Happy Hard Hat time.... The King walks his path..... El Caminito del Rey

This all happened on November 7, 2018 but this post is temporarily out of order before it will fall back to its chronologically correct spot ;-)

I wanted to come here, ever since I learned about the existence of this place when I watched THIS MUSIC VIDEO.  (No REALLY, that is how I discovered El Caminito ;-)
Combine one of my VERY favourite songs (All along the Watchtower), one of my VERY favourite singers (Neil Young), and THIS scenery...... HOW could I not be yearning to come here.....

But I'm getting ahead of myself.......

8:20
time to leave the flat with sandwiches, spare shoes, and a lot of anticipation.....

The bus is already loading when I get to the pick-up spot...  

...and the bus is PACKED when we leave.... a predominantly middle-aged crowd

Bus window views en route

Out of the bus....... walk through a tunnel...... There is lights on the ceiling but no one bothered to turn them on...... so people use their cell phone torches

WOW

Time to use the loo (NO toilet paper, LOL).  Time for the last few cigarettes (No smoking allowed along the path).  And too much time waiting for the helmet hand-out..... 

..... because they are trying to keep the crowds from becoming too dense along the way.

on y va

Ground Control to Major Tom

Take your protein pills

and Put Your Helmet ON

I learn within the first few meters why it is important to get AWAY from other people.....

Every couple of meters someone will STOP and take a selfie with a friggin tablet or point their huge lens somewhere......

..... but the walkway is only 1.5 meters wide, so every time this happens a queue forms instantly.

For some added effect, HERE IS SOME FLAMENCO that my mother used to listen to constantly in the 70s ;-)

Yes, I came here via that tiny walkway ;-)

.... and there is the bridge over which the king cut across to the railway line in 1921 !

Vultures waiting for victims?

....entering the valley between the two gorges....

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Using the maximum telephoto extension lets me see the second gorge.  I can even see The 2nd Bridge !

I'm still using the telephoto lens but now I can already see what I will have to walk on later ;-)

I am supposed to walk THAT ?  LOL

the original concrete Camino below the new wooden one

....there seems to be water leaking out of that pipe bridge.... Is that safe?

A fossilized sea creature in the Canyon wall

The pipe bridge looked close, but first we have to navigate a side branch of the canyon.

People still walked the path even in this state in 2006 

people on the original Caminito in 2006

Personally, I am happy to walk on the new wooden one ;-)

I am relieved to discover that I won't be walking over the leaking original pipe bridge......

....but over a newly constructed suspension bridge right next to it

Emerging from the 2nd Gorge .....

Looking back it looks as if I just re-appeared from a journey to the centre of the earth .....

Holy Shit.  THAT puts things into perspective ;-)

the final look back.

It's time to walk the last km to where the bus will be waiting for us.

Note the clouds over the mountains.  I was lucky with the weather on the Caminito ;-)

Once everyone has arrived, the bus drives us to the restaurant where we can buy food and engage in sampling for free and buying various local delicacies like honey, wine, or olive oil.  Of course it's just a glorified event for local sales people to make some money and the guide to collect some kick-backs.

The Calamari are EXPENSIVE but at least they are yummy ;-)

Then begins the unpleasant part of the day.   The bus ride TO the Caminito only took ~1 hour.   Because when that bus departed in Malaga, it already had collected individual groups of 2 or 3 at innumerable tiny little hamlets along the Costa del Sol.

But now we are driving that route IN REVERSE, meaning the Malaga stop will be LAST and the Malaga guests will have to cruise up and down the countryside and horribly concreted coast for almost THREE HOURS before we get back to Malaga.

one of the MANY concrete-people SILOS along the Costa del Sol.

By the time we finally reach Malaga again, I am pissed off and just happy to get off the bus.  I don't even take the time to thank the guide.   TOO MUCH BUS !

But when I FINALLY finish this post, the long bus ride frustration has vanished. All I remember is the fabulous Caminito ;-)