Stork

Seen on our walk today. Extra 1 for the other gatepost.

S devised a circular walk from Lanjarón, warning me that all of the climbing would be done at the start. Which is what I prefer. But it was very steep for the first hour; endless false horizons presented themselves. Eventually I insisted on stopping for a rest. "You don't recover during a rest," said S sententiously, concerned about our lunch reservation. "You don't recover", I retorted, flopping down on the grass, "but that's because you aren't knackered in the first place."

Eventually we got to the top, and we then had a lovely level section along an acequia, an irrigation channel tinkling with fresh, cool mountain water. We passed through a little hamlet of ancient houses complete with threshing floor. Several of them are occupied despite the distance from a road. Idyllic, in this weather anyway. We were high enough to see the snowy edges of the Sierra Nevada (extra 2).

On the way down we did stop for a proper rest, at a picnic table shaded by an absolutely massive chestnut tree (extra 3). The last kilometre was very steep downhill on a rocky path, and I had definitely had enough of that by the time we got back into Lanjarón. Stats: 7 km,  300 m climbing, 2 hours 45 mins.

S jogged back to fetch the car and then we drove to Orgiva, arriving at the restaurant on the dot of 3. We weren't expecting much -- it was the only one S could find that was open and had a table -- but the food was good. A Caesar salad with spicy chicken goujons in it, and then some delicious Argentinian steak and chips. All nicely cooked and presented, but the waiter did the Spanish thing of bringing the nice hot steak while we were still eating the salad. Sigh. We were glad we booked, as the waiter was turning people away.

On the way back we made the traditional stop in a layby to buy 10 kg of oranges for 5 euros. We hadn't had any dessert, so back in Almuñecar we stopped at the good ice cream place on San Cristóbal and bought a big tub of ice cream and some cones. The seafront was very busy, not surprising as it was such a lovely day. Now a quiet evening in.