Andre and Wendy: Hike to Ox Ridge

Lovely sunrise this morning again, sounds like a broken record. No wind at all and it is calling for a hot day around 25 degrees.

If there a sunrise and a fishing boat, it will get posted

Workers keeping the Balcon clean.

I skipped on my morning jog because I had a hike already booked. Wendy went and jogged along the beach. She said she could have used sunglasses as when she turned around she was facing the sun.

After breakfast, I headed to the meeting point. The triangular square near the bus station. I was not sure if I was going or not. I picked up a cold and I am congested. I figured the walk up to the meeting point would be a good indication on how I feel. Also I would judge the physical abilities of the other people to give me an idea of the pace we would be going at. I did well on the walk up as I walked up quickly to see how I would do. I was one of the youngest in the group so I figured I would be ok there too. We took the local bus to the Nerja caves where we met a few other people. We were 12 in the group.

The first part was the hardest and it was straight upwards. We took lots of breaks on the way up. It took us about 1 hour to reach the first flats. Lots of happy people at this stage including me. I was happy to start with this and not finish with this as it would have been very hard especially when you are tired.

The old aqueduct

The old sugar factory

Going up

That is how I felt, desperate, not really but I did break a good sweat.

View of Nerja, with the Balcon and one of the many beaches in town

Next we gradually climb up the right for another 45 minutes or so where we found a shaded area and had lunch. We could see all the way to Africa (Morocco) today. Lots of fantastic views all during the hike.

Next was the final assault to the higher point and after resting a little bit we followed the ridge and down to a service road. It took us 3 ½ hours to get to this point.

Walking some of the ridge

Scrambling

Morocco, see you in less than a week

John explaining something

I made it.

We then walked this gravel covered road for about 30 minutes where we went down to a dry river bed at the bottom of a gorge. This part was very gradual and an easy walk. It was also very peaceful and very different than what we just had hiked. This part was about 30 to 45 minutes followed by a short climb back to the service road. It was only another 10-15 minutes’ walk back to our starting point. At this point we crossed the road for some cold beverages. I enjoyed a nice pint of local Spanish beer. We were served calamari as tapas which appreciated at this point. 3 people had car, so they gave everyone a lift back to town instead of waiting for the bus.

Now we enjoy the downhill part, less that 1 km to the service road

Walking the dry river bed in the gorge

The hike was Ox Ridge and was about 10KM. We went up 420 metres or about 1400 feet in altitude and it took about 5 hours.

Our guide for the day was John Keo. He is originally from Ireland and was very good. I had found him on Nerja today website: http://www.nerjatoday.com/nerjanews/whats-on/

This is his website http://www.hikingwalkingspain.com/ or his facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JohnKeoghWalkingTours

Stopped in for some groceries on my way home and got home around 4PM. Wendy finished work at 5 and we headed the beach to catch some rays. Many more people today as the heat is up and the wind is down. We stayed there for about 2 ½ hours. It felt great just to lie there and relax. At this point my nose opened up and I must have blown it 20 times while we were at the beach. Very happy this did not happen on the hike.

We decided to go out for supper instead of me cooking. I will do something tomorrow with my groceries. We headed to the Balcon as we could see there was a real nice sunset. Not as many people as Sunday night but still quite a few people. One group of teenagers were hanging around, we think they were part of a school trip. We have seen many while we have been here.

A couple of sunset pictures for good measure

We had decided to go see if we could get a table at La Dama Restaurante & Pizzaria. This is the place next to Little Italy where the prices are also insanely low. It was quiet and we got a table outside as it was a nice warm evening. We had quite a few laughs. The waiter was pushing the fish tonight. He then comes out with the fish and tells us a long story in ¾ Spanish and ¼ English about how it is cook and how delicious it is. This process got repeated a few times as more people sat down. We then ordered a red wine each. We were served large glasses of wine. Wendy said it was quiet tonight, so we got a long chat in 2 languages, some about the wine and SuperSol . Also as people walked by the waiter would either talk to them if he knew them or try to come in for supper. We ordered garlic bread, which is a thin crust pizza with lots of garlic & olive oil. I had spaghetti carbonara as I figured I had burned enough calories today to afford it. Wendy had lasagna which she loved, but she is a lasagna freak that could eat it every day, unless there are meatballs inside (Jill & Mom). The bill was 13.60€ and I felt guilty just leaving 1.4€ for 2 of us for supper, so I went all out and left an extra €. We had a great time and would return back if we were here for longer.