Tarragona Pt 2/Move/Catral

Monday 24th Sept: Another day in this paradise, we have made a decision to move on Wednesday or we may not move at all - hopefully the tax disc will have arrived by then but if not it can be forwarded to our next site. Great weather lots of sun and 29C so more beach walks and explorations, Linda even waggled her toes in the Mediterranean whilst Daisy ran her self ragged. 

'2 beach bums'

Tuesday 25th Sept: On the pretence of waiting for the tax disc for the Jazz we decided to have another lazy day on site just watching the world go by - lots of things need doing but they will not run away and we need to take advantage of the weather. Lots of different nationalities (mainly tuggers and euro box owners) here and all very friendly, of course Daisy still seems to be the ice breaker as they all talk to her. Some of the people with vans on the site full time are Brits and they tend to just fly out and spend as much time here as possible when they can, not bad really only €3000 for a year's site fees. We feel that whilst very idyllic here, having the freedom to move on when you want is better - variety is the spice of life and all that. Boring I know but a sunny day with 29C - tomorrow looks not too good though, hope it is at least dry to do the move preparations.

Wednesday 26th Sept: Well last full day in Cala d'Oques campsite, unfortunately the postman was not kind to us so we will delay our departure until after 1030am tomorrow and keep our fingers crossed. Seems the weather has turned a bit and we had sun, overcast, rain and strong winds during the day with 20C - cold!. Fortunately we managed to get the pack-up done before the small rain showers and all that needs doing tomorrow is car loading, trailer hook-up and move off the pitch - must remember to sell tickets. Route plan done and we plan to use the toll roads (also advised by locals), try for a one day move but if necessary stop overnight at a truck stop. It is about a 300 mile journey but we are in no rush so will see how it turns out.

Waves all day on the beach
Cala d'Oques

Windy day on the beach
Cala d'Oques

Thursday 27th Sept: Needless to say our final preparations and eventual move off the pitch was observed by most of the rest of the site and fortunately everything went perfect, however we did not get a round of applause we thought we deserved and were ready for move off by 10am so just had to wait for the postman and then we could hit the road. We used the time to settle the bill and  as expected it was quite expensive, €35.40 a night, if it had not been for the location and general site ambiance we would not have stayed so long. Unfortunately no post for us so we briefed the site staff what to do if it arrived (call us) and set off for the motorway - decided to use the toll roads so we could make good time/distance and possible get to the next site in one day. We had a good drive down the east coast of Spain skirting past Valencia, Benidorm (concrete jungle) and Alicante during a dull, sunny, rainy and 22C day, but it looked like we would not make it to the site at a decent time so stopped at a truck stop near to Elche. Due to the very reasonable site fees, nothing, we treated ourselves to some traditional Spanish grub at the service station restaurant - lovely  

Friday 28th Sept: A nice slow start to the day and we took the opportunity to fill up the beast - a quick 201 ltrs for€ 293 then set off for the Marjal Costa Blanca site on the outskirts of Catral near Murcia. Found the site easily and booked in at 9.45am, very large, new and well presented site with ALL the facilities one would need for full time on the site. Moved onto our pitch (assisted by the site staff) and set up - very easy when the pitches are fully set up for occupancy, including water/drainage/electric/TV connection and were having a coffee by 11.30am when Neil's phone rang! Yes, the tax disc had arrived at our last site, typical, so arranged for it to be couriered down to this site and we will wait for it to arrive - quote was Monday by 1.00pm so not too bad.

Our pitch Marjal campsite
Catral

Entrance to Marjal campsite
Catral

 

 

Just to fully welcome us to the site the heavens opened up and we had our first rain for weeks, and boy did it rain! Monsoon type downpour for almost an hour which result in localised flooding, a bit frightening what with the thunder and lightening but the drainage just about managed to cope - eventually. We decided to put the site orientation on hold and spend the rest of the day mooching.

 

Water levels a bit high

Just a bit of rain

 

Saturday 29th Sept: Awoke to a dry sunny start to the day but to the awful news that just a bit further south they have had massive flooding which has claim 8 lives and caused devastation  - puts our slight discomfort in to perspective. We had a walk round the sight and found out 'what was what' - really nice sight, a bit big and we would not really like to be here at peak period (crowds etc) but it has all the resort type facilities that families could ever want. The pitches are hard standing and each has its own water, drainage, electric point and TV connection point - facilities include medical centre, vets, hairdressers, supermarket, 3 pools, restaurant, Tapas, 2 bars, Gym etc etc. The site is mainly caravaners but there is  a lot of 5 ers and RV's here - we had  good chat with a Brit couple, Dennis and Flo who were in a Coachman Mirada, full timing and on site for the winter. The sun and and 25C quickly dried everything up, reassuring that the drainage worked, just in case. Linda tentatively tried the hair dressers (male stylist and he did not speak English) and was well pleased with the results.

Who's a pretty girl then

Sunday 30th Sept:  Weather seems to be back to normal with a nice sunny 27C day so we explored the local area, best done on Sundays as the shops are closed. Very nice area with lots going on, including hot air balloon rides (we passed on a trip). We took in Crevillent, Elche and the outskirts of Alicante but decided not to go south due to the flooding and road damage. A nice slow day finished off with a BBQ - classic.

Up, up and away.

Monday 1st Oct: Unfortunately last day in Marjal, we are enjoying this site and would stay longer but for our hopes of getting to Albufeira in Portugal to link up with our friends Mark, Sue and Charlotte, who are on a quick sun break before the UK weather turns. As promised the courier delivered the letter/tax disc on time and we could breath again - legal again, just in time. We manged to fit in a visit to the village, Catral, very nice, interesting, small typical Spanish village with normal Spanish style living - 'manana' being the order of the day.

Catral town square Spain

Catral Spain

Catral Church
Spain

Daisy was keeping a low profile as she was hopefully of not visiting the pet bathroom before we left, fortunately for her due to wanting an early start tomorrow the move prep took priority. We got ready for moving, less trailer coupling, completed the route plan (which for a change did not include any toll roads) and just ran out of time to give Daisy a bath - not that she needs one we just wanted to use the bathroom.

THE bathroom

Will they, won't they bath me?

Tarragona Pt 1

Monday 17th Sept: A very leisurely start to the day, do not want to tire ourselves out - plan to do some more exploring on foot, test the beach again and for work Neil needs to track down the Honda garage and book the Jazz in for its first service (what a busy day). The finding of a garage was no problem however the booking it in was a challenge - Neil = no Spanish, Garage = no English. Fortunately one of the campsite owners, Kim, came to the rescue and made all the arrangements for the Jazz to have its service in Reus (just outside Tarragona) on Wednesday morning at 9am. Unfortunately they are unable to accept the Honda Europe free service arrangement from the UK so it will have to be paid for and we will try and get it refunded later on our return to the UK. After a nice walk around the immediate local are, where we found Linda is famous, we decided to try out the camp site restaurant and had a really pleasant burger and chips and a steak and chips along with some very nice sangria and local beer. Whilst in the bar we noticed a bottle of brandy with a familiar name so had to have a photo of it. A nice sunny 28C day which helped the day go well. The first bit of mail (a DVD of photos from Colin & Margaret) caught up with us and we just need the arrival of the Jazz's tax disc, curtsy of Terry, and we will be right up to date. 

Fame at last

Good name for a Brandy

Tuesday 18th Sept: Bit of a none day really so decided to have yet another lazy /admin day with of course the beach featuring to the fore. We spent some time trying to sort out the photographs into some kind of order, so many to label, title and file but best done now whilst the memory is still functioning. With the Jazz's service on the cards for tomorrow we decided to combine a visit to Tarragona and Pont de Diable as well, silly not to as they are in the same area, so did some preparatory planning. We have been assured that the service will only take a couple of hours! The day started with sun but got a bit cloudy during the day but was a nice 27C.

Wednesday 19th Sept: Early start to the day as we planned to use the national roads (road toll aversion has set in) and get to the garage promptly for 9am, unfortunately due to the rush hour traffic we were a little late - 2 MINS! Not to worry as the garage was open but not  a sole around, thinks 'forgot Spanish time apreciation', eventually someone turned up at 9.40am and tried to communicate with us (no English speaker). Some how we got across our need to have it finished for 11.00am (as previously agreed) and that we would be waiting for it - no problems he says and off he goes to do the business.  True to his word, there was no problems and it was completed (at a cost less than the quote), the books all stamped up and we were on our way to Tarragonna by 11.00am. The festival week of Santa Tecla was taking place in Tarragona (a town famous for its human towers, normally part of the festivities) so the town was well decorated, busy and full of life - just as well as it started to rain once we began walking around the town centre, fortunately only a quick shower and it was back to sun and 27C.

Santa Tecla celebrations
Tarragona

Santa Tecla celebrations
Tarragona

Balloon people
Tarragona

Like most places we have visited, Tarragona has many Roman historic connections and buildings (those Romans got everywhere), so we had to take in the Roman Tower ( great views over the town) and the amphitheatre before ambling around the town centre area. A very nice place with lots of hostelries, some even supplying know beverages and lots of local attractions to see, the Monument als Castels being quite striking in the central reservation of the main road through the town centre. 


Tarragona Cathedral from
the Roman Tower

Tarragona amphitheatre from
the Roman Tower



They get everywhere
Tarragona

Monument als Castells
Tarragona



Just to complete the set we called in to see the Pont del Diable, another Roman aquaduct, on the outskirts of Tarragona which challenges today's civil engineers. Linda had behaved herself all day so as a special treat I agreed to take her to a Lidl in Cambrills on the way back - I know I am all heart.

Pont del Diable
Tarragona

 
We got back just in time for 'sundowners' and for Neil to find out he had had a 'numpty' moment; when instructing Terry to post the tax disc he forgot to mention that we had moved from France to Spain hence the letter was addressed to our current Spanish site address with France on the bottom - fingers crossed it gets here sometime. Linda thinks he has done it on purpose to stay here longer.

Thursday 20th Sept: An overcast start to the day with threats of rain later on meant that not much on the agenda apart from some replen shopping (Bacardi is quite cheap here). Neil needed to complete his temporary repair to the RV generator so set to, only to of course get an audience, many stating that the generator was a bigger engine that most of their motor homes. The rain came later in the day and a bit on sun here and there, quite cool and only 25C.

Friday 21st Sept: Lazy day planned so wandered about the site and beach and got to know are neighbours - all sorts of nationalities - all very friendly. A few Brits (full time, long term and short term guests) which we managed to get loads of local information from and catch up on UK news. We got talking to a young expat couple on the pitch just behind us, who were visting their caravan for the day, when asked what he did, Ian informed us that he is the PGA professional at the local (posh) golf club FANCY THAT! Anyway Ian took pity on Neil's lack of golf and offered to arrange a game on Sunday for him YIPPEEEE, Ian would be unavailable due to flying over to the States to watch the Ryder Cup. The rest of the day we veg'd out and watched the site coming and goings whilst in the 25C sun.

Saturday/Sunday 22nd/23rd Sept: A nice casual, relaxing weekend with Saturday being a bit overcast and windy - nice to see the waves crashing into the shore and relatively warm at 25C again. Sunday was of course Skype day and we got to chat to everybody and bring them up to date. The afternoon was of course the golf game at Bonmont Costa  Daurada Golf Club - very up market and the course was in excellent condition. The sunny 25C day meant that Neil had very few excuses for any bad golf and thoroughly enjoyed himself - many thanks Ian and to Monica at the course.  

Windy day on the beach

Nimes/Move/Tarragona

Sunday 9^th Sept: Settled into the site and tried out the communications chain – poor unfortunately, another ‘hotspot’ connection and with reception only available at the office/restaurant area. After much patience and persistence we got through to most of the family to find that all is well. The site is a very quiet, well laid out and ideally located municipal site with loads of large pitches so we have got a nice and comfy pitch with very few other people around. Whilst the site is not at the top of the quality list it has all the necessary requirements and is good value for money. We decided to keep some of the momentum going and planned a visit to Nimes for tomorrow, Pont du Gard on Tuesday, a rest/pack up day for Wednesday and then our move to Spain on Thursday. Neil is eager to get to the next site as it is actually on a beach beside the Med and next door to a nudist beach – oh la la. We did a small orientation drive (where the shops are) around and the good weather continues with a sunny 29C day. Did our Italy tolls figures which came to €127.30  for 501km (18 cents per km) - a bit surprising as certainly not the most expensive by far, that is still held by Slovenia. We will see how France fair soon.

Monday 10^th Sept: Onwards and upwards to Nimes (bigger place than we expected), we managed to follow Mr TomTom and safely get into a car park in Nimes and then set off in pursuit of the Amphitheatre, war memorial and the Square House – all on our list of ‘to visit’. The Amphitheatre was rather spectacular, in good condition and is an excellent example of early Roman ‘feed the Christians to the lions’ arenas. The war memorial is France’s recognition of all the children who died during WW2 and is tasteful but of course a bit sombre. A bit strange but the Square House is a splash of Roman architecture in a modern part of the city centre. The whole of Nimes was very clean, presentable and enjoyable. Good things come to an end and we had to fit in some shopping, I had promised Linda – we got the food stuff and treated ourselves to some new lightweight clothes as we over did the cool climate clothes packing. The weather continues to be mainly hot and sunny and today was no different with 29C. Spooky but we had problems finding the supermarket, found it eventually, it was called Casino and we had driven past it twice thinking it was an actual casino and not a supermarket. Unfortunately for Daisy it was shower day, very indignant being washed down in the RV shower but full of beans after it.   The old dear (Linda) deserved a night off so we tried out the site restaurant for a meal – very good with large portions and much flavour, the beer and wine were good as well.

Linda, Daisy & friend
Nimes



The Amphitheatre
Nimes

 

War Memorial
Nimes

The Square House
Nimes

Tuesday 11^th Sept: A visit to Point du Gard (tallest surviving Roman aqueduct) and a drive through some of the local towns was on the cards for today so after yet another leisurely breakfast  we headed for Romoulins for a walk round the ‘old bridge’, one good thing about our timing of visiting these places are that most of them are nearly empty due to the time of the year/schools being back so no crowds and easy parking. The Point du Gard certainly is very impressive and makes one yet again wonder how they managed to make something so majestic which is still here today, surely today’s engineers are missing something. On the way back to the site we took in a quick look at Avignon and Arles, both very nice and full of historic features. The day had been a nice dry day with plenty of sun and 29C.



Pont du Gard
aquaduct

View from Pont du Gard
aquaduct

Nimes campsite

Wednesday 12th Sept: Early start to the 'prepare to move' day meant that everything was ready to go by early afternoon, including a quick wash and clean for the Jazz - thought it best as it needs to go for its first service soon and there is a Honda garage near to our next site near Tarragona. The 'beast' checked out OK and apart from some small niggling problems is doing really well - better than us if the truth be known. Some days are harder than others but on the whole it may well have been better doing this 5 to 10 years ago and we may have found it not so exhausting at times - mind you it is still great seeing all these sights, meeting so many different people and re finding ourselves. Settled the bill in preparation for tomorrows departure, probably best that we move on as the weather today was a bit dull and cool at 23C with some spits of rain as well. Whilst we have only been in France a short time we have managed to see what we wanted to and as we hope to revisit, albiet the northern part, we encountered no surprises and the area of Languedoc Roussillon has much to offer other than the normal riveria style coastal places. 

Thursday 13th Sept: Managed to get a prompt start, as planned due to having over 300 miles to go to the next site, and pulled out of the site at 7.30am heading for the motorway (and its tolls) and a fuel station - we understand that fuel is a bit more expensive in Spain so plan to top up before leaving. Pulled in for diesel and put 217 litres in for €327.44 which is just about £1.20 a litre so not too bad. So far the 'beast' is returning the equivalent of 12.44 miles to the gallon, which is very pleasing considering the recent terrain and having the toad/trailer behind - it may even be better as we have not accounted for the diesel used for generator running. The trip down through the bottom left hand corner of France was full of loads more fantastic scenery and was very enjoyable until Linda saw the size of the Pyrenees that we had to drive over, across  and through at the border area so she was a bit quiet for a while - she really does not do mountains! We paid our last French road toll to make France €0.25 per km and qualifying them as the second most expensive road tolls (Slovenia still leading with €0.27) with the most expensive diesel so far. Into Spain and once we left the Pyrenees behind and got the Meseta mountain range well off on our right hand side Linda started to talk to me again. The countryside started to take on more of an arid/desert appearance with lots of palm, orange, olive and pomegranate bushes/trees so we started watching out for bulls. Followed the Spanish coast southwards, skirted around Barrcelona, had a 1 hour lunch stop and got to our new site, Cala d'Oques at Hospitalet del Infante (just south of Tarragona) at 3.30pm - a good, easy and nice run down. WOW  what a site (curtsy of the BPG) our pitch was next to the beach with a veiw over the Mediterranean Sea - breathtaking, we set up in brilliant sunshine and 29C then sat out watching the waves and replenishing out liquid levels - hic!

Keep trucking!

Oh Oh the Pyrenees

  










The view from our pitch.

The pitch at Cala d'Oques

Friday 14th Sept: It just had to be done - watch the sunrise, go for a dip in the Med, and then breakfast on our own bit of the beach - it was great! The sunrise was classic, the Med lovely and refreshing and Linda told me to say her breakfast was fantastic (it actually was). Must admit that it was a bit strange lying in bed and the waves lapping onto the beach during the night but as we plan for this stop to be a restful one we can always have a siesta after a few sangria's later on - when in Rome and all that. Eventually we managed to tear ourselves away from the idyllic views from our sun loungers and finish off settling into our pitch, complete our home comms/updates and look round the immediate area. We can see this place being very therapeutic and tend to just CHILL for a week or so, we can class it as our 'holiday'. Daisy needs to be on her best behaviour as she must be on the lead on the site (actually according to the sign only poodles need to be on leads) but can free run on the beach - and she does, just loves the sand but is still a bit wary of the sea/waves. Lovely sunny 34C day which helped top up the tan.      

Sunrise!

Discrimination against poodles.

Saturday 15th Sept: Repeated yesterday mornings routine, we could certainly get used to doing this every day - a high level of calm and relaxed mood seems to have hit us since arriving at Cala d-Oques so we are looking forward to our 'holiday'. We took a trip into the town/village, Hospitalet del Infante, and found some of the main requirements (meat, fish and bread) but needed to go a bit further up the coast to Miami Platja for some supermarkets - both places very nice and well within cycling/walking distance if need be. Hospitalet del Infante has a Sunday market but as it is mainly for tourist type nik-naks we will be passing on that. The good weather, sunny and 30C, just meant that we had to have a quick walk along the beach and camp area in the afternoon; the camp area has various nationalities on it and is very clean, tidy and beach like with a nice quiet atmosphere with loads of typical vegetation - the fig trees and olive trees getting some of our attention, the figs are delicious. The beach stretches right up to Hospitalet del Infante in the north and to the 'Camping Templo Del Sol' beach in the south (the narturalists beach) so we were informed and is perfectly clean and in picture book condition.

Hospitalet del Infante

Hospitalet del Infante

Daisy chilling

Sunday 16th Sept: Another day in our current paradise, so very easy to plan and complete lazy days here. We did notice yesterday that we should have invested in some wheel covers (the sun is so intense at times that the tyres take some stick), not to be defeated some plans were drawn up, some material (old awning) redeployed and Linda made 2 superb wheel covers (hand stitched) - I of course keep an eye on her, very tiring so I kept dropping off.. Boy do we look smart now. Just to show I have a bit of a heart later on I burnt some meat on the BBQ for her, mind you she did the accompanying salad. The day was a bit overcast at times but was still 29C, it did not prevent another beach walk - Daisy just loves it.