roemin around

This year we crossed the Bay of Biscay to Santander and made our way thru central Spain and Portugal to 'the end of the world' as Cape San Vincent was known. At least it was until the explorers left this most SW point in Europe to discover South America - and I have the T-shirt to prove it. We then hurried past the Algarve to re-enter Spain in order to visit the beautiful city of Seville. Don't miss the weird mix of pilgrimage and wild west town of Almonte, if you are ever down that way. But boy was it hot, so time to start back North but not before visiting Gibraltar, that bizarre bit of England with its own M&S and Safeways. We spent some time relaxing on the Costa del Sol, bypassed Costa Blanca by following part of Don Quixote trail inland and on to Benicassim on the Costa Alzehria which was one of our favourite stops. Our first ever trip abroad in 1969 was with a caravan to Camping Cala Gogo on the Costa Brava so was an obvious destination for old times sake...

We crossed back to England from Calais to Dover with white cliffs in the sunshine.

We parked up in Amiens to see the cathedral and take in a little of the Somme. We stopped in a nice new aire overnight.

We headed for the nearest coast to get away from the oppressive heat and arrived at a motorhome aire at Fecamp.

It was getting very hot inland so we just stopped for two nights at an English owned site by an old mill on the Loire. Very well organised like a CC site with a wine tasting eveing. We saw the biggest stag beetle ever and I caught a perch in the river. We had a drive around the wine growing area and spent a while at a local river festival.

We stopped at a site in the mountains just of the main road and pitched under a tree. Much to my surprise there was a woodpeckers nest high up in the tree and we saw the young ones being fed and fly the nest.

It was a nice drive up the A45 autoroute and over the spectacular Millau bridge which spans the Tarn. We left the A45 to stop at a site in gorges. We had a great pitch by the river and saw some otters for the first time ever. We drove up the gorge to see the scenery before doubling back to view the bridge from below and continue on our way north.

We stopped for a night on the coast in France before starting the drive home over the Massif Central. It was a smart site in a smart yachty resort.

We diverted to Cadaques and then Port Lligat to see Salvador Dahli's house in the picturesque little harbour. Unfortunately it only opened for half a day and we were too late but resolved to go again when we have the chance.

Our last site in Spain was on the L'Amforma site near San Pere de Pescador and was another large well-equipped site with plenty to see around including large roman settlement of Emporium. Went there with friends from 'across the road' and introduced them to some new activities (for them) like walking, shopping for Spanish food (they are still eating food they brought from England) and getting into the museum for free as we are European pensioners. From the newspaper it looks like it is hotter in England than Costa Brava at the moment - in fact it has clouded over today and is quite cool at only 70deg.  The World cup started today and Germany did well in their first game as we could tell by the cheering from all over the site. We walked into San Pere and back down the river and beach, an unscheduled 5-mile hike as it turned out. It was quite windy and amazing to see so many surfers doing acrobatics over the water. We then watched England’s first match in the bar – ...

I took the road to Callella but could not find anywhere to park and it all seemed a bit touristy and busy so went on Lafranca and Tamariu - 'an ideal place for a quite holiday' according to the travel guide. Both places were actually bursting with Spanish and Germans and we found the reason was it was a holiday in Catalunya so all the locals were on the beach. Its also a two week school holiday in Germany so they were here to swell the numbers of Neverlanders We Brits were well outnumbered. Between the two villages is a lighthouse and mirador (viewpoint) which gives a view of the whole of the Costa Brava. It was at the top of one of the steepest hills/cliffs the Twurp has had to contend with - 1st gear for the last 100yds. Right at the top a German decided to reverse out of the parking area across the road. Either he moved quick or I was going to have to try a hill start on a 1 in 5 - fortunately he moved. Certainly was a superb if rather hazy view point - lots more photos...

Bit further north now at Palamos for two nights to see a bit of the old Costa Brava. Quiet site (but wrong one again) with a lot of youngsters on PGL adventure holidays. Good 5 mile round trip walk to La Fosca beach and the old port in Palamos where we had a very nice Sunday lunch at a fish restaurant on the harbour. Toasted sandwiches for supper on 'George' and off tomorrow to find another (cheaper) site.

I circumnavigated Barcelona on the AP7 peage (it cost about €10 but well worth it) and we soon started to see mountains again, this time Pyrenean foothills that make up much of the Costa Brava district. Hit the typical rocky coast coast at Blanes and made our way up the coast thru the once popular resorts of Tossa del Mar and Lloret del Mar to Playa d'Aro. We were here to find Camping Cala GoGo where we came with Rita and Reg 35 years ago. Seemed much the same but decided not to stay there as its a steep terraced site and happened to be very windy. Went off to find the €10 a night CC site we had identified earlier as it was getting a bit late and soon settled in. But it was not the site were expecting and had to pay €20 a night and wear a security wrist band. However it was nice site on the beach by the marina and handy to walk into Playa d'Aro for shopping. We had a Chinese lunch on the promenade for €6 each, made a pleasant change even if it was a bit touristy.

As we head north the camp sites are getting bigger and better. The camping La Torre del Sol boasts a cinema, disco, Jacuzzi and two huge swimming pools.  Rosemary went off to explore and came back having had her hair cut - Spanish style in the site hairdressers! Serve her right for poking her head round the door. The site is on the beach but you pay €3 extra for the front 3 rows - saves you walking 30 yds! I guess we will be here at least a couple of days to find everything. The best part is that these last two sites are cost us just £10 per night. Must get Rosemary a gin and tonic now to help her recover from her hair cut. Neverlanders (as we call people from Holland) told us that it had been snowing in Germany and Switzerland and to stay low (meaning south) but we decided to press on north.

We were on our way to the Costa Brava up the coast road when we came across Benicassim on the Costa Azahar (no - we never heard of it either). It was still very Spanish and too far from Easyjet or Ryanair to have been overtaken by foreign tourists. However it has been discovered by over wintering European motorhomers. The Bonterra Park site was excellent, as was the resort, so we stayed four nights which included our wedding anniversary and we enjoyed 3 days of doing nothing very much except getting tanned and treated ourselves to a paella meal out. Although this was only in the site restaurant, it as very good and excellent value, which suited Rosemary just fine. I managed to fall over (nothing to do with wine) and bang my knee but nothing serious and his time the camera escaped intact. A can of diet coke was less fortunate and burst on impact.

Final, longish (180mile) leg, of the journey back to the coast finds us 30km from Valencia in a wooded valley high above the small town of Navajos. We had time to sort out the plan for doing Costa Brava and to swap tales with some like-minded Brits from Poole in a small van conversion beside us. They are in Spain for 2 months like us and have spent most of their time in the Pyrenees where they have had quite a bit of wind and rain.  

The Andalusian countryside is very attractive with low mountain ranges and millions and millions of Olive trees. Stayed in another even quieter site with just the sound of the birds and the bees and with one other couple. It was in the Sierra Alcaraz, which is in Don Quixote country and we had a look round some of the historical sites. The small pueblo 300m up hill from the site was typical Spanish.

Took off north and on route we bumped into the same couple of Brits for the third time right on top of a mountain. El Torcal has some interesting geological features like Bryce canyon in USA that make weird rock formations. It was also an interesting drive up to the summit to say the least. We used part of the inland motorway system and spent a night just north of Granada on a quiet site by a lake with the snow capped Sierra Nevada in the background and huge carp splashing around in the lake and we even saw a turtle in the shallows. First encounter with giant ants - well bigger than English ones - in the sandy soil. No time for fishing unfortunately but we would not have been able to land anything we caught. So off again and this time via the old N roads to cut off the Alicante - Costa Blanca coast, which we did not fancy. Hardly any cars on these roads and as we only cruise at about 60 there is no advantage in fighting the big lorries on the motorway . The Andalusian country...

Spent a 3 enjoyable days on the Costa del Sol for bit of sun and relaxation. Its now very civilized with big campsites to choose from with pools, supermarkets, Internet cafes, expensive restaurants and many long term Brits. Rosemary still prefers home cooking and has just bought some huge prawns, a bag of mussels and is currently gutting a squid for me to barbecue later. We have nice flowery pitch with our own little garden to look after! We are 2025 miles and four weeks from home and just starting to head back north, more or less, on schedule to be back home in the middle of June. We have only had 10 minutes of rain since second day. Perfect!

Went back in to Gibraltar for a days sight seeing and shopping. Marks and Spencer, Next and then the cable car to the top of the rock. Fantastic views, but a bit murky, so we could just about make out the  mountains in Africa above the heat haze. Lots of monkeys, or are they apes, around the cafe hunting for food scraps and posing for photographs. The rest were just crashed out in the trees. It was hot. We bought some English things like bacon, red Leicester cheese and fresh English milk.