Coast to Coast

We decided to leave Haro, having been in to town three times, to spend the last 3 days of the holiday back on the north coast where we started. I purchased a little of the local vino joven before setting off for a150 mile Sunday drive. We chose a site 30 miles from  Santander between the interesting villages of Comillas and Sant Vincent de la Barquera. A handy bus between the two passes the site entrance 3 times a day.

The Playa de Oyambre is a terraced ACSI site and we are on a balcony overlooking the Picos mountains. We could see snow on the peaks when we arrived but there is low cloud now. The beach is a bracing 600 yards downhill, so we may do that if we have time. Very friendly site owner, excellent facilities with a pool and a good menu at the restaurant, but I think we will still get the boat on Wednesday.

Update: We ate at the restaurant which was excellent quality, presentation and value. TripAdvisor is quite right.

Wine cellar

Strolling players in Haro town Square

Carnival time

There was a carnival atmosphere in Haro today as it cup final day here (as in UK) with local team Athletico Bilbao playing Barcelona. (They were well beaten BTW.)

We walked into town this morning to do site seeing and get some milk. Rosemary got dragged into a bar full of old men (actually she just went in) and was dancing to music played by 3 piece band also in the bar. Then we were given a personal tour of the restored church by a very old but enthusiastic church  warden type chap who spoke very little English - but a lot of Spanish. We bought a book about the restoration to get out and went and sat in the square with a glass of vino blanco.

Walked back into town, for the third time, in the evening for a meal, glad it's downhill coming back. The main square was heaving with people waiting for football kick off which was not until 9:30. Tijuana brass band strolling the streets playing and people dancing and drinking in the narrow side street bars. Plenty of atmosphere and photos. It was hard to find anywhere serving dinner at 8:30 but we eventually ate in a tapas bar also serving racions of tuna, sword fish and a half bottle of Muga Rioja.

Fireworks just going off, match must have finished! Arsenal beat Aston Villa 4:0.

Rioja regions wine capital

After moving sideways for the last few days we have finally made a big leap (160 miles) north - and it shows.

Spotted snow on the nearby Sierra de Urbion as we crossed over the Piques Pass, or more accurately went through the 1.5 mile tunnel under the highest part, into La Rioja. It was a steady climb up the mountains but coming down was a very scenic drive down a river valley/gorge with towering sandstone cliffs.

Unfortunately the weather changed too from hot and sunny, to cloudy and cool(er). We checked in to the site at Haro, which is walking distance to the old town centre and bodegas, for the weekend. There are far fewer storks nests on the buildings around the old square - wonder why? Rosemary whipped up a Thai chicken curry which was also quite a nice change.

There is some flamenco dancing in one of the bars tomorrow night so that should be interesting. Goes on till 3am apparently!

Not another monastery

Yes, we have detoured to a small town on a big reservoir which has a monastery with a difference. It's Monastair de Piedro, a combination of nature park with waterfalls, a smart hotel and a part ruined monastery. The monastery was built with stones from a dismantled castle gifted to an abbot in 1200. It was built by volunteers from Valencia, Navarra and Catalonia in only 24 years.

We had lunch here with some nuns first and then walked the waterfall trail which was pretty exhausting in the 30+ temperatures. The waterfalls are really impressive but require a lot of climbing up and down to see them as they cascade over the sides of a shallow canyon. Yes I did take lots of photos.

After a cooling break and an ice cream we then looked round the monastery which is very old but was partly destroyed in 1800's and abandoned. It is now in private hands and part has been rebuilt and turned into a hotel.

One of its claims to fame is that it was the first place in Europe to make chocolate. Monks also made wine and there is a wine museum with a lot of really old wine making equipment.

We are staying overnight at a steeply terraced campsite with views over the reservoir. There are eagles circling overhead. It's very peaceful here but we are off tomorrow to the Rioja region to find some wine.

Montserrat again

Had a very good night's sleep on the precipice and woke to brilliant morning sunshine. I lept out of bed to catch the morning sun on the monastery buildings, didn't leap quite quick enough, but got some better photos before the tourists arrived.

We both went back and did the museum and the audio visual experience. Had a muffin and doughnut and two cappuccinos in the monastery bar!

Finally we went to listenen to the Escoliar Boys choir singing in the basilica, which was very nice. I take back what I said about peace and quiet in the basilica. It was heaving with about 1000 tourists brandishing 1000 ipads, iPhones and selfie sticks.

Bought a few souveniry bits from the huge shop before we left. It was 2:40pm after paying the car parking, not nearly as cheap as expected, as we set off to the municipal site at Taragoza for the night. It was 167 miles so used the AP2 peage for most of it, only €13, to save time. Arrived in Taragoza at 8:00 after 3 stops on route. It's still warm and sunny and so is the forecast.

Monastery of Montserrat

After leaving Playa de Bara twice (that's another story - but it's on camera) we set off for Montserrat near Barcelona. The monastery is nearly at the top of a ridge of mountains and is access by 5 miles of winding road, a cog railway or cable car.

We did the latter to start with and to have a good look around during the afternoon. Then we went down on the cable car and drove back up to the car park, which is just outside the monastery entrance where we are staying for the night (hopefully!). It's certainly a pitch with a view, the photo was taken out of the back of the van.

We will be walking back in tomorrow to visit the museum and to hear the choir singing in the basilica. It appears to be very touristy now with Americans, Japanese/Chinese plus the usual European tourists and associated infrastructure (but no McD yet). However it is a 'working' monastic site with a retreat/hostal and has services all day. The impressive basilica manages to maintain a devout atmosphere.

Wedding Anniversary

It's our 47th, yes 47, wedding anniversary today and it's also 5 years since we were here last. We took the local bus down the coast to Altafulla, where Rosemary's hair dresser lives and recommended we visit.

A place of two halves. North of the railway it's a typical old Spanish village but with Roman remains, 10th century castle and a Hermitage of course. We walked up to the castle which is now a hotel. The Roman town interpretation centre was closed for siesta! On the way down to the beach we stopped for lunch of beer and bread and cheese (that's living!) in a locals tapas bar.

South of the railway is a very pretty sea front with fine sandy beach and fisherman's style cottages many of which are now bars,  cafes and ice-cream parlours. We had coffee and an ice cream and returned in time to cook dinner.

I went for a swim in the pool while Rosemary sourced the ingredients for a paella which we cooked on the Jamie and was every bit as good as the restaurant. Opened another couple of bottles (small ones) of cava to celebrate the 47 years of happy marriage.

Sunday Lie In

Sunday morning  lie in after a fairly noise night of Spanish locals weekending. We had a jet wash in the showers again (they are powerful), then Rosemary had her hair cut and I downloaded the Sunday paper. We walked down the other promenade (below) to Crexeill where, instead of finding somewhere for coffee, we found a New Zealand couple in a GB motorhome touring Europe looking for a country to settle down in. England's become a rat race and it's 10 degrees too cold they claimed.

We had dinner in the site restaurant, which was very good, to start the wedding anniversary week.

It's been a bit cloudy today but pleasant temperature. After the afternoon walk and various local 'nips out' to take photos etc I managed to clock up a personal best 15000 paces of which 7500 were aerobic.

Arc de Bara

The floodlit Roman arch by the site entrance.

Radio Museum

Rosemary decided we should have a trial separation, so I went back to the radio museum while she did girlie things like making a hair dresser appointment.

The museum was partly dedicated to recognising the achievements of Luis del Olmo, who is a kind of Spanish Jimmy Young, having  presented the same radio programme 'Protagonistas' for 40 years. The museum had over 250 vintage radios, gramophones and components from all over the world. Unfortunately there was no English guide but it was very interesting non the less. When I got back we went down to the beach and had some tapas for lunch. While we were eating, a freak gust of wind blew, wrecking several beach umbrellas and scattering clothes all over the beach.

When we returned we found that we had two motorhomes in our little area complete with children and bikes. They were friendly enough and we synchronised with the Spanish weekend by barbecuing at 10 o'clock. It was Eurovision Song Contest tonite but could not receive it on local TV channels. Non stop Barca football they were presented with cup today.

Roc de Galeita and Marina

Mark rang from our house, that's a long story, he was on his way to Nottingham. Cooked English breakfast outside, the wind has dropped again.

We walked back to the designer fishing village of Roc de Galieta again via the cliff walk and on to Marina de Bara adjacent. The marina was opened in 2008, most unfortunate timing as most of the retail units around the perimeter are still empty and the marina basin is only about 20% occupied. We had a coffee and wandered back to the village where we watched a music video being filmed.

The village is very like Port Merion in North Wales and obviously full of weekend apartments and holiday lets, but very pretty. We had some tapas for lunch in the nice Los Pinos restaurant overlooking the sandy beach and marina.

There is currently a radio museum in the civic centre which was closed for siesta, so I will probably go back and see it while Rosemary does something else. Speaking of siestas we managed to fit another one into our busy schedule!

The photo below is not from the village but the entrance to the ladies showers on our camping site.

Quiet day around the site

Had a quiet day today. Rosemary did a bit of hand washing and I watched it dry. Tried to have a walk down the prom but the strong wind over the beach was sand blasting our legs, so retired to one of the pools instead. Spent the afternoon sun bathing.

We did walk the other way round the rock before dinner but did not get to the marina, that's for tomorrow. Had to get back to cook chicken before we lost the sun from our pitch. Lots of trees mean we have about 2 hours between 5 and 7 for cooking and eating outside.

Prawns and Rice al Rosemary

Roda de Bara

Moved again after another windy night to a site we have stayed on before, it's called Playa de Bara. This is a site with everything, from 500 seat amphitheatre for nightly entertainment to supermarket and gift shop. The owner is a pensioner and does a very cheap package for over 65's, pitch and electricity for €13.75 and additional 25% off for 3 weeks or more. The site has a nice restaurant too and that gives us 10% off as well!

Needless to say there are lots of people of a certain age and there are also  several tour operators here including Eurocamp. However it's a big site in a botanical garden/wood  so it does not feel crowded. Eurocamp still have the same type of tents that we camped in with the children 35 or more years ago in France. Happy memories!

Roda de Bara has many old Roman remains including the impressive 1BC arch which stands in the central reservation on the main road past the site. There is a good walk along the cliffs to a marina and restaurants to keep us occupied over the weekend

What a grey day at the Nautic site

The morning started grey and cold then just went downhill. We decided to start the day with a full English cooked breakfast except that the bacon was Spanish and the eggs turned out to be already boiled, so thats what cocidas are! 

We waited until the afternoon, I fixed Nexus or it fixed itself, then we walked to the harbour. We saw an even bigger fish auction than last Friday, there were lots of small working boats selling their catches and several large trawlers in the yard being repaired. Its supposed to the oldest harbour on Spanish med coast.  Certainly very active, everything from lobsters to anchovies were being auctioned. Very interesting and very efficient, a bit like price drop on TV!

We did a bit of shopping on the way back through town and just got back before the rain started in earnest at 6 o'clock. Rosemary cooked some prawns and rice and we decided to have a wine free day. Opened a bottle of Cava instead, well half a bottle actually and it cost €1.60. 

Camping Nautic

The beach and restaurant at L'Ametlla del Mar site.

Monday, monday....

Left the peace and quiet of the excellent Easyjet site and travelled a bit further north to L'Ametlla del Mar. Took the minor roads up the coast and got a bit lost in the Olive groves.

Found our intended site, reception not open so went in to a temporary pitch.  Decided we didn't like it that much so left after lunch and we are now on a smaller beach site in the village itself. There are some strange people around us! Dogs the size if small horses.

It's another working fishing town/village with a nice promenade from the site to the harbour. We will do that tomorrow all being well. The main railway line is very close I hope the trains stop overnight.

We are only here a couple of days, but there are a lots of Brits here, one couple been here 5 weeks, goodness knows why. We grilled sardines while our neighbours powered up their microwave!

Heard from almost everybody today, Katie, Mark, Jennifer and Wendy. Even had a cold call from Oxfam! Expecting a bit a rain tomorrow, first for a couple of weeks.

Sunday at Easyjet

Day started by downloading the Sunday paper followed by croissants and bacon from the site shop. We walked into the village again and selected a bar to have tapas and a beer for lunch. The sea food restaurants looked tempting but we were having a bbq later. 

Wandered back to site in time for a siesta then had our first bbq of the holiday as the sun set. Did not light the bbq early enough as usual! Cooked pork chops, green beans and baked banana.

Read that Leicester City FC have escaped relegation from premier league, yippee. Barcelona FC secured first place in La Liga so lots of fireworks and late night traffic. 

USB connector seems to be broke on my tablet so something to fix later.

Walking to Valencia

We are actually just inside the Catalonia region, which is trying to become independant like Scotland. The border between Catalonia and neighbouring Valencia is the river Sol del Riu just down the road. So this morning we walked to Valencia much to the amusement of the very friendly site owner. It's a mile away and not much there except a river.

We have booked in to the restaurant for dinner tonite. It's supposed to be good and we are looking forward to honey roast lamb after all the fish and prawns we have been eating recently.

It was another disturbed night of high wind again last night but it has since dropped and been a lovely warm/hot day. Now we can just hear the waves on the pebble beach and see  the orange trees.

Camping Estanyet - aka Easyjet

Following a night of gale force winds, with everyone winding in awnings and battening down hatches, we have left Bonterra Park and moved 50 miles North to the coast near Alcanar.

What a nice site, completely different to the regimented hedged pitches crammed full of big motorhomes and caravans with camping accessories of every description.

This is open plan, palm trees and flowers arranged around a single loop with a few cabins in the centre. The bar, pool and restaurant are excellent and it's a €16 ACSI site with free WiFi - and there is hardly anyone here. OK, there's no Mercadona by the entrance but there is a great promenade all the way down to the working fishing village a mile away.

We walked down to the village just as the days catch was being auctioned. Very interesting experience, Rosemary took all the photos. Why do we never see this in England anymore. Uh The local restaurants, of which there were many, were buying the fish and taking them straight back to be cooked this weekend. Cannot get much fresher than that. I think we may have to give one a try.

Hottest day

We were on amber alert for 40degs temperatures today. It only got to 33 but was humid with it so it felt like a really hot day. Needless to say we did not do much except go to the Mercadona super market for essentials and ate the 11€ dish of the day in the restaurant in the evening. I have just packed up the outside chairs etc to go tomorrow, its 10:30pm and still 28deg.

Benicassim shopping

Walked into centre for Rosemary to have some retail therapy. She found some clothes to buy and I was allowed to have a vest.

Stopped for coffee and tapas on way back which did not quite work out as planned. Bought some proper fish, sardines and hake to grill for supper.

The c&cc rally have been having a sing song tonight. great!

Valencia coach trip

The site arranges a weekly trip into Valencia for a mere 11 euros so we joined a full bus of trippers at 10am and off we went to revisit Valencia. We were dropped by the Torre del Sarranos city gate around 11:30 and walked down to the centre where the cathedral is located stopping for coffee and Spanish breakfast snack en route. There was a big "craft" market in the square but Rosemary did not buy anything ("too tacky")! We wandered into a church where we thought there was a choir practice going on and sat down. It wasn't a practice it was the start of another mass - more hail Marys needed!

We really only went into Valencia to have a genuine Paella and sat down at a table at the restaurant where we ate with Mike and Margaret when we were all in Valencia a few years ago. The overall meal was OK and filled in over an hour of the heat of the day, but the paella was bit a disappointing.

Returned to the coach via the back streets getting a bit lost. The coach had us back at Bonterra Park before 6:00pm and we had a light supper of prawns left over from the previous day.

A day at Benicassim

 9 ish Get up and shower
10 Breakfast outside in the sun
11 Supermarket for fish, white wine, cheese ...
12 Retreat to the shade of the awning
 2 Lite lunch of cheese, tomato, ham
 3 Siesta its 31degs

 5 Walk down the prom for coffee and ice cream
 8 Fish and prawns for dinner with salad
 9 Washing up
10 Update Blog
11 Exhausted - Lights out

View from cafe/bar

Bonterra Park - Benicassim

Just over a hundred miles and we are now on the Mediterranean coast. Been for my first paddle in the sea, beer at a beach bar and a long stroll down the promenade. Back in time to grill the last of the meat before sunset and we start on the fish tomorrow.

The site at Benicassim is just as we remember it from our first trip here about 10 years ago except that there is a rally of about 80 camping and caravan club members. Managed to avoid them so far.

Last night at Kiko Park there were lots of Spanish starting to cook their evening meal at 11:00pm and parting till 2:00am. Here, tonight everyone is tucked up at 10:00 pm - it's like being on a caravan club site.

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Rays and ZZZ's

It a very nice day again, 30degs, 7th in a row, so we are just doing very little in the sun. Went into the small village to support the local economy, including bars, to replenish supplies for the weekend. Site is only selling bread and milk at the moment.

We are on Kikopark site, its quite newly constructed like a Spanish street and seems to be used by tourers doing just one or two nights and a few permanents with children and dogs. All the touring pitches are big and fully plumbed. It's not very busy considering its weekend.

I wandered over to the railway cutting, which was closer than I thought to photograph the high speed train. Only one train an hour, it's about as busy as the motorway!

Had a meal in the friendly site bar tonite. Good value and tasty. Fitted in well with today's objective of R and R. Waitress told us that the 1 second bleep that starts around sunset and goes on for hours is an Autillo - a scop owl! So now we know.

Villagordo del Gabriel

We have moved 150miles east into the hills about an hour from Valencia on the med coast. It's a very quiet rural ACSI site within site of a big reservoir and within sound of the Valencia-Madrid high speed rail link which tunnels through the mountains about a 1km away. We will stay here on Saturday and move another 100miles on Sunday to the coast at Benicassim and stay there a few days.

The Brits next to us were also at the last four sites we have been, but at slightly different times.

Watched the BBC news on my smart phone to get election results. Good 3G coverage in Spain. Cons result means even more euros to spend!

Another day another palace

The chuff chuff train that takes tourists around Aranjuez is kept at our site and gives free lifts in to town every morning. We took the train, what a bone shaking experience that was , then the 50min tour. It shook us round town and the royal garden in particular, which is essentially a big arboretum. We had a coffee to recuperate and then strolled around the big palace site and flower gardend without actually going in the palace. The River Tagus below the weir was full of huge barbel or similar, jockeying for position and chasing off what looked like an intruding catfish.

It was very hot so we decided to do  what Spaniards do and have a long late lunch in El Rana Verde, which I think means Green Frog. We were early enough to get a nice terrace table by river (see photo) for menu del dia and were entertained by the geese with dozens of their young. The waiters throw them uneaten bread from tables and a feeding frenzy ensues. After lunch we walked back though the arboretum and over the river back to our site, which is also by the river. A nice walk in the shade it did not seem like 2km but we have had plenty of walking practice this holiday.

It's UK elections today so we will be following the results tomorrow morning on 3G. Mark just rang which was a nice surprise to hear a familiar voice.  Packing up for a long hop towards Valencia tomorrow.

Asparagus at Aranjuez

Asparagus and strawberries are regional specialities of the area, so this is what we had as a starter for lunch.

Aranjuez

Moved about 30 miles east today to our fourth and final culture stop at the former royal spring palace at Aranjuez. Quite a sprawling dense suburbs with a now abandoned palace and famous gardens (the Spanish versailles apparently) on the banks of the Tajo. The campsite is on the opposite bank to the gardens but it's 1km to the nearest bridge. We will go in for the day tomorrow, today is a rest day. Their are a lot of Brits here, must be on a caravan club itinerary.

Rodriguez named a concerto after the place, which is its other claim to fame.

Toledo for the day

What a fine old walled town,  situated high on a hill with the River Tajo loopin around its walls. It's full of  tourists of course but with so many historic places to go it does not seem to matter. No Cortes Ingles or Zara and only a token MacDonalds. Just lots of beautifully preserved and presented history from when the Moors, Jews and Christians ruled the land from this  their capital.

We spent 7 hours site seeing and managed to miss the one site you must not miss - the cathedral. In fact we did manage to take a peak after closing time by pretending we were going to mass (how many hail Marys is that?). We did see numerous convents, synagogues , museums, El Greco gallery, gourmet market and the post-office. Many were free to enter for European pensioners.

It was a sunny day but not too hot. We did our 10,000 paces and everything is up hill in Toledo or so the local saying goes. Quite few Brits had arrived when we returned to site, so we are no longer alone.

The cathedral looked stunning but it will have to wait for another day. It's only 30mins by train from Madrid so if we return .....

Toledo as seen from the campsite bar at sunset

Toledo - El Greco campsite

We travelled about 75 miles to the west of Madrid on mostly rural roads to get to Toledo. Its a walled town on a hill and was the capital of Spain until 1561 when Philip II moved to Madrid. In just 10 minutes the bus dropped us off in the centre, so we went in for couple of hours.

Very touristy with lots to see from El Greco paintings to a magnificent cathedral, except today when most places are closed. We just had a coffee and bought some marzipan, a local speciality, to return again tomorrow.

It's a multinational campsite with most western  Europeans represented. A lot of French here for some reason and we seem to by the only Brits again! Overcast but warm,  Rosemary cooked a paella which we ate outside at 9 o'clock.

Mother's day lunch

We entered into the spirit of the occasion and went for the special lunch. It was 5 courses, with a good bottle of rioja and licores and took all afternoon! Just got to do two laps round the campsite to work it off.
It was excellent quality, value and  obviously Rosemary enjoyed it.

Sunday - mothers day

We counted them in, now we are counting them out. The site has almost emptied this morning from hundreds of locals to just a handful of foreigners (3xGB, NL, D). It's Spain's Dia de Madre and there is a special menu in the restaurant here, so we will probably have a late Sunday lunch.

Time for me to back up a couple of  hundred photos and do some route  planning to the Mediterranean coast via Toledo. Rosemary has downloaded the Sunday paper, on the free WiFi, to her tablet, so she is happy for the rest of the day now.

Sun is trying to come out. We seem to have a pattern of alternating overcast and sunny days. When it's cloudy it's quite cool, when it's not it's hot.

Royal Palace in Madrid

The courtyard and front entrance to the palace from the steps of the cathedral.

Afternoon in Madrid

We walked the half mile up the lane to catch the noon bus into Madrid only to find that they were running a Sunday service and we had to wait another one and a quarter hours. But we were not alone!!!

It was a quick, 40 min, ride down the A6 to Moncloa bus station and then 5 stops on the Metro to Sol, the central hub of Madrid. We wandered down to the Opera house and Katie recommended that we go to a food market, San Miguel, which was heaving with people enjoying the tapas (snacks of all descriptions). We joined in the mele and it was very good. We could not get a coffee so stopped in a nearby cafe/bar for a drink.

Madrid seems like a pleasant place to stroll around with little plazas and pavement bars everywhere. At least that's the impression from just a few hours.

It soon became more touristy as we approached the royal palace, which looked very grand, but we did not go in. Walked beside the palace to the Plaza Espana where I had an ice-cream. Tried to take a photo of the bronze statue of Don Quixote and Pancho, which was impossible due to people climbing all over it taking Selfies! We found the Metro station and we were soon back at Moncloa where the bus was waiting for us this time.

Arrived back on site at 8:00pm suitably whacked, it was 29deg in Madrid today. Training for Toledo where it is hotter and everywhere is uphill. Next time we go it will be Easyjet!

PS Just seen the news that Leicester beat Newcastle 3:0, Real Madrid beat Seville and we have a new princess to feed.

Mayday festivities at El Escorial

Animation and fiesta is just kicking off at the campsite. It's going to be a long noisy night!

On site day

It's the May day holiday today and the site is filling up rapidly. We are not going out today, chance to tidy up a bit and absorb the atmosphere of a mega site fiesta. Seem to be preparations for some entertainment tonight. Disappointingly grey and cool today for the weekenders.