Retirement trip - Day 20

 A day I was looking forward to - walking El Caminito del Rey! The caminito is a walkway through mountains between two dams. It was built by workers at the dams but came to fame when the King of Spain walked it. The original path started crumbling so a new, modern path was constructed above it and is now a major tourist attraction. More details here, website here

It was only about a forty minute ride from my hotel and fairly easy to find. I got there a bit early, so had to wait until my time group was called. We were issued with hard hats and hairnets and given a safety talk before we were allowed onto the walk. I quickly identified two groups (one Spanish speaking, one English speaking), who were holding up the walk with lectures, so I tried my best to get past them. To get an idea of the leader of the English speaking group, imagine Penelope Keith's character in 'To the Manor Born' talking loudly to a group of primary school children!

The walk was quite busy and we got held up a number of times, but the walk itself is amazing! It gives you a unique view of a the mountains and the river below. Every corner reveals another stunning view.

I also took a lot of photos.

The walk took a couple of hours and the temperature was about 30C. I was tired by the end and drank the 1.5 litres of water I had taken with me. There is a shuttle bus (2,50 Euros) that took me back to where I'd parked my bike. Well worth doing and a bargain at the 10 Euros (pensioners' rate) the ticket was.  I would suggest doing it early in the morning or late in the day to avoid crowds and extremes of temperature.

I returned to Málaga and headed towards the city centre. This was a mistake as it was very busy, very hot, and the standard of driving is much lower than in the north. A lot of aggressive car drivers and scooter riders; double parking, jumping red lights, and just being unpleasant. I got sick of it and headed to the beach when I parked the bike, changed into my walking clothes and bought an ice cream whilst walking along the promenade enjoying the cooling breeze off the sea. The beach wasn't very busy, more so towards the city centre end, and there were a number of grand hotels.

Forgot to post a a map yesterday, so here's the approximate route I took.