First can we say Ronda is a stunning little town. Now we have to justify that sentence… To be honest that is easy…

A 20 minute or so walk from the campsite saw us in the old town. One of the main locations folk all head to is the stunning Puente Nuevo. It is an 18C bridge that crosses a deep gorge and is seen often in leaflets about the town.

After a few phots taken we grabbed a coffee at the Restaurante Don Miguel that overlooks the bridge. Two coffees for under a fiver with a view like this!

From there we headed towards one of the other bridges that cross the gorge but at a much lower height. On the way to Puente Viejo there are several viewing places and I think we tried them all.

The lower of the three bridges is called the Roman Bridge but this is more anecdotal than factual. It certainly a Moorish input.

Next was the Baños Arabes. This reminded us of very similar baths we had seen in the Moorish quarter Granada.

We diverted from the town tour for a few minutes as we grabbed a Geocache but that took us to the old town walls that give a good view out to the south.

Lunch time saw us taking Tapas on the edge of Plaza Duquesa de Parcent….along with a beer and sangria. All for £22.

After a visit to Iglesia de Santa Maria la Mayor we wandered the lanes and back streets before going to the Secret Mine at Palacio Del Rey Moro. This is an old structure dating back to 14th century and involved taking 365 steps down to the river below the town. We were right at the river level and it was beautiful and tranquil. One of our guide books said the long climb back up will probably make you wonder if it was worth the stiff entry fee. At 4 Euros each we felt it worth every penny and even managed to grab a drink in the cafe at the top after the walk out.

Having seen a signed 3.9km walk in the town yesterday we decided to have a wander into the forest before we left for Ronda.

All I can say is that the Spanish Cartographers must have been to the same school as the French ones based in Saumur. It ended up more like 5.1km And I didn’t have the benefit of a Pilot to blame for getting lost.

Still it was a really nice wander among ‘the best cork oak groves in El Genal’.

From there we headed to a campsite on the western edge of Ronda. At 24.50 Euro a night not as cheap as the past couple of nights but on the edge of the town and with the Euro rate as it is we are not complaining. Also we had quite a bit of entertainment watching several folks wandering from pitch to pitch before making that life changing choice.

When you look at a map and see roads like this you know it is going to be a good day at the wheel. On top of that Bob’s birthday too. Woken to tickets to Supertramp at the O2 later in the year the day’s started good….. and just got better.

Leaving the aire at Olvera we took a short drive to a car park in the town itself before having a short wander. Most places were closed as it was Monday but we did manage to take a few photos.

From Olvera we headed along a minor road to, one of the many white house towns in this area, Zahara (well worth a drive to the reservoir even if you don’t do the drive through the mountains).

From we took the CA-9104 to Grazalema. This road was on our list as it looked full of twists and turns in the mountain. On top of that we were told by someone in the know that it was a spectacular route. And it was….. without doubt a brilliant road…. one for ‘driving’ even if it was a 4 tonne Motorhome.

From Grazalema we continued on to the ‘leather’ town of Ubriqiue. The intention was for June to have a little purchase or two… However that was not to be…. Very few places to park and one of our routes took us towards a road closed sign with the diversion down a very narrow, steep lane with a blind bend at the bottom. As Bob started to reverse a local indicated that we could do it even in our van…. so putting trust in the Spanish we gave it a go…. it was fine and saved reversing 100 yards or so in the narrow streets. So after a quick lunch we left sin purchase and continued towards tonights stopover – an aire on the outskirts of Benarraba. As we arrived we joined two other motorhomes already there and took a wander into town.