let me know if you have had similar problems with E10 fuels. There was no leak from the fuel tank, no theft as it is locked. So why did the volume of fuel shrink? Could it have been that fuel is delivered at a standard temperature of 15C and the temperature in the hold of the ferry being about 10C could the drop in temperature really take away 3 litres if fuel? Certainly getting on and off the ferry did not use that much fuel. Does anyone know the expansion rate for E10? It is 1/273 for water but we are not dealing with water.