Escaped, I remember thinking as I said my final ?bye? to Zoe, my about to be, ex-colleague and walked through security and out of the office forever! My journey along Cannon street in London, with the other early leavers that Friday afternoon will remain in my mind for ever as one of the most blissful ever and the train journey to Sevenoaks passed in a similar haze. I really had done what so many of us dream of.

My husband Steve had been having difficulty finding work for the last few years. His white hair certainly didn't help. On the other hand I was working for an American company who gave me an ever increasing workload, but would not let me employ any more staff. As a result by the time I got home after a very long day, I was exhausted. There had to be a better way to live and simply changing jobs was not going to guarantee that.

On holiday a couple of years before I quit, I met a couple who had taken early retirement and were actually living in Spain. At that time the idea seemed more like a dream than a possibility, but my dream has come true. I had a couple of years to continue until I was fifty and able to draw down my pension, but that gave us time to work out whether we could afford it and plan selling the house and the actual move.

The first Monday after I left was also special, because it was actually quite difficult to believe that I was not going to the office ever again and also a bit frightening. However, we only had ten days before we completed on the sale of our house so there was quite a lot to do, although handing in my season ticket to claim a refund was one of the best. We had had our old car serviced and were praying that it would take us safely to Southern Spain, where hoped to buy a Spanish car.

Our journey to Competa in Southern Spain became the holiday of a lifetime. We spent our first night in Folkestone recovering from all the exertions of packing etc and then spent two weeks driving down. Apart from the first day we didn't drive for more than three hours each day and stayed in grand but comfortable hotels it was wonderful to discover that Chartres was as beautiful as I remembered after nearly 30 years, but it was a shame we hadn't allowed more than two days to view Barcelona.

After a brilliant six months living in a rented house in Competa, we moved into our own house in the tiny village of Daimalos, which although only being half an hour's drive from the Mediterranean coast is surrounded by stunning scenery. I wanted to get fit and soon got into a regime of walking around the village each morning. The first climb up to the ridge was at first very difficult and I needed lots of rests, but the views at the top were stunning. I could see La Maroma on one side, the highest mountain (2080ms) in the Sierra Tejeda and I could look over the village and see the sea in the other.

The climb to the ridge gradually got easier and as I got fitter I began to explore further. There are numerous tracks in the ?Natural Parks? of the Sierras of Tejada, Almijara and Alhama. A ?Natural Park? is a protected natural environment. It is a large and rugged mountainous region of 40,663 hectares, which stretches across the provincial border of Granada and Malaga. It's eastern part in Malaga province is known as the Axarquia and is famous for it's attractive white villages dating from Moorish times.

Geologically, the area has some distinctive features. It is rich in quartz and gneiss, which date from over 300 million years ago. The Sierra Almijara has one of Spain's most important areas of dolomite marble, which gives the landscape it's characteristic grey and white hues, where erosion has broken down the marble into small stones. The main rock in the Sierra Tejeda is limestone, which has been severely weathered leaving a landscape riddled with steep sided ravines and plunging cliff faces

It's relatively remote nature has meant that it has a high number of endemic species of flora and is rich in wildlife and mountain birds. It's inaccessibility has also meant that historically, it has harboured bandits and later on, anti-Franco guerrillas during the civil war

We soon decided that there were so many good tracks it would be fun to invest in a 4 X 4 vehicle and explore them at our leisure. After a couple of years of exploring the park on foot or on wheels, we were ready to try a new venture. We also look after a house in the village which is owned by an English couple and let out during the summer. They agreed that it could make an ideal base for walking holidays. After an hour's drive from Malaga airport, guests could stay in this distinctive, traditional village house. I would lead the walk and Steve my husband would collect us at the finish in our 4 X 4. Well we have just completed our first walking holiday and it was a fabulous experience, which I think we probably enjoyed nearly as much as our guests. I'm sure my former colleagues, in the office in London would never believe it!

Sheila Gard