Trip to Gibraltar

Tuesday 11 December

It’s been a mixed week, first we went to Gibraltar on Friday and although up till then and indeed after the weather had been great, sunny and warm with a scattering of small clouds or even totally free of clouds, Friday the heavens opened and it tipped it down.

The journey started with a very early start 5.30am, up and ready to meet Sue and Mick down at the petrol station 6.30am. We also met for the first time Ruth who is a neighbour of Sue and Mick and we all set off for Puente Don Manuel to join the coach and the other travellers who like us were on a shopping quest for Christmas goodies.

The weather did not get any better and all the way to Gib it poured with rain and we often went through low cloud base. The coach driver was excellent and very smooth. We arrived at Gib at about 10.30am and we were soon through Customs. It is very unfortunate that UK and Spain can’t get the problem of jurisdiction over Gibraltar sorted out as it shows a rather sinister side of politics which does nothing but inconvenience the traveller. We had our passports checked (well if you can call an official walking from one end of the bus to the other with cursory glance a check!). We parked up in Morrison’s car park and we were let loose on the shops. 

It continued to tip it down with rain as we walked around M&S and BHS and the like when suddenly it stopped and someone turned up the heat as it started to get quite warm.  All you need when you are wet and warm from walking and going into shops. It was great to be able to converse with the shop keepers in English we had forgotten what it was like to be understood and to understand. We got some very reasonable alcohol 2x Glen Rothes £20 and 1x Bombay gin £10 and 1x Courvoisier brandy £20 all liters. Just as a point of reference, Famous Grouse was £6 a litre. Then we have fish and chips which were rubbish and not really worth a mention other than we hadn’t had fish ‘n’ chips for probably 6-8 months so we were looking forward to tucking into a nice but of fish especially as Gib is by the sea. No, the fish was obviously a bit rescued from the cat dunked in the oddest batter we had ever seen deep frozen and chucked in the microwave to finish. Crap really!

After lunch it was time to attack Morrison’s which we did in no time. It was great to see familiar brands but sad that we really couldn’t take full advantage of them as we were limited by space. The one big regret we had was not buying some Cheddar cheese. We saw the run out date on the package and saw that it ran out before Xmas so it would be of no use for our guests. We never thought we could have bought a pack and a loaf and had cheese on toast as a nice snack when we got home..!

We loaded all our goodies into the suitcase Sue and Mick had loaned us and put it in the hold of the coach then went back to Morrison’s for a final cup of tea. 3pm we were all set to head off back to Spain but first you have to go through the hoops of leaving one country and entering the other via passport control and customs for which we had to all get out of the coach collect together all our purchases and even empty the coach of things like coats etc. We left the coach on one side of the border carried all our stuff through the the gate and got on the coach on the Spanish side. Bonkers really!

The journey back was much like the journey there wet and miserable and by the time we arrived back it was dark and we were very tired. All in all it was a worthwhile trip only spoilt by the atrocious weather and the Customs debacle. We would definitely go again as you can pick up a few bargains - only if you pay cash don’t expect to get a receipt.

On Sunday we went out for a truly English experience - a British Sunday lunch. We met up with Sue & Mick, Ruth and Ken and headed off to Friends Bistro bar in Puente Don Manuel. We went via Los Romanes, a small village perched high above lake Vinuela with spectacular views. We had a thoroughly enjoyable lunch/afternoon. Lunch was 3 courses and although there was a choice of 3 different roasts we all opted for the roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. When the time came to choose puddings Kevin could not decide between cherry pie or apple pie. He opted for a small slice of each and set a trend. Everyone had a half and half pudding except Petra - not a fan of pastry.

We sat outside in the sunshine for coffee and drinks. It was a lovely warm day and so civilised to be sitting outside in December with Christmas trees and decorations all around.  Eventually we headed home, Sue and Mick stopped at their post box in Riogordo (they kindly let us have our mail sent there) and there was our first Christmas card - thank you Jan and Keith. 

On Monday we got to the bus stop in Riogordo in good time for the 09.00 bus. Everyone patiently waited and chatted until the bus arrived at 09.40. Whilst we were waiting we were very entertained by Spanish parking in the village centre. The pedestrian crossing seems to be a perfectly legitimate space to park. Also there is no need to pay any attention to the white lines marking out parking spaces, just leave the car where it happens to stop. We saw 2 lady drivers park in the road as all the parking spaces were full (including the pedestrian crossing) and leave their cars there to go shopping, obviously OK because they had put their hazard lights on. This soon meant that no traffic could get through so one of the drivers came out and moved her car, simply turned it round and stopped on the other side of the road and returned to the shop. 

We had a good morning shopping in Malaga and returned to Riogordo in the afternoon. 

Sun Rise at Riogordo