Marbella 16th - 29th Oct 08

Well that's it we're on the move tomorrow! Looks like we will be spending Halloween in Portugal....how exciting. We have had a great time here, it's been extremely relaxing - with great weather! Unfortunately we have both been ill with a bad cold for about 10 days which was a mare, but we are better now. During our ill spell we thought we would 'make do' with what food we had in on a Saturday, thinking we could go to the supermarket on Sunday - guess what it was shut and it was bank holiday on the Monday!!! Now when you're ill you just want a bit of comfort food...anyway the guy across from us was washing something under the outside tap.....he is on his own, so I presumed he couldn't be bothered with washing stuff in his kitchen! I said to Mal oh look he's got 3 chicken thighs, secretly planning to ambush him on his return to his MH (during my hungry no shops open spell). Next thing he went over to his bike and placed them on there (to dry, they were flipping shells) - think I was hallucinating!! Like an oasis in the desert... We had success to with the laundry woman...we got her to wash 'sin bleach' (without bleach) - yippeee!! Luckily the stuff which she had bleached didn't bother my senses 'cos I had the stinking cold! The other day Mal tripped off to empty the bog, only to find a very drunken lad. He was in the toilet disposal/bog washing area being sick into the reciprocal then splashing water on his face from the pipe which everyone uses to clean their bogs - urgh! We took a trip into Marbella on Monday to the weekly street market which was brilliant, we bought huge amounts of fruit for next to nothing - it was a great experience. We have had a thoroughly wonderful time here and shall be sad to move on. Portugal here we come!

Costa de Almeria & Marbella 3rd Oct to 15th Oct 08

Again it's been a while since I last blogged - but we have slowed down now, so life is taking an easier more relaxed road! Mal in Orange Square - Marbella During some high winds a tree blew down in the night - a close call! That's how close the tree came to L'Escargot!! Costa de Almeria 3rd Oct 08

We arrived here late afternoon after a long drive, although I am getting much better as a passenger I must say - thank god! On our arrival it was absolutely boiling hot, the hottest it's been so far. We immediately got the awning out & opened all of the windows. We were only stopping here overnight, then planned on driving straight down to Marbella to meet up with my Sis. So, a relaxing night was just what we needed.

Marbella 4th Oct to 15th Oct 08

The drive down to Marbella was mainly motorways so not much scenic stuff, although there is not much of that on the coastal side of Spain anyway, we had about 140miles to reach our destination. We found our campsite after a bit of confusion, we planned to stay here for 30 days. When Mal pulled up at the site, I must say I was a little wary as it didn't look as good as previous ones we have stayed at - I asked Mal if he wanted to book for just one night to check it out before we committed to the 30 days. After much discussion we agreed to do the 30 days! We were told to pick our own spot then let them know at reception, but one of our big issues was there were trees everywhere.....meaning we could not access the internet! Again parts of this site appeared to be a Favella albeit a little more down market than in La Manga - you would think it would be the opposite as we were now in Marbella! Anyway we found 2 spots and went back to reception to see if either were available for 30 days, yes but only one of them - I agreed we would take it. We then drove back through said Farvella & parked on 'our' spot Mal put the satellite up, but we couldn't get a signal 'cos of the trees! We decided we would have to move to another spot, just as the guy arrived to unlock the box to connect our electricity. Uh oh we tried to explain to him it was no good we would need to move, much to his chargrin. We looked for another spot but again no satallite....the guy followed us, then looked totally hacked off with us slammed the electric box & dissappeared - guess he was sick of us! Anyway we finally found a spot...not one we would have naturally chosen but hey ho! We set up camp, I was a little reserved as I was not sure the place was too nice. We got in touch with my Sis & agreed to meet up with her tomorrow as she already had plans for tonight. Over the next 2 days we saw P & C, had a meal out with them & sunbathed at their hotel, which was in the centre of Marbella, just a 10min bus ride for us. Unfortunately P was not too well & they were not overkeen on their accomodation, so decided to go home 3 days early - therefore we did not get to spend much time with them. After they had departed we have had leisurely days, with walks on the beach & trips into Marbella, it's good to relax with no driving for a while! We had a very windy day last week & during the night I heard a big crack like a tree falling down.....we are surrounded by trees! I jumped out of bed to look through the window & sure enough the tree right at the side of us had falled down!! OMG it was amazing it didn't hit the MH! One of our happy campers had a branch come down on top of their MH.... We have been doing a mixture of hand washing & the launderette (they only do service washes)! On our service washes I have been giving the woman our wash powder & softner, just incase they used nasty stuff - I have a bit of OCD with funny smells (you can ask my Mum, as she happily likes to tell people of this affliction). Anyway, yesterday Mal took the washing & she tried to re-assure him by showing him she uses Ariel. So, today we had a load of bedding & towels, I concluded we would go with her wash powder to save ours for a 'rainy day' (no pun intended). I gave Mal instructions to get her to do them 'muy caliente' (very hot) - she replied saying para blanco (we concluded this was wash for whites) so Mal agreed. After a nice hot day at the beach Mal collected the washing & I dashed out to peg it out..............uh oh the whole lot stank of bloody bleach......obviously in Spain if you have a para blanco wash you whack a load of bleach in too!! Well it doesn't get much worse for me not only do I have this affliction of smells but I cannot abide the smell of bleach, of all the washing to get it on to.....my towels & my bedding - fabreeze here I come! We have some English neighbours, who in our opinion are a bit odd, as in they don't really speak to us - but they talk to each other. Mal & I have created names for them, we have Bill Oddy & his Wife who have left today, so now we are left with Dudley Moore & his Mrs. Anyway that's it for now happy reading! We are here until the end of October then we will be travelling to Portugal.

Carcassonne, Leucate, Port Vendres, LLoret de Mar, Cambrills, Oliva & La Manga 21st Sept to 2nd Oct 08

It's been a while since I last wrote, so a lot of catching up to do!

21st Sept 08 - Carcassonne http://www.destination360.com/europe/france/cite-de-carcassonne.php

Another early start today! I didn’t sleep well at all last night – think it was the pressure of feeling a little insecure, but we had a quiet night with no rowdy people. We headed off to Carcassonne, Mal has been here before as it is near where Greg (his brother-in-law) used to live. The drive today seemed a long one, the landscape was not as entertaining as it has been previously – the fields of sunflowers had now gone over, as they are ready for harvesting. We arrived here at about 12 noon, Jane took us up a tiny street which made us both breathe in. Our spot for the night is just outside the castle walls – boy what a view! We had a quick lunch, then decided to go & visit the castle – it is awesome. It is a stunning medieval town full of little quirky streets lined with shops & restaurants, there are some hotels & a beautiful church. It is a really hot day today so we grabbed some shade & a couple of beers.

The castle at Carcassonne

The castle at Carcassonne

22nd Sept 08 - Leucate Being in the area of where one of Mal's friends lives we decided to pay 'Erica' a visit. Mal had explained the house was up a track, when we arrived at the start of the said 'track' I had a sharp intake of breath, it was a steep winding track albeit it did have tarmac! I offered to alight & walk to check things out on the drive up, but Mal assured me L'Escargot would do it 'no problem' - the track was a good way up to the house, but I lived to tell the tale. At the house we were greeted by a pleasent French man who we came to know as 'Laurent' he kindly informed us that Erica had left for the UK! We were unsure of her return date & based on the fact we planned to meet up with my Mum in Lloret for my Birthday we could not afford to wait around. We left Erica a note & planned a return trip maybe next year when we are in the area again......I did suggest we call or e mail prior to our arrival, but Mal thought it would be ok! Anyway we meandered back down the track, but not before I cut my heel open on a gate (don't ask!!) but it did really hurt. Mal did a great job getting us up & down the track safely. Mal's next suggestion was to go to a beach resort called Leucate, so we prgrammed Jane & off we went. Well it took hours & hours for us to get to our destination, Jane had decided to take us on a weird drive through the mountains, with no sign of life for miles & miles, along winding mountain roads (single track) - at one point we had to get the map out to check she hadn't lost the plot......but we couldn't find where we where. Anyway we carrried on & on eventually reaching civilisation! Leucate was a great place, our site was right on the beach, we decided to stay here for a few days & just relax, we were both tired with travelling. The place had great cycle routes too, so we spent some time cycling (12 miles return trip for some shopping, complete with a ferocious head wind - I was knackered). The rest of the time was spent chilling, reading & we decided upon a spot of hand washing (you will see that from the pictures)!

Me doing the hand/foot washing!

One of the great sights along the way!

One of the many thousands of vines we saw on our journey!

26th Sept 08 - Port Vendres This was just a stop off point for the night prior to crossing the boarder into Spain. It was a working port but was still attactive in it's own special way. Charles Renee Mackintosh spent time here painting pictures of the walks. Mal & I took a walk around the headland which had some lovely views. We had a quiet evening as we prepared for our early start tomorrow. We have sussed out that if you get on your way from the aires early enough in the morning then you don't pay - an early start for us it was then! I was excited about our trip today as I was going through my first land boarder............nothing happened!

Port Vendres

27th, 28th (my birthday) & 29th Sept 08 - Lloret de Mar

We arrived here mid afternoon, we had booked into a campsite - luxury living for a couple of days! Once we had set up our site we headed off to explore where my Mum & Aunty Barbara were staying - their arrival time was 5pmish & we had arranged to meet them for a light meal at 7pm. The area was called Fenals, so we were not in the main centre of Lloret which suited us fine. We had a stroll around the area which was quite pleasant, not the quaint villages & landscapes of France but different! We met up with my Mum & had a meal out (nothing fancy as we are on a budget)!

On the 28th we went over to Mum's apartment for breakfast, Mal cycled so me being so 'young' (on my birthday) I got a backie (for those of you who don't know what this is......it is Mal giving me a lift on his bike). After breakfast Mal headed off to explore on his bike whilst I went down to the pool with 'the ladies', we had a lovely relaxing time sunbathing, chatting & reading. Mal joined us for a light lunch, then he was off cycling again (suppose this is what it's like when you have kids??) I continued to sunbathe as I was dying to finish my book, the ladies took themselves off to their apartment & I joined them later, only to find Mal already there! Mal & I went back to our campsite whereby Mal had moved our home to a much better location, he had cleaned up too. He handed me a note which said drinks would be served on the veranda as & when I required them, he had got a bottle of sparkling wine which we later took for pre dinner drinks with the ladies! Mal had sussed out a restaurant for the evening too. We collected the ladies at 7pm & after our drinks we walked down to a restaurant next to the beach for a sumptuous meal - so sumptious that we had terrible indigestion through overeating.....guess our simple lifestyle & way of eating proved too much when faced with a large calorie laden meal! No more BIG meals for us two..... we dropped the ladies off & headed for bed.

First thing we spent time trying to locate somewhere to stay at our next destination. Then we went to see the ladies who had gone out, so we cycled down into Lloret which was very busy, then back to the campsite. We chilled out for an hour or two, then I went to see the ladies who had invited us for tea. Mum & I went down for a drink in the bar & just spent a bit of quality time together chatting. Later Mal arrived & we prepared tea, Aunty Barb was feeling a little unwell - so we fed her some indigestion stuff & in no time she was better. After tea we played cards, teaching the ladies how to play whist, which they thoroughly enjoyed. We said our goodbyes as we won't see my Mum again until March. Then we had a cycle race back to the campsite, Mal won (but only just)!

30th Sept 08 - Cambrills

We travelled for a good portion of the day & arrived here late afternoon. Along the way we could see the beautiful mountain range of the Pyrenees the mountains appeared as if they had been painted onto the skyline. We also saw some houses made of straw exactly like the 3 little pigs house!! Jane also had a mad moment and tried to take us on some back roads where there was a huge ford (basically the road had collapsed) there was no way we could get L'Escargot through so Mal had to do a bit more of his skilled manouvering! We had to go through Barcelona (we didn't stop off as we have both been here before). I must say the driving around Barcelona was quite frightening, the Spanish drivers are awful, I spent some of the trip sat in the back of the MH reading as it was just too hair raising for me! We picked a beautiful spot on the roadside & decided to have a sit out on the beach - not knowing where we would sleep! There were a lot of palm trees nearby which were filled with parrots, it was an amazing sight. After eating a light meal Mal got talking to a Dutch guy who said he wouldn't wild camp on the main road as it was too noisey, but one of the side streets would be ok, he also advised Mal to move the reversing camera from the dashboard as it would get stollen in no time (apparently people think they are GPS). Unfortunately the camera is hard wired onto the dash so not very easy to move around , we will need to address that later! Anyway we moved onto a side street & prepared the MH incase we needed a speedy escape. Neither of us slept very well, but I must say it was a little better than expected. Cambrills is a lovely place just a little further along the coast south of Salou.

1st Oct 08 - Oliva

We are now on our drive south to meet my Sister who arrives in Marbella today. We arrived here late afternoon, we were staying at a municipal camsite near to the beach - what a wonderful spot! We dumped the MH grabbed our beach stuff & headed for the sand! We just lolled around for a couple of hours until about 7pm reading & relaxing - it was idylic. The MH was an absolute tip, so I decided tomorrow morning was 'spring' cleaning! We had a good nights sleep, it's amazing what a difference it makes when you are in a place you feel really comfortable, we could easily have stayed for a few days - but maybe we will return. The next morning was spent cleaning........with a clean house we left for La Manga.

2nd Oct 08 - La Manga

Again we arrived relatively late to a very interesting site. Along our way today we went through an area called Santa Palo which was full of salt flats which were surrouned by mountains of salt! We also saw some rice fields & Flamingos feeding in the slat flats - wow we are so lucky! We drove through Alicante & noticed the Volvo ocean race is due to set off from there, Mal was so excited but he decided he didn't want to stop off, whilst we drove along the road near to the sea we saw a huge yacht, I noted down the info on it's sail & after checking the internet later we realised it was one of the yachts of the ocean race. The set up was brilliant at the campsite, we had everything at our disposal, launderette, tennis, swimming pool, mecial centre, supermarket etc.etc. The plot we had was big in comparison to previous ones & the site stretched right down to the beach where there was a retaurant. Prior to eating we decided to walk down to the beach, this was the interesting bit......there are some permanent sites here and some long term lets - well as Mal put it 'it's like a posh favella' I started to laugh but totally ageed! There were some really nice spots but the majority was like a shanty town, it was quite peculiar because it was clean & tidy but just weird! However, we did conculde we would be happy to stay there again & could happily have stayed a little longer. Perhaps this is what people do & tell everyone they have a place in Spain!!