The only site we have booked on our travels, as our daughter is flying out to join us for a week. We will be here for 10 nights.

There is not much sightseeing to do in this modern area of Spain, unless you visit the towns/cities of Cartagena, Murcia,Elche or Alicante, whic are all within an hours drive. Thats OK with us as we've only come for the beaches and sunbathing.
Torrevieja is a sprawling urban jungle that is incteasing in size almost daily due to the development going on. The beach here is mainly rocky, and is not ideal for our purpose. There is an evening tourist market along the seafront, a large fairground, numerous bars, restaurants and nightclubs. I don't know if we picked a bad evening, but it seemed as though the whole of Spain had descended on the place to greet us. The beach going north from Torrevieja is mile after mile of golden sand, but there did seem to be a few submerged rocks around.
We preferred the 45 mile trip down to La Manga, which for those that don't know, is a 14 mile strip of land separating the Mar Menor (small sea) from the mar mediterraneo. The long sandy beaches on the med sidegently slope. Walk out 50yds and your still only waist deep. The mar menor side is a bit more rocky, but are still some nice sandy stretches. There is also the normal bars, restaurants and shops to wonder around.

During July and August they have free concerts in the gorge on Fri and Sat evenings, a spectacle worth seeing if you are in the area.
Saturday evening we decide to take a picnic to the picturesque setting at Segorbe's "fuent de 50 canos" along the banks of the rio palancia. Afterwards we go a short distance to to the small village of Geldo, where they are holding an evening medieval market, complete with fire eaters, belly dancers and acrobats. In the medieval tavern the locals give us our fill of cerveza (beer) and nuts, with just bales of straw to sit on. The first tourists they have seen this year. We were made very welcome.
Sunday we have the paella speciality at the campsite, whilst sleeping it off we have an horrendous thunderstorm,the first rain we've seen for 4 weeks. The coolness of the mountain air was refreshing after the 35deg down on the costa blanca.



After 6 nights we decide to go back to the coast. Find out in "ORF TO FIND THE SUN - PART 7" where our travels will next take us.

Mon 13 Aug, we wake to clear blue skies after yesterdays thunderstorms. The van is soon hitched up and we depart villa de viver for the short drive down to Moncofa, where we find camping Mon-Mar. This site maybe known to camping and caravanning club members, as they hold a rally here every winter. Its a smallish site with about 160 pitches. A nice feature here is the sink and tap shared between two pitches. It is half way between Castellon and Valencia, and a lot of Valencians have permanently pitched tourers here. It is a clean looking site with tarmaced roads and small gravel pitches. Once you have your van on the pitch, erect the awning, there is not room for the car, and parking on the roads is frowned upon. So we just put the gazebo up so that we can get the car on the pitch. It has a bar/restaurant, small shop, laundry room, swimming pool and three smallish toilet blocks. It is only 100 yds from the sand/shingle beach, so is ideal for a beach holiday. It is also within easy walking distanc of the town and its lively saturday market. We are here during fiesta week, this is where they close the road and put up a stage. They then put on fashion shows, orchestra's and groups. They also put on theatres plus an open air cinema, all for FREE along with the obligatory fireworks. Something for every evening. A good day out is to drive down to Sagunto and then get the train into Valencia. When there you can take an open top bus tour, visit the modern museum of arts and sciences, or simply take in the sights of the old city.

For the young at heart at the end of Augustgo to Bunol, 30 miles inland from Valencia, and join in the free for all tomato throwing (wear old clothes).
A must do excursion is a trip to the Sant Josep caves at Vall d'Uxio. This is the longest navigatable undergroun river in Europe. The tour takes about 40 minutes, you travel by boat for approx 800 metres(mind your head), then walk a short distance, then back in the boat fir the return journey.
A 200 mile round trip we did one day was up to Peniscola to see the castle on the headland, where the film El Cid was made. A picnic along the sandy beach, a quick dip in the blue mediterranean. A quick look at the coastline at Benicarlo and Vinaros, then inland to the very picturesque town of Morella. It is quite an awesome sight when you first see it from about 2 miles away. It is a walled town built on a hill with a castle at the summit.

Most of the villages are interesting in their own right, with their historic buildings and churches, ideal for an evening stroll and stopping at a bar for a drink to watch the world go by.

After 4 nights and alas not time to do the area justice it will be time to move on. Our journey is nearly over, and in part 9 I will try to give a summary of the past 7 weeks, so don’t miss ORF TO FIND THE SUN – PART 9, the final story.

Following on from part 8
Fri 31 Aug. Today we depart from Camping Bergueda, and will be travelling via the two toll tunnels of Cadi (Spain) and Puymorens (France). Although the roads are quite good to begin with, fairly slow progress is made over the Pyrenees. The tank is topped up at Puigcerda (last town in Spain), before the inevitable price increase in France. It is fairly interesting scenery driving down the River Ariege valley. Upon reaching Terascon we join the toll free N20 which then turns into the A66 toll road, then onto the A62 to bypass Toulouse. Travelling around Toulouse at 3pm it is time to get our travellers bible out (Caravan Club’s Caravan Europe vol 1) to find a suitable site for the night. Camping La Grand Gravier was selected to be honoured with our presence tonight. It was about 8 miles off the A20 at the small town of Grissoles, on the banks of the Garonne river. Only a small site with adequate toilet block, but nothing else. It was due to close for the season on Sun 2 Sept, so we just got here in time. A pleasant hour was spent walking along the river bank, and another hour having a quick look round the town, before seeing the sun set over the campsite.

Sat and we’re on the move up the A20 to Limoges and a left turn and another 25 miles back to Camping La Blanchie where it all began a few weeks ago. Doesn’t time fly when you’re enjoying yourselves?
We spend 3 nights here with trips to the local villages and lakes, and give the van a complete spring clean from top to bottom.

 

 

Thats it. Had enough of this weather. 8pm Dover-Dunquerque tomorrow, drive down to La Blanchie where our van is stored. Get the van serviced, then down to twinlakes on Friday, for a couple of nights(hope there're not full). Sunday should see us over the border into Spain for a couple of nights at Olite just south of Pamplona. Tues 24th should see us with a 250 mile slog down to Cuenca for 4 nights to do a bit of sightseeing. Sat will see us back on the road up to Torrevieja for 10 nights on the coast, where our daughter will be flying out to join us for a week of sun,sea,sand and sangria. That will take us up to 7th Aug, return ferry booked for 6th Sept. Will have a month to just go where the fancy takes us.

I hope the weather improves for all of you staying in the UK, and have a good summer (whats left of it). Should be back to catch up in September.

 

Following on from my topic "orf to find the sun" in July, I am going to reproduce here my diary/travelogue of our 7+ week trip to France/Spain. I hope it is useful and informative for anyone who is interested or contemplating such a trip. Please feel free to ask any qurstions that you may have. Unfortunately I formatted my camera card, by mistake, and lost all the pictures.
Finally if it goes on too much, just tell me to shut up.

Tue 17th July, Saw us on the 20.00 Norfolk Line sailing Dover - Dunquerque. As we headed east towards the land of the rising sun, the sun was setting in our wake over Dover. After an uneventful cruise over "le ditch" we dissembarked and headed for Paris, once through Paris we stopped for a couple of hours shut-eye.
Wed arrived with cloudy skies but dry, quite pleasant for a days driving south towards Limoges. From Limoges it was turn west to Suris, and camping La Blanchie, where our van is stored. Keith & Tracie had put our van on a pitch, plugged in the electric and turned the fridge on, all very welcoming. The weather had not improved greatly (where is that elusive sun.
Camping La Blanchieis a quiet English owned site in the Charente region of France. It has a small clean toilet block. The pitches are reasonably flat, with ehu, not marked, so go where you want. Keith & Tracie, the friendly and helpful owners, wiil tell you of places to visit in the area. The main attraction being "oradour sur Glane", where the Germans massacred all the villagers on 10 June 1944. Nothing has changed since then and stands as a monument to the atrocities of war.
After one night it was then off to the Hobby dealer in Angouleme for a service and damp check, to keep the warranty intact.
The night was spent in a tourist hotel, whilst there we went up to the town centre. It has a palace as the Marie(town hall) surrounded by picturesque gardens.
It is also one of the feww places in France that we have found people at night, with a group playing 60's music (right up my street) outside the Blues Rock Cafe.
Fri 20 July, we collect our van and travel down to Twinlakes for 2 nights. As there is a lot on this site about Twinlakes I will not add any more. Suffice to say it is getting warmer but chilly at night, and still mainly overcast.

Sun 22 July, saw us depart from twinlakes, as we waved goodbye the thought crossed our minds of when we would next see an englishman. Sunday is a good day to travel in France as lorries are banned from the road. The 260 miles we travelled were mainly on dual carriageway and motorways. First round Bordeaux, Biarritz then over the border into Spainand on down to San Sebastion. It was then a left turn up into the pyrenees lowlandstowards Pamplona. After climbing to 2000ft it was time to stop at the services for lunch, to refresh ourselves, and allow the car to cool down. A ham and cheese roll was selected from the unpronouceable menu, raw ham and cheese like tissue paper. Was it edible? yes, would I have it again? no.
We then continued by motorway to camping Olite, about 30 miles south of Pamplona. We have often stayed here before, but the statics are increasing in numberstaking over all the marked pitches and water taps. We were a bit dissapointed to find that the toures and tents had all been pushed to a field at the bottom of the site. The only water tap was in the adequate toilet block. What about electric? I hear you say. Hope there aren't any electricians about!!! All they had were 4 way extension leads looped round the field, and tied to trees, fortunately it didn't rain during our stay.
Camping Olite could be made into a nice site with a little investment, as the infrastructure is all there. There is a nice sized pool (swimming caps must be worn by all), also a modern bar/restaurant. The charge for unit EHU and 2 adults, about 20 euros/night.
We have only stayed for one night before, but there is a fairytale castle in the town, (which you can see from the campsite) that we wanted to go and look at. In the morning we went to the big Netto supermarketa mile up the road to stock up on supplies. After lunch we then went up to the town to the picturesque, pedestrianised, main square. One end filled with the Ayuntiemiento (town hall) and the other dominated by the castle. Bars and restaurants down each side completes the scene.
The castle was built between 1402-1424, and in its day was one of the most luxurious in Europe. It was burnt down in 1813 to stop it falling into the hands of thr French during the Napoleonic wars. It took 30 years to rebuild, and work began in 1937. For 2€80 you can walk all round it, and the 360 deg view from the top of the keep is truly spectacular. Well worth a visit.
The weather has improved a little, but at times it is very windy. The skies got dark early evening, but the expected storm didn't materialize.
Tomorrow we move on, where to? answers on a postcard to.......

Tue 24 July. Today we travel 270 miles south to the inland town of Cuenca. This is mainly single carriageway roads, so after an early start we leave Olite and travel across the mainly agricultural high plains. Mile after mile of sunfloers, vines,corn, potato and lavender fields. Fairly uninteresting for the first 200 miles. The weather was now improving with just the odd wisp of cloud to spoil a clear blue sky. We were fortunate to find a dis-used garage for a spot of lunch in the shade. The last 70 miles were quite interesting as we travelled through a river valley surrounded by hills and cliffs on either side. We made good time as any more than 3 vehicles in view at the same time was considered congestion. We arrived at camping Cuenca just before 5. We were told to select our own pitch. Now that it was over 30deg we were surprised how green the site was, but could understand later as we saw how much they watered it. Ther were also very few permanently pitched caravans, as other spanish sites usually have lots of them. We plan to stay for 4 noghts. The site is reasonably flat, and has a bar/restaurant and a nice pool. It also has a small shop with basic provisions, but only 6 miles from the town with its supermarkets this was not a problem. The jewel in the crown must have been the toilet block, it was absolutely spotless. Unusually it also had piped music playing, it was quite a novelty having a shower singing along to Tina Turners' "your simply the best" and Pink Floyds' "another brick in the wall". The only downside is no bbq are permitted after a major fire in the area. As far as we are aware there are no other Brits on the site, a lot of Dutch and a few French. The cost per night was approx €25.
The main reason we came here was for the sightseeing. Cuidad Encantada (enchanted city), €3 admission is an area of unusually shaped rocks, about 20 miles from the campsite, makes a pleasant afternoon out. Let your imagination run wild, guessing what the shapes represent. Some have names on like, elephant, bear, crocodile and toboggan run.
The old city of Cuenca is perched on a cliff, between two rivers. The buildings have to be seen to be believed the way they are perched on the edge, known as Casa Colgados (hanging houses). We went into the cathedral, entrance fee 2€80, but no photography is allowed. You get a headset, in English, that explains what all the exhibits (if thats the right word) are. Well worth the entrance charge.
We also went into the science museum 1€20 which showed evolution from pre historic times, into the future. All the writing was in Spanish, but you could understand what they were getting at from the exhibits and pictures.
It is now Friday, although we haven't seen all the area has to offer, tomorrow we will be on the move again. It is a place we hope to return to. It has been 35deg during the day, but as its 1000m above sea level, it drops to 10deg at night (no pleasing some people).

Sat 28 July, finds us driving out of the gates at Cuenca at 9am, with the temp a lowly 12deg. After climbing to go through the Puerto de Tordiga (1200m) and 1 1/2 hours later the temp as risen to 28deg.
We follow the very quiet N320 as far as Albacete, where we join the busy A31, main route from Madrid to Valencia/Alicante. Rolling hills with wind generators slowly pass by.
We then join the A7 (autopista del mediterraneo) coast road for the last few miles to camping Florantilles, at Torrevieja. It is a English run campsite which is only bookable through the Caravan Club. They permanently have the campsite full notice up. It is 80% full of English owned statics that are used mainly in the winter months, so is very quietduring the summer. It has about 300 pitches with 7 small toilet blocks dotted about, strangely with the showers on the outside. So take your cameras, and a prize for the best picture. The main toilet block will preserve your modesty, but maybe a bit stretched when the site is busy. They are all serviced pitches of reasonable size. They do not encourage children, and the description states that its mainly for mature couples. It has a small shop (mainly english provisions), a bar/cafe(mainly english food). It has Spanish lessons (for the english). They also have aerobic sessions, along with tennis courts and the mandatory pool. They also have a whist night and a quiz night. It is 99% english in this very english area of Spain.


Keith then puts the van back in the storage compound, where we put the cover on.
We have a couple of nights booked into hotels on the way back to Dunquerque, the first at Poitiers, and the second at Rouen. A stop is made at Cite Europe to do our last minute shopping before embarking on the 1600 Norfolk Line sailing to Dover on Thu 6 Sept, then we just have an hours drive back home.
Fri we awake with just the memories, was it a dream, as we come downstairs and see the mountain of dirty washing we realise we actually did it.

Summary of our travels

Total distance covered 4486 miles
Total distance towing 1821 miles (add approx 1000 miles if towing from UK)
Cost of diesel £531-90
Number of campsites visited 10
Total number of nights in van 47
Cost of campsites £830-29 (£17-67 per night) High season
Nights in hotels 3


Oscars (views of the author only, and not based on fact)

Best toilet block - Camping Cuenca (part 4)
Best beaches - Camping Monmar (part 7)
Best sightseeing - Camping Bergueda (part 8.)
Most English - Camping Florantilles (part 5)
Most Spanish - Camping Villa de Viver (part 6)
Most helpful staff - Camping Villa de Viver (part 6)
Easiest access - Camping Cuenca (part 4)

Finally, the object of the trip was to find the sun. Was it a success? With only one thunderstorm and two showers in 52 days I would say it definitely was a success.

Would we do it again? You bet we will, besides Easter and May half term when we just go to La Blanchie, the 2008 expedition will hopefully be departing Dover on Tuesday 15 July, when we will be going:-

Somewhere old
Somewhere new
Somewhere green
Somewhere blue

So get your names down now.

I’m afraid that’s it for 2007, I hope you have all enjoyed reading about our gypsy lifestyle and maybe its given you the desire to try something similar.

So all that remains to be said is its goodnight from me, and goodnight from him, goodnight.


Pete

Tue 7 Aug Finds us heading north on the A7/AP7, round Alicante past a little village called Benidorm. Continueing on near the English enclaves of Calpe, Javea and Denia. Valencia soon comes into view which is by-passed on the motorway. Upon reaching Sagunto we leave the A7 and join the A23 towards Teruel. Soon after passing Segorbe we turn off at the small town of Viver, after going through the town and continueing for another 3 miles we come to camping Villa de Viver. I could probably write a book about this site as we have been coming here on and off for 12 years. It has a bar/restaurant, toilet block and swimming pool, with lovely views of the surrounding hills.

It is a bit of a dump, but the people are so hospitable. They will do everything manana. When will there be hot water in the showers? manana. When will the washing m/c be working? manana. On occasions we have been the only people staying there, and when the owner goes out we run the campsite. We do think of it as ours. At the end of the 2006 seasona Dutchman, Edwardo, and his Spanish wife Anna took over running the site. They have big plans for it, they have produced a website www.campingviver.com which we appear on as we were the only people staying there when they took the pictures.

What to do in the area
15 Aug being a holidy in this part of Spain, a lot of the villages have week long fiesta's. In Viver the highlight is the bulls in the plaza, with cages for people to run in when the bull comes.

At night they have toro embalado (bull with fire) They also have disco's and fuego artificials (fireworks) which have to be seen to be believed (no health and safety here). Not forgeting the 15th itself where the entire village goes down to rio sargal. Apicnic spot by the river palancia just ouside the town.

This is where they cook a giant paella, just take a plate and you will be fed for free. There is also a 2000 gallon beer tanker to help wash it down. Then in the evening in their drunken stupor, they somehow make their way up to the hermitage of San Roque on top of the hill overlooking the town for evening mass, not to be seen again for 24 hours as they sleep it off.
In Navajas, a village a few miles away there is a gorge where you can go swimmingin the river, overshadowed by a 200ft waterfall known as the "brides leap".

It is very touristy in a nice way, selling cheese,chocolate, honey, jumpers and their spciality pastries from shops in the narrow streets.
Back to the beaches. Althogh the beach at Moncofa is sand/shingle it is very pleasnt for half a day. Our favourite is at Chilches, 2 miles away as the crow flies. It has golden sand and gently sloping into the warm water. A very thoughtful touch here is that they have large tricycles with ballon tyres that are used to wheel disabled people into the sea on. It is very quiet here in the afternoon as the Spanish leave the beach between 2-4 to have their siesta.
Another nice beach in this area is the mile after mile of golden sand at Castellon/Benicassim. The promenade at Castellon has just been planted with thousands of palm and pine trees, with plenty of parking. Benicassim is more touristy with its beachside bars and restaurants. After nine nights here and just 15 of our 52 nights left, it is time to start heading north. Find out what new delights await us in ORF TO FIND THE SUN -


A quick 180 mile trip up the motorway from Moncofa to just past Tarragona we come to the small town of Creixell, where we find the beachside site of Camping Gavina. We were fortunate to get a pitch in the first line overlooking the meditteranean. The campsite looked as if it could do with a lick of paint to make it more appealing. It had 3 old toilet blocks, bar/restaurant, and a well stocked shop. The only thing missing was a pool, but only 20yds from the sea did it matter. The main problem here though was the mosquitoes at night, which made it unpleasant sitting out. Having said that it was nice waking to the sound of the waves breaking a few yards away. We were lucky enough to be there for the 23 Aug, when Sitges (25 miles up the coast) has a spectacular firework display over the sea. The town is really crowded, with the inevitable traffic queues after it has finished.
Sunday we decided to go the 25 miles south to Salou, and have an English roast dinner (ah Bisto). A look around the shops, and a pleasant stroll up the tree lined promenade.

We stayed for 5 nights, and although it was hot it was at times a bit windy, but we did get our last swim in the med for this year.
Mon 27 Aug sees us leave the coast and travel just over 100 miles into the Pyrenees. Where we stop at Camping Bergueda, just outside the town of Guardiola de Bergueda. It is described in the caravan clubs Vol 1 as a “gem of a site” and we couldn’t agree more. It is a terraced site with bar/restaurant, small shop, games room, television room and a pool. The two toilet blocks are spotless with a mountain view thrown in as well.



There is so much to see and do in the area that I don’t know where to start, but I’ll try.
The campsite will give you maps to follow if you want to go hiking. The scenery can only be described as fantastic, the twin peaks of Pedraforca at 2497m is worth a look a few miles down the road.

There are dirt tracks if you have a 4x4 which will take you miles from civilisation.The small gardens of Artigas, designed by Gaudi, at La Pobla de Lillet, along with the tourist train that takes you down the road to the next village, are all worth the time.

Not far from here is the source of the Llobregat (river that flows through Barcelona) half a mile from the road makes an interesting walk.
A full day excursion would be to take the 35min cog-wheel train ride from Ribes to Nuria (one of Spains first skiing resorts). When you get there, there is a cable car that will take you up further. There is also horse riding, archery and various other pastimes.


The area is also known for its coal mining history, and the mining museum of Circs is well worth a visit. Along with the normal exhibition rooms, you get to go on the old miners train into the mine itself, complete with safety helmet.