Tuesday: Early start (2:50am). All journeys ahead of schedule. Arrived at hotel around 1.00pm. Room, hotel and meals look good. The weather looks a bit dodgy but improved in the afternoon.

Wednesday: Early(ish) morning swim. After breakfast we go to the welcome meeting and book trips to Gibraltar (Thursday), Granada (Friday) and the mountains (Monday). Then we go for a walk round town (in the rain!). In the evening we watch an ABBA tribute band and even get to sing on stage.

Thursday: Off to Gibraltar today. Torrential rain on the coach journey there and the return journey. However we got lovely sunshine throughout our time in Gibraltar.

We did the minibus tour and Charlie our guide was very good. We visited Europa point with views across the straights of Gibraltar to Africa. Then we visited the ape's den. Finally we got an informative tour of the tunnels used by the forces in World War 2. Damp, dark and soldiers lived in them for months at a time.

After the tour we got free time to enjoy the hustle and bustle of the city in the warm sunshine.

Friday: Today we traveled to Granada. In the morning we explored the narrow streets of the old town and the area round the cathedral.

In the afternoon we toured round the Alhambra gardens and palaces. Our guide was very informative once we got used to her accent. It is quite a few years since we last visited so we only remembered parts of it.

In the evening we enjoyed the Flamenco Night in the hotel.

Saturday & Sunday: No trips planned over the weekend but at last the weather is scorchio. Some walks round town and some serious lazing about by the pool. In need of some exercise, I go for a (very) brief run on Saturday.

Monday: Today we go on the magic of the mountains tour into the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Our guide was called Moses and he was very enthusiastic and informative. The scenery was spectacular and all kinds of fruit, nut and vegetable were to be seen growing on the hillside terraces.

Our main stop was at the town of Palmanieras which is 1000m above sea level. From there we could see the snow topped mountains. After a walking tour of the steep cobbled streets we sampled the wine, cheese and ham in a local shop - very nice.