Thursday 30th May

Today we turned our wheels inland once more, this time into the hills towards Ronda. We had a fairly slower start to our morning as we only had a short journey to complete, we headed for Setenil de las Bodegas, a small town set within the southern Spanish hills, that is known for it’s whitewashed houses that are built into the surrounding cliffs.

Sadly, as we arrived into town we encountered a problem with our clutch. We managed eventually to park, and desperately tried to ignore the horrendous smell coming from our bonnet, and our impending sense of doom in the pits of our tummy. We took ourselves off for a wander down the hill and through the two picture perfect streets. The cliff over hanging with houses built into them was a sight to behold, and we enjoyed spending an hour experiencing it. But as I’m sure you can imagine, our hearts were perhaps not fully invested in the visit. We made our way back to the van and managed to get back on the road, I couldn’t tell something wasnt right and sure enough after 5 or 6 miles, Gandalf spectacularly gave up. Luckily in a position that we could limp off road and into safely but it was obvious our clutch had indeed gone.

Our European breakdown cover was with Just Campers and they were fantastic. Within 45 mins we had been joined by a low loader breakdown lorry and a separate car with an English speaker in it. We established that the Spanish word for clutch is embargue, not that they or we needed it, you could smell it a mile off. They loaded Gandalf onto the lorry, and us (including Jazz- phew) into the front. They asked where we wanted to be recovered to and we were delighted that Ronda was an option.

Half an hour later we had arrived at Ronda. The garage was on siesta and so we waiting outside, during which time I got permission from Just campers to book a hotel in Ronda. Luckily we managed to find a great place, Hotel Palacio De Hemingway which was right in the centre of the tourist area.

Once the garage returned from siesta, we were relieved to find that one of their mechanics also spoke some English and we were able to hand Gandalf’s keys over and retrieve a bag of essentials to see us through. It was looking like we’d be there for a few days as the garage were unsure whether we would get the new clutch in time for them to fit it before the weekend, at which point the garage would close until Monday. We tried to be upbeat about the situation and organised a back up plan of a hire car to see us through the weekend if needed.

Settled in our hotel, we were understandably a bit shaken! They looked after us so well, and after a freshen up and a beer, we decided to make the most of the location and carry on as had been the plan whilst we await news. That plan- To explore Ronda.

Ronda was wonderful. To feel so inspired and alive in a place when really we were stressed to the eyeballs and worried sick about how long Gandalf would be off the road for, really sums up how much we loved it there. The dramatic gorge that the bridge, dating from 1700s rises up out of is spectacular to say the least. The bullring also was a great place to explore (and dog friendly!). The bars and the tapas we enjoyed were delicious. We had a glorious afternoon and evening exploring the town, it really is a special place.

Friday 31 May

We awoke from our night of enforced luxury in the hotel to that sinking feeling of dread. What was today going to bring and how much was it going to cost us!

Trying desperately to remain positive we enjoyed an indulgent but fantastic breakfast. It was a la carte style and we could order as much as we liked! This kept us busy for almost 1.5 hours lol but we kept our promise to the waitress by not leaving any food waste!

During breakfast, I took the call from the garage. They had a new clutch on route, and they hoped to have it fitted by tonight. Great news! Even if the bill did make our eyes water!

With that in mind, we checked out of the hotel as late as we could and then spent the afternoon enjoying the Arab Bath ruins – dog friendly – whihc ahd the most fascinating pre visit video. We then spent the remainder of the afternoon sat in the shade of a bar (non alcoholic for me!) chatting to a couple of English brothers.

At 4pm we decided we needed a bit more of a leg stretch and I’ll be blowed, 5 mins later the phone rang. Our mechanic at the garage had worked through his siesta and fitted our clutch and pump. We were back on the road!

A mad dash back to the hotel to collect our belongings ensued and before we knew it we were back in receipt of our much loved wheels. Everything about this situation was great. It meant non of our food shop would spoil over the weekend with no electric etc. We could continue our journey. We were back in control!

We decided to do just a short journey in case of any problems but also because having spent the afternoon drinking 0% beer, I was in need of a very strong drink. We managed to get a space on Camping EL Sur on the outskirts of Ronda and by 5.45pm I had a large gin on the go!

Camping El Sur was another really lovely place to stop. Another one which we could have stayed a couple of nights at. It had a great pool, and lovely pitches and views. We enjoyed a delicious bbq, washed down with a local bottle of Ronda Red. Boy did they make good wine here.

Saturday 1 June

We reluctantly waved bye to Ronda today- our hope had been to get to Cadiz, but the campsite was full, so we decided to start heading north instead. We arrived in Cordoba just before lunchtime and parked in the central overnight parking area for motorhomes. This was a very well located Aire, just 10 mins from the historic centre. We had felt we would likely stay overnight here, however subconsciously we must have known we wouldn’t end up staying because we didn’t actually set the van into living mode when we left it to go for an explore.

Cordoba is a fabulous place. Full of Spanish charm, cobbled streets and an incredible Roman Bridge.

It also has 4 UNESCO sites- one of which is the entire town!

One of the others is the unique Cathedral Mosque, which we took turns to visit. It blew us both away. The marriage of the Muslim and Catholic architecture was stunning. Despite it being busy inside it still felt peaceful and just really really breathtaking.

We also visited the Alcazar of the Christian Monarchs which was dog friendly, and were in awe when we saw the Roman coffin that they have on display. Incredible!

By now it was still only 3pm and we’d confided in each other that neither of us felt happy with our proposed park up for the night. As much as I would have loved to indulge in some street drinks and tapas, something wasn’t feeling right about where we were parked, despite other vans being there. We went on to find some pretty horrendous and recent reviews mentioning people had been woken to someone trying to get in their door and other things. We made the decision to push on and head to Merida. Quite a drive, less than ideal, but ultimately, we will always follow our gut. It was also heating up rapidly, and the thought of spending the night in the van not being able to open the windows was NOT appealing!

4 hours later we arrived at Merida. I wont sugar coat it, I was pretty fed up- I felt like all we’d done was drive! I really wanted to stay at Cordoba, and was so disappointed to not feel happy with the car park there. Unfortunately there was literally no other option for us though, the campsites were too far away (45 mins plus) and Jazz wasnt allowed on the bus route anyway. We couldn’t get them on the phone to check availability before we detoured to them. I was starting to find Spain a bit of a challenge with the whole dogs on public transport and lack of campsites where we wanted them to be!

Our park up for Merida (because we couldn’t get on the campsite, Camping Merida, and even if we had, the lady was really rather rude!) was the Theatre car park which has recently been redeveloped into a Motorhome park up area. In contrast to Cordoba, it felt very safe and as such we settled in.

We walked into town for some drinks and a meal which we really enjoyed and although it was hot, we did sleep ok.

Because of this, and the fact there was so much to see in Merida, and he wanted me to not have to drive again tomorrow, Keith suggested (strongly) that we stay another night in our carpark in Merida. He was right to do this, even if we maybe had a slightly intense discussion about it!

Sunday 2 June

Because we’d made the decision to stay another day at Merida, it was strip washes all around! And a lazy morning, with a proper breakfast not just the cereal bars we’d been accustomed to because of our crazy itinerary!

We quickly found the tourist info, which was actually within the car park we were in, and discovered there were 59 Roman sites to discover in Merida. Keith wasn’t exaggerating- there was a lot to see! We paid for the combination ticket – 17Euros per person which allowed for us to visit them all. What a bargain.

We started at the amphitheater, which was just 10 mins walk from our carpark base. Happily, they accepted Jazz in his backpack, so we could explore the amptheatre and theatre ruins together.

Both were excellent and a great start for our Roman day. Next up, Keith went for a look around the city museum whilst me and Jazz indulged in some tapas, a beer and my book. This was more like it!

30 mins later Keith came out of the museum and I thought he was about to explode. Turns out they have a spectacular section of Roman Road which had been discovered – the main road from Cordoba to Merida. He insisted I went for a look whilst he had his own tapas and beer, and sure enough it was amazing. As was the chariot mosaic that was displayed in there too.

The rest of the day was spent exploring as many of the 59 sites as possible mainly tag teaming, whilst we kept Jazz in the shade of the bars.

My favourite was the UNESCO house, near to the bull ring. You could see plenty of original painted Roman walls. Incredible to see the colours and patterns as they would have been.

I also enjoyed the circus – where the chariot races had been. This was our 3rd of the trip but this one had the arena space left completely untouched, so you got a really good feel of the layout and scale of the race area.

The evening scene was fun too. Our favourite thing to do on both nights was go to the main square and enjoy a few glasses of the ridiculously delicious and also very cheap red wine, in front of their enormous air coolers which were a godsend, and watch the world go by. As dark fell, both nights we took ourselves to the Italian just off the main square – La Mafia, which has a lovely outside terrace which Jazz was welcome on, and we enjoyed two famous meals there. We hung out there til midnight on both night. Unheard of for us, but by then the temperature had fallen and the van was back to an acceptable temperature not only for Jazz, but for us too.

I’ve got to say, I arrived in Merida feeling grumpy. But I left Merida on the Monday feeling recharged, inspired and in awe. I think what we both loved about Merida was that because of the amount of ruins there you get a real sense of how the Roman city would have laid out. It a remarkable place to go and if you have any interest in the Roman Empire at all it’s’ definitely one to go to. So I suppose it’s only right that I do a public apology to Keefy for being such a grump when we arrived! Lol