"Stunning view" I said with a slight mix of fear and anticipation. ''A good place to celebrate your birthday'', added Rob. We were standing on the south east side of the Sierra de Lijar looking across the valley towards the Grazalema Natural Park admiring the pretty white village of Zahara, a view not too dissimilar to a photo that I once saw advertising Andalusia on the London tube! It's February, the area is very green and it's my birthday. My family have seen fit to buy me a paragliding tandem flight with a local British run school called Fly Spain. I gather they teach as well, but today their chief instructor was taking me flying on his tandem.

As an Englishman living in Andalucia the obvious team for me to follow during the 2008 European Cup was Spain. The Spanish national team has, for many years, under achieved so it was very much like supporting England. The locals, many of whom are ardent Real Madrid fans, were very sceptical over the Spanish team's chance as the Coach, Luis Aragones, had taken the brave decision to leave one of Spain’s most recent footballing hero's, Raul who plays for Madrid, out of the squad.