Getting there

Today is the anniversary of my ordination to the Diaconate forty seven years ago. It remains for me a key day in my life, receiving authority from the Church to proclaim God's Word and preach the Gospel. I'm still at it, and still look forward to the challenge scripture presents each week, to relate what's said in the readings to what's happening around us in the world. For me it's still a pleasure and privilege for which I am most grateful to God, and to the Church for putting up with me for so long.

The weather was warm, but pleasant enough for walking, so as well as going out to get some batteries, I walked the main street and the promenade before lunch. Again, after siesta, I went out for a much longer walk along the coast path, the full length of La Cala del Moral, and on to La Araña, the next and much smaller bay hosting the cement works. That's roughly half the distance to Málaga.

The N340a main road runs through La Cala del Moral about 200 metres inland. There are houses, some with gardens, down to the beach promenade, which runs roughly where the old railway line used to be. It's a good hundred metres from the promenade to the shore, and close to the promenade are some grassy areas palm trees and an asortment of beach restaurants. It's less built up and more spacious than Rincon, and that's more congenial.

La Araña, the next cove is such a contrast. Here the four lane highway cuts the heart of the original coastal village, from top to bottom. There are houses right on the beach, then the rest of the village is across this busy noisy road. The entire place is dominated by the cement factory, looming in the background. It's now owned and worked by a Chinese company. The village looks tired and drab, perhaps because of pollution from traffic and from the cement works. There were just a few people on the beach, but now it's no longer peak holiday season, and thee are more congenial places nearby for recreation. It felt like rather a sad place ruined by industry and not benefiting from it.

I'd been walking for nearly two hours by the time I got back, and really felt the benefit of a longer walk than usual - in all, eight kilometres.

  

Costa cave art

I waited in again for the gas bottle deliveryman to come, and he arrived eventually at one thirty, too late for me to spend a full day in Málaga, but not a day wasted. A number of CBS admin issues needed to be dealt with, and with telephone calls, that absorbed the time between breakfast and lunch.

As soon as I could, I started walking out of town, westward, on the coast road to La Cala del Moral. At a crossroads on top of the ridge dividing Rincon from La Cala del Moral, I noticed a tourism sign saying 'Cuevas del Tresor'. Intrigued, I followed the signs uphill for about a kilometer though a densely packed area of suburban housing, with the addition of several half finished structures of large hotels or apartment blocks filling odd spaces in this steep rocky terrain.

Just short of the hilltop there was a levelled area for car parking, in feont of a modern building, hosting both a local radio station and Las Cuevas del Tresor. But still no clue as to what the building was for.

At the far end of the car park is an open space in the hillside overlooking the cove of El Moral below. Here, interpretation panels said that the hillside was a conservation area devised to include only such native species as could have been found here 5000 years ago, and supplying plants from which paint used in cave paintings  could be made. Then the penny dropped, thanks to the panels. Here one can get to see cave art in situ, just like in the Ermita de Ulldecona, which I visited back at the end of July. Such a surprising discovery, right at the heart of a contemporary concrete hillside settlement.

The cave visitor centre was closed, its first evening tour would have meant waiting three quarters of an hour, so I walked on, since I was out for exercise. I saw a large flock of goldfinches roosting on a fence of wire netting, and get a few photos of three that didn't fly off. Later, walking ba k along the coast path to Rincon, I was also rewarded with a few shots of parakeets for the first time. Thousands of these birds live in trees along the southern costas, but more often heard than seen. I was delighted with the pictures I took.

On the way back, I learned from a poster that the days leading up to the Feast Of Our Lady's Nativity on the eighth will include prayers and processions to mark a patronal fiesta. An interesting prospect for the coming week.