Thursday 1^st May – Gibraltar (The Tunnels)

36:08.966N 5:21.314W

This morning much of Gibraltar suffered a power-cut.  The shops remained open but without lights, and some of the traffic lights went out.  The whole of the marina was down.

This afternoon we went on a tour of some of the M.O.D. tunnels which honeycomb the Rock.  We set off at lunchtime and had a hike across town in the heat of the day to the meeting point which as usual proved to be uphill – it was good to get into the cool of the tunnels. 

These tunnels were excavated during 1939 - 1944 as part of the World War II defences and are an extension to The Great Siege Tunnels we had seen previously.  Overall there is a 32 mile long network of tunnels in the Rock.  As the tour is run by the M.O.D. itself, it is not part of the usual commercial tourist circuit – tours are only by arrangement.  The other people on the tour were helicopter pilots and crew from a visiting naval ship.  It was well worth the visit.  The main tunnels are still in active use for army training purposes but other areas are essentially derelict from the War.

The part of the tunnels we walked along was called the Great North Road.  It was named thus by the miners that were brought over from the north of England to dig the tunnels, their feeling that they were effectively working their way home as they progressed.

When we emerged from the tunnels we were near the Moorish Castle.  From there we walked up to one of the look-out points with Peter and Carola.  We had taken some food with us so that we could enjoy a picnic and the sunset looking out across the Strait.

Initially our picnic was a bit of a challenge…  When we first sat down on top of the Battery there were only tourists in sight, but then the apes arrived.  Not wanting to share our picnic or risk a £500 fine for feeding the apes (even accidentally) we assumed defensive positions around our bags.  After a few minutes a status-quo was established – the apes realised that they would need to prey on some of the other tourists instead (we think Peter may also have become their honorary alpha-male in the process).  Fortunately the seagulls kept their distance, though the sizable ants were waiting for any crumbs dropped on the ground.

Soon we were able to resume our picnic and enjoy the fantastic views – though we still needed to keep a look out for the occasional sneak attack by the apes (close but no cigar J). 

On the way back through town to the marina, we enjoyed a pint and a coffee in the main square.