It's thataway!

Friends G and A arrived yesterday for a week's stay; we met them for tapas yesterday evening and hatched a plan for a walk from Los Prados today, setting off from Almuñecar at a very civilised 10:15.

Los Prados isn't very far away, but the road is so steep and winding it takes an hour to get there. Fortified with coffee and toast at the restaurant on the pass, we had a not too taxing walk of 9 km around the high plateau.

We got back to the restaurant around 2:30, unfortunately allowing ourselves to be overtaken by the 70 or so walkers from the Salobreña walking group who had set off before us on a longer circuit. The bar was mobbed when we arrived, and claiming our theoretically reserved table for lunch was a tricky business. Even after the group left, the restaurant was still very busy, and noisy in the way only Spanish families can be noisy. The elderly waiter was run off his feet trying to keep up. 

We  had a very classic meal, good of its type: tomato salad followed by a massive slab of grilled pork sirloin and a plate of lamb chops, all served with patatas a lo pobre. G had room to order tarta al whisky for his dessert -- an industrially produced ice cream concoction. When he complained he couldn't taste the whisky, the waiter returned with a bottle and poured a generous serving of Ballantyne's over it. We all agreed that this was an improvement.

We finally left after five. The bar was a disaster zone, littered with dirty plates, glasses, beer bottles, crumpled napkins, chop bones ... it appeared no-one had had time to clear anything up. Let's not mention the state the toilets were in.

Another hour's drive home in the evening sunshine -- altogether a pleasant way to make a shortish walk last all day.