View from above

I benefited from getting to bed a bit earlier last night and was up in time to prepare a leisurely breakfast, and ready to leave for church by a quarter to eleven. I found a parking place just around the corner from San Miguel church, and as the Parish Mass hadn't yet finished, sat outside in the shade of the trees in front of the church, where Kath and I chatted with a few other early arrivals for our service. There were twenty one of altogether, plus a couple with a small child who came in late, stayed for a while and then left.

Among this morning's worshippers was a retired priest and his wife of my era who'd done his final year at St Michael's Llandaff. He'd served in St Asaph diocese, and has known Bishop Mary and Fr Andrew for many years. There were several more Welsh people in the congregation as well, including the organist!

We chatted in Bar Atalaya afterwards, then returned to church house and cooked tuna steaks for lunch with nice Rioja to go with it. Both of us succumbed to a siesta after eating, and then walked up the hill, above and beyond the apartments, houses and huge block of apartments under construction to where the metalled road turned into a track. 

We kept on walking upwards even further and the view of the Mar Alboran, with Nerja to the east and Torrox to the west became even more spectacular. Just as amazing was the variety and colour of the wild flowers and grasses alongside the track. Twice we were overtaken by a mountain biking cyclist pedaling uphill, who then returned at breakneck speed downhill. I'm fairly sure it was the same cyclist, and this was his part of his training regime, to develop nerves of steel as well as muscles.

On return we had a drink and a snack, then walked down to the Playa Vilches and back. The sun was setting out of sight, somewhere beyond Torrox, but its glow as it reached the horizon cause a few white fluffy clouds in the bay to turn pink and produce a pink reflection of the cloud in the sea. 

The photos I took with my phone camera identified the place as the Mar de Alborán, the name given to this narrowing region of the western Mediterranean leading to the Straights of Gibraltar. Alborán is a small island half way between Morocco and Spain's Almeria Province I learned later - its name means 'The Storm'. Both of us were quiet tired when we returned, and after uploading photos, early bed again!