Exploring the streets of Alora
Well here we are! The gruelling process of getting oneself to the other side of the world is done. Time now for sunshine, long days, stunning climbing, beer, laughs and good mates.
Only two days in and already this is going down as quite easily the best trip yet. An early start 3.30am start from London saw us off for the much anticipated leg of this trip; a couple of weeks climbing in Spain. Sliding through London’s pre-dawn darkness a definite sense of fullness covered me like a cloak, or was that just drowsiness and the effects of 30 hours plus of traveling and sub 6 hours sleep?
Landing in Malaga we collected our bags and attempted to collect our rental car.
I say attempted because a fuddling combination of errors in translation, as lack of a credit card and our desire not to pay the ridiculous price of full car insurance resulted in us settling down to wait a couple of hours for the last member of our team to land on Spanish soil.
Finally the four of us fully assembled we ironed out the confusion, sidestepped the full cover insurance (we can safely total the car, bust tires or windscreens just not make any more dents in the already dinted bodywork!), loading our volkswagon now dubbed ‘Bella Negro’ and set of for El Chorro. Before long the unmarked detours, narrow roads and a few too close for comfort encounters with our friendly local motorists had us wondering whether full cover might have been ideal.
Alora’s Old Town – Main Square
After a few wrong turns including a descent through the phenomenally steep and outrageously narrow back streets of the hill town of Alora we made it to our accommodation.
Surrounded by epic rock faces, looking over an arid valley of olive groves, featuring a pool complete with slack above. Finca La Campana is the ideal base for the next few days of idyllic adventure.
Great way to finish a hot day
So far with a day’s climbing and what was possibly one of the best adventures of my life on all levels (stay tuned for more on this in a later post) under our belt it’s exciting to think this trip has only just begun…
Check out the gallery below for a few shots of the last few days:
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