Seriously, lads, there’s way too many Irish bars on The Costa Del Sol!! Having had a more than pleasant meander down the mountain road from Alhama De Granada which, in fairness, has it’s fair share of bars per capita (none of them Irish!), we hit Malaga and there seems to be a never-ending string of Kitty O’Shea’s, Mulligan’s, Murphy’s, Katie O’Neill’s, Shenanigans……need I go on??? It’s mad! Like, if you want to go to an authentic Irish bar, go to Dublin!!!  We – or rather the all-powerful CoPilot (quite why we take his word as read I really do not know!) took the Paseo Maritime coastal route through Malaga, Torremolinos and Benalmadena before we found our sleepy spot for the night in Mijas. Our Aires book had drawn a blank in this area and, reluctant to fork out for another campsite (pikey as we are sometimes!), we managed to find a “tolerated” overnight spot on a huge car park in La Cala De Mijas. We had no difficulty finding it, since there must be a hundred vans on here!! Ignoring the “no camping” signs at the entrance, we pulled in and parked up. Technically, “no camping” means you can park but you can’t camp – so no putting awnings, chairs and tables out. Ahem, there’s folk here with tables, chairs AND washing out and, by the looks of things, they’ve been here for some time! Nonetheless, it’s free, there’s a nice beach and a number of bars and restaurants within a five minute walk so who’s complaining? For us, it’s just a one night stopover en route to Gibraltar. Morrisons beckons……and not only for their 73p/litre diesel!

Michelle McKenna – if you’re reading this , Happy Birthday, Biatch! xxxxx