The “World’s Most Dangerous Footpath” Has Opened Back Up, But Dare You Walk Down It?

The “World’s Most Dangerous Footpath” Has Opened Back Up, But Dare You Walk Down It?

Visiting Caminito del Ray is a must for Thrillseekers

The “World’s Most Dangerous” footpath is the Caminito delRay footpath. While this moniker might be a little unfair, it is true that five deaths happened at the trail before it was closed in 2001. So, perhaps there is some truth to it.

The pathway is now set to be reopened for the third summer season following a makeover totalling €5.5 million over a 14-year hiatus. Thrillseekers looking to edge along this footpath are already on sale. The footpath hugs against the sheer cliffs of the Gaitanes Gorge, above a 330 foot drop to the Gualdahorce river.

The route can be found in El Chorro, near Malaga. It was closed following the deaths of five people between 1999 and 2000. Spain has always considered the rough parts of the country to be more “enter at your own risk”, but it seems the additional levels of health and safety has no doubt been welcomed by tourists; the route has brought in 600,000 visitors since it reopened in 2015.

The summer season begins on the 22^nd of April this year, and the organisers of the attraction have decided on a limit of 1,100 visitors per day. This is to keep the crowd numbers low and improve visitor safety. Tickets can be purchased for €10. Visitors can make their way along the entire four0mile pathway and see the beautiful gorge for themselves –if the weather allows it of course.

There are many brilliant natural attractions in Spain, but not many of them are as white-knuckle as El Caminito del Rey. If you don’t mind taking the risk, then you should try to take on the pathway yourself and see the beautiful hills of Malaga.

The most important thing is; never look down!

Find out more at www.caminitodelrey.info/en/.

Spanish Unemployment Down to Below 20% for First Time in Six Years

Spanish Unemployment Down to Below 20% for First Time in Six Years

Encouraging news for spain as unemployment carries on falling

There are plenty of signs that the Spanish economy is getting back on track and one of the latest concerns the state of the Spanish job market.

For the longest time now Spain has seen unemployment levels that are much higher than the Eurozone average. Now the most recent data says that Spanish unemployment is at 18.9% and it’s a pretty significant number. This rate might still be higher than France, Germany and Belgium but how much unemployment has fallen by is encouraging for Spaniards.

Even two years ago the Spanish unemployment rate was around 30%, which half of youths unemployed. Now Spain can say that they have finally put an end to the times when unemployment in Spain reached 1-in-5.

The data comes from the National Statistics Institute and it shows that there are around eighteen and a half million Spaniards in employment. As you might expect the tourism, construction and manufacturing industries all reported strong growth during the summer. Over 220,000 jobs were created in the tourism sector along in the past three months. While it’s true that some of these jobs were only temporary seasonal work, there were still more long-term jobs offered than in the past few years.

When the end of the third quarter came the INE calculated that only 4.32 million Spaniards are currently unemployed, and only 27,300 people found themselves laid off over the quarter. During this same period some 217,700 new positions were opened up in the private sector. Even the public sector added 10,000 new jobs despite being left rudderless for the past ten months due to a lack of government.

Spain is pretty much back to normal now following the drop in unemployment to below 20%. Because Spain is such a regional country that changes with the seasons unemployment levels have always hovered around 20%. The unemployment rate only dropped below 15% during the economic booms before and after the turn of the millennium.

From all perspectives it looks like 2017 will see even more people in work in Spain as it’s expected the economy will grow by over 3% next year. All of the signs are very encouraging and if it all goes well it should also lead to more confidence from consumers and investors in other leading Spanish industries such as the real estate sector.

Number of Retired British Expats Claiming Winter Fuel Allowance Down Two Thirds Following Crackdown

Number of Retired British Expats Claiming Winter Fuel Allowance Down Two Thirds Following Crackdown  

The British government recently cracked down on winter fuel payments and have managed to save £16 million so far.

New data released from the UK government shows that just over 42,000 British expats  buying property and retiring overseas in the EU received winter fuel payments – down by over two-thirds compared to last year.

Around 137,845 British pensioners living in the EU received winter fuel allowance payments during the fiscal year of 2014/2015. This number was cut down drastically following a crackdown by the British government.

Elder Brits who were living abroad in sunnier locations were still receiving their annual winter fuel payments of over £200 (or £300 for those who are aged over 80) even though they were living in places where there was no need for it.

This caused the former Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith to bow that he would bring this wasteful practice in check by introducing a temperature test that would analyse the average temperatures of Europe.

If pensioners were living in an area of Europe were the average temperature was higher than the warmest area of the UK (the southwest of England) then they would have their winter fuel payments stopped. After this scheme was introduced the government has saved around £16 million as the amount of money spent on payments was reduced from £24.5 million to £8.1 million.

A general rule of thumb says that payments were stopped for people who moved to places such as Spain, France, Greece, Portugal, Malta, Cyprus and Gibraltar.

An interesting note is that pensioners living in Italy can still claim Winter Fuel Allowance. This is because the temperature test only takes into account average temperatures and the 40 degree highs of the Italian summer are offset by the bitter winters.