We were up at 04:15 for an early start as our taxi was scheduled to arrive at 05:30
But as it was nearly midsummer, the sun was rising in the north east.
we had time for a quick shower and cup of tea, before the packing was finished and we walked out to look over the sea wall at the rising sun.
Our taxi duly arrived on time and we were soon at the airport, joining all the other early arrivals, waiting for the bag drop to open. Everywhere was very busy because the international cricket competition had finished and teams were heading back home. It was the team from Denmark that was on our 7:00 departure.
The cafeteria in departures was just about waking up, so we were able to have an americano, but no one had turned up the open the duty free, so Alison’s “window shopping” was curtailed.
We took off on time at 07:00 and after a little stack still managed to arrive on time at Gatwick, where, as usual the Gatwick connections desk was unmanned, so we were unable to get our luggage transferred onto our next flight.
However, we did some exploring of south terminal and found a Giraffe upstairs where we were able to have a very enjoyable breakfast before heading off to the self service bag drop on North terminal, which opened at 09:45.
A brief tour of the shops and we headed off to our departure gate and an on-time push back, at 12:15, followed by a 30 minute wait to take off in glorious sunny weather. We had an excellent view of Alderney and the Normandy and Brittany coastlines as we headed down the bay of biscay and onwards across Spain to Malaga airport, where again we landed on time at 4:10.
We followed the signs to car rental desks, but there was no sign of our car hire company, so we went back upstairs to the arrivals hall.
A phone call to our car hire company established where we had to go to be met and we were taken to our car by a very helpful Marcos, who explained the basics of the car. He even waited by the car park exit to point us in the right direction and we were soon on our way towards Ronda and then Benaoján.
The satnav took us on a fairly direct route, which started out on a very fast wide road, which gradually became narrower and bumpier all the way to Ronda. As usual, Alison complained that I was driving n the gutter.
We arrived at Molino Del Santo just after 6:30 pm and were greeted warmly by the staff, who had placed a bottle of cava in our room as a welcoming gift. We were shown to our room and told we could check in tomorrow!
We had room 14, which is one of our favorites, and unpacked slowly and unwound with our cava on the balcony, enjoying the view.
Downstairs to the restaurant and more welcoming hugs from the staff and out onto the terrace for dinner in the warmish evening as dusk fell.
The meal as always was excellent and was rounded off by coffee, still taken at our table outside, but by this time Alison had found a blanket to keep her warm!
Off to bed for 11:00 pm after a rather long but relatively smooth journey over.