We are parked up at Los Escullos campsite near San Jose in the Gata-Nijar national park. I'm sure that sounds very exotic and it probably would be if it wasn't cold, wet and windy. This site was recommended by a guy at the last campsite we stayed on but we feared the worst as we approached the site over the last 20miles or so. We turned a corner coming over the Sierra Cabrera and saw what we thought was a bay or large lake with the sun glinting in our eyes. Another couple of hundred metres and we realised it was a sea of poly tunnels. A few miles further on and a whole plain as far as we could see on either side of the road was just mile upon mile of poly tunnels. In a "Parque Natural" no less. The most disturbing feature is the plastic just lying about where the tunnels have been ripped by the wind. That stuff is never going away.

One of the fascinating things about this blog is we can see where the viewing traffic comes from. Mostly UK, obviously, some from Spain, France, N America even. And someone from South Korea!
So Sir or Madam, this is for you,

안녕하세요, 좋은 하루 되세요

Pat

Classy lady and a lack of buses

Did I mention Phil was painting her toenails while I was cooking the tea yesterday?
Anyway, I took a cheeky picture.

Today we thought we'd get the bus into Mazarron and have a look around. We went for the 11.20am bus and got chatting to a couple at the bus stop waiting for the 11.30 to Murcia. At noon we went for a coffee thinking we'd get the 12.20. At half past twelve we sacked the idea and went for a beer instead in the bar opposite the bus stop. We asked the barmaid "Is there a bus strike today?"  She thought for a moment and said that although she didn't know if there was a strike or not, now we mentioned it she hadn't seen a bus all day.

Anyway, it's time for us to move on now, this has been the longest we've stayed in one place since we set off and I think we'll head to Almeria tomorrow with a Lidl shop on the way. The weather's changed a bit, in fact it's raining now and we're not due much sun until Saturday by which time we should be in Malaga or maybe even Marbella. We've enjoyed it here, 100m from the sea and a couple of shops and bars and of course, a bus stop right outside.

And yes, I've posted a picture.

A bit about us

Philomena and I started this blog as a way for friends and family to follow us and keep in touch as we travelled across Europe and, hopefully, beyond in our motorhome. We thought it would be easier than us sending multiple emails every day or so. So far it's worked out ok although my inability to post pictures is still an irritant. I know if I want to store all my pictures on Picasso I can then access them for the blog but I don't really want to go down that route. If anyone has any other suggestions or has experience of this problem I'd be pleased to hear from you, especially if your name is Page, Brin or Schmidt.

We've noticed, however, that our blog is reaching a wider audience; not that we're becoming famous or anything but the stats tell us that that folk are having a look at the blog from some far flung places, no jokes about Middlesborough please. So I thought it might be an idea to fill in a bit of background about who we are and what we're doing.

It's been a dream of ours to travel in a motorhome for as long as we can remember; the dream nearly became a reality over 30 years ago when we were pretty much all set to travel overland to India with our daughters (No, we're not hippies although we maybe had a hippy sensibility) but events conspired to prevent us realising our dream. Pregnancy, Russian invasion of Afghanistan, you know, the usual things.

Anyway, fast forward a few decades and we're both looking at retirement. With big smiles on our faces, natch. So, we do the sums and then we're off to the dealers looking at second hand motorhomes which, incidentally, cost more than we paid for our house! We saw one we liked and went away to think about it and then saw the same model for sale privately for a lot less money. Bought it, used it for one weekend and realised that putting the bed up every night and taking it down every morning was a big problem and not for us. First mistake and first lesson learnt. Back to the dealers, found what we wanted with a fixed bed and after some masterly haggling got what we wanted for more than we wanted to pay. But hey, it's only the kid's inheritance we're spending, right?

Meanwhile we'd read a few blogs and books by folk who had travelled across Europe for a year or more so we were picking up loads of tips. We subscribed to an excellent forum www.wildcamping.co.uk and the folk on there gave us so much invaluable advice. We had a few trial weekends away and now we're in Spain and we've been on the road for 3 weeks and we're experts. We define experts as people who make no more than 2 catastrophic mistakes each day.

So if you didn't know us before you have a bit more of an idea now of who we are. This gives you license to laugh at us and insult us in the comments section. We hope you do, it gets a bit lonely out here sometimes you know. 

Lazy, lazy day.

Still in Bolnuevo , having a very lazy day today.  Another lovely sunny day and I took the opportunity to catch up on a weeks washing while Pat made one of his famous curries ( chicken and chickpea) . I spent some considerable time sat in a chair doing nothing which was a novelty . We went for a very short walk around the site this afternoon so we could look at everyone else's vans and encampments - some of them are amazing. We spotted outdoor washing machines, gardens , seedlings growing etc. The great excitement of the day was half the campsite attempting to park a Brit  in one of the bays - unsuccessfully - he's now parked on the road ! In the spirit of research we are now sampling the local Cava, - it has to be done.
Buenos Noches
Phil.

The Brit Phil mentioned was a real charmer. He rocked up and looked around, saw I had UK plates and asked about the location. I said it was ok and he'd get the sun all day on the pitch behind ours. "Are you noisy?" he asked. Err no, not really. "Wot's the tv reception like?" Dunno, haven't got a tv. End of conversation. First thing he did was pop up his ariel and spin it round for about 45mins before packing it away again. Different folks for different strokes eh? If I'd been him on a new site I'd have asked "Any wifi?" By the way I'm still tapping in to the guy next door's. He doesn't seem bothered.

Ok, time for that curry,

Buenos Noches,

Pat

Still in Bolnuevo

Yes, we're still here. No reason to move really. Today we caught the bus to Puerto de Mazarron, ten minutes down the road. It was strange to be walking around a town with shops, banks, restaurants etc..  We haven't done that for a while so we celebrated by buying 2litres of wine for €2.60 from the friendly wine merchant, had a coffee and caught the bus back!

After a leisurely lunch in the sunshine (you're getting sick of this aren't you?) we walked along the beach to a tiny cove with a couple of small fishing boats and a small sandy beach. There's 18km of continuous unspoilt beach here, where we are there is a boardwalk with a mix of houses, bars and restaurants, mostly closed at this time of year. Palm and tall Eucalyptus trees line the pavement and there is a sandstone cliff about 200m inland which has been eroded into some weird, bizarre shapes. It's a lovely spot with none of the massive high rise hotels further up the coast. On the way back we watched the sunset behind the mountains over the bay. It really doesn't get much better than this so we'll probably stop for another couple of days and then move down the coast to Los Escullos to a campsite recommended by the only other English guy we've found on this site. It's interesting here, it's a large campsite with enclaves housing French, German, Dutch and Scandinavian folk with massive motorhomes. You can tell the Dutch 'cos they all have potted plants round their pitches!
Pat

The wind, the wind

We are still in Bolnuevo. Last night we were woken by the awning flapping and rattling in the wind, it was getting a right battering. Although it was pitch black I should have got out of bed and wound it back in to avoid any damage, it was damaged once before when we were in North Yorkshire and the price of spare parts is crazy. But it was warm in bed so I lay there with my fingers crossed and fell asleep again. This morning I feared the worse but I had secured it well enough the previous day and all was well, phew! I did wonder yesterday though why hardly anybody else on the site had an awning out. Another lesson learnt.

Some kind soul nearby has left his wifi unsecured so I'm pinching a bit while he leaves it on. A couple of people have said it's difficult to post comments on the blog so I've had a good look at the preferences and now there should not be a problem. Please, please let me know if you are unable to post comments.

Pat

It's getting warmer

We are parked up at Camping "Playa De Mazzarron" at Bolnuevo, about 25k west of Cartagena. We're next to a long sandy beach and a "lively" village which is not too lively in November but which has a Spar shop stocking everything you could possibly need and a lot of stuff you wouldn't know what to do with.

Yesterday we spent the day with our Daughter's parents-in-law in La Coveta Fuma just north of Alicante. They have a lovely house overlooking the sea and after a lazy lunch on the terrace they showed us around the area and found for us the elusive euro pin adaptor we've needed on the sites we have stopped at lately. They have a motorhome too, about twice the size of ours and have been far further afield than we have and it was good to pick up tips and advice from them. The night before that we stayed at a pretty scuzzy campsite at Gandia.

The site we are at now is full with over-winterers, mostly Dutch and German but we've just had an interesting chat with an English couple who have spent the last 9 years traveling around Spain and Portugal. They are now semi- permanent here and gave us a few more tips on the climate in different parts of Spain during the winter months. Today was very hot and sunny with a breeze from the mountains behind us but as soon as the sun drops down so does the temperature and it's quite chilly now.

Oh yes, we saw the flamingos today on the inland saline lakes near Torrevieja. Flamingos on one side of the road and enormous piles of salt on the other.

The only place I can find wi fi on this site is in the social room and I have 20 mins free. I am sharing the room with 4 tables of Dutch women playing some serious games of dominoes but very quietly. I don't think it's fives and threes they're playing!

Lazy Day

We've spent another day in Moncofar doing not very much at all. It was sunny till mid afternoon but there's still a chill in the air. We walked the 20 minutes to the supermarket to top up the food and beer stocks in shorts and t shirts, the few locals out and about we're wrapped up in jumpers and fleeces. A woman driving past in a fur coat actually shook her head in dismay at us.

We wouldn't choose to stay on this campsite for an extended period although there are plenty of long term uk residents here; there just isn't that much to do here. But the campsite is immaculate, the showers are better than those in some 4 star hotels we've stayed in and everywhere is kept spotlessly clean and tidy.

Tomorrow we'll head another couple of hours south heading toward Alicante.

Buenas noches,

Pat

Sunshine!!

We are parked up at Mon Mar campsite in the resort of Moncofar just north of Valencia. The campsite is full but the hotels and apartments are empty. Absolutely empty. We walked about half the length of the resort today along the promenade. I guess it's a couple of miles or so long and has wall to wall four storey apartments going back about 4 blocks. It must be absolutely rammed in the summer but now it's just empty. A ghost town. English seaside resorts still have a residual population and some tourists in the winter but it looks like someone locked this place up a month or so ago and that's it till next summer. Weird.

One of the exciting things about this trip is the challenges it throws up and the new things we are learning every day. Living in a motorhome is not like living in a house!
Yesterday we stayed in the wetlands I mentioned in the previous post, we were almost at the tip of the delta and it was completely flat for miles in every direction. We usually park bearing in mind the view we will get as we open the blinds in bed first thing in the morning and yesterday was no exception. Despite the fact it was raining and a little breezy we parked to get a view over the paddy fields and watch the egrets and herons with an early morning cuppa. At 3am we woke up to howling winds and the motorhome rocking quite violently. I was convinced that we were ok and that three and a half tons wasn't going to be blown over too easily. So, we got up, got dressed, took off the outside screens and turned Lulu around to face the wind! Another lesson learnt.

We arrived here today just a couple of hours south from the cold, wet and windy wetlands to............YES, Sunshine!!!!  Out with the awning, on with the shorts, al fresco lunch at last. It's since clouded over but the forecast is good for tomorrow so we plan to stay here for another day and chill out before heading further south.

Adios, amigos.

Pat

Wet in the Wetlands

Wet in the Wetlands.

We are parked in an Aire at Els Muntells in the Parc Natural del Delta de L'Ebre, a large wetland area with many rice paddies and migratory birds. Flamingos allegedly but we've only seen herons and egrets so far. We are sharing this spot with an Italian and a Spaniard. They both have massive motorhomes yet are traveling alone. Unless of course there are more people locked up inside who aren't allowed out. We each only speak our own languages so we've had a really interesting conversation so far and we've all agreed it's very flat here and yes it rains a lot.

Now I'm not moaning but....... I can't remember when it wasn't raining. St Etienne I think and that was a week ago. The sun did come out for a couple of hours today in between a thunderstorm and a sort of persistent heavy drizzle but, hey ho it's warm inside Lulu and we have plenty of fresh water, food and drink.

We've just been for a walk through the village to stretch our legs. There are three restaurants, two bars, a bakers, a museum, a general store, village hall and a church. All closed. In the last town before here though we found the best ever Lidl store. We stocked up with food for a couple of days for about €17.00 and the quality, variety and freshness of the food puts our supermarkets to shame.

Tomorrow we're heading off to check out a couple of campsites we've seen near Valencia which will, hopefully, have some wifi.

Adios, Pat.

Sunday in Sitges

Ola!

Wifi at last, two hours for €2, yippee. Time to update the blog, catch up with emails and check the weather further down the coast.

We left Olot this morning on the LPG hunt and, as directed, found some at a motorway service station just outside Barcelona. When I bought the refillable gas kit I also bought adaptors which would cover all the different pumps I might encounter throughout Europe. After 20 minutes of attempting to get LPG into the bottles and just as I was about to do a John Cleese impression with a tree branch and a motorhome the nice man appeared from the service station and showed me how to do it with the first adaptor I had tried!

We are now on a campsite at Sitges and, you've guessed, it's pouring down. We've got all facilities here for €17.00 a night and we're waiting for a break in the rain so we can get a week's worth of washing done and dried. Meanwhile the ragu sauce is simmering away and despite the lousy weather we've had for the last few days I wouldn't rather be anywhere else.
Pat

Yesterday we drove up through  the  mountains from France  and to the coast of Spain.  We stopped at a couple of places on the way but as it was lunchtime everything was closed and it was so windy we didn't stop long. However we did stop in Cadaques  , a beautiful fishing village with twisting , winding streets and houses with whitewashed walls . We wanted to go to the Dali museum but unfortunately that was closed too ! We settled for a walk around the port , wearing hats, gloves etc before setting off for Olot .
Phil

There are a couple of dozen other m/homes here and we're the baby of the bunch. Some are almost as long as a bus and they nearly all have massive satellite dishes on their roofs. Us? We're listening to Yo La Tengo through the mini speakers
Adios for now,
Pat

Saturday 16th November

Saturday 16th November.

We are in Spain, just. We are on a campsite just south of Olot in Cataluna and it is pouring down. We left Port-Vendres this morning and after several detours (more later), we arrived at Cadaques. Salvadore Dali lived and painted here for many years and there is a museum dedicated to his life and work which was, of course, closed today. Cadaques though, not withstanding the grey skies, is a beautiful little town with houses built on steep narrow streets leading up from the harbour and restaurants tucked into tiny alleyways. From the number of restaurants I guess this place would be very busy during the warmer months.

Our plan this morning was to call into the garage for some LPG and them head off, picking up some fresh bread on the way. Nearly every petrol station we've passed in France has had LPG but Super U today didn't have any. The lass there said to go to the big DIY store that we'd just passed, they would have some. We went there and they didn't have any but the lass there said to go to Super Marche 10k in the wrong direction they certainly would have LPG. They didn't but said the service station in the centre of Argeles would have some. We couldn't find the service station but we found a Gendarme parked up picking his nose. I tapped on his window which he wound down somewhat reluctantly and I apologized for my poor French linguistic skills and asked where we could find some LPG on a pump. Blank look. I trotted over to the motorhome and mimed filling up with LPG and trotted back to his car. Without even a smile he said in pretty good English "I have absolutely no idea".

We set off for Spain calling at every service station on the way with no success. Parked up tonight we did a bit of research and discovered that LPG in Spain is a rarity. The nearest garage is in Barcelona so guess where we're going tomorrow?

Friday 15th November,

We are in Port-Vendre where it is blowing a gale, I'm told the winds are 80/90kph.

On Wednesday we stayed in (another!) vineyard just south of Carcassonne and the wind got up there but it is crazy now! Another English guy staying at the same motorhome park as who is also Spain bound says he is hanging on till the wind drops as he does not fancy getting tipped over on the road through the Pyrenees! So we are going to stay here at least another day.
Pat

The scenery has been stunning all the way , we have travelled on roads through the mountains and on vin routes where  the autumn colours have been stunning . We had a wine tasting at 9 30 am  which was a first- even for us!! Needless  to say we had to buy a couple of bottles!
Phil

Wednesday 13th November.

We've been a little tardy updating this blog for a number of reasons. Firstly I've been frustrated with not being able to post pictures. I've drafted posts, included pictures and then when I've attempted to upload them the pictures have disappeared. Whether this this is a problem with my net book or a Google problem or my stupidity I'm not sure. I suspect the latter.
Secondly we don't have as much wifi access as I hoped we would have.
Thirdly, driving around searching for boulangeries is pretty exhausting and by the time we've bought bread, found somewhere to stay for the night and cooked an evening meal we're too tired to do much else. I know, it's a hard life.
However here's an update on the last week which we'll post as soon as we have some internet access. Sorry, no photos.
We spent the last weekend in St Etienne with our daughter and her family which was great. We don't get to see her too often although now we are footloose and fancy free we have promised to remedy that. Yesterday we left there with the intention of stopping the night at Millau. We arrived at the motorhome parking area only to find that it was €9.60 for the night. There was a queue of vehicles waiting to get in so I consulted the sat nav, found a place 20k away and set off. On arrival this camping area was owned by the same company and was also €9.60! We were both too tired to drive any further so coughed up and spent the night at La Cavalerie.
At first we thought the gunshot sounds were bird scarers however the noise of automatic rifle, machine guns, mortars and god knows what else soon dispelled that idea. This morning we discovered that we were parked next to a Camp militaire. The racket went on all night!
Today we drove to Carcassonne and toured the fortress dating back to Roman times. It was enlarged between the 12th and 17th centuries and has undergone restoration since the 19th century. It was  very impressive and visiting at this time of the year we just about had the place to ourselves although looking at the size of the car parks surrounding it I would imagine there would be some very long queues in the summer months.
We are now parked up in yet another vineyard just outside St-Hilaire. It was dusk when we arrived and apart from a woman who told us to "park round the back, goodnight", we haven't seen a soul apart from a massive white retriever type dog who wants nothing more than his tummy scratched.
Tomorrow we're headed for Port-Vendres, Collioure and the Med. And looking for wi fi of course.

Wi Fi at last in St Etienne

Wednesday November 6th

Tonight we are in Bouzy surrounded by Champagne vineyards. We drove around the outskirts of Reims looking for diesel (€1.28/ litre, thank you very much) and it's wall to wall vineyards as far as you can see, rolling hills of vines in their autumn colours; very impressive.
The first vineyard we stopped at said he had no room at the inn for us. From the look of his establishment and his rather brusque manner I rather think he is hoping for rich folk in massive motor homes not a couple of pensioners from the UK on a winter break. We were luckier on our second choice and we are now parked in a tiny courtyard in the centre of Bouzy. The guy who produces champagne here has invited us for a tasting in his house, more to follow.
Our plan is to avoid toll roads during this 6 week break. We won't normally be in a hurry and every euro spent on toll charges will be begrudged. However for the first leg of our trip we want to get to St Etienne by Friday so once we were out of the tunnel today it was straight on the motorway to Reims. Hence it was a pretty boring drive although remarkable for the lack of traffic. I can't imagine a motorway in the UK being that quiet.

Thursday November 7th

We are parked up in another vineyard, this time in Auxey Duresses, just south of Beaune, the vines in their autumn colours stretch for mile upon mile and are truly spectacular. We drove down the motorway again today which was pretty boring scenery wise but once we came off and travelled the country lanes through small villages it was stunning. Fun also to match the village names to the labels on the bottles; Nuits St George, Meursault, Pommard, Volnay. We are in the heart of Burgundy and it was warm and sunny here today.
Tomorrow St Etienne.

Friday November 8th

Here we are in St Etienne looking forward to a long weekend with our daughter and her family. The journey so far has been uneventful, if a little expensive using the toll roads, however disaster struck backing into the yard here. Anyway we've administered the hi tec aluminum tape to the smashed polycarbonate window and it will last until we get back to the UK.
Whilst it has been fascinating walking around the couple of villages we've stayed in so far it is also sad to witness the demise of the French village, the local shops killed off by the big supermarket chains. I'm not knocking the supermarkets, we all use them, but it's difficult for older, less mobile, people living in villages which, in some cases, don't even have a boulangerie any longer.
As I type this our daughter is preparing Moules Frites, they don't take long, gotta go. 

Dover

Here we are parked on the Esplanade at Dover with a bacon roll and a beer. We left Bingley at about 12.30 and arrived here about 8 1/2 hrs later. That's what happens when you doubt your sat nav but the Blackwall tunnel was interesting and we wouldn't have missed the rush hour at Lewisham for the world. We have two sat navs and I disagreed with both of them; lesson learnt? Possibly.
There are another ten or twelve M/Homes parked up here probably all waiting for the early ferrys or tunnel journeys tomorrow I guess, so it feels safe where we are, it's certainly very quiet apart from the sporadic fireworks. It's too late for the big displays now at nearly 10pm but we saw a few as we drove down through Kent earlier.
This time tomorrow we hope to be parked up somewhere near Rheims with a bit of luck. We've joined an organisation called France Passion, the idea is that farmers, wine producers, cheese makers and other, mostly rural, artisans allow you spend a night parked on their farm, vineyard, whatever free of charge. In return I think that they would appreciate it it you bought some of their produce although there is no obligation. Well, buying a bottle of wine has never been a hardship for me so tomorrow night should find us with some English speaking champagne producers in Bouzy!
Time to turn in now, we have a busy day tomorrow.
Pat

Ooops!

So, being a bit new to blogging I managed to delete my first post this morning!
Pretty frustrating but hey ho, I can vaguely remember my initial post which explains what we are about. Unfortunately I haven't time right now but will attack the blogosphere tomorrow and then, hopefully, everything will make sense to anybody stumbling across this blog. 

one more sleep