This Spanish Life

This evening I decided to try a new cycling route. Well, to be more accurate I decided to go further along a route that I had been along only once before. This route involves cycling uphill into the countryside out behind the Selwo area of Estepona. After a while the road turns to an uneven, rocky track that winds alternately uphill and down. If you go far enough along you find that the track continues on through a tunnel. The one other time that I cycled this route I had turned back immediately after going through the tunnel because it spooked me a bit. It's not a long tunnel but it’s gloomy, it has graffiti sprayed all along the walls and it's a tunnel! In the kind of movies I watch nothing good ever happens in tunnels! I've seen more than enough horror films to know this! Today though I decided to keep going.

I went through the tunnel and carried on along the track. The scenery was lovely, there was nobody else around and I was surrounded by trees and birdsong and greenness and nothing else. At times the track split into two and each time I chose one of the forks randomly and cycled on along it. After a while I thought perhaps I should think about turning back. I had come some way, it was getting late and the sun was starting to sink lower in the sky. But then I noticed that the track just ahead was a nice, long downhill slope and I thought I might cycle down this bit and see where it ended up. So I did. 

I freewheeled down, bumping over the numerous ruts and potholes, enjoying building up some speed. When I reached the bottom of the hill I looked around. I was still surrounded by only trees and countryside, nothing else. I hadn't seen another person for the whole time I had been travelling along the track. Then up ahead I noticed a sign indicating that the track was about to reach a dead end and so I thought I would cycle to the end just to have a look. Maybe it was a dead end for cars but not for bikes and it just might lead somewhere interesting. I started off again and hadn’t gone far when in a clearing just in front of me I saw a car parked. The boot of the car was open and there were two men standing at the boot with their backs to me, oblivious to my presence. In that instant I got the impression that they had just dropped something big and heavy into the boot. My over active imagination immediately conjured up images of gangsters, guns and a dead body.

Bringing my bike to a sudden stop I turned around as silently as I could, cursing the loud crunching of the stones under my tyres. Without pausing to turn around to see if the men had turned around and noticed me I quickly set off back the way I had come. I didn't want the men to know that I had seen them or that I had observed whatever it was they may have been doing. My heart was racing as I imagined all sorts of possible ominous scenarios that might result from them realising that I had witnessed their actions. I cycled speedily away, pedalling like the wind in an attempt to put some distance between me and the men. I covered ground quickly but then there it was in front of me, the steep, rocky track that I had flown down mere minutes earlier and which now ascended before me threatening to slow down my escape. 

Swiftly changing gears I pedalled uphill as fast as I could. Looking ahead it seemed like the hill stretched on forever but I carried on. The muscles in my legs were burning from the effort of speeding up the rocky slope and I was breathing heavily from my compulsion to keep going. Occasionally I would hear the sound of a car behind me and instinctively turned around in a panic but each time I realised that it was just a car travelling over the toll road bridge that towered up high behind me. I continued along on constant alert for the sound of people or a car coming up behind me until I finally reached the tunnel. 

Contrary to my sinister tunnel stereotype I passed through the tunnel without incident and emerged back into the reassuring daylight. I carried on going uphill and down until at last in the distance I could see the point at which the track turned back into the road, that oh so welcome road that went past houses and urbanisations and that promised a return to normality and safety. My legs were so tired but I pedalled as fast as I could until I reached that beautiful Tarmac. From there it was all downhill to the roundabout at the top of the hill close to where I live.

I breathed a sigh of relief. I was almost home!

There was no ‘just when you think you're safe….’  last minute terror. I had made it home safe and sound, without incident or drama. Except perhaps for that of my very over active imagination and my troublesome tunnel-induced paranoia.

Out and about on my bike in the old town of Estepona last week I noticed some interesting plaques on the walls along one of the beautifully quaint little streets. Continuing along the street I saw a few more and carried on my way until eventually I came to a small, narrow and very steep square, signposted as the Plaza de Manuel Alcántara. The square itself is very pretty and has some fountains in the centre which run along the middle of it. I took some photos of the square and plaques, struggling to keep hold of my bike which was trying its best to roll down the steep hill while I was doing my best not to drop my camera! I think the passing pedestrians found my clumsy efforts rather amusing to watch! 

On returning home I looked up some information about the Plaza de Manuel Alcántara. Now one of the things I love most about Estepona is that there are always new things to stumble upon and explore and today was no exception. I hadn't previously been aware of the ‘Ruta de la Poesia’ but it turns out that the plaques I had seen are a significant part of it. They contain extracts from the poems of Manuel Alcántara and I also read that a few other poets have plaques on this Poetry Route too. Something to look out for next time I am out and about on my bike! 

The square, inaugurated in September 2013 to celebrate the life and work of the poet who is from Málaga is another improvement implemented by the Mayor of Estepona, José María García Urbano. Manuel Alcántara, now in his 80s was present at the inaugural ceremony and it was reported that he felt very emotional and honoured by this dedication. The Mayor responded with the words,"Si hay un malagueño que se merece el reconocimiento público que conlleva denominar con su nombre una plaza pública de nuestro municipio, ese es, sin lugar a dudas, Manuel Alcántara". 

The square is well worth a visit if you are in Estepona. It is located at the intersection of Calle Botica and Calle Sirena. 

Last weekend we went to the new orchid house in the Botanical Gardens in Estepona. While the orchid house is finally finished and open to visitors the gardens surrounding the orchid house are still in development. I have cycled past the site several times during its construction and so it was great to finally get the opportunity to see the building up close  and to go inside. The opening ceremony took place on Saturday March 28th. At the moment entry is free and so when we went there was quite a queue and we had to wait for 10 minutes or so to get in, although typically, when we came out there wasn't a queue at all! That always seem to be the way for me! The woman on the door told me that when they do start charging for entry tickets will cost around 2 or 3€ but if you're like me and you love a freebie you should go now and save yourself some money!

Inside it’s pretty impressive. The big glass dome is as amazing from the inside as it is from the outside and the visitors follow a winding path that leads them through the beautiful displays of orchids. You follow the path in a circuit from the entrance all the way around to the exit. Now I didn't count them all but I was told by the very informative woman on the door that there will eventually be almost 8000 different species of orchid there and that these have been carefully selected so that there will always be flowering displays throughout the year . Also there is a fantastic 56ft high waterfall that you walk behind and then you go over a small bridge continues to lead you on your way in front of the waterfall, across the pools of water at the bottom from where you continue on the path up through even more orchids. 

I went with my mum, my partner and our two young children. The children enjoyed it immensely. Admittedly they didn't appreciate all of the orchids but they loved the waterfall and the bridge and they enjoyed following the path up and down and around! We were only inside for about 15 minutes although obviously you could linger for longer if you wanted to take a closer look at the orchids. 

I can imagine it being quite difficult to park there. We were very fortunate and managed to find a space right outside but the surrounding roads were lined with parked cars and spaces were very few and far between. I have heard that the parking is to be developed though and that more will be provided eventually but at the moment it's a bit trickier to park.

We were all very impressed with the orchid house and once the outside gardens are finished I think it will be an even lovelier place to visit. It is expected to receive more than 100,000 visitors per year and if you would like to be one of them then you will find the orchid house close to the end of Calle Terraza.

Today we we did something that we haven't done since having our children. We climbed the sand dune at the far end of Bolonia beach! I don't quite know why we haven't taken the children up there before now, because after all it is an ideal place for two boisterous boys to burn off some energy. They are currently going through what I think of as a ‘bundle’ phase, because they spend most of their time bundling on top of each other and rolling about on the ground while trying to smack each other's bottom and shouting “bottom, bottom!” Consequently any location that has very wide open spaces, relatively few other people within a 100m radius and lots of opportunities to roll around on the ground is an ideal place for us! 

To get to the dune we parked at the far end of town, near to the Baelo Claudia Roman ruins. Parking there is limited and a bit of a ‘find whichever small space you can to squeeze your car in’ experience and we ended up having a bit of a minor altercation with a family in a campervan as we both vied for the same space but it was resolved almost amicably when I bounded across to say hello and cheerily offered the rather grumpy, muttering campervan  family the space and we went off to find another. Having found a new ‘space’ and parked lopsidedly in the middle of a grassy, puddly, uneven bit of land we set off to begin our adventure. 

The weather was very strange in Bolonia today. As we drove there we noticed a thick blanket of cloud just over Bolonia! As we passed by we saw that Tarifa was bathed in glorious sunshine, Punta Paloma was also sunny, in fact everywhere was sunny except Bolonia which was grey and chilly! We weren't discouraged though and actually it was advantageous because as I remember from the last time we climbed the dune, about 9 years ago, it was quite difficult climbing it in the heat of the sun. I also seem to recall that we were hungover on that particular day too which wouldn't have helped, but those were our pre-children days when we seemed to do most things at the weekend with a hangover. Now, in our post-children days we just do everything in a constant state of extreme tiredness! But anyway, I'm digressing!

Now then, where was I? Oh yes, climbing the dune in the cloud. We had gone along the wooden walkway from where the car was parked until we reached the base of the dune. Looking up to the top of the dune from the beach you realise just how high it actually is, and climbing on sand isn't the easiest thing in the world. We started off full of enthusiasm, the boys running on ahead and throwing themselves down the steep sides of the dunes, running, rolling and bundling and generally getting covered head to foot in sand. As we got closer to the top Henry needed more coaxing as his energy levels depleted which resulted in him throwing himself down in the sand and refusing to move from his comfy, sandy nest and eventually we had to carry him some of the way as his little legs were tired and we feared we may never reach the top otherwise!

As we made our ascent we came across all sorts of different people. There was a group of three French lads with their bikes which they had pushed up to the top and were attempting to ride down some of the very steep slopes with various degrees of success! There was a small group of tourists being given a guided tour and we eavesdropped on what the guide was saying as he pointed out some interesting, little known places that could just be made out in the distance. There were other families with children and dogs leaping around excitedly, people sat on their own reading on the peaks of the dunes and groups of people who had set up windbreaks, deckchairs and picnic tables in the troughs of the dunes and who looked like they were set to spend the day there. 

When we finally reached the top we sat down for a few minutes and admired the views before we all ran and rolled back down again. We tried surfing down on a bit of plastic that we found but it didn't work, even when we tried sending little Henry down. So instead we continued rolling and running, frequently needing to coax Henry back up from where he was contentedly lying flat out in the sand refusing to get up again. I ended up carrying him back and I felt like I'd had a very thorough workout by the time I reached the wooden walkway again! 

On reaching the walkway we emptied our shoes of the abundance of dune that had collected inside them along the way and then attempted to de-sand the boys which proved to be a job almost too big, even for expert de-grubbers like us to handle! Brushing off as much as we could and making a mental note to stick them both in the shower when we got back to our hotel we set off to a nearby chiringuito to get some lunch. 

We had a fantastic afternoon climbing the dune and we decided that next time we would take our dog Joey as he also enjoys our favourite family pastimes of running and rolling and ‘bundling’! If you too like to roll/run/bundle then I would encourage you to climb the dune too. Or if you are wanting a more leisurely, sedate, calm walk (lucky you!) then I would also encourage you to climb the dune! And while you are there, if you hear repeated, increasingly weary calls of “come on Henry! Up you get!” or “come on Henry, you can't lie there all day!” or “come on then Henry, mummy will carry you!” travelling to your ears on the wind from across the dunes then it's more than likely that we are there too!