Bay of Biscay

13, 11, 7, 1

These are the waking up temperatures we've had for Spain, Algarve then the last 2 stops coming north! We had a foggy drive today and are now at Santander waiting for the ferry, which has been delayed 2 hours coming over because of bad weather. We expect to set sail about 12.30am :-/

Back in Sunny Spain

After a few days back on the Algarve where we met up with Neil & Kath we are now heading home and have just arrived in Badajoz for the night. Two more drives and we catch the Saturday night ferry from Santander.

A few photos from our time with Neil & Kath

Whilst Rachel & Kath show concern for keeping the picnic rug dry from the onrushing tide, Neil plays it cool

A not so cool Neil

Serious wine/port negotiating

Pre dinner drinks

Back in sunny Spain

Rachel nursing a swollen ankle from 3 mozzie bites :-(

Tonight

Movin' on out

This morning we rode out of the Wild West just 20 miles down the road to the beach at Matalascanas on the Atlantic coast. This is our hottest day so far we think with the thermometer reaching 24c. All the openings on Harry are now as wide as they will go in an effort to keep it cool on the inside. It's a toasty one!

The moon last night viewed from the square at El Rocio.

Another day, another dusty car park. Life as an 'off piste' camper.

Just Photos

We are presently in the Wild West of Andalucia at a place called El Rocio. Here are a few photos.

La Via Verde de la Sierra Olvera to Puerto Serrano

En route to the hills

We left the Costa del Sol this morning and headed to the hills eventually stopping for lunch at the lovely hilltop town of Olvera. 

This is where La Via Verde de la Sierra starts, it's a 36k unused railway line which is a 'green lane' (as the name implies obviously) and the railway stations have been turned into accommodation blocks and restaurants. We didn't walk along any of it but after driving away from Olvera we unintentionally ended up at the opposite end of the lane at Puerto Serrano, where we were greeted by about 400 soldiers who obviously HAD just walked it! 

Maybe we'll return next year to cycle it and hopefully catch a glimpse of the largest colony of griffon vultures in Andalucia which have a safe haven at a place along the track.

Nowhere to Hide

Part1.

Nowhere to hide from the police!

We like San Pedro, but Monday night was an illegal park apparently. On Tuesday morning the friendly police officers "didn't want to DO us" so we left without a fine and with advice where we COULD park legally. We decided to leave town and try 12 miles down the road in Estepona. There were 15 other vans parked despite the 'autocaravans not permitted' sign. We thought it would be ok but when the police arrived later we decided to 'make like a tree' and leave. Spent the night in? San Pedro, legally!

Part 2.

Nowhere to hide from the rain!

Wednesday is raining everywhere in Andalusia so it's a restocking of supplies day. Tomorrow sees slight improvement then hopefully back to decent weather.

Before leaving Estepona we DID manage to look around the old part of town where each street has its own coloured plant pots, beautiful.

San Pedro

Just for Richard

In an effort to keep our blog followers happy here is a different composition of our usual 'selfie'. If you enlarge the photo you may just see Gibraltar on the horizon (& Morocco to the left).

A much warmer and sunnier day so, being fully sorted with what the campsite had to offer (including Harry's first proper wash since we bought him), we drove just 20 miles southwest to the other side of Marbella and found an excellent stopover only 100 metres from the beach. As a reasonable water temperature was displayed on the promenade Brian went for a quick dip.

En route to our next 'stopover', which should have been only 3 miles away, we stumbled across our cheapest fuel yet, equivalent to 64p per litre, we just hope it isn't chip fat! 

The coordinates for the aire took us to a dodgy looking ranch so, as we were desperate for mains electricity, we succumbed to heading for the nearest campsite,  which registers a 2 out of 5 on the Alan Rogers scale, but at least we get all the services we need to last us another week or so. 

It's also been the coldest day we've had for quite a while but it didn't stop Brian from being in shorts until 6pm!

A couple of photos from yesterday evening's walk

Move Along Now

After 4 sunny days at La Cala de Mijas we had to leave as our 48 hour permit had expired. Yes, it doesn't add up but we didn't realise that we had to register with the local cops for the first 2 days! So we headed east on the hunt for the next appropriate stopover as we really don't want to leave this lovely weather. Low and behold we found this place within 5 miles :-)

and a lovely lunch!

Reality

Instead of all the usual picturesque photos, here are a couple of the reality of free camping in southern Spain.

A Colourful Day

A visit to the market and an 8 mile walk along the beach. We are making the most of this lovely weather!

From the Sublime to the Ridiculous

Yesterday afternoon we trudged up into the hills north of the Costa del Sol in weather which just got wetter and wetter! We wrote the afternoon off and hoped for better weather today. You will see from the 'before' and 'after' photographs that our hopes were realised:-)

This morning as we headed north east towards Ronda we concluded that this is the best part of Spain we have visited. Beautiful weather, beautiful villages. 

The drive through the centre of the picturesque Ronda in a campervan in search of a parking place is NOT recommended! On our 2nd 'fly past' we managed to find a suitable parking spot on the outskirts and had an enjoyable time looking around. 

It was then south to the Costa, chalk and cheese! Not quite kiss me quick territory, but not really our cup of tea, although the increase in temperature from 10c in the hills, to 18c was rather pleasant. 

Before

After

German (of course) campervan. 6 wheel drive, 5 metres high, 8mpg!

Ronda

La Cala de Mijas

The prospect of spending a second night in the windiest place on earth in the hope of better weather to make an attempt on 'the rock', was not something either of us warmed to. So we headed north east along the Costa de Sol and then made a left up into the hills of the Serranía de Ronda. What a beautiful area, even in the rain! Typical white Spanish (obviously) villages dotted around the hillsides, and when there was the briefest of break in the weather, the glimpses we got of the Med gave us an idea of how good it MUST be in nice weather! For the time being it's 'batten down the hatches' and sit it out at this great little aire until the weather improves, apparently tomorrow.

Coffee stop in the hills.

Wild is the wind

After a very turbulent night at the marina by Gibraltar, we woke to the news that David Bowie had died. Rachel was a huge fan of his and we were fortunate to see him twice in concert. 

This morning's view

We left Sanlucar this morning and headed to the southernmost tip of the 'triangle' El Puerto de Santa Maria, or as we would say on Cumbria "Maryport". The bit WE saw had about as much appeal so after a coffee stop it was northeast to the last point of the triangle, Jerez. Things looked promising when we saw the Croft sign on our approach, but a lack of suitable 'stopover' meant we continued south to Gibraltar. We had a quick look this afternoon but hopefully really get our teeth into it tomorrow.

Walking across the runway to reach the BOT (British Overseas Territory)

First Bodega Visit

We escaped our first bodega visit relatively unscathed. We wobbled back to the van with 5 bottles, had lunch then had to partake in the Spanish tradition of a siesta before heading back into this beautiful town.