The Rock

 

No way were hiking up AND down, so we took the cablecar

The glass viewing platform was closed due to slipperiness, but who wants to look straight down a cliff anyway? The views remain.

Another sign says the Spaniards overnighted in St Michael's Cave, but noone seems to know for sure.

The semi-submersible I mentioned yesterday 

And the broken OS35 again

St/King Jame's wall. Careful with the apes if you take this route.

A Barbary Ape. No one seems sure how they got to Gib from Africa. Windsurfer?

The views are, as you would expect, magnificent. You can see for kms along the Spanish coast, as here.

Not every ingenious idea is a success...

Getting the guns up the hill must have been a b@&tard of a job. Getting them down would be rather easy, particularly if surplus to requirements.

A bit of a botch job on setting this one up

The archangel himself makes an appearance.

Seats for concerts, etc. This area was potentially to be a hospital during WW2 but wasn't needed. 

Next stop, the Great Siege galleries. These were dug when then the Franco-Spanish armies besieged Gib in 1773-1776

The new galleries were ideal gun positions though this wasn't their planned purpose. A great view of the Spanish Lines from here (and the cemetery).

A depressing gun. I guess all guns are depressing to their targets but in this case it was a handy design that allowed fire downwards without the cannonball inconveniently dropping out the front before you could fire it. This was accomplished with wadding, but there were other new features such as the sloped recoil which moved the carriage less, so allowed more accurate fire, and the gun swivelled to allow loading from the side, offering more protection.

The gallery at the Notch, the original aim of all the tunneling. There's another, later, chamber below and positions outside on the top of the Notch.

The view from the Holy Land. This position was created in WW2 to protect this eastern face of the Rock

The tunnel to the Holy Land.

Sadly, or I guess happily for Judi, the WW2 Tunnels were shut so it was down to the Moors Castle and then into the city for much needed liquid refreshment.

While we could have stayed longer, we drove up the coast and stopped at some non-descript town called Estepona. This whole coast is developed, but does hide some jems.