Motorhomers on Tour : Back on the Rock of Gibraltar – a little corner of England at the end of Spain!

Sonny has been parked up for the last two nights on the marina Aire at La Linea de la Concepción, right next to the border of Gibraltar (N36.15547 W5.35436). It's a nice clean Aire with all the usual facilities and even a laundry.

To get into Gibraltar from here it’s about a 5 minute walk to the border and passport control. You then have to cross the runway (that has sea both ends) – and you need to make sure you time it so it's open, when no planes are coming in or taking off!
Gibraltar is recognised historically as one of the southernmost point of Europe and forms one of the ancient Pillars of Hercules. The rock is a massive wedge shaped lump of limestone, over 200 million years old and has been a British colony since the 18^th century.

Crossing the runway into Gibraltar

Can't get more British than this sign - I couldn't resist doing the 'Churchill Victory salute'

This drawbridge was originally the only way into Gibraltar, other than by sea

We were here last at the end of April 2017 and development continues on this small piece of land (just over 4 square miles). The building of high rise apartments and hotels continue and my beloved home ‘HMS Rooke’, where I lived for a year in 1983 has now been demolished, probably to make way for more high-rise blocks.

HMS Rooke bottom left surrounded by high rise building (2017) and now flattened to make room for more said buildings (2018)!

Love this piece of artwork of an octopus on the side of a house, walking up the castle steps

The old Moorish Castle, half-way up the rock, and view across the runway and into La Linea

This is as far as you can walk without having to pay. As we did the ‘tourist tour’ last year of the castle, St Michael’s caves, the great siege tunnels and top of the Rock we decided to headed back down to the town. It's a steep climb to the top and if you're not feeling up to it you can always get the cable car up.

There is virtually every English high street chain shop going here and definitely a tax haven for multi-millionaires. If you have a few million lying around, you might want to consider it?!

The cost of living in Gibraltar isn’t cheap though. We have been used to paying as little as €1 for beer/wine and tapas dishes, travelling around the little villages in the mountains; however, here it is more expensive than England!

Cheers!

Trafalgar cemetery where a few bodies are buried, those who died of their wounds during the battle (1805). Most of the others were buried at sea and Lord Nelson’s body taken back to London, where he was given a state funeral and burial. Every Sunday closes to 21 October the Royal Navy commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar at the cemetery.

Nelson's statue outside the cemetery. Nothing in size compared to his column in London

The Botanical Gardens - a rare patch of land that hasn't been built on yet!

Duke of Wellington statue in the gardens

Changing of the guard outside the Convent – official residence of the Governor of Gibraltar

Gibraltar was taken by the English in 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession. Ongoing debates/arguments continue as the Spanish government fight tooth and nail to get it back and are heating up even more as Brexit moves forward. But legend has it, as long as these animals remain in residence on the rock it will remain forever British!

Barbary apes (Macaques)

The next day we took the Sonny across the border to Morrisons to fill up with cheap fuel and to stock up on English goodies that you can’t get in Spain.