Ronda

When I read the trip details I thought today would be a nice, easy 37 mile morning pootle to Ronda with a lovely afternoon being a tourist. Well...

The 'pootle' involved 1297m of climbing in 30 miles through stunning scenery.

This is the Caminito del Rey, apparently the world's scariest footpath. 

Coffee stop included kitkats, an indicator of what was to come in terms of calorie expenditure. It was a fabulous climb with tree trunks protesting throughout.

Lunch was at the top and we could see Ronda below.

The speedy descent was followed by the now obligatory challenging navigation down cobbled streets. The hotel is fabulous, full of quirky artefacts and a free bar!

Rusty and I sauntered off to do the planned tourism part of the day and when we heard thunder, headed to a bar.

The storm was more of an apocalypse with a flash flood pouring down the street and through the ceiling of the bar.

When the hailstones started, I was even more relieved that we had finished cycling early.

Once the drama was over, we finally did the tourist stuff and Ronda is definitely worth visiting.

Back at the hotel now before heading out for dinner, the table is of course a surf board...

Only one day left of this epic trip and it promises to be a suitably tough finale - perhaps I should slow down on the white wine? Nah...