DAY 11 SUNDAY 17TH JANUARY 2010

Rest day in Algercias. Woke at 7.00 am then again at 10.29am when little Spanish maid opened door to clean room. Realised that breakfast finished in one minute so waited for maid to close door before springing out of bed, getting dressed and flying down 2 flights of steps to enter breakfast room just as elderly waitress was starting to clear all the breakfast choices on to her large trolley. She looked irritated as I helped myself to things as she raced around clearing up. It was like a "2 minute supermarket trolloy dash" with her trying to clear things and me trying to grab them for my plate. The waiters found it amusing and were happy to hand me knife, fork, spoon and coffee cup as I raced around.
Out in the hotel car park all the other guys were fettling their bikes with a few minor issues being attended to. Different people wanted different things today so we split up. Glen set off on his own to ride up to Ronda, with John and Andres following him shortly afterwards. Apparently this is a spectactular road and a wonderful town with awe inspiring views into deep gorges cut by the river over millions of years. The remainder of the group being myself, Gert, Bhud and Mikey decided on a gentle cruise up the coast to Gibraltar. Being originally from Jersey I felt a certain affinity with the inhabitants of Gibraltar with it being a fellow Crown Dependancy. Some say Gibraltar is even more British than Britain itself these days as it seems trapped in a timewarp and appears more like Britain was in previous generations. Unfortunately, with it being Sunday, nearly everywhere was closed, again just like Britain in years gone by and unlike the current 24/7 culture. In the shop windows we noticed how cheap the alcohol was with Smirnoff Vodka at GBP7.50 and Bombay Saphire Gin at GBP 10.50 for 1 litre. You would have to go back a long way in the UK to find those prices.
We parked in the free motorcycle parking at Morrisons so popped in to buy a few things. It was a weird culture shock to suddenly be completely back in England! Even the staff looked and sounded the same as back home.
Leaving the supermarket we followed the road around the coast including some interestingly little tunnels. I couldn't resist reving my noisy bike in the tunnels which made one small child scream. At the southern tip near the lighthouse we found possibly the world's oldest ice-cream-man who looked at least 80. In typical British fashion, we all had a "99 with flake".
From the vieving area we had a panoramic view across the sea to Morocco. We hoped that soon we would be across the sea and on to the continent of Africa and leaving Europe behind. We tried to ride to the top of the rock but there was a barrier across the road and they wanted an extortionate GBP12.50 each to ride past. The bikes were turned around rather than pay GBP 50 for 4 bikes. We later discovered from John that had we attempted the same route a couple of hours later then there would have been no charge. Early night for most of us in anticipation of big day tomorrow when we should finally get to Morocco.