Multimedia night

I'm typing this whilst following the Arsenal Coventry game via a live podcast and keeping in touch with number one son Dominic in England. Clever eh?

So today we visited the Alhambra in Granada and pretty impressive it was too. (Arsenal 2, Coventry 0) Construction began in 1238 by Muhammed 1 al-Ahmar, founder of the Nasrid dynasty and continued until the end of the fourteenth century.

 

Half-time: Arsenal 2-0 Coventry

As expected, a half of utter domination for the Premier League leaders who started slowly but soon found their rhythm and having squeezed Coventry into their own half, took the lead on 15 minutes through Lukas Podolski's left-footed shot. The German made it 2-0 on 27 minutes with a header from a Serge Gnabry corner. Coventry's only effort on goal was a decent long-range shot from captain Carl Baker. That aside, the men in yellow and blue have been chasing shadows in the rain.

In 1492 the palace was surrendered to the Catholic monarchs Isabella of Castille and Ferdinand ll of Aragon who carried out extensive repairs and alterations (yes, I'm reading from a guide) Anyway, if you want to know more, and you really should then go to http://www.alhambra-patronato.es.

I took some pics which don't do it justice at all, the details on the carvings and the scale of the buildings are breathtaking, but here are a few anyway:

And here's a view from inside the palace, obviously it wasn't quite so built up eight centuries ago-

We were there for about four hours and our feet were pretty sore afterwards but there were parts of the palace we didn't see, you really need to go there at least twice as the whole site is enormous and you can't really do it justice in one visit. Tomorrow we are going back to Granada, there is so much more to see and many more places to visit. It's a wonderful city. The bus today dropped down winding roads from the hills above and as we turned each corner more and more of the city was laid out before us. The bus fare was fantastic value considering the views we had. As we left and the bus climbed out of the city the surrounding hills to the east were bathed in pink as the sun set over the snow capped mountains. (Still 2-0 at the Emirates). Before we visit Granada tomorrow afternoon we have a planning meeting over coffee with Paul and Chris to finalise a few details (well, all details really) prior to our departure to Morocco early next week. (Arsenal 3 Coventry 0). Make that 4-0.

Sunday will be our rest day. "Rest Day?" I hear you chorus. Hey, it's hard work seeing the best Spain has to offer to us while living in a tin box on wheels! Well, it's not really hard work but we're having a rest day anyway.

Full time at the Emirates and it's 4-0.

Goodnight.

Phil has just pointed out that a "rest day" involves washing clothes and cleaning the Motorhome. Hmm, I'll probably find something "technical" to do.

 

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Granada

 

We are parked up tonight at Camping Alto De Vinuelas about 20k north of Granada. We had a fantastic journey here today from Almeria driving over the Sierra Nevada, we peaked at 1225 meters (thanks for the altimeter girls) with snow capped mountains all around us. Phil took some great photos through the van windows

It's 1100 metres where we are parked so a bit chilly but the sun was warm today although the wind blows straight over from the snow capped peaks to our south

We walked down to the village you can see in the photo above this afternoon, obviously we timed it so we arrived when everywhere was closed, we still haven't got the hang of the Spanish closing times. Is it 2 till 4? 4 till 6? Whenever they feel like it? I said we walked down and that meant we had to walk up on the return journey. I don't know if this photo captures the perspective but maybe Phil's body language does.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our travelling companions to Morocco, Paul and Chris arrived an hour after us and it was good to see them again and catch up. Tomorrow we are all going to Granada to visit the Alhambra, the bus stops right outside the campsite and takes about 30 minutes. Saturday and Sunday will give us the opportunity to make our final plans and preparations for Morocco and then on Monday we'll travel to Algeciras to buy our ferry tickets. Not long now and we'll be on another continent. We're really getting excited now.

Yesterday we said our goodbyes to our friends in Almeria. After we had spent an hour cleaning the pigeon and sparrow s**t off the van. Another lesson learnt, don't park under trees. I like to think I learn something new every day but that was one lesson I could have done without.

For those of you who have expressed an interest and offered suggestions you'll be pleased to near that I have tuned the Ukulele. I just have to learn how to play the thing now.

 

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Buses and Sparrows

Yesterday the Intercontinental Rally left en route for the ferry at Almeria bound for Morocco. At 7am! Not so many months ago I used to be at work at 7am but now in Spain the birds haven't even woken up at that time and neither have I, usually. It goes without saying that they didn't make the quietest of exits and after about twenty vehicles had passed four feet from our bed blipping their throttles I got up, made a pot of tea and went outside to wave the last of them off. By which time all but a few stragglers had left.

Later in the morning we took the bus to Aquadulci for a bit of shopping. We waited 45minutes for a bus there and about the same time for the return. The bus stops display timetables which in no way indicate factually when, or if, a bus will arrive. Fifty five minutes is our record so far waiting for a bus service that goes by every half an hour.

Jenny and Chris who we had met last year arrived back from Morocco yesterday afternoon and we spent a pleasant evening with them last night while they told us of their adventures. We leave in about a weeks time so we are grateful for first hand experiences and tips.

Another lazy day today. The weather was glorious this morning, not a cloud in the sky. A cool wind this afternoon though. Hope you are all enjoying nice weather where you are :)

We are setting off for Granada on Thursday to meet Paul and Chris who we are travelling to Morocco with. We're hoping to visit the Alhambra on Friday and catch the ferry on Monday or Tuesday so, needless to say, we're getting excited and looking forward to the African leg of our trip. Tomorrow we'll give the van a wash and attempt to remove all the accumulated sparrow s**t. I like sparrows, when I was a kid London was full of them but I don't know when I last saw one in West Yorkshire, I just wish they'd do what they have to do on someone else's Motorhome.

I'll leave you with another sunset:

 

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Surfs up Dudes

We woke up today to rain pattering on the roof. Well, not so much pattering as hammering. The rain stopped after a couple of hours but the temperature had dropped and it was quite chilly. Eventually the sun made a brave effort to break through the clouds but failed miserably. We pottered about doing the necessary jobs us motorhomers have to do, emptying toilets, topping up the water and putting out the awning to protect us from the drizzle. We had some entertainment watching the entrants registering for the Intercontinental Rally. The organizers had four marquees set up on the beach, Registration, Medical, Technical and Stickers. It took an age for everybody to be processed and I took the opportunity to wander along smiling at everybody and blag a 2014 sticker for the motorhome. Eventually we prepared lunch and noticed that the sea was creating a bit of spray on the rocks at the far end of the beach. Suddenly people were rushing about frantically and when we went out to see what the disturbance was all about saw that two of the registration stations had been washed out. By now the waves were crashing onto the beach, some of them three metres high, maybe more. The guy who was parked in the spot we were in last year was washed out by one big wave! It was strange, there was no wind to speak of, no rain and yet the waves were really tall and powerful. I obviously took some photos but they don't really do justice to the scene.

 

A couple of hours later and the sea was relatively calm again. Yesterday it was like the proverbial mill pond and the change today was really impressive and, for those parked close to the beach, quite scary. One of the support vehicles (imagine an eight metre long converted horse box, about three and a half metres tall) was completely washed out by one massive wave. Five hours later and it's parked next to us and they are still drying out the contents and stripping down a generator full of sea water. We spoke to the campsite owner and she said she had never seen anything like it before.

This is a before and after of one of the registration stations-

10am,

3pm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Obviously they had no trouble driving these two out despite being axle deep in what was the volley ball court.

 

After such excitement we obviously all had to retire to the bar to talk about it and compare "big wave" experiences. We also had a chat with some of the entrants in the rally who all seem completely unfazed by the thrills and probable spills the next fortnight has in store for them. They also seem completely relaxed about how they'll get from one waypoint to the next without zig-zagging all over the desert. Anyway, if you do follow the race via their website look out for our French pal No 235, who'll be sat astride 450cc of throbbing Yamaha and, probably, laughing his head off all the way to Dakar. http://www.intercontinentalrally.com/index.php?jazyk=en&odkaz=route

Now we're back home, we've had supper and we're hoping for a peaceful night weather wise although, in the dark and twenty five metres from the beach, it still sounds like surfs up!

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Flea Market Day

Today was Flea Market day. We did ok on the tombola, coming away with bottle of Cava, bottle of Brandy, tea light, set of funnels and some instant coffee. Losing tickets also had a booby prize which was a shot of vodka. It helped dull the pain of the cost of the tickets we bought. I also bought a Ukulele and a jazz song book. Phil is thrilled, she's always wanted me to have a Ukulele, especially in a small motorhome. It does, however, need tuning so if somebody could send me a C I'd be grateful. Since buying it I can't stop humming the intro to "Raindrops keep falling on my head" neither can you now, probably.

More and more competitors and their support teams entering the Intercontinental Rally are arriving. The boys and girls of the support teams are really cool, like roadies but with better hair and without the key chains. Plenty of gaffer tape about though so they obviously all go to the same training school. The guy, Jesus, who runs the restaurant here must think all his birthdays have come at once. He's got an eighteen foot long Bar-B-Q going and selling slabs of charred meat, salad and a beer for ten euros with a smile as wide as the Mediterranean. Freddy, the chef, fired the thing up at 8.30 this morning, it's 6pm now and it's still going strong with people groaning from protein overload.

We were talking to one of the French competitors last night and asked if he'd competed before. Apparently not in this rally but in similar ones. He said he could only leave his business for three weeks so this was ideal for him, a weeks prep and then a fortnight hurtling through 5,000 kilometres of desert during which time he'd shred two sets of tyres and be totally exhausted and probably lost for most of the time. Excluding the cost of his bike he reckoned that the support, accomodation, food and all the other bits of stuff would cost him €6,500. "But it's my holiday", he said. Some of the stages are 450 kilometres (obviously longer if you get a bit lost on the way) and take eight hours plus to complete and he reckoned at the end of those you fall of the bike. I asked what he would eat on those long stages, "Maybe a Mars bar" he smiled. Now that is hardcore.

This is the start point of the Rally, on the beach just beneath where we are parked. We'll have a great view on Monday.

 

Best Off-Roader spotted today.

 

And best van sticker.

 

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Big Trucks

Last night was bouillabaisse night here at La Garrofa. We had gone shopping to The Grand Plaza at Roquetas De Mar during the day. The Grand Plaza had all the usual shops, Primark, H&M, Claire's accessories Maccy D, Costa Coffee etc. So once inside the big doors into the air conditioned, marbled floored palace we could have been in any shopping mall anywhere in the world. We did a bit of food shopping and caught the bus back. Lunch al fresco although yesterday was overcast all day it was still warm enough to sit outside. Today is sunny again but a cool wind from the south west. After lunch we did a few chores and then at about seven strolled up to the restaurant. It was remarkably quiet considering 15 people were due for the bouillabaisse feast, in fact it was empty. We ordered drinks and asked where Freddy the chef was to be told it was his night off! Alarm bells rang and we discovered that the party had occurred at lunch time, while we were wandering around a shopping mall. Nobody had told us. We were really disappointed, we'd been looking forward to Freddy's bouillabaisse for a couple of days and now we'd missed it. Worse still, it was Freddy's night off so they couldn't offer anything from the restaurant. We came home, more than a little dejected and warmed up a tin of ravioli. This morning we went up to buy bread and we berated Freddy for not telling us the time of his special treat yesterday. He apologized and said he still had some left, would we like it for lunch today? We nearly kissed him,so, that's where we are off to now.

Later.

Well, it was ok. Possibly it would have been better yesterday but we still enjoyed it with a couple of glasses of white wine, some nice cheese and tremendously strong coffee to finish. Here are some pictures of the cafe, bar where we are.

The 2014 Intercontinental Rally sets off from Almeria in three days time. The route takes in Morocco, Mauritania and finishes on the shores of Lac Rose in Senegal. This is a link to the site with full details: http://www.intercontinentalrally.com/index.php?jazyk=en&odkaz=home Some of the competitors and crews are staying here in La Garrofa for the next few days, here are some of the support vehicles, proper overlanders.

 

And here are some of the bikes these crazy guys are going to ride through some truly inhospitable landscapes.

 

It gets pretty noisy when they fire them all up!

Finally I'd like to thank everyone who sent me best wishes for my birthday, they were much appreciated. Also, a big thank you to those folk who regularly post comments here, it's nice to know you're reading this and enjoying the pictures, Catherine, Naz, George, Liz and, as they say on request programmes, anyone else who knows me!

 

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65!

I wasn't going to post today 'cos not too much has happened of interest and then I was reminded that today was a significant date:

I was gifted with some lovely presents including an altimeter! Obviously it's not come into its own yet, parked as we are on a beach, but rest assured I'll be shouting out the height to Phil as we traverse those Moroccan mountains in a few weeks time. So thanks to Catherine and Claire for that. Thanks also to Dominic for the best car sticker ever:

A peaceful day today not doing very much at all. Sunny in the morning and a bit cloudy this afternoon. We went up to the bar for a birthday drink earlier. Heck, I'll have a gin and tonic, I'm only 65 once. My kind of G&T. The kind where the barman tips a bottle of Bombay Saphire over a glass full of ice for what seems an eternity and then suggests just one drop of Angusturas Bitters. Mmmm, delicious.

Then a walk before we came back for supper. That's it really.

We're the one in the middle on the right:

Another sunset for you:

And here's one looking down on our site from the road above:

I

And Phil says: It's a full moon tonight and the beach is beautiful , little fishing boats offshore, gentle waves all bathed in moonlight ! Fantastic. We don't spend many birthdays like this . Obviously I'm down there doing a moon dance with my crystals - lovely .

Night all x

 

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