Monday 22 February 2016

22nd Feb; Hi folks, Sadly over the last few days Sue's blood pressure has gone through the roof and her tablets are having little effect, so we are going to have to curtail our adventure and head for home in the morning. It's going to take a week or so, but it needs to be done so this is where the 'Oppy's web log thingy ends for the moment anyway-------------sorry, but thanks for staying with us
Peter & Sue

Sunday 21 February 2016

Today 21st Feb., day 28. Just south of Javea at El Arenal

Back to day 24. 17th
A day spent exploring the port area of Almerimar. It was very windy, but for the local kite surfers it was terrific

Day 25:
Travelled only 65 miles today to a quaint little town called Cabo Gato and wild camped right on the beach, along with ten or so other wild campers including 'Ducato' from our 'Wild Campers' group. A very dramatic location whith many attractions for the summer visitors, but sadly we forgot to take any photo's, but if you do get down there it's well worth a visit


Day 26
We travelled to the town of Calanegra by a very scenic and wibblely wobbely route through the mountains and joined half a dozen vans, again alongside a lovely beach albeit a black one.

Day 27
Costa del Sol. Arrived at El Arenal, Sunshine at last, but still no pictures-------------yet, I really must figure out how to move pictures about on the computer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The main thing of note on the 238 km journey down here was the loss of our 5th gear. But having checked with various knowledgeable folks, it appears that the 5th gear is a separate entity, so the other 4 will work fine, it'll just mean that we will have to travel a tad more slowly. We are on a proper campsite with lots of facilities including very slow wiffy until Tuesday and then it's off again to who knows where. We discovered a wonderful Nepalese restaurant about10 minutes walk away and splashed out the best curry that we have ever had that included a 'doggy bag' that fed us tonight.



Done it----you clever boy!!!

Tonight being Day 28
Today started of fine, although it became cloudy around midday and cooled down. We walked down to the seafront which was really nice with lots of families enjoying the weather and a surfing competition. Sue managed to find a beachside cafe' that served hot chocolate and churros, that encapsulates Spain for her, me? I had a coffee. Being on a campsite means it's clean knickers time again. There are wonderful laundry facilities here for 3 euro's a go. We spent the rest of the afternoon chatting to folks on site, it appears that there are more Brits here than in the UK

Tuesday 16 February 2016

Feb 16th, day 23 and we are in Almerimar

I last updated a few days ago when we were in, or rather near to Granada and our intention was to visit the Alhambra

Feb 13th, day 20 dawned cold, dull and overcast, but we wrapped up and took the bus down in to Granada. After a couple of hours wandering around looking in shops, we had a coffee and caught the bus back. After lunch we drove down to the local Lidl and back again, exciting stuff eh !! We met a really nice  couple of Brits, Rob and Jan Jones (well Welsh anyway) on site who were desparately trying to catch up with the rugby, but because there was a pretty good (paid for) wifi system, they watched it on our laptop computer and we shared a bottle or two in their van later on in the evening.
Wales won

Feb 14th, Valentines day. After a night of heavy rain, the day dawned wet and 'orrible. Sue and I exchanged cards, had breakfast and watched the rain, checked the weather forecast and decided to write the rest of the day off. Rob and Jan popped over to say ta ta and return a couple of camping books prior to their onward journey to Malaga.

Feb 15th Alhambra day !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!This much anticipated trip started off flamin' wet and cold, but we took the bus down into town and after a coffee, we took a taxi up to the Alhambra palace. The experience defies description. The place is more than we could ever have imagined, we had several hours of jaw dropping delight. The rain even stopped and the sun came out. The pictures do not do it justice, but the memory will last us a lifetime





We had to stay over for another night, which brings us to today:

Feb 16th, day 23 and we are in Almerimar
We got up this morning and the temp in our van was 3c. Enough is enough, so we have scooted off to the coast and are now spending a couple of nights on the harbourside in the town of Almerimar and the temp was 23c in the van when we arrived here.
.


Friday 12 February 2016

Granada, I'm falling under your spell, and if you could speak what a facinating tale you would tell!!!!!!!, or so the song goes. So now it's the 12th, the story so far :----



Monday 8th, day 15 :
After a quiet day riding around the area we decided that the Algarve was not a place for the 'Oppys, but we did have a wonderful meal down by the water ( at Alvor) which lifted the Portugal experience for us, but overall we were not impressed. The following day we went to Silves, day 16. It is a superb medieval town and after a morning wander around, in the rain, we stopped at a restaurant that had been recommended to us and had a 4 course lunch with a bottle of wine for 15 euros total !!.Then an after lunch walk led us up in to the higher part of the town where there was some wonderful medieval architecture and the ruins of the original fortifications. And because it was Shrove Tuesday, we had crepes at a local caff.






























Day 17,10th. Today we had a long drive through in to Spain and arrived at the town of Huelva, a port town with a very large statue of Christopher Collumbus looking out to sea. We spent the night there, a rather wet one too. The rain was bouncing off our roof sounding for all the world like frozen peas being dropped from a great height, we left first thing in the morning.

Our impressions of Portugal as a holiday destination are not great. Whilst some parts of the southern coastal region may be to some folks taste, it didn't suit us. As we came in from the north it was very much like travelling through the Carpathian region of Eastern Europe. The poverty and the subsistance level farming was very similar to that in eastern Hungary and western Romania and it was a little sad to see. But now we are in Spain.

Day 18.  Aiming towards Seville today, after another long drive, we spent the night at the town of Marchena. The aire was at the bottom of the town and together with about half a dozen other vans, we had a peaceful night. The aire was overlooking a sports area and park with lots of orange trees. The town is a right mish mash of buildings. At the bottom of the town are all the 'modern' flats, then as you go up the hill you pass some semi derelict areas and then the town really blossomed with some wonderful old houses, churches (of course) and the remains of the original Roman wall.



Day 19, Feb 12th--------------------Granada !!

After another long drive, 156 miles, and the last for a while, we have arrived at a campsite (with wifi!!) just outside Granada at a place called Suspiro Del Moro. It is raining------again!!! All this liquid sunshine is playing havoc with my joints! We are spending tomorrow doing the tourist thing, Sunday being Valentines Day we will probably spend on site and Monday we have booked to go to the Alhambra for the day. No pictures today, although we passed through miles and miles of olive grove en route.
So that's it, we're sat in our tin 'ut and it's raining. Toodle Pip 'till next time.