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We set off for Ronda where, as usual, we find all sorts of interesting things to photograph.
We set off on a walkabout. My girlfriend is carrying the Canon EOS1000D with the Sigma 50-500mm lens that really needs a wheelbarrow and I am carrying the Nikon Coolpix P90 which is very light and costs a fraction of the price. We take some hand held shots of the aerials on top of the rock which must be about a mile away. The pictures from the Coolpix are better.
To the craft club where Lizzie has made a wonderful teapot cover. Meanwhile, my wooden whistle is not going well.
We set off for the ferry back to England via Bilbao. The roads are warm, dry and empty and I suppose it is inevitable
that sooner or later we get pulled over by the Guardia Civil. Stalling the engine in the middle of the road while doing a
U - turn in a small town did not help. After endless mis-understanding it turns out that they are baffled by my number
plate since it does not appear to contain a number. Fortunately we have all kinds of documents and eventually they let us
go.
They also recommend a hotel, namely the Hotel Alfonso VIII - which is pretty good. The internet does not work but
the free internet from the Centro Comercial Abierto does, so that's all right then.
An irresponsible person driving a fast car could actually cover a hundred miles in an hour on the brand new, free and
empty motorway up to Bilbao - where we end up at about 6.00pm looking for a hotel. We pass the Sheraton which looks
expensive. And is. Expensive but spectacular.
The man on reception is very helpful and suggests we get the tram to the old part of the town where we will find lots of
nice places to eat which are a lot cheaper than the Sheraton. We follow his advice but finding somewhere to eat is
tricky. There appear to be dozens of places but in fact there are not and we end up having a very good meal in a Chinese
restaurant that could have been in Manchester.
I had assumed that Bilbao was just a place with a ferry like Dover but in fact it is definitely somewhere you could
spend a couple of days and have a good experience. Maybe next time.
We set off for the ferry and pass under a spectacular new road which is currently just hanging in the sky in bits.
When we do get to the ferry, we wait for hours because of some hard luck story concerning waves and broken arms. In the
good old days they would have sawn it off and dipped the stump in hot tar and sent hime back to work rather than holding
everybody up while helicopters come and go.
The Pride of Bilbao is not a modern luxury cruise ship but is OK for a day or so. We had hoped that they would catch up
during the course of the day as the sea is pretty calm but in fact we arrive in Portsmouth at 10.00pm rather than 5.30pm.
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