It was an early start for the traditional march from the Douglas monument up to the Castle of the stars. The parade of approx 100 brave souls was led off by the Kings Piper Philip Barlow and with the temperture guage hitting the low 80's and despite only having about an hour kip (with partying from the night before) he marched them all to the top of the castle without stopping once.

The march is only about a mile and a half in distance but the climb up to the castle is very hard and enduring with a long winding concrete road climbing about 300 feet or more in height.

Once they all arrived at the castle the local historian gave the gathered crowd a tour round the perimiter and outer wall of this fantastic castle with its amzing views over the surrounding countryside.

The Artizans were treated to a tour round the castle which is dedicated to the Good Sir James Douglas and if you are ever in the Costas on holiday it is well worth paying homage to Scotland's greatest warrior knight, the castle keep is really looking fantastic and the people of Teba can be rightly proud of what
they have done with the castle over the last seven years or so.

As it was early afternoon we all headed down to the town to the sports hall for fiesta time were the whole village gets fed and watered with tapas, beer and water etc.

This year was a changed of venue as in preivous years it has been held in the square at the town hall but as it was in the massive sports hall it was alot cooler as the temperture reached the high 80's outside. The guests and the local were treated to some traditional Spanish music and dancing all afternoon which was very very good and entertaining we also had the added bonus of seeing KRB and The Douglas take part and tried to dance but don't give up your days jobs guys (LOL).

It was then Philip's turn to dance which had the place jumping with excitment, Philip is very popular with the locals and they loved to see him dance and he played a few more tunes on the pipes after he got his breath back from all his Spanish dancing. His next trick was to pipe when on the back of a scooter being driven round the streets of Teba which the locals loved.

By late afternoon we headed back for some well earned sleep, a few hours in the sun by the pool at our fabulous digs at La Calera. As this was the last night for 5 of our guys we all headed up to Rafaels for some dinner, were the food is fantastico..... Tapas starters, local pork, snails, steak take your pick all washed down with beer, wine and agua.

It was a fine end to a long and enjoyable day and we then all headed back for some well earned sleep.

A Big Thanks goes to the wonderful people of Teba for making us all most welcome. To Mark and Lindsay Comer our fine hosts. all the Artizans who made the trip to Teba once again, we look forward to seeing you all again
next year................"Haste Ye back" .

Report
Jim Tannock.