Just can't decide what to do!

So the van is in the mountains behind Malaga. I seem to be out of the 90 day restriction and would like to go to Marocco, however. underwriters for the bus want £600 for a three week stay, that's about the annual premium! The van should have a MoT in Jan, I would like to leave it in Spain, but then, the photo cells don't even manage to run the fridge, something is wrong, I'll have to bring it home.

I got a flight to Malaga and the community in Comares pick me up at the airport. Daniel is in good form and we have dinner in Comares, that is right at the top of the mountain, you can just make it out from the photo The bus is stored just below, look for the red splotch in the middle and the Cyprus tree.

I decide to set off the next day and head north. I get down the mountain north of Malaga and realise I've left my boards and bike behind. Damn, not a great start.

I have in mind exploring the Parque Natural del Cabo de Gata - Nijar. It's getting a bit late, meaning it's dark and I make a few bad turns on the motorway. After three attempts to leave a service station on a round-a-bout I get on down the right track at last and arrive at Cabo de Gata. It is late and nothing is open. I say that but in Spain they don't advertise that they are open; a bit of a sign, a door open, everyone hunkered down inside. Anyway, I land up on the edge of town with a few other vans parked up at the waterfront. I just park in the street and get my head down with my kites as company. It's a bit cramped but still, its dry and warm.

A bit of a walk along the front in the morning, plenty of beach tennis and an open-air market. I get back to the bus and take a ride to the Parque de Natural. There have been strong on shore winds all night and the sea is furious. Lunch at a good restaurant where I got the pic of the van on the foreshore.

Back in Cabo de Gato there's not a lot going on so I head back along the coast looking for Kite Schools. I try around Almeria but the listed school appears to be an apartment block. Not impressed with Almeria I continue west along the coast and find a campsite past the marina, Playa de la Garrofa. That was a good move, Almeria was hit by the Southern Andalusia floods, torrents of water from the mountains and HAIL STONES. Wow that was close, I heard the thunder and lightning and it rained a lot overnight, but this time I was OK. Apparently there were cars, roads and bridges washed away in the flood water.

For a few days I explored the beaches west of Playa Garrofa for 30km or so. In all that time I saw no kites and just one foiler, he sent me even further west. The whole area around Almeria is intensive cash crops in tents, the landscape as far as you can see is covered right to the shore, an odd sight. I finally give up on the area, decide to explore AWA Sports in Motril on my way to - Sierra Nevada - a route back to Comares in the mountains behind Malaga. Here I am camped at Garrofa oblivious of the floods in Almeria. The site has a well used bar and it seems the Brits return every year.

So I head to AWA Kiting in Motril. It's shown on Google Maps and I'm taken through fields of sodden tents and arrive, sort of nowhere. I'm in the middle of nothing, not even on the shore. To be fair there are a few stranded boats, but where is the water? I go back to the harbour and enquire. The rather surely customs/police officer indicates I should hitch my seat belt and points down the way I've already explored.

I find my way to a beach on Motril, the whole place is awash. Parking in the drag behind the beach with good apartment blocks, I wander along and come across a rather smart restaurant and venture in. They were a little unsure whether or not to accept me. I don't think I smell but I may be a bit unkempt. The clientele were smart, but really, they were a stones throw from an oil depot and fields and fields of sodden tents. Still, I ordered salad and Sole, it was well presented and good, nobody paid me any attention.

So AWA water sports didn't seem to exist, I'm off, the Sierra Nevada beckons. It's one of those rides where the scenery is immense and the roads are impassable. I'm taken along routes that at first are a bit rough and ready, but become tracks. I land up reversing down impossibly steep hills and back onto the highway,  such as it is.

I get up to Cortijos (Shambahla) and a bit further, but where am I heading? I've been on dirt roads for miles and it is up and up. I'm done and make my way back. Cortilos is a collection of stone shacks that must have been a mining community back in the day.

It seems that Grenada is just 45min away so once I'm off the mountain that's where I'm going next.