Gloombuster heads out again.......

As the Olympics 2016 draw to a close, we head out again on another ten week jaunt to France and Spain, being grateful we chose to cross the channel on Eurotunnel instead of enduring a rough crossing in the high winds. Having left home at 7.15am we were driving down the French motorway by 11am without so much as a hint of seasickness!

Our first destination was Albert in the Somme, this town being the epicentre of the allied offensive and the area in which over two million lives were lost between 1916 and 1918 in World War One.

We found a lovely location in a lakeside park to stay for a couple of nights, right next to the local campsite but without having to pay for a pitch! (Call us cheapskates if you will but we enjoy finding and staying in some wonderful places and no one seems to care!)

After a peaceful night (apart from the quacking of the ducks) we walked into town to visit the underground museum of the Somme, a fascinating place but you can't escape the fact that fighting in WW1 was incredibly tough if you managed to stay alive that is. The museum was filled with artifacts from the war from rifles fixed with bayonets to buttons and belt buckles, all set in a long medieval underground tunnel. It gave a more authentic feel being below ground, especially the scenes setup of life in the dugouts and trenches.

 

After the museum we wandered around the town finding it so tranquil after the hustle bustle of life back at home.

Our first cafe stop!

The night was quiet, even the ducks respected the hours of darkness and the next day we set off out on our bikes on the Veloroute 32 to visit some of the WW1 sites and memorials, cemeteries filled with 1000 graves often over half of the graves being an unknown soldier, row upon row of graves, so many from the initial push at the Somme on 1st July 1916.








 Our last stop was the massive Lochnagar crater, created when the Tommies tunnelled under the German stronghold and planted 22 tons of explosives, the Germans were blown to smithereens, but many of our soldiers also lost their lives in the battle that ensued.

After another night in our park we spent the next day cycling out of Albert to Corbie through the peaceful countryside and sleepy French hamlets. The temperature soared to well over 30° and we were in need of a cool drink and a shower when we got back to the van. Luckily we were able to empty our waste tanks and refill our water at the nearby campsite for 5€.
Later that evening we were joined by a German motorcyclist travelling across France to meet her friend. We soon got chatting and her name was Johanna, she is a student in teacher training in English, we thought she was very brave to be travelling alone and like us avoiding the campsites, but sleeping under the stars - not like us!
We certainly seem to meet people from all walks of life when we travel, that's what makes it so interesting!

And so we head North and homeward bound.....

 Hello again! If you've been wondering where we were I'm writing this from home in the UK. We had no internet for the last part of the journey and when we arrived home our phone was not working and neither was the internet, hence the lateness of my final post for our trip! 
So, at last here it is:-
With the compass pointing north we headed back up the spectacular coast road to Mojacar - a bustling resort town popular with the Brits since the sixties, fortunately although there are lots of shops, restaurants and hotels it is not an ugly resort like so many of the places we have seen - no high rise hotels or ghastly looking apartment blocks. 

There is a wonderful long sandy beach and we had the glorious sunny weather to go with it. We found a great place to wild camp right on the beach for a couple of nights, about a mile from the town with a lovely cycleable path cut into the beach cliffs giving wonderful views along the coast.

A sad fact of life is that everywhere in Spain there are unfinished building projects, some of them massive complexes of apartments or houses sometimes almost complete but now standing abandoned. Behind the area where we stayed was a complex right in a prime location, begun but never finished, it only got as far as the skeleton.

Janet and Frank's house with very inviting pool

After two days of walking and cycling in Mojacar we continued north to visit our new friends Janet and Frank who live in Rojales near Torrevieja. We parked right next to their house, slept in the van but used all the facilities of their house including the swimming pool.

Keith with Janet & Frank and the 'kids'

 Jan and Frank have lived in Spain for nine years, they have a lovely home and they made us very welcome - including their four rescue dogs who got quite used to us coming and going in the house.

Frank cooking our dinner in the outside kitchen

We had a fabulous time, finding that we had a lot in common especially Frank and Keith talking motorbikes, in the past Frank had an impressive range of bikes from the Triumphs of the sixties to the modern Kawasaki.

It was really interesting to discover what it was like to live in Spain as an ex-pat.

After three nights we had to drag ourselves away to resume our long journey home

Me enjoying an afternoon swim

We travelled for  six days almost completely toll-free back to Calais and the Eurotunnel - definitely our preferred method of crossing the channel - we were back in the UK an hour and a half after arriving at the Calais terminal.
We had an amazing time, met some lovely, interesting people and have just begun to wonder that maybe we might want to spend more time in Spain in the future. Who knows?.....
Our ten week trip was over and I had the Moonwalk to do on the Saturday - a gruelling marathon distance walk in London through the night to raise funds for Breast Cancer. It was quite an experience I have to tell you but together we raised over £5000 so it has to be worth it!

Team Bridget's Birds ready to go!

Our next trip is planned for the September, I hope you have enjoyed reading about our travels and will continue to follow us on our future adventures!
Bye for now!!

To the end and back....

Faro de Gata

Imagine if you will that the Iberian peninsula (Spain and Portugal) is a square, as I write this blog we are parked on the bottom right corner, the lighthouse Faro de Gata marks the corner of that square, it also marks the end of our journey away from home because it's time to turn and make the two thousand mile journey back home.

Nice topiary

We left La Azohia on Saturday to stay at a Camperstop near a town called Vera, it was situated in the middle of nowhere and we nearly gave up trying to find it when luckily we found it, we soon hooked up and had the washing machine running in no time at all. We stayed for two nights to catch up with the washing and wifi etc but didn't particularly like the place as it was noisy with a shooting range close by, twelve-bore target practice echoing around the valley was not conducive to relaxation!  But it was convenient and we had a laugh when our lack of Spanish caused a misunderstanding - having arrived at the weekend the Camp reception was closed so we went into the bar to pay for our stay, we asked the young man behind the bar if we could pay for our two nights camping, I think 'pay' sounded like 'paella' to him because a few minutes later he came out of the kitchen with two foil containers of takeaway paella - Oops!   Well, luckily he saw the funny side of it when we explained! We left the bar giggling but mildly embarrassed, I always resolve to improve my Spanish but never keep it up once we get home - not much call for it in Billingshurst really!

Overlooking Agua Amarga

With the van replenished of water, toilet emptied etc we headed off for more wild camping first to the pretty bay of Agua Amarga where we stayed on a dried up riverbed and hoped it wouldn't rain (apparently this particular area is known for its flash floods where the water pours down from the mountains in heavy rain) then the next night we stayed in the even prettier bay of La Isleta - a tiny fishing village.

Not much company at La Isleta apart from the seagulls

 This is the first time we have done so much wild camping and really enjoy it - from talking to other motorhomers who tell us where to go, we have discovered so many beautiful places right on the seafront.

La Isleta from a small mountain we climbed!

 But we do like our creature comforts so we stay on a camperstop every couple of days to 'service' the van and perhaps do our laundry in the site washing machine so we had one night on the very nice Camperstop Capo de Gata run by the delightful Manuel, who was very friendly and helpful.

The very tip of Spain!

Which brings us to where we are now on the corner tip of Spain enjoying the lovely long sandy beach (not enjoying the wind so much!) parked right on the beach.

Another beach virtually to ourselves

A trip to the guns that never fired a shot.........

Sunset on the bay of La Azohia

Our next wild camping stop was  on a stunning bay at La Azohia where we joined a few other motorhomers right on the stoney beach overlooked by another Moorish defence tower. 

 It was an idyllic position but quite popular with the motorhomers which has resulted in the residents being a bit disgruntled at the constant use of the water tap on the beach. 
Nevertheless, we stayed in the end for four nights, enjoying cycling along the seafront and the highlight being a cycle ride up the mountain to the massive defence area for the port of Carthenega.

 Built between 1929 and 1933 it never saw active service

Six massive guns still left high on the mountain

 

 

It seems the architects couldn't help themselves and created a rather Disneyesque style of fortress

Cartridge cases strategically placed as benches

These massive guns had a firing range of 35 km

It was a massive climb but well worth the effort!!

On the way we got chatting to a lovely couple Andy and Maureen who we met the next day for coffee

A perfect day for visiting such a fascinating place!

Tootling about in Totana.....

The best pitch in the Camperstop (we think!)

We settled into Camperstop Sierra Espuna at Totana staying for five nights (not the three nights we originally intended) cycling along the canal path both ways and also cycling up to the hilltop monastery de La Santa, now converted to an hotel. 

The monastery church is still preserved with its unusual painted walls depicting not only the twelve stations of the cross, but medieval scenes - I don't know whose head was served up on a platter in this photo!

Distant view of the town of Aledo

A short distance from the monastery is the town of Aledo, perched on the hillside and dominated by the thirteenth century Moorish defence tower, interestingly the tower was built on the remains of a coral reef from 7 million years ago when this area was under the sea - difficult to visualise when we are almost 2000ft above sea level!

The views of the surrounding countryside were magnificent and the downhill cycle ride back to the site exhilarating!

The view from Aledo tower

Back on site we met Frank and Janet with their four dogs, they were having a week or so away in their motorhome before returning to their Spanish home in Rojales not far from Alicante. We shared a drink one evening sitting out until 10 o'clock when we all started to feel a bit damp and chilly! They invited us to visit them on our return journey up the coast of Spain and we might just do that.

Sunrise from our motorhome on Sunday morning

We also met David who was able to give us quite a bit of information on some places we could wild camp on our journey south down the coast, in fact the next place we went to on Saturday was Punta Brava a small resort on the bay of Mar Menor (literally 'small sea') where we camped up by the promenade and enjoyed stunning views across the bay for a couple of days and some easy cycling along the beachfront.

Flamingos just 100yds from our motorhome

 

It was a lovely spot for a few days but time again to  continue our journey south and pastures new!

Further adventures in the Sierra Espuna...

After our strenuous day climbing mountains on our bikes we had an easy day on Friday, did some washing in the campsite washing machine, went to the local shops to buy bacon and baguette for lunch, sat about in the sun and had only an hours local walk, finally to end a lovely day we went for a meal in the next door restaurant and had an excellent meal.

'Devils chorizo' Fiery little sausages sizzling in their dish!

Pliego - the view from the hill on the way home

We were back on our bikes on Saturday for a trip out to the town of Pliego about 14 miles from the site and it would have been an easier day for cycling but for a strong headwind on our return. When we got back to the site we had been invaded by the weekender Spanish families, they were having a party on the road right by our van, one thing about staying in Spain is you need to be tolerant of their noisy get-togethers! It's best to avoid the campsites at weekends if you like peace and quiet.

The view across to Gebas - our destination

For our last day at El Berro we did a circular seven mile walk to the village of Gebas and back. The walk, like many of the other walks in this area provided some spectacular views, but always at the cost of a few steep hills! This walk was made more interesting by the route taking us through the channel of a dried up river bed and a tunnel which we later learned was man made but never used. Keith also disturbed a snake - it crossed our path and slithered into the undergrowth so we don't know what kind of snake it was! 

The dried up riverbed

To finish our week at El Berro we went to the restaurant again for our evening meal, this time we had the weekend special of a three course meal with a drink for 14€ each - can't be bad! To anybody who might be going to El Berro we would definitely recommend the Sierra Espuna restaurant next to the campsite, I think we had the best meals there that we've had in Spain.

Approaching the village of El Berro on our walk

 Monday morning and we were on the road again, detouring to a supermarket to stock up, our next destination was Camperstop Sierra Espuna about two miles north of Totana, located on the outskirts of the National park and right on the canal path it gave us another opportunity to continue exploring this lovely area but from a different base.

We got the best pitch at Camperstop Sierra Espuna!

 The camperstop itself was idyllic with fabulous views to the far distant hills all around and set in a peaceful area. Here we met up with Colin and Sandra - full time motorhomers who we 'met' on our forum Motorhome Fun - an online community of motorhomers from all walks of life and doing all sorts of different travelling. It's a great way to communicate with like minded people and to gather information on any aspect of motorhoming. Colin was a great help to us advising on our prospective solar panel - another job for when we get back to the UK.

The canal path

 So with the weather set fair (blue skies, sunshine and hot) we settled in for another few days exploring the area.