All along the Watchtower

It's not often you get the chance to have a whole Bell tower to yourself is it? I had this opportunity on our last day at the camperstop at Alcossebre, we cycled about 5 miles inland to the town of Alcala de Xibert, a town perched on a hill overlooked by an ancient castle. When we arrived the church square was pretty quiet and we sat on the church steps in the sun eating our picnic. In the far corner was a small tourist information kiosk and inside sat a lovely young man who gave me some local information and also offered to let us into the bell tower, at this point Keith declined as he is no fan of heights but I accepted the offer. Inside the ancient tower the steep stone spiral steps worn smooth with age wound up and up to the bell chamber - look carefully at the photo - that's me in the window above the clock! I then ascended more narrow stone steps (only room for one person it was so narrow!) to the next level - the views across the rooftops to the distant mountains were well worth the climb.

Coming down the steps was quite scary I had to cling on to the walls on each side as I carefully descended the hundred of steps, but what a great experience. I'm glad nobody else was in there as there was no room to pass on the stairs!
The next day we left the camperstop and found a gorgeous beach side location at Torrenostra, a quiet car park near to the town with just the sound of the waves to break the silence. Whilst we were there we were able to cycle on quiet roads through the wetlands all the way along the coast to Oropesa. We also met a lovely couple Rob and Hayley who we discovered had many shared interests - motorhoming, cycling, keeping fit, healthy eating and shopping in Lidl to name a few - we chatted for England until it was time we had to part. We hope to catch up with them again on our travels to continue the conversation. I think most motorhomers would agree that all the people you meet on your travels is one of the very positive aspects of the nomadic life!

Sunset at Torrenostra - how lucky are we to be parked in such a fantastic location