Friday 1st Dec
Today there was a guided cycle ride to Alcazares on the
western side of the Mar Menor, a round trip of about 25 miles we were told.
Fortunately the cold wind we had been experiencing dropped overnight and about
twenty of us set of mid morning for the trip. Sue stayed on site and caught up
with chores as she felt the distance was too much for her.
We arrived at Alcazares in time for lunch which I had
sitting on the beach enjoying the sunshine, it was lovely looking out at the
smooth blue sea. About an hour after arriving we turned back and the group
gradually dwindled as some took different routes back. I decided to tag along
with a couple who were heading back close to the shore although I didn't
realise at the time it was all off road. A good distance into the route my bike
decided to go in its own direction with me going in another one. It could have
been worse, at least the fall was into nice soft, squidgy mud, the cause of the
fall in the first place. No harm done (except to my pride) we continued on with
all of us falling in turn although one was simply because the water he was
going through was far deeper than he thought.
Not a bad spot for lunch on Alcazares beach
Sea monster at Los Nietos, beware if you are swimming !
A good ride though that turned out to be about 27 miles in
total.
Saturday 2nd December
A quiet day for us simply doing some shopping after a coffee
morning at the rally where we learned what was to take place over the following
week. This is an average week and consists of :-
Monday. Craft lessons
at 10.30, Spanish lessons at 11.00, boules at 14.00 also line dancing at 14.00 and
whist at 20.00
Tuesday a walk or cycle ride to Los Bellones the local
village and market plus Bodega, boules at 14.00, quiz at 20.00
Wednesday normally a good
walk somewhere with boules at 14.00 for anyone not on the walk and a quiz at
20.00
Thursday Spanish
lessons at 11.00, boules at 14.00 and crib at 20.00
Friday normally a
long cycle ride somewhere plus boules at 14.00 and often a meal in the evening.
Saturday a coffee
morning at 11.00 followed by a street bbq at lunchtime that tends to extend
until late afternoon.
Sunday Day Off for
all.
In addition to the above we have options of various things
put on by the site and the site bar/restaurant so never a lack of things to do.
On a walk along the Med coast in the Calblanque Regional park a short walk from our site.
Sunday 2nd Dec
A lazy day just going for a walk in the sunshine followed by
paella cooked by me followed later in the day with a bbq. It's a hard life !
Monday 3rd
Sue went off to craft lessons where they were to make pigs (plant
containers) out of empty water containers, I went to Spanish lessons where Sue met
up later. After a quick lunch Sue went line dancing while I went to boules.
Back to the van for some grub then off to play whist in the evening. For
Spanish we were able to hold it in the sunshine next to the pool bar, something
that hopefully we can repeat for some time to come. We also bought a poinsettia plant to go in the pig and very nice it looks too.
We are now on the 16th December.
I know that is quite a spell since the last post but our
internet access has been rubbish but we have now sourced another supplier and
have our own little aerial hanging up in a nearby tree to get the signal from
an aerial about two miles away. It seems to work well, even good enough to use
Skype for video calls.
Since the third of December we have settled into a routine
around the above activities although we have had walks and other things to do
also. On one day a cycled 42 miles (I miscalculated the distance) as I needed
to get a new hinge for a cupboard on board then had to go to San Javier airport
to sort car hire) Although my route looked OK on a map in reality what was
shown as a road soon expired in a field of artichokes and after riding through
a drainage culvert to get to another road I ended up on a dry river bed for a
mile to get to the road.
A sore bum by the end of the day.
Our weather has been mixed with warm sunny days interspersed
with windy cooler days, on the whole though not bad so far.
Sue texting at the beach near our site (on a dull day).
