We are moving on today. Our cases are packed, the room checkedwe are ready to go. We have two points of interest on the way out of town that require a detour off the main road. First a viewpoint where we will be able to see the place we have been staying, and reportedly also as far as Malaga? And second, the Bobastra Ruins, which dont look much on the internet but we may as well go since we will be passing!
Its 9am and we assume the guy will let us out through his barrier. Id hoed to leave earlier to avoid any hassle but Im guessing getting out will be easier than getting in!
Ian drives gingerly down the rutted trackhe knows where all the danger spots are now but, lovely as our pension was, we wont be sorry not to have to drive up here again!
We are almost at the bend in the road where all the plastic barriers were scattered last night when we find a new barrier. There is a digger and a huge mound of rubble piled upthere will be no arguing with the guy todaythe road cut off!
Bugger! We think that means driving all the way round the higher mountain track - the one Julie advised us to avoid at all costs!
We spend ten minutes rupturing to fathom out the route - quite difficult since there is no phone signal here. Ian thinks we should return to the pension to seek further advice from Julie and Glynn.
So up the track we go, the one we were glad we were never going to have to drive up again! We tell Glynn the bad news and he says he will call Julie. We have no idea what the campervan people are going to do as the detour appears difficult even for a car!
Julie appears and tells us not to worry, there is another way out without taking the top route but its a lot further round. In fact there are two. Julie and Glynn debate which one would be better. One route is via Las Mellizas, the other through a pine forest. The latter is slightly quicker but might take the bottom off our carthey decide the longer route is better.
She thinks we might get lost as the track really does not look like it could possibly be going anywhere and we might get lost. I could kiss heras Im one hundred percent certain she is right!
Back in the car we follow Julie at a safe distance. She isnt going fast but we dont want a stone chip as it would be easy enough on the rubble road. Ian that its a good think last nights rain didnt continue. We had a massive downpour for around an hour - the first rain they have had there since April.
We reach the bottom of the valley with the railway line running to our right hand side. At some point we will need to be on the other side of those tracks. Julie has slowed right down. Oh yes, that will be because she is crossing a river bed... thanks goodness again for the dry spell!
The track has taken us underneath a single lane bridge, thats the railway sortedand now we are passing Melliza railway station. Its still a track but a much wider and less potholed one than before.
junction. Oh crumbs, theres a car turning in. Fortunate that we are at the junction as they wait while we turn onto some solid tarmac. Julie has stopped and jumped out of her car. We are half way round the loop she tells us, all proper road now, all the way back to El Chorro. A mere 12km detour of which 6km was pretty scary at times, but actually less potholed than we might have expected and 6km back on a civilised road.
We have reached the El Chorro dam. Julie is going into town whilst we are staying on the same road - she waves a cheery goodbye from her window. Thank you Julie, we would not heave found this in our own without any sat nav connection.
Now we just have the windy mountain road to contend with. We think we know because its the same road we drove in on a couple of days ago. In front of us we see part of the the Caminito del Rey walkway including the bridge across the gorge. missed in as we had our backs to it.
stuck behind one of the large shuttle buses.
