And today's beach is ...

Cantarrijan. We were told about this one by guiri and F. How's this for a beach bar? It's a little cove near La Herradura, reached via a steep, winding, but perfectly metalled road with a giant car park at the bottom. Despite being so isolated it has two bars, of which this is the bigger one. The shady garden tucked under the cliff, full of leafy tropical plants with tables tucked under them, Buddha statues here and there, and trance music drifting from speakers, is just wonderful. We did have a suspicion that the food was less so, especially after inspecting the fish in the chiller cabinet (admittedly it is Monday, so it might have been there since Saturday!). As we sat eating ice cream and sipping our tinto de verano (conspicuous absence of free tapas here) a bunch of English people at the next table were waxing frustrated about getting onto the free wifi. I sent them mental vibes saying "Put your flipping phones away! You're on holiday for heaven's sake!" It didn't work, and then S got his phone out. But only to take a photo.

We didn't eat there though, as we'd spent the morning with H and R in Velez de Benaudalla. They took us on a lovely walk along the shady riverbed and back up into this lively little town, and we then had a look at a possible apartment for a long stay. Then we sat in a bar which served very generous tapas with our drinks -- chips, fried chicken, and pan con tomate with ham! We liked the town very much, and the flat looked like a good fit for us, except for the rather large drawback of a flaky shared Internet connection. However, it's allegedly going to be improved in the next few weeks, so watch this space. On the way back we stopped in at our local for the usual email checking, and got another free tapa -- a plate of paella to share in this case -- so we didn't feel we needed much lunch before heading to the beach.

We eventually left the beach because despite lovely bright sunshine the wind chill factor was too high for lounging to be entirely pleasant. Back to the house where we concocted dinner with the leftovers in the fridge.