Wednesday 29th February

After a lovely 24hrs in Haro  (Rioja Region) we are now at Bilbao waiting for our ferry to arrive. t is due in at 17.30 then after a quick empty we board and are due to depart at 20.30.

Looking at the weather forecast we should have a calm crossing again, fingers crossed. We should be home late on Thursday night.

More Time with Haro in the background

Greenwich Meridian arch over motorway..........why ?

Not bad weather for February !

Monday 27th February

We are now at Vilanova Park campsite at Vilanova i la Geltru, just south of Barcelona which we visited on Friday.

This site is a little different to those we have been on so far as it in the hills, up above the town so not right on the coast. It is set amongst pine and other trees on an old Catalan farm and many of the original buildings are now used to provide a restaurant, shop and other facilities. Very friendly staff who all seem to speak excellent English help to make the stay here even more enjoyable.

Our visit to Barcelona on Friday left us looking forward to our next opportunity to visit as it is such a lovely city. Everywhere you look there seems to be something different to see, especially many of the buildings designed by Gaudi, the Sagrada Familia being his best known and is still under construction although Gaudi himself died in 1926 having been hit by a tram. We went to the city by bus which picked us up right at the campsite entrance and we got off at the Plazza Catalunya, right in the city centre, all for just over four euros each.

Ornate frontages to Gaudi buildings

Entrance to Gaudi's Sagrada Familia, people entering give it's scale

We have been counting down the days to our leaving Spain and it is quite sad to be leaving on Wednesday. Before then though we shall be visiting Zaragoza for a brief overnight stop then on to Haro which is the leading town in the Rioja region so with any luck we shall be getting in some wine tasting while there, assuming places are open for that in February, fingers crossed.

Update due to lack of Internet access

We are now at Zaragoza, heading back to Bilboa to catch the ferry on Wednesday. Tomorrow we should be in Haro  before heading to Bilbao the day after. Ourlovely weather continues, temperature mid afternoon today was 21.1C. Off for a game of boules now, hope I can beat Sue.

One for Carly

We saw this and thought of you!

Thursday 16th February

What a revelation Benicassim is. We are on a site called Bonterra Park and we were greeted by some friends we had made at La Manga as we walked round the site on first arrival selecting our pitch. We have since met up with some others that we had met there and are joining them tonight for a meal.

Our pitch is to one side of the site and gets sunshine in the morning and again in late afternoon and evening, just when we are around and able to enjoy it.

More Time on pitch at Bonterra Park, Benicassim

Benicassim is a typical Spanish town and not messed around with. Plenty of the essential shops plus a couple of larger supermarkets. Even a cycle shop where we were able to eventually get a cycle helmet for Sue. Not at all an average shop this one. You entered through an archway into the main workshop. Sales were carried out from a separate room at the rear. This morning we had a cycle and walk along part of the 'Via Verde' (Green Way) which runs directly along behind the site on the bed of a disused railway, for quite a way along the coast. Stunning views in places and the Almond Blossom is now beginning to come out, we were hoping we would see some while here.

Via Verde on disused railway line near campsite, Almond trees in blossom

All together we are much happier here and even the weather is warming up somewhat to help us recover from  the disappointment that was Moncofa.

Benicassim from Via Verde

Sue watching the world go by on Benicassim promenade, not a lot that day !

Monday 13th February

It's now Monday evening and we are back from a day in Valencia which was a bit of a disappointment. We were expecting an abundance of typical Spanish architectural style buildings but found the usual modern concrete eyesores. There was the odd gem but they seemed to be hidden away or not made the most of.

Remains of old City walls at Valencia

Sue outside main door to Valencia Cathedral

Unusual roundabout centre at Valencia made of 22000 ceramic pieces

It is still cold here, especially at night when we have been having sub zero temperatures, -3.9 this morning but still with blue skies and sunshine during the day.

We have decided to move on tomorrow to another site about twenty miles North of here at Benicassim.  We have been told that it s quite different to here at Moncofa so we are looking forward to it.

From there  we plan to visit Playa Tropicana at Alcosssebre before heading to Vilanova Park at Vilanova i la Gethru which is to the South of Barcelona.

We are not sure what internet access we shall have so Blog entries may be few and far apart but we shall see. 

Misbehaving belongings sign in shop

Thursday 9th February

Well, we arrived here at Moncofa on Tuesday after a not too good trip. Strong headwinds (a bit like sailing) held my attention driving here as they gusted and blew More Time about but the sun was shining and we made reasonable time for the 220 mile trip. Once again our TomTom brought us right to the entrance.

Moncofa is not such a good site as La Manga was and is a bit like camping in a car park. We are thinking of cutting our stay here short and heading on to some other sites for a few days each just to see what they are like.

We had a good game of boules this afternoon with four others, men against the ladies. Ladies came out on top but only just, the third game went to 11 -12 before they scored the two they needed to win.

Monday 6th February

We are heading on to our next site first thing tomorrow (well, about 10 o clock) and we shall be quite sad to leave La Manga.

We have made quite a few new acquaintances since arriving here and this afternoon while playing boules quite a few people came up to us to say farewell. We were invited back to the motorhome of Ed, our American buddy and his wife for a drink after the game and a couple of hours later we left them to have their meal after exchanging email addresses etc. It would be good to meet up with them again in the future, hopefully we shall.

All our gear is packed away, the awning is down and packed along with chairs, table etc, even the bikes are strapped on the rack at the back.

Approximately 200 miles away is Moncofa, our next stop, just to the South of Valencia.

This rally will be a hard act to follow, we have enjoyed ourselves here so much.

Saturday 4th February

Last night we went to a Rally Dinner at the Mirador bar on site. Chicken and chips followed by ice cream followed by a Who Wants to be a Millionaire quiz. Our table won it on a tie break at £250000.

When the tie break question was asked it was, What is the length of the River Nile. For some reason I had a figure of 4105 miles, no-one else had a clue so that ws the answer we gave. It is actually 4160 and with the other table guessing 1000 miles we won. A treasure chest of doubloons was the prize (actually a chest of chocolate coins) plus a ticket in that nights EuroMillions draw with a prize of 44 million euros.

Our luck expired at that point as we got one number and the two bonus ones, not enough unfortunately but Sue enjoyed the chocolate.

Picking up the prize !

Friday 3rd February

We went for a walk on Wednesday into the Parque Regional de Calblanque which is literally across the road from the campsite. Led by rally participants it was about 12 miles by the time we got back to the site. Quite a bit of walking on sheeptracks and quite steep inclines saw us having a lunchtime stop on a secluded beach before heading for La Manga Golf and Country Club (where the England football team train apparently) for a well earned coffee.

Just a walk in the Park

Lunchtime stop on beach (Sue in middle on rocks)

Back to the site after that for a well earned glass of wine and a shower before heading off to La Diva night at the Mirador bar on site which was a Kylie Minougue tribute show.

Thursday saw rain and a total contrast to the weather we have got used to. Temperatures have dropped and the wind has got up so the motorhomes central heating has been switched on for the first time for a while.

Friday (today) it is back to blue skies and sunshine although the temperature only crept up to 11degrees today. We have been invited to a game of horsehoes tomorrow with an American. He assures me the shoes are from American ponies but are the size of Shire horse shoes. Only to be expected really as everything in America is bigger according to them.

Small 'Cala' along the walk