🗁Added 85 photos to album Spain, Morocco, Gibraltar.
I woke up early and climbed the Rock before sunrise. It was very doable! I went via the Moorish castle, and was high up on the west side by sunrise, but not over the top. Then I wound my way through the nature reserve, detouring around paths that looked interesting, and avoiding big roads, not that there was any traffic. I found the suspension bridge, but didn't cross it due to intimidating macaques whom I didn't not want to jump on my head over an enormous drop.
The day got hotter and I met a few runners and nature reserve staff.
There are some steep steps running straight down the middle in one area, linking various horizontal tracks together. Generally all of the tracks are very accessible, most are for vehicles.
My route down was via the mediterranean steps, which was absolutely gorgeous. Over the east side of the Rock, it was suddenly quiet. The steps were scrambly and wild, and there were lots of caves.
I got back down later than expected, and couldn't take a bus back to the town center because they didn't take card or give change! So I walked, fast, in time to check out from the hostel.
I wanted brunch and a nice sit down at a tea shop, but decided realistically I needed to march straight back over the border to La Linea bus station. It's a good job I did, because I discovered that the bus I wanted to get to Malaga was full. Somehow not at all panicked, I jumped on the next bus back to Algeciras, and texted K to help me buy a ticket for the next Algeciras-Malaga bus in the meantime, in case that was full by the time I got there. Phew.
