After spending about 1.5 weeks at Águilas (primarily in the rain) it was time to leave. The time in Águilas gave us a little rest, even if it wasn't the rest we had wished for. We had over 50 l/m2 of precipitation within one day (in Águilas it usually falls 28 l/m2 throughout entire March) and extreme Saharan dust paired with storm. Our pitch turned into a small swamp but the kids liked it. Nevertheless, we were able to fix all necessary things on the bus and started back south along the coast.
Our first destination was El Chorro in the north of Málaga. On the way we stopped for one night above Nerja. After we had to turn our backs on an increasingly steep and narrow road after an exciting reversing maneuver in search of a parking space, we survived the night with another lot of Sahara dust and a storm of around 80 km/h between olive trees. The next day we reached El Chorro.
Why El Chorro? When you enter "climbing Andalusia" in Google, almost exclusively results for this climbing area will appear. It is beautifully situated around reservoirs and there are plenty of opportunities for rock climbing. During the day, countless vultures and eagles keep a close eye on you - it could be that something falls for the supper. And there is the famous King's Path, the Caminito del Rey. Unfortunately, we couldn't go there because it can only be entered from the age of 8, which was not possible for us.
But the bad weather caught up with us again and we spent the first night in constant rain next to the reservoir. The next day we met a Czech family on a short hike, with whom we became friends and also went climbing together. After the children got along very well with each other, we decided to spend the next time together. We considered which climbing area might also be interesting for families and decided on Benahavís near Marbella.
So we left El Chorro after 4 days and drove to Benahavís via Ronda (we actually wanted to see the city there, but time just slipped between our fingers). The first spot spotted on Google Earth, near the rocks, turned out to be unfeasible as the path was blocked with a chain. However, the alternative place to stay was even nicer.
We spent the next few days both climbing and recovering from the bad weather of the last few weeks. The children could play all day and we parents had fun slacklining, making firewood, washing dishes, running or cooking. The climbing area itself also had easy routes, but the approach was anything but child-friendly. Nevertheless, we managed to climb a few routes. The evenings around the campfire were boisterous in Czech fashion and rarely ended before midnight.
During the last two days we had friends visiting us who were also on the road with their T3 Syncro for a longer period of time. They came towards us, following the Spanish coast north-west and kept us company for two days before we parted ways and we continued towards Tarifa.
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