Good day for a walk

Last Sunday the weather was great here in Gibraltar and I suggested we go for a walk up the Rock. Some friends and us decided to do a track known as the Mediterranean Steps, which starts just behind the entrance to the Upper rock by the Pillars of Hercules.

Nadia also thought to give us a treat when we get to the top by making some cupcakes and taking other snacks with us too, but a bit more on that later. The Mediterranean Steps were originally built by the military as a way of communicating different defence systems and lookouts on the south-eastern slopes of the Rock. Nowadays it is opened to the public and it offers some fantastic views of the strait and the Eastern side of the Rock. However, for this walk you must have a head for heights and must be bit fit enough to climb all those stairs to the top.

 

So we packed our backpacks with cupcakes and wine and we set off. Before long we stopped to enjoy the views from one of the caves on the way. We continued to climb the stairs past an old pumping station and through a tunnel before arriving to what I think is the best view on the Rock. The view is of the Eastern side with 3 beaches laid before you, and as you gaze out over the beaches you can see quite a lot of the Costa Del Sol go into the distance, with the snow-capped mountains of Ronda in the background.

The last bit of the trek is also the longest set of stairs and it finishes at the top of the Rock. When we arrived, I unpacked the backpack and began serving the wine, whilst Nadia was giving out the homemade cupcake – it all went down a treat.

 

Thanks Nadia for the photo

After our wine and cake we started to make our way down back down to the car, but before we headed home one of our friends decided he wanted to try riding his scooter down the Rock. We were a bit anxious as it can be steep but he rode it very successfully without killing himself in the process. All in all it was a great day out.

Living with a Baking Queen

I have been writing a lot about myself, where I go, what I do and what I like about it, but I have been writing very little about the other person I share all of this with.

Well, I am very lucky to have someone like Nadia to share the experiences you read about on my blog  (she does appear on many of the photos). Anyway she has always been a passionate baker and has always enjoyed it, even though that most times she does not eat a lot as normally there is none left by the time she has time to eat any cakes!

So around November 2013 Nadia thought she would participate in a Christmas baking competition for the local TV network, GBC, so she tried out some new cake recipes and they got better and better while my belly got a little rounder. Before we knew it, the big day came and I dropped her off at the studio in the morning.

When I went to pick her up she could not tell me who had won or how she did in it until the programme was shown on TV, and by the look on her face I could not really tell if she had won or not. The programme was filmed on December 1^st but not shown until Boxing Day (December 26th) so I was quite excited to see how it went, and when to my surprise she won, I could not believe it!

So this has also giving Nadia a self-esteem boost or should I say she has become a little local celebrity as I have had many people stop and ask me to give their congratulations to her or has asked if they could try the cake she made for the competition.  

She has also started her own blog where you can read more about her baking adventures. Click HERE to to go to her blog, “Cupcakes &Unicorns”.

Happy New Year

Hi all, I know it has been a while and I have been very busy with work to get down and write anything over the last few months. But as the New Year starts, I told myself that this year I will get back to writing which I miss doing.

Many things and events have happened over the last few months, the one which has been making the headlines in the news have been the pressure that Spain has been putting on Gibraltar with the frontier.

In other news we had some furry neighbours move into the street I live in, Gibraltar’s famous apes, and even though I do love the apes, listening to them going about their monkeys business, I sometimes think I am in a zoo.

Anyways there some stories that I need to tell you all about so watch this space.