Hills, Bryn, Sierra ...

This morning was quite a relaxed one, we didn't really go out until around midday. I tried to tidy up the place a little; we've just dumped things everywhere and it's quite a mess. I thought I'd make a little start on sorting things out as we're going to have to pack soon.

When we did leave the house, we weren't travelling far, which was nice in comparison to the hour and half trips we've been making over the past few days. We drove up and up and up into Mijas town, where we were guided to a car park (further up the road again). The car park was in this canyon-type space, and was really interesting. We weren't sure where we were meant to be going to start the walk up the mountain we planned, but since it was Good Friday, we realised there might be something going on in Mijas to celebrate, Easter. Because of this, we walked down into Mijas centre to see what was going on.

Mijas was pretty, and we got some great photos. There were donkey rides and carriages pulled by horses, as well as lots of little shops and stalls selling all sorts. After a quick trip to the tourist centre, we were off with the help of our map to go up the mountain. At the foot of the mountain, we observed a sign that told us about the different trails which were all different colours. We formed a vague plan about what trails we were going to follow, and headed off.

It was a bit of a struggle, especially as the path was very rocky and dusty, but we made it. I had a mini panic half way up when I was reminded that mountain lions or lynxes may be living in the mountains, but it was fine. Post chocolate bar break, we came back down (a different way this time).

It started to rain on the way down, which was a little surprising, but there had been a lurking grey cloud above us for a while now. Once we found ourselves back in civilization we wandered through the little streets of Mijas, which weren't as pretty as Frigliana, but still cute. The tourist centre had said there was to be two Easter celebration parades in the evening, so we were going to wait around for the first one.

To pass time, we chose a small restaurant to get drinks and some food in. We got a range of things, some of which I'd never tried before like calamari and it was actually pretty tasty. We also got some nachos and garlic bread - both things I love and eat often. It still wasn't time for the parade so we picked up a couple of things in the shop and browsed the town a little more.

At 6.30 we headed over to a little square and watched the Easter parade. It seemed a little sinister, and I found it strange, but very interesting. We'd spent a lot of time in Mijas so we got back in the car after the parade, and came home for an evening bbq.

(Lloyd)

Stayed a bit closer to home today, with the family enjoying the home comforts of the Air BnB in the morning whilst I made myself do another 10 mile run to take my weeks total over 30 miles of running. Nothing outstanding but with a marathon in 2 weeks I need to keep ticking over, and also need to get one long run in when I get back.

Marathon training but need more miles

Kept the active feel to the day, with a short drive up the hill to Mijas to experience the great outdoors.  Prior to doing that we took a stroll through the town and square, popping in to the office de tourisme to get some advice on appropriate hikes in the local foothills.

Car is called El Burro today, doing the donkey work getting us up the hill Chrissi and I ran the other day to give us the platform for further climbing.  Studied the map and using great orienteering skills we tracked the yellow route, followed the blue route to a viewing point, returned down via the white route and the red route.  That makes sense yes?

Some superb views over the Med made all the puffing and panting worthwhile and added more miles and metres to the weeks activity. Wished I'd taken my watch up actually as would have made a great relive.  But that wouldn't have fully captured the family banter, support and general effort as we climbed some pretty stiff gradients.  The weather came in as we descended, encouraging the local wildlife to slither for cover too.

When we got back to Mijas we were able to descend through the very quaint streets, taking a look at the Bull Ring and some of the panoramic viewing spots in the town. Although the real panoramic viewing spots were at the top of the Blue Route in my opinion, way up Sierra Mijas.

Rewarded ourselves in a cosy little tapas bar with curried meatballs, inky squid, chorizo pasta and some more staple sustenance in garlic bread and nachos. Lovely little place Oscars cafe, they gave me a complimentary brandy at the end as they thought we looked cold, or perhaps just recognised fellow climbers? That's what they drink right, albeit under a big St Bernard.

My recommendation for tapas in Mijas

Chrissi keen to explore her religious side or just like seeing people in dress up? Probably the latter I would think, and we hung around for the Good Friday procession. All a bit spooky, casting my mind back to the dark streets of Sorronto when as a 9 year old I first saw this stuff, or a evocative James Bond film where I didn't, but might have.  All part of the customs and culture here and happy to respect that on a slightly superficial level.

Cruised on down the hill where I sparked up the BBQ and piled on all the meat we bought earlier in the week. Few more beers and feet up, this has been another non stop holiday, perhaps we'll have a quieter beach type day tomorrow, won't know what to do with ourselves!