19th March
Away in good time to a campsite near Marbella. We have decided to take the coastal route which whilst longer has a much larger choice of Aires and camp sites along its route compared to going via Granada. And the latter includes a lot of gear changing. Jc's cold still awful but he says he is sure he will feel better tomorrow.
Talking of gear changing, we take the route through Ronda and it is not until i look at it on a large map I see there are many wiggly lines. This means precipice, mountains, up, down, hot brakes and tempers. And sure enough all the way from Ronda to St Pedro that's what it was.
We arrived at the lat. and long. that i had put into the Tom tom. She said yoh have arrived at your destination. A roundabout in a backstreet of St Pedro. I don't think so. I ask jc to read out the lAt. and long. To me and sure enough i had got it wrong and we are 17 miles from our destination. Luckily this was on the flat!
Arriving at Camping Cabopino is a bit like arriving at Butlins. The receptionist is very helful in pointing out the facilities, restaurants, indoor pool, archery, dog walking area, blah, blah. I say we are ACSI members and he asks me for our card. I give him our ACSI book and show him where the card was before we tore it out and now we haven't got it. He asked me if it was stolen and i nodded thinking that this was a good idea. So we get the site for €19 instead of €25 i think. We are then sent off to drive around the enormous site with a list of vacant pitches. And there aren't many. This is a very popular place. Over the next 2 days we come across all nationalities and many who live there for the winter. Their pitches are like home with little fences Nd flower beds. And then there are the groups of friends who all get together in one awning around 16.00 hours for a nibble and a drink. Usually 8 to 12. I expect they have been coming here for years. There is also a number of campers who arrive in their enormous motorhome and add a double sized tent with proper windows and then the awning comes off that. The square footage is bigger than our house. I wonder if they will bring a jacussi next year.
All good. Jc's cold and cough is finally settling down and i have been doing some long overdue exercise in the swimming pool. This is covered with plastic sections and the temperature inside the bubble is 45 degrees with humidity of 38. I did wonder if i would be able to breathe, especially as i seemed to be the only person in the whole campsite using the pool. But it was bliss.
I wanted to watch Broadchurch and went to enquire as to wifi. "It is supplied by an outside company and there are lots of technical hitches". I am told. And so it was. I could never get it to work. So I know pair it with my phone where i have some free data every month. Marvellous. Watched the hour long programme and learnt that an hour takes 400 mb of data so I now have nothing left on my phone, which we use for navigation, emails etc. Groan!
We are leaving on wednesday 22nd march so decide to eat out at the nice looking Italian restaurant next to the campsite, on our last night. Ah, it is closed on Tuesdays but the bar/cafe restaurant at the club is open. So we wander along there at 7.30 to find it heaving with mostly english.
To cut a long story short, the English in that restaurant let the side down. It was a big group and very noisy and after continual swearing, (even more than I can bear) I leant back in my chair and said something. When the answer was something like "what did you say" . Jc got ready to get out of his chair. My hero! The rest of the group then got involved and started laughing about it. Eventually I got an apology and interestingly one of the other young english guys eating there came over and asked me if I was alright. And said that they should be respectful. It was very kind of him.
Anyway we are leaving tomorrow.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Thursday, March 23, 2017
Beautiful
18th March
Parking in Alcoutim hsn't been that easy although we have always managed to find a place fairly nearby, but today I want to bring the van up the side road to the house. It is vey narrow and there are so many cars around today. The town is preparing for its first "smugglers festival" next week and there are various trucks and vans setting things up.
We discuss loading the van where it is which is down the hill, a good minutes walk away. No problem normally but we have quite a lot of stuff to carry. I take the plunge and drive it up the adjacent cobbled street parking on the no parking yellow lines as close to the wall as possible. Cars can just squeeze by, and we hurriedly load and stow all the gear.
And then its everyone in and away reversing slowly back down the hill. The sun is out and the sky is blue. What more do we want. It is boiling.
The trip to Fabrica included a visit to the Peuce Deuce supermarket to get my pups some fresh chicken. For the most spoilt dogs on earth I think I hear. But my Gibby is not that well and has started not eating so a sprinkling of boiled chicken breast spices things up a bit.
We arrive at Fabrica and as we arrive we discuss the fact that we have never been here on a Saturday. Mamma mia. It is absolutely packed with motorhomes and cars, and the only restaurant is full. We take the last space and I take the pups out into the beach. It is low tide and i digure we can wade out to the outer beach area through the shallow lagoon water. So off i stride with Kicker by my side. He gets to water touching tummy level and stops. I turn to see that Gybo has also stopped although shallower as her tummy touching tummy level is earlier having shorter legs. No amount of calling would shift them, so we went for a walk along the beach instead. Whatever, it is still beautiful.
When some of the diners drove off we were able to get a place backing onto the lagoon, and i thought this would be it for the night. However, chatting to a chap from Whitby he said the official Aire was to East of the steps, and we shouldn't really park on the West side. Of course the East side was full.
Having washed dogs feet and my feet and my shoes, a camper moved out from the East and we moved to our final position.
Although i couldn't find any info anywhere saying this was an official Aire anyway.
We had decided to eat at the restaurant tonight. The dogs are usually pretty quiet in the van and we are close enough to come back and check
Very good food but you pay for it. I had sole and JC had a beef stew. He says it was an early Birthday as we don't know where we will be next saturday.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Parking in Alcoutim hsn't been that easy although we have always managed to find a place fairly nearby, but today I want to bring the van up the side road to the house. It is vey narrow and there are so many cars around today. The town is preparing for its first "smugglers festival" next week and there are various trucks and vans setting things up.
We discuss loading the van where it is which is down the hill, a good minutes walk away. No problem normally but we have quite a lot of stuff to carry. I take the plunge and drive it up the adjacent cobbled street parking on the no parking yellow lines as close to the wall as possible. Cars can just squeeze by, and we hurriedly load and stow all the gear.
And then its everyone in and away reversing slowly back down the hill. The sun is out and the sky is blue. What more do we want. It is boiling.
The trip to Fabrica included a visit to the Peuce Deuce supermarket to get my pups some fresh chicken. For the most spoilt dogs on earth I think I hear. But my Gibby is not that well and has started not eating so a sprinkling of boiled chicken breast spices things up a bit.
We arrive at Fabrica and as we arrive we discuss the fact that we have never been here on a Saturday. Mamma mia. It is absolutely packed with motorhomes and cars, and the only restaurant is full. We take the last space and I take the pups out into the beach. It is low tide and i digure we can wade out to the outer beach area through the shallow lagoon water. So off i stride with Kicker by my side. He gets to water touching tummy level and stops. I turn to see that Gybo has also stopped although shallower as her tummy touching tummy level is earlier having shorter legs. No amount of calling would shift them, so we went for a walk along the beach instead. Whatever, it is still beautiful.
When some of the diners drove off we were able to get a place backing onto the lagoon, and i thought this would be it for the night. However, chatting to a chap from Whitby he said the official Aire was to East of the steps, and we shouldn't really park on the West side. Of course the East side was full.
Having washed dogs feet and my feet and my shoes, a camper moved out from the East and we moved to our final position.
Although i couldn't find any info anywhere saying this was an official Aire anyway.
We had decided to eat at the restaurant tonight. The dogs are usually pretty quiet in the van and we are close enough to come back and check
Very good food but you pay for it. I had sole and JC had a beef stew. He says it was an early Birthday as we don't know where we will be next saturday.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Packing up again
17th March
Very sorry to be leaving this lovely house but we need to get home now, albeit slowly. We have changed our minds so many times about the route, i can't remember what the latest decision was, but before we go I want to spend our last night in what is now my favourite place here. Fabrica beach.
So that will be our destination tomorrow.
Jc's cold is really bad now, so quite pleased that we will only be driving for 45 mins odd and he can have a sleep during the afternoon. Just hope i don't get it.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Very sorry to be leaving this lovely house but we need to get home now, albeit slowly. We have changed our minds so many times about the route, i can't remember what the latest decision was, but before we go I want to spend our last night in what is now my favourite place here. Fabrica beach.
So that will be our destination tomorrow.
Jc's cold is really bad now, so quite pleased that we will only be driving for 45 mins odd and he can have a sleep during the afternoon. Just hope i don't get it.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Friday, March 17, 2017
Sick Bunny
16th March
JC has the cold that Mike and Eve had on Saturday and is rather poorly. Weather poorly too and we discussed going over on the ferry to Sanluca to the beach bar there for lunch which does good tapas.
JC rises to the occasion and Gybo and Kicker get on the ferry ok, but. ....... The tide is well down and the pontoon on the other side is accessed by concrete steps at the top and then steel steps for the lower third. There is little to get a grip on as it is made up of holes basically, and whist Kicker eventually races up the top. Gybo isn't going to go. Luckily she is not heavy.
A very cold (relatively speaking) and dull day.With a rather cold and dull reception at the bar restaurant. I go in on my own and ask the owner if he speaks English. He shakes his head as a voice from the bar in a Yorkshire accent says " We do though, what do you want?" they are customers and presumably local ex pats. The restaurant is basic with plastic chairs and tables, there is no one in there. " Wondered if the dogs could come in whilst we had some lunch"/ She answered."Dogs aren't allowed inside. You can eat outside over there if you want." I looked over to the even more unwelcoming area of plastic chairs and tables set in a rickety fashion under some plastic sheeting.
I left and we went back to the ferry and had lunch at home. Smoked meats, cheese, olives, and papaya to finish. Delicious.
JC has the cold that Mike and Eve had on Saturday and is rather poorly. Weather poorly too and we discussed going over on the ferry to Sanluca to the beach bar there for lunch which does good tapas.
JC rises to the occasion and Gybo and Kicker get on the ferry ok, but. ....... The tide is well down and the pontoon on the other side is accessed by concrete steps at the top and then steel steps for the lower third. There is little to get a grip on as it is made up of holes basically, and whist Kicker eventually races up the top. Gybo isn't going to go. Luckily she is not heavy.
A very cold (relatively speaking) and dull day.With a rather cold and dull reception at the bar restaurant. I go in on my own and ask the owner if he speaks English. He shakes his head as a voice from the bar in a Yorkshire accent says " We do though, what do you want?" they are customers and presumably local ex pats. The restaurant is basic with plastic chairs and tables, there is no one in there. " Wondered if the dogs could come in whilst we had some lunch"/ She answered."Dogs aren't allowed inside. You can eat outside over there if you want." I looked over to the even more unwelcoming area of plastic chairs and tables set in a rickety fashion under some plastic sheeting.
I left and we went back to the ferry and had lunch at home. Smoked meats, cheese, olives, and papaya to finish. Delicious.
Cold
14th March
It is very noticeable when it is not really warm outside. I think we expect it now and when it doesn't happen it is disappointing.
Simon left after a hearty granola and strawberries brekka and we settled down to a mooching about day. Dog walking and thinking about the next stop after here. JC gets all the maps from the van and we pore over them discussing many options. All depend on the weather really. And we have no idea about that.
It is very noticeable when it is not really warm outside. I think we expect it now and when it doesn't happen it is disappointing.
Simon left after a hearty granola and strawberries brekka and we settled down to a mooching about day. Dog walking and thinking about the next stop after here. JC gets all the maps from the van and we pore over them discussing many options. All depend on the weather really. And we have no idea about that.
Simon sees some sights
12th March,
We decide to take Simon down to the Ria De Formosa to our now favourite beach Fabrica. It is Monday and the restaurant on the beach there is closed, but the beach is still looking absolutely stunning and the tide is well out. Gybo is in her element racing around and Simon is taking loads of pics on his iPhone. He walks on and says he will meet us back at the beach bar and we go back with the dogs to dry out and get a coffee. Some time later we are getting worried and there is no sign of him. I call him. No answer. A few minutes later he phones to say he is fine. There have been some armed police around and he has found his way into a rather grand bar/sunbathing platform. Although the bar is closed.
We think this must be part of the Golf club just down the coast. How did he get there!? After some more calls and a lot of us sitting around, he comes back. I am rather grumpy now as we set off to find a tapas lunch.
After trying to the fabulous place at Prai Verde which was closed, we end up at a place on Monte Gordo beach which I seem to remember we visited 5 years ago. Lunch was less resplendent than yesterday's but we had planned a cook up supper. Left over lamb curry. And it was delicious.
We decide to take Simon down to the Ria De Formosa to our now favourite beach Fabrica. It is Monday and the restaurant on the beach there is closed, but the beach is still looking absolutely stunning and the tide is well out. Gybo is in her element racing around and Simon is taking loads of pics on his iPhone. He walks on and says he will meet us back at the beach bar and we go back with the dogs to dry out and get a coffee. Some time later we are getting worried and there is no sign of him. I call him. No answer. A few minutes later he phones to say he is fine. There have been some armed police around and he has found his way into a rather grand bar/sunbathing platform. Although the bar is closed.
We think this must be part of the Golf club just down the coast. How did he get there!? After some more calls and a lot of us sitting around, he comes back. I am rather grumpy now as we set off to find a tapas lunch.
After trying to the fabulous place at Prai Verde which was closed, we end up at a place on Monte Gordo beach which I seem to remember we visited 5 years ago. Lunch was less resplendent than yesterday's but we had planned a cook up supper. Left over lamb curry. And it was delicious.
Foz de Odeite
12th March
Other than teetotal Paul, I think we all feel a bit weary this morning. But coffee on the terrace and a coffee in the bar on the front seems to have done the trip. Paul's girlfriend is Portugese so she books a table at Fox about 30 minutes down the Guardiana. We go with Simon in his flash A6 hire car and find somewhere en route for a run with the pups. The guardiana is such a great river. There are orange and olive groves all along this length and I understand there are vines further up.
Of course, when we get to the restaurant they say no dogs allowed inside and the outside terrace is very narrow. Eventually we agree to take 2 tables and actually as the sun is out and is it warm it would have been a shame to be inside. Simon suggests we rearrange the tables so that we can all sit together and some friendly banter ensues between him and Paul, for what seems to go on forever and ever. Finally we settle down to a great meal with some vino and the sun is out and it is just what we came out here for.
Other than teetotal Paul, I think we all feel a bit weary this morning. But coffee on the terrace and a coffee in the bar on the front seems to have done the trip. Paul's girlfriend is Portugese so she books a table at Fox about 30 minutes down the Guardiana. We go with Simon in his flash A6 hire car and find somewhere en route for a run with the pups. The guardiana is such a great river. There are orange and olive groves all along this length and I understand there are vines further up.
Of course, when we get to the restaurant they say no dogs allowed inside and the outside terrace is very narrow. Eventually we agree to take 2 tables and actually as the sun is out and is it warm it would have been a shame to be inside. Simon suggests we rearrange the tables so that we can all sit together and some friendly banter ensues between him and Paul, for what seems to go on forever and ever. Finally we settle down to a great meal with some vino and the sun is out and it is just what we came out here for.
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