Well I am glad to say the sun was shining and it was the perfect day for our adventure to the now famous La Casita del Lago Istan, in the hills way above Marbella. It might sound like we were planning a trip to an exclusive restaurant on the heart of the Andalucia countryside – but this was much better and far more exclusive; we were heading to the residence of Mr Giles Brown, presenter at Marbella based Talk Radio Europe.
Bill and Karen arrived to pick us up (me and Hannah Murray) in their new 4×4 and it was then off to pick up some straggler called Jamie Lee. Then it was off up a mountain as we went round and round and round towards Istan (a mountain village above Marbella), until we found the hermitage where we were to meet Giles, who had kindly informed us that some of the ‘track’ to his casita had actually fallen away during the recent storms.
Giles examined Bill’s undercarriage and concluded that he had enough clearance to ‘take on’ the track to the casita. I did see a moment of panic on Karen’s face as she thought’ MY NEW CAR, WTF’ but all was good and off we set.
Track may be unfair as many of you will think that this was a nice stony track with a few pot-holes – it was nothing of the sort and thank god for 4×4’s (by the way Bills face was a sight to behold as we worked our way down the steep and windy track).
The views on the way down to La Casita del Lago were simply breath-taking.
We arrived at the casita and disembarked and Giles gave us a guided tour of his wonderful property overlooking the reservoir.
FOOD was the next topic of the day and the men were sent to the BBQ to do MAN things and make fire so that the WOMEN of the camp could eat in between gossiping and generally being, well women I guess.
Fire was successfully made and the food was cooked amazingly well by Bill ‘The Fire Man’ Padley, while I stood around and prodded coals a few times to look busy, although I was put in charge of the lighter fuel – which was such good fun!
While the food was being cooked Giles was busy with a bucket and a mop bailing out the boat so we could have an after dinner trip on the lake.
Food consumed (as well as a little bit of wine) and it was to the boats for the first trip set sail. We counted them out and we counted them back, except Jamie Lee appeared to have forced her way to the oars having originally preferring cox!
Next trip included me, Bill and the Murrays. Off we went for a quick trip to the heckling of the first passengers who were now safely ashore and drinking the remainder of the wine before we got back to dry land. One of the highlights of this trip had to be Bill’s Titanic moment, or was it an Elliott from ET moment?
All in all it was a fabulous day with wonderful friends and fantastic hospitality of Giles Brown. We were lucky enough to have a day of first experiences; Giles casita and a ride in Karen and Bills new Spanish passion wagon!
It also shows that not all fun in Marbella is beach side. A few minutes drive inland above Marbella will take you to some of the most amazing places on earth.
