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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