From Oranges to Lemons....

Delicious Ori mandarins of the Valencia region - so sweet and juicy

Why is it that some days are destined to go wrong? Easter Sunday and the clocks go forward in Spain as well as the UK so the 7 o'clock alarm seemed mighty early! We had spent four days at the Daimus camperstop so it was time to move on, this time heading into the hills and a remote site, about 50 miles inland. Once we were on the road we decided we didn't like the route the Satnav had chosen so we deviated and ended up taking a couple of wrong turns early on in the journey, although on a more positive note we did fill up with diesel at 72p litre. Eventually we were on the route we wanted to be and arrived at our destination - the middle of nowhere - no site to be seen, despite having entered the co-ordinates accurately! After a couple of miles stuck on the wrong road we found a place to turn back and then set about finding our campsite, eventually with a bit of detective work we bumped along a country track to be greeted by our host only to be told we had a wasted journey - he was closed due to a problem with his licence and the Spanish red tape. He invited us to stay there for a couple of hours, to have lunch and use his internet to search for somewhere else to stay, so we had lunch in the van then moved on to another site we had found near Murcia - with only 30 pitches and it being Easter we kept our fingers firmly crossed that there would be a free pitch for us. 

As luck would have it after our rather unlucky day there was only one space left! We set up camp, the heady fragrance of the surrounding orange and lemon groves on the air. And they do say every cloud has a silver lining and this little campsite set in the quiet outskirts of the small town of Alquería was a little gem - 200yds from a tarmac riverside cycle path. 

Turning left on the path the city of Murcia was a half hour cycle ride away and being the week after Easter there was a week of festivities in the town. We cycled in on both Monday and Tuesday - on Monday  the city centre had a tranquil air with a few mainly Spanish tourists milling around, but on Tuesday the city was full of people almost all of whom were dressed in traditional Folklore costume - the men in white shirts and short trousers with colourful waistcoats and scarves and the women wore white blouses with beautiful embroidered skirts, shawls and flowers in their hair. 

We were amazed that so many people took the trouble to dress up in costume, as we walked around the families gathered together the smell of their barbecues tantalising our tastebuds! 

On the edge of town the young people had a music festival but they weren't so much fun to watch with all the courting couples, the boys relieving themselves or throwing up into the river!!

The weather was perfect for the festivities with cloudless blue skies and the temperature rising to 27°c and all this while storm Katie hit the UK!

Murcia 'Town Hall'