Viva España!!

After a couple of lovely days catching up with my sister Christine and her hubby Terry we set off to continue our journey south to Spain. We aim to cover about 300 to 350km in a day and that took us to Biarritz in the far South West of France. We use an app on the phone to find somewhere to stop -Park4night, it's brilliant for finding places we couldn't possibly find ourselves and our stopover in Biarritz was no exception- a quiet car park by a lake. 

Perfect! All we need is an out of the way place to park, but a tap and a wastebin are a bonus, we are completely self sufficient as we have solar panels for our power and gas for cooking, heating and hot water.

After a peaceful night disturbed only by the quacking ducks we continued on our way and after a false start (we forgot to check the planned route on the Sat Nav and it was taking us across the mountains- not the way we wanted to go!) soon we were crossing into Spain. A bit too soon to unpack the bikini though as we drove past the snow covered hills!

Our next stop (thanks to Park4night again) was a cultural site a few miles SE of Zaragoza called La Alfranca where we were able to fill up with water for our showers, it was another peaceful stopover.

Another day on the road travelling down the A23 (not the London to Brighton A23!) from Zaragoza to the coast and we arrive at one of our favourite haunts - the Aire at Castellon in the shadow of the planetarium and right on the beach. It might not be hot but it is December and it's snowing in the U.K! 

We're back on the road again!!

At last! After a year of many trials and tribulations we make our great escape to the continent. Our trip begins on Sunday 3rd December when we leave our home behind for what we hope to be our longest trip to date, heading to Spain to catch some winter sunshine. Now we're not ones to travel lightly, we like our motorhome to be our home from home, so prior to leaving we were like whirling dervishes whizzing round the house emptying the cupboards and trying to fit it all in the van. I'm surprised we managed to get the van off the drive. In the end, after too many "I'll just take this" or "I'll just take that" you just have to say "STOP That's it!!!" and decide you have everything you need and more. 

We had decided to spend the night at the Ferry terminal in Portsmouth to be ready bright and early for our 8.15am sailing, but even though we were up by 6.30am we didn't expect the tap on the door to say we could check in - I wasn't even dressed. After a hasty throw on of our clothes and quickly preparing the van for the off we checked in and sat eating our cereal whilst we queued to embark.

It was only once we were aboard did we realise we had driven off and left our plastic doorstep behind. Well!! We could kick ourselves for being so stupid! We would normally do a 'cockpit drill' and check around before setting out, but we were caught on the hop, it was dark and we missed it. Fortunately we should be able to replace it easily enough but that doesn't make us feel any less daft for driving off without it.

I always find when we go away in the motorhome it takes a while to get into the swing of things.

The sea was calm as a millpond and the ship was almost empty which made for an uneventful crossing arriving at Caen around 3pm.

Apart from the obvious fact that you drive on the right the first thing we notice when driving in France is how much quieter the roads are - so driving becomes much more pleasurable. We choose  to take our journey slowly, avoid the toll roads and enjoy the French countryside. The French provide plenty of places to stay in their villages and towns, it was dead quiet here for the night here by the cemetry!
After a couple of easy days of travelling we began to feel ourselves unwinding and relaxing into holiday mode. Soon we arrived a St.Palais sur mer (not far south of La Rochelle on the west coast) to stay for a couple of days with my sister and her husband. A freezing mist was blowing off the sea when we arrived but it didn't deter us from going for a walk to blow away the cobwebs!

The Last Leg - Fog, Frogs and Hogs....

The cycle path from Castellon to Benacassim

We began our journey home to the UK from El Berro by returning to Castellon for a couple of days, sadly the weather was against us with wind and rain, but we did manage to find a window in the weather to ride along the cycle path from Castellon to Benicassim then on up along the Via Verde. 

We had a picnic on our favourite bench watching the waves pounding the rocks. 

Cambrils Marina

The next day the rain set in so we decided to spend the day on the road travelling up the coast of Spain, skirting Barcelona and arriving at Cambrils (just south of Tarragona) on a very windy day.
We like Cambrils, it's a beautiful resort with very few tacky tourist shops. There are lots of great choice of restaurants facing the Marina which is dominated by a pair of massive metal statues.
As it was our last day in Spain we decided to have lunch in a beachside restaurant and although the wind was cool, the sun was shining - reminding us of what we would be missing when we got home!

Didn't manage to catch a 'live' photo so this statue will have to do!!

Heading back into France the temperature dropped and the fog began to come down although fortunately not freezing fog this time!
Driving along the road suddenly all the brake lights on the vehicles ahead come on as a huge wild boar lumbered across the road eventually disappearing into the undergrowth. It makes you wonder how many wild boar there are out there in the countryside of France as this is the second time we have been surprised by a boar zooming out onto the road!

  Our last stop you may recognise if you read my blog regularly, we like to stop at an Aire near to Neufchatel-en-Bray right on the cycle path from Dieppe to Paris. We allowed time to stay for a while and relax with a walk along the path, a cup of tea sitting outside and an opportunity for Keith to make a new friend (maybe just cupboard love?!)
The next morning we headed home on the Eurotunnel to be home in time for the new arrival to our family

Proud Granny - Baby Violet arrived on 24/02/17 just five days after we got home

 Watch this space! We are now planning our next trip in late spring to cycle alongside the Danube - Germany, Austria, Slovakia in our new van - Gloombuster 3!!!

Wonderful walking in the Sierra Espuna

Our next visit was to the El Berro campsite in the Sierra Espuna national Park where we spent four days. The Sierra Espuna is a protected regional park with 20 mountain peaks of over 1000 metres, pine trees cover most of the park, but the views over the top of the pine forests are magnificent. The park is crisscrossed with walking trails and our friend Paul who was staying here on the campsite for about a month knows the mountain trails well so became our unofficial guide whilst we we here.







 

Keith, Maureen, Andy and Paul

 We also met up with our friends Maureen and Andy on the Wednesday as coincidentally they were staying for a few days in a hotel in a nearby village, the five of us had a lovely day climbing up to the top of Tower Hill where we found a sheltered spot to have our picnic enjoying the fantastic views. We were lucky enough to spot some wild Moufflon mountain goats before they disappeared into the undergrowth - not staying long enough for a photoshoot of course!
 

One of the spectacular views from the top of Tower Hill

The next day we were treated to free Paella  provided by the campsite bar, two great pans cooked up and served to all the current residents of the site. It was certainly a multi-national affair with English, Spanish, French, German, Dutch and Belgians all coming together for a meal.

 

 Sadly we had to leave El Berro to begin the long journey back to the UK, but we definitely will be returning to this lovely area next time we are in Spain

Lunch break at the top of Tower Hill - sheltering on the leaside from the wind

Blue lagoon.....

All of a sudden the bare almond trees are covered in blossom and you get the feeling that maybe Spring is around the corner.
I think it's fair to say that we have found the weather here in Spain much colder than we had expected, but we have had little rain and most days we're able to get out walking or on our bikes and it's warm when the sun does shine. At the time of writing this post it snowed at home in the UK so we know it has to be better here in Spain.
We returned to the Sierra Espuna Camperstop at Totana as we love the easy cycling along the canal side path, plus on a more practical note, I needed to use the washing machine.

But before we arrived we spent one night wild camping in an isolated car park provided for a walk into a ravine where you can see 5 million year old fossilised coral, located at Nonihay. It seems strange that this area was once under a deep ocean especially taking into consideration it lies 1800ft above current sea level.

From Totana we went out on our bikes to the Blue Lagoon, cycling along the canal, into the outskirts of the Sierra Espuna National park and on into the 'Badlands' - a desolate moonscape environment. Suddenly the lagoon comes into view and you are struck by the intense turquoise colour of the water. We stopped at a viewpoint for our picnic but a cold wind was blowing so we didn't take long before we headed back to the shelter of our van.

The following day we headed the short distance up into the Sierra Espuna to the campsite at El Berro - a tiny mountain village with steep and narrow access roads - a bit scary when approaching in your motorhome which is almost the same width as the road!
Here we met up with our friend Paul again and enjoyed a few days of walking and more......
Tell you next time!

The Guns of Mazarron.....

The days tick by at La Azohia (near to the town of Mazarron) and we are joined by Janet,Frank and their four dogs in their Motorhome 'Herbie'. The weather stayed fair, chilly in the evenings but warm enough most days to sit outside for a while if the sun was shining. We had some lovely walks up the 'Rambla' (dried-up riverbed) over the hills to deserted little beaches accessible only on foot. For our lunch we would find a nice flat stone to sit on whilst enjoying our sandwiches.

Keith and I also ventured up to the big gun emplacements on our bikes, a route not for the faint hearted - about a six mile long slog up to the top. The massive guns are worth a visit - this was our second trip up there and we picked a beautiful day with clear blue skies.
The huge guns were put there in the 1930's with the intention of protecting the port of Cartagena from Franco's forces but they were never fired in anger.

The architect must have been smoking some strange substance - the castle turrets of the buildings makes you feel you've landed in Disneyland not a  military installation!
The guns were built in the UK in 1928 by Vickers Armstrong, considering the size of them it must have been quite a challenge.

We headed back down the hill, our brakes smoking with heat for our last evening at La Azohia where we had a surprise meeting with Chris who we had met at Castellon. He is currently out in Spain working on finding all the best places to go for the website Wildcamping.co.uk - if you're interested in wild camping it's a really useful website -go take a look!

We had a very enjoyable evening talking all things Motorhomes with Janet,Frank and Chris.
Eventually the time came to move on, Janet and Frank (plus dogs) took Herbie home and we headed off towards our next destination- Totana.

A short stay becomes a long stay.....

La Manga 

After we left Janet and Franks hospitality and shelter from the bad weather we headed off to wild camp on the shores of the Mar Menor looking across at the tiny strip of land on the opposite side of the salt water lagoon, wondering what all the huge buildings were. Out of a natural curiosity and not wanting to miss any part of Spain, we travelled up the single road of La Manga not quite believing that so many hotels and apartment blocks could be squeezed onto such a narrow piece of land, we stayed right on the end in a deserted car park and spent the night being buffeted by the gusty wind and wondering just when we were going to be washed away by a massive wave! The next morning we escaped La Manga having crossed that one off our list!

Beautiful sunset from La Azohia

We then headed to La Azohia, intending to stay for a few nights but ended up staying for ten! We had a very social time there meeting up with old friends.

We had some lovely days out walking and cycling with Maureen and Andy

Our friend Paul - a full time Motorhomer joined us for a couple of days

Ice cold in Torrevieja......

There's a storm brewing.......

Apologies dear readers for not posting for a while, but we have been without Internet for the last couple of weeks, wild camping (which is, just to clarify, staying off campsites, it could be anywhere, but usually a parking area close to the sea) so I'm a bit behind on keeping you up to date with our adventures! In my last post we were waiting to see what the weather was about to do....

Yes we did get the snow!! But luckily we were staying in Rojales with our friends Janet and Frank where we were able to spend the day in their living room, log fire burning and all their dogs curled up in their beds in front of it.

It was the first snowfall in the area for over thirty years and certainly made the headlines in Spain! The four dogs, who are all Spanish rescue dogs, were decidedly unimpressed and absolutely refused to go out of the house all day, taking one look outside and scuttling back to their beds in front of the fire!

The view from our window - beachside near Santa Pola

We had left Castellon the previous Thursday, driving 200km south to a secluded beachside spot not far south of Alicante, we were able to park for a night within a few yards of the shoreline, the sound of the waves lulling us to sleep that night. From there we drove the short journey to Rojales and Janet and Frank where we stayed for six nights. During that time we had some wonderful meals out as well as Janet treating us to her fantastic Paella shared with their friends Janet and Dave. When it comes to eating out, if you have local knowledge it's amazing how incredibly cheaply you can eat in the local restaurants, the average price being about 10€ per person, but you have to know where to find these places! One night we had a huge Chinese meal and the bill was only 42€ (about £35) including drinks! I really don't know how they can do it at those prices.

It's not our fault really!!! Look it's not snowing or raining in this photo

The snow didn't stay long but with floods just after Christmas, the snow and cold weather in southern Spain the cost of courgettes, lettuces and other seasonal fruit rose sharply in the U.K. Now a lot of our friends joke about the way we jinx the weather when we go away, but being the cause of the coldest Spanish winter in years can't be us - could it?

Escape to Sunshine... or maybe not??

What is it about sunshine that lifts your mood, makes you feel better and generally happier? The weather on the Spanish costas in January is not particularly warm but since we arrived in Spain the sun has been shining every day and we have been able to spend much of our days out and about on our bikes or walking. It's also warm enough to sit out and enjoy the suns warmth in a Tshirt and shorts, but move into the shade and you definitely need to dress in warmer clothes!

Sunrise over Castellon beach

After a 24 hour stopover in Cambrils we moved down the coast to one of our favourite haunts - Castellon, about 50 miles north of Valencia on the Costa Azahar. Here we like to camp on a wide area 100yds back from the beach along with quite a few other Motorhomes. The first time we stayed here last year was on the 'Aire' but although you have facilities right on hand (water, water and waste disposal - known in the Motorhoming world as grey and black waste) all the motorhomes are parked quite close together and it feels a bit claustrophobic!
Further down the road there is more space on the parking areas behind the beach and when we need to service our van we can drive the few minutes up the road to the Aire. It is regularly patrolled by the local police but as long as there is no 'camping behaviour' the motorhomes are left alone.

Keith cooking the bacon for our butties!

Camping behaviour constitutes using levelling blocks, using an awning or putting out tables and chairs, but we can put our chairs on the grass nearby without a problem, in fact today we cooked bacon butties on our camp stove for lunch, yummy!
We love this area because we can easily bike along the cycle path to Benacasim and then along the disused railway path through the hills to Orepesa, a round trip of just over 20 miles. It's lovely cycling along the trail by the coast in warm sunshine and blue skies, stopping for a picnic on our favourite bench looking out to sea.

So it was here that we stayed for ten days whilst the south of England was blasted by icy winds and there was a sprinkling of snow. Smug in the thought that we had escaped it - until we saw the headline of a local paper - Costa Blanca News " Big Freeze on the way!!" Well! I'll let you know about that in my next instalment!

Time to stop and stare for a while...and maybe make the most of the warmer weather before the snow arrives!!

New Year - New adventure

Happy New Year to you all, I hope that 2017 brings you much happiness. We decided to start our new year with another trip to Spain to find some winter sunshine and warmer climes. So five days after Christmas Day in the dark of early morning we set out to take the Eurotunnel and head down south, the plan being to romp through France using the fastest route possible, sometimes using the toll motorways which we usually try to avoid. We were not prepared for the incredible cold of northern and central France travelling in freezing fog and subzero temperatures for much of the way. Our first stopover was an Aire about level with Paris, during the night the temperature plummeted to -6°c and our heating the van was pushed to its limits - we were still cold! I think if we did a lot of cold winter motorhoming we would have to consider modifying our heating system or buy a mini-generator.

It took us two and a half days to travel the 750 miles from Calais to the Spanish border and as soon as we crossed over it seemed warmer and the sun was higher in the sky. Using our trusty app Park4night we located a camperstop near the town of Figueres where we could fill up with water and have electric hookup. The facilities were basic but just what we needed after almost three days on the road! We celebrated the New Year snuggled in our cosy bed listening to the nearby church bells and fireworks.
New Years' day and our journey continues down the east coast of Spain, skirting Barcelona and finally landing at Cambrils where we found a secluded area to park for a while.

Sunset at Cambrils

Our day on the road ended with a walk along the promenade of Cambrils to disperse the cobwebs and get the blood flowing after so many hours on the road. It was lovely to catch the last few rays of the evening sunshine and breathe the briney air, it made the thousand mile journey worthwhile.