Spain - 2nd Feb - 14th Feb 2009

2nd Feb – 12th Feb 2009 – Benicassim We set about preparing for our visitors arrival on Weds Holly & Phil. Mal & I decided not to travel up to Barcelona upon their arrival, we thought we would go up for their last 2 days. However, they decided to hire a car & travel down to see us instead which was great – we could show them around the area. They arrived with us on Weds 4th at about 10pm, we had prepared some tapas & all ate together. We all settled in for the night & didn’t do our usual thing of staying up late & overindulging. Next morning we decided to go for a swim, although Holly hadn’t brought her swim stuff….so Mal & I went on our own. Some of our friends were going walking today they asked us all to go, but Hol hadn’t brought any walking footwear & was not too bothered about a walk so we decided to give this one a miss. After our swim we had a nice breakfast sat out in the sun. We took a walk into town early afternoon to see if we could find a bikini for Hol (no success). We stopped off for a beer sat out in the sun; the relaxed flow led to a light lunch of dim sum….which was fab! We headed back to camp late afternoon after a long walk along the beachfront. Tonight was spent playing cards & watching a movie.

Mal with his Oasis look! (hair by Mandy).

Brian, Mandy, Mal & Me after a meal out at the chinese.

Friday 6th Feb 09 – Valencia

Valencia museums in the modern quarter - stunning!

Valencia modern quarter.

The view at lunch from El Cortes Ingles

Hersee this one's for you (the bridge).

Hol

Museum

Rob this one's for you - awesome!

Today was our day out to Valencia; we headed off at about 9.30am with Holly speedster at the wheel. It was Holly’s first experience of driving abroad, so she was a little apprehensive (as was I after my car crash last march) – anyway she did a sterling job & we were all very proud of her! Unfortunately Phil had forgotten his driving license….hence the pressure was on Hol to drive – although Phil did do the return trip! Valencia was great, we went to the modern area first, where there is a number of museums, Imax, Oceanographic centre interalia – the only down side was nothing was open as they were completing maintenance. It was still worth going just to see the architecture – WOW! After lunch on the 8th floor of El Corte Ingles, which provided panoramic views over the wonderful buildings, we went to the old town. The old town was really lovely with some great old buildings, we had a wander around, obviously keeping our eyes peeled for a bikini for Hol…..to no avail. We set off back to Benicassim at around 4.30pm via Castellon were we could call at Decathlon (sports shop) to see if we could find Hol that elusive bikini….yeah what a success! Not only did Hol get a bikini but I got a heart monitor, a new top, & some tennis balls for Darcy & Bumble (the neighbours dogs). Hol & Phil went off into town at 9pm for a few drinks whilst we watched a film. They arrived home at 4am, so we concluded a good night had been enjoyed!

The old town of Valencia

Valencia

Valencia

Sat 7th Feb 09 – Benicassim Today was spent relaxing, we took a swim in the heated pool – Phil & Mal ‘being boys’ decided to try the outdoor pool but that proved too much & they were soon back in the bath like water! Hol & Phil were suffering a tad with hangovers, but their night sounded like fun! We borrowed Rogers bikes & the 4 of us went on a 10-mile cycle round the track, which was really enjoyable. Norma & Roger kindly invited us to a BBQ at theirs on Sunday, unfortunately Hol & Phil decided to head off to Barcelona tomorrow to meet some friends prior to their departure on Monday – but Mal & I agreed to go to the BBQ. There was a Harley Davidson festival, so tonight we popped into town to watch the torchlight parade through streets at 7pm. Norma & Roger joined us in town coupled with Darcy & Bumble…..the parade was good to watch & we stopped off for a couple of drinks on the way back down. Unfortunately we didn’t catch up with Mandy & Brian our other friends. When we got back to the van Mandy popped round to meet Hol & Phil before they left, so we invited her back round after we had tea. The evening turned into a riotous affair with Mal playing D.J, Brian came a long at 12 midnight & entertained us with his singing – I think a good night was enjoyed by all.

Just one of the many Harley Davidsons.

Phil, Mal & Mr Darcy

Mal & me - cheers!

Hol & Phil

Brian & Mal at Casa Tramp truck enjoying a bit of Karaoke - note Brian's Mike (Mal's glasses case).....tee hee

Sunday 8th Feb 09 – Benicassim Hol & Phil took and early morning dip. Whilst we watched the Harley drive by outside the campsite. Mal & I prepared breakfast for them & made them a packed lunch – we said our goodbyes, knowing we would see them soon as we were planning a surprise trip to the UK on the 2nd March for a month!! (More about that later). Mal & I had a quick tidy up then prepared our contribution to the BBQ, prawns, garlic dip & salad. We joined our friends at about 2pm & had a really great afternoon, we retired to Roger & Norms van for after dinner drinks – we popped back to our van for a planned webcam chat with Wendy & Jmel, but not before promising Norma we would return. We of course stood by our promise & returned to the neighbours, were Norma entertained us with her orange juggling skills (she didn’t remember this the next day). As always we had a great day with our friends.

Darcy with his Nu Nu wrapped around him - 'cos he gets cold!

Not to be outdone - Mandy with her Nu Nu....

Norm wrapping Darcy in his Nu Nu, whilst Bumble cleans Rogers head......odd?? No normal life at Bonterra Park.....

Mon 9th – Thurs 12th Feb 09 – Benicassim We all decided to go on a walk today over to Orpressa, we lost Roger & Norma complete with dogs prior to departure, but after a jog back to camp from Mal, scaling the wall like something from a milk tray advert we found them. Finally all set with 6 adults & 4 pooches we commenced our walk, thankfully there were no snakes’ en-route! We had lunch on the beach; it was an absolutely glorious day & arrived back at camp late afternoon. Everyone was a little tired from the Sunday party so we decided to get early nights – although we had declared a leaving party ‘all week’ as Norma & Roger were leaving too! Brian & Mandy had decided to cook for us all on Thursday Paella & declared it a day on them, which was a really kind generous offer. Tuesday My cleaning day! I spent a good few hours cleaning, washing & generally preparing for departure on Friday (even though it was Friday 13th). Later in the afternoon we took Mandy & Brian’s dogs (Moo & Sis) for a walk with Norma & Roger & their 2 dogs, as Mandy & Brian had gone to Valencia for the day. Upon our return Mal knocked together a jug of sangria & we went over to Roger & Norms for a few drinks, which turned into a few more! Roger cooked us some hotdogs for tea, which we thoroughly enjoyed. The boys went off to watch the football at a bar, whilst Norma & I put the world to rights.

Roger with Darcy (who think he is still a small puppy - Darcy of course)!

Wednesday Was a bit of a lazy day – we had tea with our 4 friends, Roger cooked some fab salmon on the BBQ, I knocked up a salad & Mandy some dauphenoise potatoes…..boy can we put on a spread! We didn’t have too late a night, ‘cos we have a big party day tomorrow! Thursday We spent the morning sorting our last bits out for packing. Then it was over the road for beautiful Paella courtesy of Mandy & Brian, along with many bottles of sparkling wine (although Mal had to take it easy as we were on the road the next day). Another couple joined us for lunch Judith & John who I think found out entertainment good. Mal was D.J for the day, much to everyone’s pleasure. After evening dog walking we reconvened at Norm & Rogers for drinks & music. Mandy, Brian & Mr Darcy - How BIG is that doggy in thw window......HUGE!!!

Brian with his wonderful Paella - you can breath now Brian.

Mandy & Brian take to the dancefloor prior to the buffett.....that DJ must be good!

Mandy & me...a little worse for wear!

Hey Mr DJ put a record on....Mal & Roger at the controls!

Snack anyone? Darcy tucking into a midnight snack of crisps.....

After too much partying even the pooches needed a rest!

Friday 13th Feb 09 – Nightmare!! After breakfast & lots of goodbyes, from most of the street - life at Bonterra Park Benicassim comes highly recommended, we have had the best time ever....but feel I now need to a month in the Betty Ford clinic! We set off at about 10am heading for the French boarder. The drive was nice & smooth, the weather superb & fields upon fields of blossom trees – one of those days were you feel blessed. At about 12noon I started to get peckish so asked mal if we could stop soon, he said we needed fuel so would stop in a short while. As we were driving on the N-340 a red car appeared to our right on a side road from the cemetery. The car did not stop but continued to come out of the junction and continued to come out despite Mal’s beeps on the horn, we had not chance of stopping because of the close proximately. Mal swerved as much as he could to avoid the guy, but if he had swerved any further we would have gone into the oncoming traffic, so we had no choice but to hit him as he continued to drive ahead!! He was not looking in our direction but was looking the complete opposite way – it almost appeared the actions someone may take if they had decided to intentionally do it. Anyway we smashed into him, Mal successfully managed to handle the van bearing in mind it is 4tonnes so not easy! Luckily we were both ok, so Mal jumped out of the van….I couldn’t get out immediately as may door was dented, but managed in the end. The other car was bashed in quite badly; there was an ambulance there by the time I emerged from the van. The guy in the other car was very old & had a history of heart problems, but the police said he would be ok – eventually he was taken to hospital. We gathered as much information as we could from the police etc. A guy approached us to say he had seen it all & Mal had done a good job under the circumstances, he said it was not Mal’s fault he had seen it & the guy in the car was loco!! The next few hours were spent on the phone to the UK, insurance etc. To find out what we needed to do….basically our insurance said we had to arrange ourselves to get the vehicle moved, which I did. We got moved to a Hymer dealer in Vic near to Barcelona. We travelled to Vic with the van on a low loader, it took forever to get it on & off the low loader because of its weight & the overhang at the back…they ripped half of the bumper off & smashed the light as a result of this! The drive to Barcelona resulted in me lying down on a bed in the back of said low loader as they only had enough room for one passenger! Probably a good thing that I couldn’t see out front as they guy was a bit of a speedy driver; even so he was very helpful & kind to us. We arrived in Vic at a bout 7pm….what a day! What should have been a nice trip over into France followed by the south of France had turned into our nightmare. Anyway the people at Hymer were very kind; basically they gave us 2 options. 1) They could repair it here but it would take about 2 months & we would need to come back out at intervals. 2) We could get it shipped back to the UK if the insurance would do that. We opted for option 2 as we had planned to be in the UK for March & it would be much easier to iron out any issues in the UK. Our insurance said they would ship it to the UK, but need to pass it to their international department and being Friday nothing could be done until Monday. I explained our situation i.e. we are stuck on a garage forecourt, the vehicle cannot be driven, we have a hole in the floor which leads to the outside, we have limited gas, limited water, no grey or black waste disposal facilities, can only get in & out via the drivers door – so Monday was not so appealing. Anyway no luck we have to wait until Monday!! The kind people here have given us an electric hook up, along with water – it could have been much worse without them. We spoke to our friends in Benicassim and they kindly offered to put us up if we wanted to go back there, they also offered us the use of their car to get us back to the UK, or to go to Normandy & stay at their house – basically anything we wanted nothing was too much trouble. I must say it’s amazing the kindness of some people. Mal had planned a surprise for Valentines Day, which was going to be a meal, & he gave me a lovely pair of earrings I had seen in Benicassim – he had gone to so much trouble & an irresponsible driver had spoilt the moment! After a bite to eat & feeling sorry for ourselves we headed to bed, as it is much colder here about 15degrees less than Benicassim. Don’t think we will ever travel on Friday 13th again!

Our habitation door post impact - note the floor hanging down!

Front wheel/wing passenger side.

and another!

Saturday

Sleep last night was intermittent, not help by the fact we are at the side of a main road so the noise goes on all night!! I stayed in bed til 10am, a case of if I was sleeping I didn’t have to face up to reality I think. Plus my back & neck are stiff, I have only just got my neck sorted out from the car crash I had last March, but it looks like 150euros lighter I am back to square one!! I finally emerged got washed & dressed. Bless Mal he had been outside & jacked the front corner of the van up onto some wood then it was level. He took a jug & the watering can to the toilets & filled us up with water, getting an extra watering can of hot water for me to have a wash. The day has been spent, trying to chivvy the insurance along – without success! They can’t do anything until Monday. Also trying to maintain each other’s sprits, which are at an all time low! But after speaking to our family today it has cheered us up a little. Think we will have to get some presents out of the box in the boot to cheer us up! Mal is watching the Rugby whilst I update the blog – pretty boring really, but we can’t do anything else! Had a look at some flights to the UK on Weds, but can’t do anything until we know what’s happening with the van. My Mum is on with planning were she can put us at her house on our return and we have had offers from all the family of whatever help we need, even a trip to the USA to stay with Wendy & Jmel, we are so lucky to have such great family. As Rob & my Mum pointed out just think back over the great times we’ve had so far & what great times are to come! Tea tonight will be pasta, pine nuts & pesto & probably another early night! Our friends Roger & Norma called again today with offers of help too. Mandy & Brian text to send their good wishes & to say I know Mal said he had a surprise for you for Valentines Day but I think he’s taking it a bit far! On that note Happy Valentines day to all…..we are holed up on an industrial estate in Vic, it’s cold, we don’t know when we will get help, we are fed up….but……we have each other!

Our new camping spot until we can get back to the UK!