Day 22 - Colmenar to Pizarra

This morning was lovely, but the afternoon wasn't.
The weather forecast was for increasing showers and possible thunderstorms later - not great.
We looked back as we left and the mountains behind which had looked beautiful in yesterday's sunshine had now taken on a menacing air under a thick black cloud. However we had moments of sunshine and enjoyed the climb to the Puerto del León in the Montes de Malaga.

The long and very beautiful descent was marred by the fact that we were in a black cloud which spoilt the spectacular view that we should have had to the sea and Malaga, but as we got lower the cloud lifted and we saw what we had been missing.

 In spite of the weather this Saturday morning had attracted hordes of cyclists out of the city  and up the steep road (it even has two spiral tunnels) to the Montes de Malaga.

 We headed the other way and arrived without much difficulty in the centre of Malaga, where we enjoyed a pizza in the sunshine. In fact the town had an almost tropical feel compared to the mountains where we've spent the last few wèeks.

Things began to deteriorate at this point. It was never going to be pleasant or easy finding our way out to the north-west, but a navigational blunder put us too far south and with the help of Google maps and gps we found ourselves heading along some very rough tracks and through desolate, deserted ex-industrial areas. Then it started to rain and there were flashes of lightening over the hills, so we took shelter under a handy motorway bridge with nothing better to do than admire the work of a local graffiti artist.

The low point of the whole journey. Sheltering from a thunderstorm under a motorway bridge in the industrial wastelands north west of Malaga.

When the rain eased a little we set off again, reaching a proper road fairly soon. We had only covered another 10km or so when the rain started again and this time seemed set in and very heavy. We made an easy decision to give up the idea of reaching a campsite some 30km further on when a quick look at Google maps showed a hotel 2km further along the road. It was set in fenced and gated gardens and we dived in through the open gate. We were dismayed to see marquees and obvious wedding celebrations and sure enough they were "completo". 

Kindly the receptionist rang another hostal a few kilometres further on and booked us a room. We headed off into the now torrential rain and found the gate to this complex was now closed and there seemed to be no way of opening it. The phone number of reception was however written on it, so rather than going some way back there we rang. Our understanding was that she said she would come and open it for us. We waited and waited getting colder and wetter until eventually Ben went back. There seemed to have been some confusion about which gate was being referred to (as apparently this one was NEVER closed). So sometime later two drowned rats arrived here in Pizarra and have all our wet things drying around our room. 

Tomorrow should be nice - let's see if we can regain some of today's lost time.

Colmenar to Pizarra - 71km, 400m ascent.