I left a wet and windy England on Thursday morning from Heathrow Terminal 3 and it took just under 3 hours to get to Gibraltar. The airport is a sea level and divides the Rock from Spain, you have to cross the runway to get into town, not recommended when a plane is landing of course. It is one of the few places where the Captain must land the plane, the first officer is not allowed. The approach is from the sea and then you hit the runway, not literally of course, but if you miss you will be landing in the sea. We landed ok and I was first off the plane, first through passport control, but my bag was one of the last out, typical. I then had to walk across the runway towards town, my hotel is over a mile away on the south of the Island, The Caleta. It takes about 30 minutes to walk there with my luggage. I have a double room with a balcony and a nice view out to sea. I unpack my clothes, most of it is running gear. I forgot to mention that Linda is not here, I am alone, as she has to work this week - what a pity.
After I had unpacked it was time to visit the town, I could have gone by bus or even a taxi, but I didn't I ran. The weather is warm, but not too hot, quite pleasant for a run. The main problem was people kept getting in the way or not looking where they were going. I did stop for a cappuccino in the Main Street, before running back to the hotel, a total distance of 6 miles. I then decided to try out the gym and spent half an hour working out, I definitely needed a shower after that. As the hotel is not near the main part of the Island and it is the closed season none of the local restaurants are open, I decided to have dinner at the hotel. I had bought some fruit in town at a local supermarket. It appears that the Spanish locals come over, buy some cigarettes empty them out of the cartons, put them in black bags and go back over the border. One presumes they sell them, either that or they smoke a lot. Dinner was tuna and prawn kebab with couscous and jacket potato, I was hungry so I enjoyed it. I then went back to my room, used Facetime to speak to Linda, it does confuse the dog, as she can hear my voice, but can't work out where I am.
On Friday I was up early, had breakfast to build up my carbs and protein, then changed and out for my run. I initially ran round the coast, to the airport, then across into Spain. I did stop to show my passport. I had a run along the promenade and ended up running out of town, but as I did not have a map I sensibly turned round. I found a Carrefour so stopped for a coffee and a look around the shops. I am using my Garmin watch to record my distance and time, so I pause it when I am shopping. However, as I have to carry any purchase back and around with me, I don't buy anything. I have a running backpack to carry my Ipad and it has some space in there, but not a lot.
I then run through the town, nearly got run over, if everyone drove on the same side of the road it would be easier. I managed to make it back across the border, into Gibraltar and then no further. I had to stop at the runway as a plane was about to take off, so I stopped the watch and waited. It was an Easyjet plane and once it had gone, I was back running. I then had a run around Gibraltar, down to the marina, past the navel base and back towards the rock. By now I had done just under 10 miles, so decided to stop for some lunch and re-charge my batteries. I found a nice restaurant where I could sit outside, I am not sure anyone wanted to sit near me anyway, and had octopus salad, it was very nice and healthy of course. The plan for the afternoon was to run to the top of the rock, this had seemed a good plan in the morning, but after 10 miles not so good, perhaps I should have done it first. Anyway I started off, It was very steep, however I ran most of the way, I did have to walk some of it.
I reached the top, past St Michael's cave, the Douglas lookout and then used the cliff path to get to the cable car cafe. A quick cappuccino, not very good as it was made by a machine before I ran down. It was a lot easier running down and I was soon back in the main square. I had a look around the shops, most of them are the same as England M & S, BHS etc. However, there is no Costa or Starbucks here so I ended up at Jury's next to the Supreme Court. After that it was time to run back to the hotel, via Morrison's to get some fruit and water. I was back around five, checking my watch I found I had run 17.04 miles in total and had actually been running for 3:13:52. I then had a rest before visiting gym to do some light weights. In the evening I finished my second book and had dinner at the hotel. It was rather noisy as there were some musicians playing, something to do with it being Valentines day I believe, so I had my dinner and left.
I have an afternoon flight back on Saturday, hopefully it won't be delayed due to the bad weather in England, its fine here.
There are some photos here